I decided to expand on what I was talking about in the Star Wars post, and apply it to every blockbuster in the past 35 years that made at least 5x the wide release average for its year of release. I think that this method leads to a number of interesting results.
So here are your exceptionally strong performances since 1982:
Code:
1980s
Title DOM BO Release Year / Avg wide rel BO Avg BO Mult.
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E.T. $359,197,037 1982 $33,212,941 10.81x
Tootsie $177,200,000 1982 $33,212,941 5.34x
Return of the Jedi $252,583,617 1983 $26,664,994 9.47x
Beverly Hills Cop $234,760,478 1984 $28,332,799 8.29x
Ghostbusters $229,242,989 1984 $28,332,799 8.09x
Temple of Doom $179,870,271 1984 $28,332,799 6.34x
Gremlins $148,168,459 1984 $28,332,799 5.23x
Back to the Future $210,609,762 1985 $24,258,606 8.68x
Rambo 2 $150,415,432 1985 $24,258,606 6.20x
Rocky 4 $127,873,716 1985 $24,258,606 5.27x
Top Gun $176,781,728 1986 $24,655,691 7.17x
Crocodile Dundee $174,803,506 1986 $24,655,691 7.09x
Three Men and a Baby $167,780,960 1987 $27,402,173 6.12x
Fatal Attraction $156,645,693 1987 $27,402,173 5.72x
Beverly Hills Cop II $153,665,036 1987 $27,402,173 5.61x
Platoon $138,530,565 1987 $27,402,173 5.06x
Rain Man $172,825,435 1988 $29,105,204 5.94x
Who Framed Roger Rabbit $156,452,370 1988 $29,105,204 5.38x
Batman $251,188,924 1989 $33,000,766 7.61x
The Last Crusade $197,171,806 1989 $33,000,766 5.97x
20 films made at least 5x the annual average from 1982-1989. Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark would have also made the list for this decade, but complete data for 1980-1981 doesn't exist to give a proper multiplier to either film. Both would have been over 8x though.
As you will see in the charts for the other decades, a greater than 10x yearly average multiplier is a once or twice in a decade event. E.T. was predictably the biggest film of the decade, followed by Return of Jedi.
Summary of the 80s:
- Films greater than 8x the annual wide release mean: 7
- Films greater than 7x the annual wide release mean: 10
- Films greater than 6x the annual wide release mean: 13
- Films greater than 5x the annual wide release mean: at least 22
- Non-Sequels on the list: 15 (68% of the list)
- Original Films (no remakes or existing franchises): 14 (64% of the list)
- Sci Fi and Fantasy films: 8
- Superhero Films: 1
Code:
1990s
Title DOM BO Release Year / Avg wide rel BO Avg BO Mult.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Home Alone $285,761,243 1990 $36,642,628 7.80x
Ghost $217,631,306 1990 $36,642,628 5.94x
Dances with Wolves $184,208,848 1990 $36,642,628 5.03x
Terminator 2 $204,843,345 1991 $32,776,183 6.25x
RH: Prince of Thieves $165,493,908 1991 $32,776,183 5.05x
Aladdin $217,350,219 1992 $36,199,432 6.00x
Jurassic Park $357,067,947 1993 $31,828,078 11.22x
Mrs Doubtfire $219,195,243 1993 $31,828,078 6.89x
The Fugitive $183,875,760 1993 $31,828,078 5.78x
Forrest Gump $329,694,499 1994 $34,833,770 9.46x
The Lion King $312,855,561 1994 $34,833,770 8.98x
Toy Story $191,796,233 1995 $33,671,473 5.70x
Batman Forever $184,031,112 1995 $33,671,473 5.47x
Apollo 13 $172,071,312 1995 $33,671,473 5.11x
Independence Day $306,169,268 1996 $36,176,594 8.46x
Twister $241,721,524 1996 $36,176,594 6.68x
Mission: Impossible $180,981,856 1996 $36,176,594 5.00x
Titanic $600,788,188 1997 $42,461,771 14.15x
Men in Black $250,690,539 1997 $42,461,771 5.90x
The Lost World $229,086,679 1997 $42,461,771 5.40x
Saving Private Ryan $216,540,909 1998 $43,842,668 4.94x
The Phantom Menace $431,088,295 1999 $49,150,921 8.77x
The Sixth Sense $293,506,292 1999 $49,150,921 5.97x
Toy Story 2 $245,852,179 1999 $49,150,921 5.00x
Titanic was the biggest over-performer in all 35 years examined. It's possible that Titanic was the biggest over-performer ever, but I don't have accurate first run numbers for Star Wars or a 1977 average to compare it to. Ditto for Jaws. Anything much earlier than that was in an era too different from the modern era to be all that comparable. Jurassic Park was also very strong, coming in third for the entire period.
