Top Performers for 2007 & A Look at 2008

By: Jarrod Sarafin, News Editor
Date: Wednesday, January 02, 2008

As most people inside the industry wrap up their holiday vacations, I’ll pass along the closing Box Office Report of the 2007 year... and what a year it has been. The industry as a whole clearly topped its previous year and foreign distribution has become as vital, if not more, than the domestic distribution for some of these top performers. Sony had the best international marketing strategy for Spider-Man 3 back in May and that shows in the film coming in 1^st place for the year of 2007.

Of the top performers for this last year, we had 27 different films cross the domestically-distributed 100 million plateaus for their studios, Evan Almighty being in 27^th place. Of those particular films, 9 crossed the 200 million mark and 4 crossed the 300 million mark.

In comparisons to the previous year, only 19 films crossed the 100 mil mark in 2006. Of those 19 flicks, just 6 films crossed 200 and only 1 film crossed 250+ million in sales, that film being Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men’s Chest with 423.5 mil in domestic receipts.

As I say, the studios clearly did much better in 2007 and we still have some films going strong such as I Am Legend, Alvin and the Chipmunks and National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Paramount & Dreamworks also plans to release Sweeney Todd in wide distribution on January 11. Basically, we still have a good month to go before 2007 films officially close their books and yet they’ve performed well past expectations at the box office this past year.

In market share value, the studios combined for 9.310 billion in box office revenue for 2007, up from 2006’s 9.210 million. The biggest earner of the studios was Paramount and Dreamworks, taking in 15.9% of the annual gross with 1.479 billion, which says their 2006 merger has obviously paid off. Of the top 3 performers of 2007, they own 2 of the spots.

What about the individual record holders for 2007? Well, here they are…As you can imagine, one film (Spider-Man 3) rules most of them and half the records revolve around the films unbelievable theatrical release strategy by Sony, both here in the states and worldwide.

Domestic Opening Record:

Spider-Man 3= 151.1 mil

Foreign Opening Record:

Spider-Man 3= 230.5 mil

Worldwide Opening Record:

Spider-Man 3= 381.6 mil

Summer Season Opener:

Spider-Man 3= 151.1 mil

May Opener:

Spider-Man 3=151.1 mil

August Opener:

The Bourne Ultimatum= 69.2 mil

President’s Day Opener:

Ghost Rider= 52.0 mil

4-Day Grosses:

Spider-Man 3= 161.4 mil

3-Day Grosses:

Spider-Man 3=151.1 mil

Fastest to 100 mil:

Spider-Man 3= 2 days

Opening Day:

Spider-Man 3= 59.8 mil

Friday Grosses:

Spider-Man 3= 59.9 mil

Saturday Grosses:

Spider-Man 3= 51.3 mil

Sunday Grosses:

Spider-Man 3= 39.9 mil

With the record holders covered, let’s look at the individual numbers for the top 30 Domestic Box Office Earners of 2007.

Rank	Movie	Opening	Theaters	Domestic	Foreign	Worldwide	Budget
1	Spider-Man 3	151.1 mil	4,252	336.5	554.3	890.8 mil	258
2	Shrek the Third	121.6 mil	4,122	321.0	475.0	796.0 mil	160
3	Transformers	70.5 mil	4,011	319.0	387.2	706.2 mil	150
4	POTC: At World’s End	114.7 mil	4,362	309.4	651.5	961.0 mil	300
5	Order of the Phoenix	77.1 mil	4,285	292.0	646.4	938.4 mil	150
6	Bourne Ultimatum	69.2 mil	3,660	227.4	213.6	441.1 mil	110
7	300	70.8 mil	3,103	210.6	245.4	456.0 mil	65
8	Ratatouille	47.0 mil	3,940	206.4	408.9	615.4 mil	150
9	I Am Legend	77.2 mil	3,606	205.0	61.3	266.3 mil	N/A
10	The Simpsons Movie	74.0 mil	3,922	183.1	342.4	525.5 mil	75
11	Wild Hogs	38.6 mil	3,287	168.2	84.5	252.8 mil	N/A
12	Alvin and the Chipmunks	44.3 mil	3,475	154.5	2.7	157.2 mil	60
13	Knocked Up	30.6 mil	2,871	148.7	70.0	218.8 mil	30
14	National Treasure: Book of Secrets	44.7 mil	3,832	143.8	59.8	203.6 mil	N/A
15	Rush Hour 3	49.1 mil	3,778	140.1	114.8	254.9 mil	140
16	Live Free or Die Hard	33.3 mil	3,408	134.5	247.5	382.1 mil	110
17	FF:Rise of the Silver Surfer	58.0 mil	3,959	131.9	156.4	288.3 mil	130
18	American Gangster	43.5 mil	3,054	129.0	54.9	183.9 mil	100
19	Bee Movie	38.0 mil	3,928	123.5	78.7	202.2 mil	150
20	Superbad	33.0 mil	2,948	121.4	47.5	168.9 mil	20
21	I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry	34.2 mil	3,495	119.7	65.7	185.4 mil	85
22	Hairspray	27.4 mil	3,121	118.8	81.2	200.1 mil	N/A
23	Blades of Glory	33.0 mil	3,372	118.2	26.2	144.5 mil	61
24	Ocean’s Thirteen	36.1 mil	3,565	117.1	194.1	311.3 mil	N/A
25	Ghost Rider	45.3 mil	3,619	115.8	112.9	228.7 mil	110
26	Enchanted	34.4 mil	3,730	113.8	54.3	168.1 mil	N/A
27	Evan Almighty	31.1 mil	3,604	100.2	72.9	173.2 mil	185
28	Meet the Robinsons	25.1 mil	3,413	97.8	61.6	159.4 mil	N/A
29	Norbit	34.1 mil	3,136	95.3	63.3	158.6 mil	60
30	The Game Plan	22.9 mil	3,103	88.6	16.4	105.1 mil	N/A

So, there you have it. Those are the Top Domestic Earners of 2007 at the box office. Obviously, some of those films will be moving up a few rankings as the month of January ticks off the calendar. Enchanted is still in theaters as is I Am Legend, National Treasure 2 and Alvin and the Chipmunks so expect all of these films to move up in their respective slots.

The question now becomes: Will 2008 top 2007 at the box office?

There can be no question we have some big tent poles on the horizon for 2008 but will they combine to make a better year?

Here’s a look at some of those films getting released in 2008

Key films in the first few months:

1/18/08: Cloverfield

1/25/08: Rambo

2/1/08: The Eye

2/08/08: The Poughkeepsie Tapes

2/15/08: The Spiderwick Chronicles

Jumper

3/07/08: 10,000 BC

3/14/08: Horton Hears a Who

3/21/08: Inkheart