2018 was a big year at the box office. It wasn’t just blockbusters likeInfinity WarandBlack Pantherthat took off, but horror films likeA Quiet PlaceandHalloween, romantic comedies likeCrazy Rich Asians, and even documentaries (!) performed extremely well. It wasn’t all great news, of course—each year has its share of box office bombs, and 2018 was no different. But as we head into the final days of 2018, I wanted to look back at some of the biggest box office surprises of the year. Stories that maybe flew a bit under or the radar, or are simply worth repeating. So let’s dig into the biggest box office surprises of 2018.
‘Black Panther’ Outgrosses ‘Infinity War’ Domestically
As the culmination event for Marvel Studios,Avengers: Infinity Waris the biggest MCU movie ever made. It has nearlyallthe heroes together in one filmandit boasts one heck of a cliffhanger that proved genuinely shocking. And whileInfinity Warwas certainly a monster box office hit, grossing over $2 billion worldwide, one of the biggest Marvel stories of the year actually wasn’tInfinity War, it wasBlack Panther.
Indeed,Ryan Coogler’s film came out in February and served as a bit of a prelude to the meal that would come with April’sInfinity War. However, when all was said and done,Black Pantherended up making more money domestically than the hugeAvengerssequel—$700 million toInfinity War’s $678.8 million. Now sure, both of those numbers are massive and it’s really not a huge difference between the two, but when you stop to consider that a superhero movie with a nearly all-black cast set in Africa made more money domestically than the superhero sequel withallthe heroes in it, that’s incredible. And it’s a testament to just how big of a zeitgeist momentBlack Pantherwas.
‘Incredibles 2’ Becomes the Highest-Grossing Pixar Film of All Time
Pixar movies make a lot of money, especially the sequels.Finding Dorygrossed over $1 billion worldwide versusFinding Nemo’s $940 million andMonsters Universitypulled in $744 million worldwide versusMonsters Inc’s $577 million. But not sinceToy Story 3has a sequel performed as spectacularly asIncredibles 2. FilmmakerBrad Bird’sThe Incredibleswas a sizeable hit for Pixar in 2004, grossing $633 million worldwide. But few could have guessed the sequelIncredibles 2would not only improve on that number, but nearly double it with a whopping $1.2 billion. That makesIncredibles 2the highest-grossing Pixar film of all time, surpassingToy Story 3’s $1.03 billion. Wow.
‘Solo’ Fails to Crack $400 Million Worldwide
For all of Disney’s successes in 2018, they certainly had at least one major misfire:Solo: A Star Wars Story. The debate rages on over whether the film’s underperformance was due to its release date, the production drama, or even justStar Warsfatigue, but the fact remains that at $392.9 million worldwide, this was the lowest worldwide gross for aStar Warsmovie ever. Now sure, nearly $400 million is nothing to scoff at, but when you consider the film probably cost $200 million alone not including P&A, that’s uh… not great, Bob. Especially given thatThe Force Awakens,Rogue One, andThe Last Jediall grossed over $1 billion worldwide.
Even domestically,Solodidn’t do so hot. OnlyThe Empire Strikes Backhas a lower domestic gross, and that’s before accounting for inflation. So yes, it’s safe to say thatSolowas somewhat disastrous for Lucasfilm and Disney, and this misfire stands as the least successful—financially speaking—Star Warsfilm ever made.
‘Fallout’ Becomes the Highest-Grossing ‘Mission: Impossible’ Movie Ever
A franchise film that didnotdisappoint wasMission: Impossible – Fallout, which was not only one of the most critically acclaimed films in the franchise, but actually managed to top the box office for the entire series. At $791 million worldwide, the film easily cleared the previous record set byMission: Impossible – Ghost Protocolwith $694 million worldwide, and it finally toppedMission: Impossible II’s record $215 million domestic gross, which was previously the franchise best (Falloutscored $220 million domestic). For a series that’s now on its sixth film, and which still maintainsTom Cruiseas its leading man over two decades later, that’s spectacular.
‘Venom’ Outgrosses ‘Wonder Woman’
The first trailers forVenomwere mocked pretty widely all over the notoriously good-natured and super polite World Wide Web, but in the end it was the murderous symbiote himself who had the last laugh. Audiences ateVenomup, making Sony Pictures’ first non-Spider-ManSpider-Manmovie a rousing success. The film grossed a towering $851 million worldwide, with 75% of that total coming from international audiences. And while the film’s $212 million domestic total may be on the slightly low end for superhero blockbusters (Wonder Womangrossed $412 million domestic), in China alone,Venomhas grossed over $260 million. Bring on the sequels, I suppose.
