Luke Owen charts the biggest opening weekends of 2016…
It’s fair to say that 2016 has been rather disappointing in terms of the quality of movie delivered, and the biggest opening weekend for 2016 would have been fourth last year behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World and Avengers: Age of Ultron. With that said, there were eight films this year that opened to more than $100 million (compared to six last year and two the year before) meaning that the Top 10 of 2016 earned the same amount as the Top 10 of 2015 ($1.2 billion). So while the total box office might have been down year on year, it wasn’t by much.
One studio who won’t be too upset is Disney who have a whopping six movies in the Top 10 and another in the Top 20. Warner Bros. got two entries, but will likely be disappointed that a certain Wizarding World didn’t crack the upper echelon. Universal, who had four in the Top 10 last year, only managed one in 2016 which was – shock – an animated movie. Lionsgate, who had the top opening weekend of 2014 and the sixth spot in 2015 don’t have a single entry this year. In fact, their biggest opening was Boo! A Madea Halloween which came 38th (they did have two entries in the biggest flops of the year though).
The big story from this year’s box office weekends is that 40% of the Top 10 were based on comic book movies (only one last year), and 30% where animated (up 10% year on year). 80% where sequels, prequels, remakes or spin-offs while just two entries were an original story. When you go into the Top 20 there only two more in Moana and Trolls, and even then the latter was based on an existing property.
So let’s look at the biggest opening weekends of 2016, and those that just missed out.
1. Captain America: Civil War ($179 million)
2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million)
3. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($155 million)
4. Finding Dory ($135 million)
5. Suicide Squad ($133 million)
6. Deadpool ($132 million)
7. The Secret Life of Pets ($104 million)
8. The Jungle Book ($103 million)
9. Doctor Strange ($85 million)
10. Zootopia ($75 million)
And here’s what just missed out.
11. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them ($74 million)
12. X-Men: Apocalypse ($65 million)
13. Star Trek Beyond ($59 million)
14. Jason Bourne ($59 million)
15. Moana ($56 million)
16. Trolls ($46 million)
17. Ghostbusters ($46 million)
18. Kung Fu Panda 3 ($41 million)
19. Independence Day: Resurgence ($41 million)
20. The Conjuring 2 ($40 million)
Next year sees some huge releases in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Transformers: The Last Knight, War of the Planet of the Apes, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, The Mumm, Blade Runner 2049 and Star Wars: Episode VIII, so expect to see some of those – if not all – in the Top 10 of 2017.
Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth and the co-host of The Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @ThisisLukeOwen and read his weekly feature The Week in Star Wars.
Originally published December 29, 2016. Updated November 30, 2022.
