WORDS: EOIN MCCAGUE
In a summer that saw Iron Man suit up, Vin Diesel rev up and the crew of the Enterprise beam up, the biggest winner of the year was the future.
The 2013 summer season smacks of disappointment. Perhaps it was our fault, perhaps we had doomed it from the start. After all, what could follow up the vintage 2012 season, the Mecca for film nerds, where we flocked in droves to see a rebooted Spider-Man, a fully assembled Avengers and the conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy?
And yet shockingly, 2013 will go down as the biggest summer in American movie history. Amassing $4.76 billion at the domestic box office, 2013 leapfrogs 2011’s record of $4.4 billion. Even taking into account the fact that movie ticket prices have risen significantly due to inflation and 3D, 2013 did well, with more tickets sold than in any summer since 2007.
As we turn toward the winter months and new releases from McQueen, Scorsese and the Coen brothers it is only proper for film fans to do what we do best — yes, that time has inevitably come, to cast a critical eye back, to separate the men from the boys, the winners from the losers. The answers may surprise you.
HORROR
The horror genre has sadly played third fiddle to the superhero and sci-fi fare in recent years, leaving a small (but vocal) online fan base to talk up releases such as The Collection, Piranha 3DD, The Cabin in the Woods and a variety of other gems you passed over on your way to Spider-Man. There have been some breakout surprises before (2011’s Insidious comes to mind, scaring up a $97 million gross on a $1.5 million budget) but, for a while at least, it was looking like the monsters in the closet would remain hidden. 2013 changed all that. The Purge kicked off the season earning a whopping $34 million on opening weekend, raking in eleven times its budget. Not to be outdone, James Wan (of Insidious fame) dominated the conversation in July with The Conjuring. Originally slated for release in January, outstanding test scores persuaded Warner Bros executives to gift the $20 million budgeted haunted house flick a prime July slot. Their faith was rewarded in spades, the film taking $41 million on opening weekend and grossing $220 million worldwide while winning critics over (with a striking 86% ‘Fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes). Honourable mentions are also due to V/H/S/ 2 and You’re Next — both the found footage anthology and the tongue-in-cheek slasher delivered strong box office stands proportional to their budget and were both praised by critics.
The horror genre’s success is intriguing. Commonly perceived as a whipping boy for critics, 2013’s offerings showed that even the snootiest of buffs could get behind a good scare. But other, more alarming, factors could hint as to the genre’s good fortune. Professor Dixon at the University of Nebraska points to running time. “No one talks much about this, but a theater can schedule twice as many showings and make more money with a shorter film,” he writes. “I would say a lot of the films that didn’t do well this year were overlong.” 2013’s notorious flops The Lone Ranger and Pacific Rim ran 149 and 131 minutes respectively. In contrast The Purge and The Conjuring ran 84 and 105 minutes each, allowing many more showings a day.
A-LIST STARS
Once all you had do was slap John Wayne or Audrey Hepburn on a poster to guarantee seats to asses. While The Robert Downey Jr Show (Iron Man 3) does stand as the highest grossing film of the year ($1.2 billion), 2013 surprisingly showed that we don’t have the time of day for other cemented A-listers such as Will Smith, Ryan Reynolds, Owen Wilson, Channing Tatum, Matt Damon and Johnny Depp. After Earth, the project Smith picked over Django Unchained, crash-landed to shocking reviews and an atrocious box office in early June over rumours of nepotism. Audiences continued to shun the buddy cop genre with both The Lone Ranger (which lost Disney $150 million) and White House Down (with reported losses of $50 million for Sony) bombing. Damon’s Elysium resonated with critics but analysts point to its overtly political tone as its reason for only limping past its reported $115 million price tag. Meanwhile Reynolds continued his descent into insignificance with R.I.P.D. and Turbo. Our starlets fared better, commercially if not critically. Sandra Bullock’s The Heat proved that Bridesmaids’s charm and smarts do not automatically repeat if you put the painfully unfunny Melissa McCarthy in front of Paul Feig’s camera. Audiences didn’t seem to mind, with the film taking well over $200 million worldwide. Jennifer Aniston seems to have broken her post-Friends curse as We’re the Millers became the first genuine hit of her career, taking in $180 million on a $37 million budget. Only one star emerged truly victorious in every respect: Brad Pitt. His World War Z was pre sold as a disaster. The trades informed us how Pitt and director Marc Foster feuded on set constantly. Co-writers were brought in at the 11th our, which led to costly reshoots and a ballooning budget. Thanks to a grassroots publicity tour spearheaded personally by Pitt, who would attend multiple small, regional word-of-mouth screenings, Z was pushed into the black against all odds, finally becoming Pitt’s highest grossing hit of all time at $535 million. Critics also managed to find a pulse in the zombie epic, with some praising the production and Paramount’s treatment of the property and Pitt as a fitting throwback to to both the lean smarts of ’70s studio making and the ’30s star system.
COMING OF AGE FILMS
Where was 2013’s surprise breakout hit? While previous summers have seen the likes of Midnight in Paris, Moonrise Kingdom and Beasts of the Southern Wild opening to rave reviews and calls for expansion, comparatively, 2013’s indie winners were released in the first quarter of the year with features such as Mud and The Place Beyond the Pines taking around $21 million each domestically. A lot of faith was placed in Harvey Weinstein’s excellent Fruitvale Station to be the socially conscious liberal smash of the summer, but it’s $15 million gross indicates otherwise. Despite this, one independent genre saw a massive resurgence thanks to a cluster of fantastic up-andcoming filmmakers. Coming of age stories dominated the conversation early on with Jordan Vogt-Robert’s The Kings of Summer earning high marks at Sundance before opening to a respectable box office in June. Everybody’s favourite Dean (Jim Rash) kept the ball rolling in July with The Way Way Back. Grossing $23 million worldwide, the bittersweet comedy proved another vehicle for Steve Carell to show his range. August proved the kicker when James Ponsoldt’s astonishing The Spectacular Now stunned moviegoers and critics alike. The charming teen romance (with the best screenplay of the year) boasts an incredible 93% on Rotten Tomatoes with many critics baying for (deserved) Oscar nominations for the heartbreaking performances of its young leads – Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. An honourable mention is due to the recent Short Term 12. The Brie Larson-fronted indie drama stands at 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite no massive commercial breakouts, the number of critically regarded entries meant we were spoilt for choice in this genre.
2015
In a summer that saw Iron Man suit up, Vin Diesel rev up and the crew of the Enterprise beam up, the biggest winner of the year was the future. 2015 in particular. Two years from now we will be composing retrospectives on a season that will yield (hold your breath), The Fantastic Four, Ted 2, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jurassic World, Assassin’s Creed, Terminator 5, Independence Day 2, Batman vs Superman and AntMan with Bond 24 and Star Wars 7 left to close out the winter months. It seemed the entire summer was filled with poring over the casting rumours and tidbits that trickled down from Comic Con and D23 concerning 2015’s releases. It’s likely that many film fans longed to forget the disappointment of 2013, skip over the meagre pickings of 2014 and wake up in 2015 to find themselves in what can only be described as a movie lover’s nirvana. Count me in.
So what can we (or more importantly, Hollywood) learn from all of this? That sequels are a sure fire thing (Fast 6, Iron Man 3, Monsters University)? That families will still turn out in droves for anything animated (Despicable Me 2, The Croods)? That original properties should be avoided (Pacific Rim)?
Or that Brad Pitt, because he is Brad Pitt, will always be a winner.
