As someone who has spent years immersed in the ever-evolving world of cinema, I must say that November 2012 was indeed a golden month for Hollywood. The box office performances of films like Skyfall, Lincoln, and Life of Pi were nothing short of spectacular, shattering expectations and setting new benchmarks. Having witnessed the ups and downs in the industry, I can attest to the fact that such blockbuster successes are not mere flukes but rather the culmination of tireless effort, innovative storytelling, and a dash of good fortune.
As we count down the days till the spooktacular arrival of Gay Christmas, or as it’s more commonly known, Halloween, I can feel the anticipation in the air! People are really getting into the spirit, filling every corner of October with horror flicks, sweet treats, and inventive costumes that could put any professional costume designer to shame.
Even though there are more holidays approaching, I’m peeking out from under a pile of images featuring queer women emulating Demi Moore in “The Substance” and looking forward to what the rest of the year holds. After all, I’m multifaceted – a bimbo, a leftist, and a true fan of Wu-Tang Clan. However, I’m also a movie enthusiast who follows box office trends. November and December typically provide plenty to discuss in terms of box office performance. In good years, these months have contributed over $2 billion individually to the annual domestic box office. People need movies to watch during their time off, especially holiday-themed blockbusters like “Avatar” or “Twilight”, which often make these months incredibly profitable. To illustrate this point, just look at November 2012, which holds the record for the highest-grossing November ever at the domestic box office.
One thing to clarify: when discussing the gross earnings for movies released in November 2012, I’m referring to the revenue they generated during that specific month. If I mention their total domestic box office grosses, I will make a point to specify that. Otherwise, we are solely focusing on the money these films made within the 30-day span of November 2012, as indicated by this Box Office Mojo chart.
In a groundbreaking event, November 2012 broke the record by earning $1.09 billion domestically, a previously unheard-of figure. So, how did this milestone come about? The explanation lies in the current trends of the film industry. In today’s market, the debut of a massive blockbuster usually pushes other films aside. Major movies often open solo on their premiere weekend and encounter minimal competition in the subsequent two weeks following their release. This pattern is due to the fact that major studios now produce fewer films per year, thereby reducing opportunities for counterprogramming. Additionally, studios are cautious about being overshadowed by the latest Marvel, DC, or Star Wars film.
2024’s October month unveiled a risky side to this strategy. With very few films scheduled for release, nothing was able to make up for the fact that Joker: Folie a Deux and Venom: The Last Dance fell short of expectations. Previously, the high performance of The Fault in our Stars could counterbalance the underperformance of Edge of Tomorrow during the same weekend. However, that situation no longer applies.
In November of 2012, the animated family film “Wreck-It Ralph” and the R-rated drama “Flight,” starring Denzel Washington, both premiered on the same day. The next week saw the release of “Skyfall” in theaters, with “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part Two” following a week later. “Lincoln” was also released, which turned out to be a massive sleeper hit, earning $74.2 million just in that month. Over Thanksgiving weekend, “Life of Pi,” “Rise of the Guardians,” and “Red Dawn” all made their debuts, catering to diverse audiences. During this same holiday period, “Silver Linings Playbook” began playing in over 300 locations, marking a successful start to its extended box office run.
Check out the vast array of films available in today’s marketplace! It’s amazing how a film like Lincoln, released on the same day as the final Twilight movie, seems almost alien. This was just two years after it became evident that mid-budget Hollywood movies were starting to decline. For instance, when the penultimate Hunger Games film opened without any new major studio releases competing against it. In 2016, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them didn’t have any significant competition from major studios (The Edge of Seventeen and Bleed for This were released by independent labels instead). However, theater owners truly benefited from the variety back in 2012 over the pre-Thanksgiving frame. The final lucrative Twilight movie grossed $138 million AND the wide release of Lincoln made $21 million – now that’s a unique idea!
In the same context, the film “Skyfall” earned an additional $41.1 million in the market, much like “Twister” releasing prior to “Deadpool & Wolverine” this year. Similar to how “Skyfall” and “Breaking Dawn – Part Two” were released together, these movies showcased the benefits of launching vastly distinct blockbusters simultaneously. The more mature-themed “Skyfall” harmoniously shared the stage with the teen-centric “Breaking Dawn.” This adaptability is a strategy modern movie studios might want to emulate. It’s no surprise then that November 16-18, 2012 ranked as the second-highest domestic weekend of 2012, trailing only behind May 2012’s opening weekend when “The Avengers” set a new domestic opening weekend record.
