4 replies to this topic

[ShawnMR]

Full Article: http://www.boxoffice...-fantasy-part-2

On Monday, we dissected the recent and upcoming slate of fantasy movies that have generated some of Hollywood's big bucks over the past decade. With most of the big franchises having ended and/or peaked for now, fantasy has some competition from its younger sibling: science fiction. While many fans of the two genres crossover, 2013 is poised to showcase the financial potential of sci-fi better than ever.

We can pinpoint sci-fi's current era of ascension in 2009. No, not just with Avatar--but that's playing an influential role of its own. Rather, until May of that year it was nigh unfathomable (outside of the film's creators) that a Star Trek movie could ever be a blockbuster player at the box office. J.J. Abrams' reboot of the franchise became exactly that, excelling in a creative arena where some critics feel that the Star Wars prequels (a hybrid of fantasy and sci-fi themselves) didn't between 1999 and 2005.

Later in the summer of 2009, director Neil Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson further broke the mold with District 9. That R-rated sci-fi flick became one of the biggest sleeper hits in recent memory despite its fairly esoteric subject matter that probably would have doomed it to "development hell"--or, at best, direct-to-video life--in the 1980s and 90s.

James Cameron then returned to the genre he helped shape with Aliens and the Terminatorfranchise by delivering the biggest earner in box office history. Again. As the movie that ignited the 3D craze and sparked the next step in CG effects, Avatar's success speaks for itself.

2010 saw Christopher Nolan bend audiences' minds with Inception--another high concept sci-fi story that, had it been more ahead of its time, may not have found the same commercial embrace. It became a poster movie for water cooler talk. Even 2010's Tron: Legacy, while not quite the domestic blockbuster Disney hoped for, was a modest success compared to 1982's more humble, cult-driven Tron. (A third film is officially in the works.)

The last couple of years have been more quiet on the sci-fi front other than last year's Prometheus, a modest domestic performer with slightly stronger overseas results.

But 2013 is set to bring the genre back in a huge way...

[CJohn]

If Gravity and Ender's Game are being counted as high profile for sci-fi, then I am not sure why Percy Jackson 2, Beautiful Creatures, Mortal Instruments and Seventh Son aren't for fantasy.

Edited by CJohn, 23 January 2013 - 10:20 AM.

[stuart360]

I remember people used to talk about this back on Mojo and i never understood it then. Look at the top 50 biggest films list and its full of Sci Fi films, look at most years and 1 or more sci-fi film will be up there with the biggest films of the year and its been like that since Star Wars more or less!.

You see people on here say things like "'x' film won't make 'x' amount because its a sci-fi film" and i'm like wtf?.

Sci-Fi films make just as much money as any other genre, more so for big summer blockbusters.

[Neo]

Elysium will be this year's D9 with some extra money to be made.

PAC RIM could do Inception numbers.

Nothing will touch Avatar

Oblivion could breakout but nothing major.

AE will do 100M+ but not much more.

Ender's Game will struggle to find an audience as will Gravity, but should both break the 100M barrier.

[ShawnMR]

If Gravity and Ender's Game are being counted as high profile for sci-fi, then I am not sure why Percy Jackson 2, Beautiful Creatures, Mortal Instruments and Seventh Son aren't for fantasy.

MI is more of a hybrid film, not strictly fantasy. Seventh Son and Percy were mentioned in the fantasy article on Monday but the general consensus so far is that neither have the kind box office potential that Oz and/or Jack could. Beautiful Creatures looks like Dark Shadows with an even smaller audience...

Edited by ShawnMR, 23 January 2013 - 10:50 AM.