Ahna O'Reilly (seated at left), Viola Davis (standing), Bryce Dallas Howard (seated at center) and Emma Stone appear in The Help
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Hollywood Owns the World
834-2522: that's not a phone number; it's the summer's top seven films, in global gross, designated by how deep into sequels each movie is. Potter 8 — or, if you insist, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 — conquered the domestic, international and wizarding worlds to become, in inflated dollars, the third highest-grossing film of all time. Transformers 3, a.k.a. Dark of the Moon, is the fifth highest, and Pirates 4 (…of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) the eighth. All three pictures cracked $1 billion at the worldwide box office, assuring the continuation of fantasy franchises with needlessly wordy titles.
For some movies, especially animated features, foreign revenue can save face and make hundreds of millions. Domestically, Cars 2 was the lowest-grossing, in real or inflated dollars, of Pixar's 12 features; its overseas earnings of $351.7 million justified, in business terms, John Lasseter's decision to transport the setting of his auto show from the rural American West to Europe and beyond. The Smurfs has already taken in more than twice as much money abroad as at home; and Kung Fu Panda 2, which in North America earned $50 million less than the original Panda, made $70 million more in foreign climes. Feature cartoons are expensive to produce, but when they work, they're golden.
In North America, revenue may be flatlining and attendance slouching. But the offshore market is expanding, nearly exploding, as giant populations in India, China and elsewhere join the middle class and discover the burly joys of the popular art form Hollywood created and still dominates. Consider that the list of domestic box-office champs (see previous page) and that of worldwide winners (below) share nine of 10 titles, that people all over the planet pay to see the same kinds of films, and that every one of these is made or financed by the Hollywood studios. Those facts may discourage film lovers who wish for a more vital diversity of movies — maybe even a few not in English — but they ought to buoy American moguls. They are, as they have long been, kings of the world and sultans of the movie summer.
Here are the season's global winners — each with domestic gross, foreign gross and worldwide total, respectively — in millions (m) of dollars, as reported by Box Office Mojo:
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, $374.6m (domestic) + $937m (foreign) = $1,311.6m
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon, $350.3m + $762.2m = $1,112.5m
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, $240.5m + $798.5m = $1,039m
4. Kung Fu Panda 2, $164.7m + $485.5 = $650.2m
5. Fast Five, $209.8m + $397.1m = $606.9m
6. The Hangover Part II, $254.3m + $327m = $581.3m
7. Cars 2, $189.1m + $351.7m = $540.8m
8. Thor, $181m + $267.5m = $448.5m
9. The Smurfs, $128m + $295.8m = $427.8m
10. X-Men: First Class, $146.2m + $206.2m = $352.4m