In November 2012, films that carried over from October, such as “Argo,” significantly boosted the month’s box office earnings. These carryover films were particularly beneficial in offsetting the less successful new releases like “The Man with the Iron Fists.” Even though “Argo” had been in theaters for three weekends before November started, it still managed to become the eighth highest-grossing movie of the month with a total of $35.2 million. This might seem small compared to the overall gross of November 2012, but it was still a substantial amount, almost equaling the combined contributions of newcomers like “Life of Pi” and “Rise of the Guardians,” which made most of their domestic earnings in December 2012. Furthermore, popular fall 2012 releases such as “Taken 2,” “Cloud Atlas,” “Hotel Transylvania,” “Here Comes the Boom,” and “Pitch Perfect” each contributed more than $10 million to November’s box office. Combined, these high-grossing carryover films from fall 2012 accounted for approximately $100 million of the total earnings for the month.
In contrast to November 2018, this year’s November has seen a different trend. Back in October 2018, only three films – “A Star is Born”, “Halloween”, and “Venom” – remained from that month into November 2018. To make things worse, no holdovers from the fall of 2017 contributed more than $17.1 million to November 2017’s box office earnings. This is not a common occurrence for films initially released in the fall to significantly boost November’s domestic box office revenue. However, this was the case in November 2012, which saw an impressive increase due to this trend. Moreover, that year’s November offerings included family-friendly movies like “Wreck-It Ralph”, “Rise of the Guardians”, and “Life of Pi”, which benefited from holidays such as Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving, making them popular choices for families looking to get out of the house.
Let’s rewind briefly to November 2012, and let’s take a look at the number of new movies that premiered in cinemas that month. In total, there were 13 new wide-release films, with seven of them being either produced by or distributed through large studios like MGM, Disney, etc. The remaining six were brought to you by independent labels such as Lionsgate/Summit, The Weinstein Company, and FilmDistrict. In retrospect, the impressive box office earnings from November 2012 may have served as a subtle foreshadowing of the future, where major Hollywood studios would release fewer new movies. Interestingly enough, several big-studio releases in this month were technically considered “independent” productions, such as Skyfall, which was produced by MGM, Lincoln, distributed by Disney and originally from DreamWorks SKG, and Rise of the Guardians, the last animated project distributed by Paramount that originated from DreamWorks.
Despite the successes of films like Skyfall and Lincoln, their production houses, MGM and DreamWorks SKG, were financially strained and inconsistent in delivering box office hits. The impressive box office performances of November 2012 could be seen as a fortunate stroke of luck given the challenging production processes for both films. This was a sign that fewer and fewer studios were powering the Hollywood machine, a trend that would become more pressing over time. Independent labels such as STX Entertainment and Open Road Films faced difficulties, and this issue would worsen in subsequent years with the collapse of studios like STX Entertainment and Open Road Films. The corporate consolidation of 2020, which resulted in the elimination of studios like Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox (which each produced around 18-22 new theatrical movies annually), further aggravated this situation.
In contrast, by November 2012, champagne bottles were popping and confetti littered the streets of Hollywood, with the exception of DreamWorks Animation offices still recovering from ‘Guardians’ being an uncommon box office disappointment for the studio. The successes that ensued not only surpassed predictions but did so significantly. For instance, ‘Skyfall’ nearly doubled the domestic earnings of ‘Quantum of Solace’, making it the highest-grossing Bond film ever. It was also the first Bond movie to exceed $300 million domestically. ‘Lincoln’ and ‘Life of Pi’ shattered expectations. ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ demonstrated that ‘Tangled’ was no one-off, confirming Walt Disney Animation Studios’ return to producing box office smashes. Lastly, ‘Flight’ underscored Denzel Washington’s star power as he took a grim original character study and propelled it to $93.7 million domestically.
2012’s Thanksgiving weekend was unparalleled in terms of box office earnings at the time, and to this day, November 2012 remains the most profitable November. However, November 2013 came close to surpassing it, while subsequent Novembers have found it challenging to match the success of those two years. For instance, November 2015 experienced a slump in its second weekend compared to the strong start in 2012, which affected the month’s overall earnings. In contrast, November 2019 saw a massive hit with Frozen II, but it struggled initially due to a series of box office flops during the first three weekends.
2012’s November box office magic has only been rivaled by the grosses of November 2017 and 2018, with each reaching over $1 billion. With anticipation building, there’s hope for another impressive November performance at the box office in the future. The upcoming trio of films in November 2024 – Wicked, Gladiator II, and Moana 2 – could potentially lift the recent slump of the last three Novembers, which have struggled to gross between $523 and $627 million. This news is sure to bring joy and excitement to theater owners and employees alike.
As a gamer, I’ve got to be honest here – I’m not holding my breath for November 2024 to hit the $1 billion mark. The first three weekends of that month are looking mighty thin when it comes to fresh faces, which is going to make hitting that target tough. It’s like Hollywood hasn’t learned their lessons from November 2012 – those box office highs were all about variety and new releases.
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2024-10-29 01:15