1998 was the only year of the 35 that I examined that had no films hit the 5x wide release average multiplier. Saving Private Ryan was close, so I left it in.
We start to see the emergence of the modern sequel-heavy tentpole strategy at the end of the 90s. Even without a Titanic-sized outlier boosting the overall average by $3.5-4M, we continue to see the average gross for wide releases rise in 1998-1999.
Summary of the 90s:
- Films greater than 8x the annual wide release mean: 6
- Films greater than 7x the annual wide release mean: 7
- Films greater than 6x the annual wide release mean: 11
- Films greater than 5x the annual wide release mean: 23
- Non-Sequels on the list: 19 (83% of the list)
- Original Films (no remakes or existing franchises): 15 (65% of the list)
- Sci Fi and Fantasy films: 9
- Superhero Films: 1
Code:
2000s
Title DOM BO Release Year / Avg wide rel BO Avg BO Mult.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Grinch $260,044,825 2000 $48,984,150 5.31x
Harry Potter: SS $317,575,550 2001 $55,856,207 5.69x
Fellowship of the Ring $313,364,114 2001 $55,856,207 5.61x
Spider-man $403,706,375 2002 $57,563,869 7.01x
The Two Towers $339,789,881 2002 $57,563,869 5.90x
Attack of the Clones $302,191,252 2002 $57,563,869 5.25x
Return of the King $377,027,325 2003 $60,282,246 6.25x
Finding Nemo $339,714,978 2003 $60,282,246 5.64x
PotC: CotBP $305,413,918 2003 $60,282,246 5.07x
Shrek 2 $441,226,247 2004 $59,227,007 7.45x
Spider-man 2 $373,585,825 2004 $59,227,007 6.31x
Passion of the Christ $370,274,604 2004 $59,227,007 6.25x
Revenge of the Sith $380,270,577 2005 $54,579,849 6.97x
Narnia: tLtWatW $291,710,957 2005 $54,579,849 5.34x
Goblet of Fire $290,013,036 2005 $54,579,849 5.31x
Dead Man's Chest $423,315,812 2006 $50,886,999 8.32x
Spider-man 3 $336,530,303 2007 $49,880,317 6.75x
Shrek 3 $322,719,944 2007 $49,880,317 6.47x
Transformers $319,246,193 2007 $49,880,317 6.40x
At World's End $309,420,425 2007 $49,880,317 6.20x
Order of the Phoenix $292,004,738 2007 $49,880,317 5.85x
I Am Legend $256,393,010 2007 $49,880,317 5.14x
The Dark Knight $533,345,358 2008 $55,202,302 9.66x
Iron Man $318,412,101 2008 $55,202,302 5.77x
The Crystal Skull $317,101,119 2008 $55,202,302 5.74x
Avatar $749,766,139 2009 $69,099,350 10.85x
Revenge of the Fallen $402,111,870 2009 $69,099,350 5.82x
Avatar and The Dark Knight are the standouts from this decade. Avatar had the 4th biggest multiplier of the entire period, and TDK was 6th. The early 00s had a lot of strong performers outside of these lists, which probably made it harder for films to achieve the greater than 7x multipliers as frequently as in the 80s/90s, even though we are starting to see monster grosses happen more often.