‘The Nutcracker’ Bombed and No One Noticed Because Disney
When all is said and done, Disney will haveat leastfive slots in the Top 10 highest grossing films of 2018. But it’s a testament to their dominance that the studio also had one hefty bomb this year and no one seemed to notice.The Nutcracker and the Four Realmsopened in early November under a flurry of strange buzz—production troubles led to the unique circumstance oftwo separate directors being credited on the film. But this was Disney, after all, andThe Nutcrackeris a timeless family story, so surely the film would do fine. Not so, as it turns out. Mostly negative reviews didn’t help the film’s perceived lack of interest, and it opened with just $20 million, dropping over 50% in its second weekend and pretty much bottoming out after that.
At $140 million worldwide,The Nutcracker and the Four Realmsis one of Disney’s lowest grossing films in years, especially considering the cost. And yet, because Disney is Disney, it was able to weather the disappointment of what was supposed to be a huge holiday hit.Nutcrackerwhat? All eyes are now on the buzzworthyMary Poppins Returns, which is poised to make a ton of cash. Thank u, next.
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Keeps Going and Going
While some of the films on this list broke out with gigantic opening weekends, the success ofCrazy Rich Asianswas impressive in a different way. The romantic comedy opened above expectations at $34 million for a five-day weekend, which was incredibly solid—especially for the first Asian-led studio film sinceThe Joy Luck Club. ButCrazy Rich Asianswas a true word-of-mouth hit, as the film only dropped 5.7% in its second weekend—a number that’s basically unheard of. Then it just kept going and going, dropping only another 10% in its third weekend and crossing the $110 million domestic mark.
When all was said and done, this delightful romcom topped out at $237.9 million worldwide, with a hefty $173.9 million of that coming from the domestic haul. And all of this against a budget of just $30 million.Crazy Rich Asiansis proof positive that there’s more than one way for a film to be a smashing success.
‘Halloween’ Becomes the Highest-Grossing ‘Halloween’ Film
Reboots and sequels and remakes are all the rage, butDavid Gordon Green’sHalloweenwas the rare real deal. A“legacyquel”to a beloved horror classic that pleased fans and critics alike,andmade tons of money. Indeed, Blumhouse kept the costs low on the newHalloweenjust as they do on all of their projects, and it paid off to the tune of a whopping $252.9 million worldwide. That’s not only the highest-grossingHalloweenmovie ever made, it’s the first to ever crack $100 million! So yeah, expect more sequels.
‘Suspiria’ and ‘The Little Stranger’ Wildly Underperformed
While 2018 was a great year for horror overall, it wasn’t all good news. One of the biggest box office bombs of the year was Amazon Studios’Suspiriaremake, which is surprising considering this was the next film fromLuca Guadagnino, a filmmaker who just a year ago was front and center in the Oscar race withCall Me by Your Name. But divisive reviews and the film’s artfulness didn’t seem to help matters, as the movie opened terrifically in limited release on its first weekend, but positively bombed when it eventually expanded wider. How badly didSuspiriado, you ask? The film’s worldwide total is a paltry $4.4 million. That’s it.
It’s a shame too, asSuspiriais also one of the year’s most interesting films, packed with terrific performances and somereallyambitious filmmaking. But alas, the film opened in the wake of the more traditional horror filmHalloweenand audiences just were not at all interested. Like,at all.
Amazon certainly tried its best with a robust and arresting marketing strategy, but the same can’t be said of another horror film from an Oscar-nominated filmmaker:The Little Stranger. This ghost story was the next film fromRoomdirectorLenny Abrahamson, but for whatever reason, it was pretty much completely buried by Focus Features. Reviews were embargoed until the day before the movie hit theaters, which is usually a sign that it’s a stinker. But the reviews weren’t terrible, simply a bit mixed, and the late embargo drained any potential buzz that could have led people to see this thing. Indeed, this one fared even worse thanSuspiria, asThe Little Strangergrossed only $1.8 million worldwide, with a domestic haul of just $713,143. It was in theaters domestically for just three weeks before being pulled. Nowthat’sghosting.
‘First Man’ Crashed and Burned
First Manwas supposed to bea thing. The next film from Oscar-winningLa La LanddirectorDamien Chazelle, starringRyan Goslingas American hero Neil Armstrong, with the U.S.’s mission to the moon brought to life in stunning detail. And yet, the film didn’t make much of a mark at all. Against a reported budget of $59 million,First Mangrossed only $44 million domestic and tapped out with a worldwide total just barely over $100 million. Compared to the $355 million worldwide gross ofApollo 13or the $723 million haul ofGravity, that misses the mark pretty heavily.
The film had mostly solid reviews and was considered an early Oscar favorite (not so much anymore, though), but Universal didn’t expect October to be such a bloodbath movie-wise.A Star Is Bornopened one week beforeFirst Manand was an instant sensation, scoring major box office weekend after weekend. Additionally, films likeVenomandHalloweenturned out to be huge hits in October. Audiences only have so much money to spend on movies in a given month, and when presented with these options versus the serious biopic tone ofFirst Man, they went the “entertain me” route. Unfortunately,First Mannever really recovered.
