The Most Surprisingly Profitable Movie of 2013, So Far

By Dustin Rowles | Box Office Round-Ups | July 8, 2013 |

By Dustin Rowles | Box Office Round-Ups | July 8, 2013 |

In last night’s box-office take, we looked at the biggest flops of the year so far, and after discovering that only ten films lost money once worldwide grosses were accounted for, I noted that studio executives are, actually, surprisingly good at their jobs, as long as you assume that profit is more important than originality, creativity, or entertainment value. That is no more evident than in this list of ten movies which not only made a profit, but a surprisingly large profit, especially considering how mediocre some of these movies did stateside or how quickly they were forgotten. One example not on the list is A Good Day to Die Hard, the $92 million budgeted Die Hard sequel which only racked up $67 million in America. I think most of us understand how popular these movies are internationally, which is why it’s not on this list, though I still found it surprising that the movie — a bomb in America — nevertheless raked in $212 million in profit when all was said and done.

These are the ten best examples of the year. The profit numbers were derived at by subtracting the movie’s budget from its worldwide box office.

Oblivion — $175 million profit

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters — $175 million

Mama — $131 million profit

Now You See Me — $94 million profit

Evil Dead — $80 million profit

Warm Bodies — $79 million profit

After Earth — $68 million profit

Scary Movie 5 — $52 million

A Haunted House — $37.5 million profit

Movie 43 — $23 million