The early 00s saw the release of several franchises that dominated these lists for about a decade. As such, we start to see a lot more sequels.
Summary of the 00s:
- Films greater than 8x the annual wide release mean: 3
- Films greater than 7x the annual wide release mean: 5
- Films greater than 6x the annual wide release mean: 13
- Films greater than 5x the annual wide release mean: 27
- Non-Sequels on the list: 12 (44% of the list)
- Original Films (no remakes or existing franchises): 6 (22% of the list)
- Sci Fi and Fantasy films: 25
- Superhero Films: 5
Code:
2010s
Title DOM BO Release Year / Avg wide rel BO Avg BO Mult.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Toy Story 3 $415,004,880 2010 $71,180,641 5.83x
Deathly Hallows Pt2 $381,011,219 2011 $66,489,763 5.73x
Dark of the Moon $352,390,543 2011 $66,489,763 5.30x
The Avengers $623,357,910 2012 $72,191,281 8.63x
The Dark Knight Rises $448,139,099 2012 $72,191,281 6.21x
The Hunger Games $408,010,692 2012 $72,191,281 5.65x
Catching Fire $424,668,047 2013 $72,374,829 5.87x
Iron Man 3 $409,013,994 2013 $72,374,829 5.65x
Frozen $400,738,009 2013 $72,374,829 5.54x
Despicable Me 2 $368,061,265 2013 $72,374,829 5.09x
Mockingjay Pt 1 $337,135,885 2014 $65,542,400 5.14x
Guard. of the Galaxy $333,176,600 2014 $65,542,400 5.08x
The Force Awakens $936,662,225 2015 $69,975,569 13.39x
Jurassic World $652,270,625 2015 $69,975,569 9.32x
Age of Ultron $459,005,868 2015 $69,975,569 6.56x
Inside Out $356,461,711 2015 $69,975,569 5.09x
Furious 7 $353,007,020 2015 $69,975,569 5.04x
American Sniper $350,126,372 2015 $69,975,569 5.00x
Rogue One $528,791,468 2016 $66,530,872 7.95x
Finding Dory $486,295,561 2016 $66,530,872 7.31x
CA: Civil War $408,084,349 2016 $66,530,872 6.13x
Secret Life of Pets $368,384,330 2016 $66,530,872 5.54x
The Jungle Book $364,001,123 2016 $66,530,872 5.47x
Deadpool $363,070,709 2016 $66,530,872 5.46x
Zootopia $341,268,248 2016 $66,530,872 5.13x
By the 2010s, audiences have firmly established that they like to see familiar things. The Force Awakens was the second biggest over-performer after Titanic, and probably the second or third most impressive box office run in nearly 4 decades depending on where you place E.T.'s run. Jurassic World and the Avengers were the other two standout films of the decade so far.
Most of the patterns that we saw in the 00s apply to this decade. Monster grosses in absolute dollars are more common, but the top heavy nature of the box office makes high multipliers relatively harder to achieve. Sci Fi and Fantasy (including superhero films) have dominated the box office for close to 2 decades now. I don't know if we'll ever see something like Tootsie or Beverly Hills Cop make one of these charts again. American Sniper was the biggest outlier since Passions of the Christ.
Summary of the 10s (so far):
- Films greater than 8x the annual wide release mean: 3
- Films greater than 7x the annual wide release mean: 5
- Films greater than 6x the annual wide release mean: 8
- Films greater than 5x the annual wide release mean: 25
- Non-Sequels on the list: 9* (36% of the list)
- Original Films (no remakes or existing franchises): 6 (24% of the list)
- Sci Fi and Fantasy films: 19
- Superhero Films: 7
*Guardians of the Galaxy was counted as a non-sequel, as it didn't feature any major characters from previous films. Avengers was counted as a sequel.