In the last few weeks Fast & Furious 7 has gone over $1billion at the world box-office making it the 20th film to achieve the milestone, the others are: Titanic, The Avengers, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Frozen, Iron Man 3, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Skyfall, Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Dark Knight Rises, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Toy Story 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Jurassic Park, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Alice in Wonderland, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Dark Knight. But it is unlikely to be the biggest film of the year. In fact 2015 could be the biggest year for blockbusters ever.
The contenders to join the billion dollar club are:
Fast & Furious 7: $1.2billion and counting!
Avengers: Age of Ultron has just been released and is brilliant. The perfect blend of the darker tone seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (that took over $700million last year) and the fun of and the fun we have come to expect from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Given the fact The Avengers (2012) took $1.518 billion, they will be looking for more this time.
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens should be a shoe in for the $1billion club. The original Star Wars (1977) took over $700million, when adjusted for inflation and modern ticket prices it is well over the billion mark and the second highest grossing film of all time. It won’t be the first Star Wars film to top $1billion, the first of the prequels The Phantom Menace (1999) got there first.
In 2012 Skyfall became the first Bond film to top $1billion, with Sam Mendes returning as a director and Daniel Craig heading a fantastic cast, Spectre could be the second.
Jurassic Park (2003) broke the billion dollar bracket on its re-release a few years back, adjusted for inflation, it would probably have done it on fist release. With this in mind and a $150million+ budget the makers of Jurassic World must be hoping for something approaching the billion dollar mark.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 should be good for around $800million. The final Harry Potter film broke $1billion so I wouldn’t discount the possibility of Mockingjay joining the club too.
Minions is a prequel/spin-off to Despicable Me (2010) and is will probably smash the half billion dollars the original film took. I don’t think it will make a billion dollars but you never know.
Thanks to the licences Marvel sold before Marvel Studios emerged, The Fantastic Four is described as a 20th Century Fox/Marvel Entertainment release. It may not be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it is riding on their coattails and will be looking for something north of $750million. The casting looks good, but it’s going to need positive reviews to come close that figure thanks to the week first attempts at Fantastic Four movies.
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