Paramount Pictures is heading for their worst Box Office results in over two decades

[Poya]

This post was created by berzeli of Resetera. All credit goes to him/her.

If you're feeling that you're having a shit year, take solace in knowing that you're not alone. Or if other people's misery doesn't comfort you, just point and laugh at corporate idiocy. I'm here to help with a recap of Paramount Doom Watch™ 2017, something that started when kswiston pointed out that Wonder Woman had eclipsed all of Paramount's slate, something which held true until November.

So in 2017 Paramount has released 11 films;
The total Paramount b.o. take (domestic) for the year so far is $525,103,131
For reference, the domestic total for Beauty and the Beast is $504,014,165
This is obviously bad, but it's also historically bad. They are heading for a sub 5% market share, which I don't even know when the last time it happened.

Or if you want that in a graph form (red line):

source: the-numbers

Now there are two things saving them:
1) They only made $525M in 1995, and I won't adjust for inflation because I'm lazy (and it's not the most accurate way of doing this).
2) The easily accessible records don't go further back than 1995 and I'm lazy (and well, I'm just lazy).

But for fun a quick comparison with 1995:
In 1995 Paramount sold 121,812,497 tickets with an almost 10% market share
In 2017 Paramount sold 58,004,179 tickets (and counting, but the number still won't be pretty) with a sub 5% market share

So what went wrong this year? Well let's take a look at the films (all numbers worldwide unless otherwise noted):

The Hits:
No

The Hits, but:
xXx:The Return of Xander Cage | $346M on a $85M budget is good, but a very weak $44M domestic performance drags it down.
Transformers:The Last Knight | $605M worldwide is impressive, but the budget was $217M and the results are nothing short of an implosion for the series (down 45%).
Daddy's Home 2 | $168M (and counting) for a comedy this year is impressive, but the reported budget was a fairly high $69M.

The Meh:
Rings | It made it's money back, but no one cares about it. (or rather they care about It)
Baywatch | $177.8M isn't bad. But factor in a $69M budget and a disappointing domestic run and it's less impressive.
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power | It's definitely a disappointment compared to its predecessor, but it having a tiny production budget helped.

The Bombs:
Monster Trucks | so bad they had to take a write-down on it before it even opened (did $64M on a $100+M budget)
Ghost in the Shell | so bad its soundtrack album got cancelled (did $169M on a $110+M budget)
mother! | so bad Jennifer Lawrence and Darren Aronofsky broke up (did $44M on a $30M budget)
Suburbicon | so bad I don't even have anything interesting to put here (did $5M* on a $25M budget)
Downsizing | so bad that Damonsplaining got brought back (currently underperforming its tracking on a $68M budget)

*domestic number only

It's always hard to pinpoint what exactly caused this, was it just mismanagement by former CEO Brad Grey? or was it the mismanagement of the parent company under former Viacom CEO Phillipe Dauman? Was it the bitter feuding about what to do with Paramount at their parent company with over 20+ lawsuits around Sumner Redstone and family + associates that distracted?
Who can really say? (it's all of them)

Now at least the future is looking brigh-

Oh.

[Crispy0009]

M:I 6 = Henry Cavill's mustache

[Poya]

Originally Posted by Crispy0009

M:I 6 = Henry Cavill's mustache

That had better be worth them trolling WB.

[shinobipopcorn]

"Sherlock Gnomes"? Is that an attempt to beat the Sony movie to the punch?

[Creed]

Yep, it was bad for Paramount....
When Transformers is underperforming, you know things aren't looking good for the studio.


I wish mother! did well, but it'll be hard to market the film.

[Worship.my.wreck]

Gotta say, A Quiet Place is the only Paramount film I'm looking forward to in 2018 so far.

[Poya]

Originally Posted by Worship.my.wreck

Gotta say, A Quiet Place is the only Paramount film I'm looking forward to in 2018 so far.

It does look like a Blumhouse kinda film, so even if it makes like $10m, it. Oils still do OK. Doesn’t look too expensive.

[Britbuffguy]

Isn't Tomb Raider still their property???

I've always been angry at Paramount, being a huge FRIDAY THE 13th fan. They never accepted what they had in that franchise, and just kind of rode the wave of 80s horror while always being ashamed of making those films.

Lost the rights, New Line made some awful Jason films, got the rights back and after a decent remake, once again crapped on the franchise and did nothing with it.

[Britbuffguy]

Originally Posted by Worship.my.wreck

Gotta say, A Quiet Place is the only Paramount film I'm looking forward to in 2018 so far.

Saw that trailer on Pitch Perfect 3. Looks okay, but Emily Blunt looks pretty awful, if I can be shallow for a minute. Like she was always so stunning but looks off in the trailer.

[Poya]

Originally Posted by Britbuffguy

Saw that trailer on Pitch Perfect 3. Looks okay, but Emily Blunt looks pretty awful, if I can be shallow for a minute. Like she was always so stunning but looks off in the trailer.

Yes, EVERY movie she’s in, she needs to be beautiful. That’s what makes a role better.

[Worship.my.wreck]

Originally Posted by Britbuffguy

Saw that trailer on Pitch Perfect 3. Looks okay, but Emily Blunt looks pretty awful, if I can be shallow for a minute. Like she was always so stunning but looks off in the trailer.

I don't really care what she looks like, I just hope its a good movie.

[BigPudge]

I got a good laugh at him writing about mother! "A movie so bad Jennifer Lawrence and Darren Aronofsky broke up"



It's tough, any person in charge would have greenlit a 5th Transformers movie, they have all taken in money... but franchise fatigue set in HARD this year.

Ghost in the Shell looked to be a visually stunning take on a popular property, any studio head would have greenlit that as well. xXx was Diesel returning to a popular role, but if it ain't Fast and Furious it won't work.

Mother! Had a successful director with the biggest actress there is right now... on paper that is a no brainer.

Suburbicon and Downsizing are 2 movies from successful directors and writers and starring a generally reliable star, again on paper that is an easy green light

I don't know, all of these movies seem like when pitched they were worth the gamble (except Monster Trucks... 100 mil for that?!)... just an off year I think. If M:I-6 tanks next year and whatever this "event" film is, than they will have to do a full on reshuffle.

It is tough to assess, because on the one hand Franchise Fatigue is responsible for some of their bombs, which would mean they should go with more original material, but then you have mother! And Suburbicon and Downsizing and those are originals that bombed.

But it does seem like Daddy's Home 2 is a hit... it played well through the holidays

[Predatorix38417]

I get it that Paramount likes to market Cloverfield in Abrams-style secrecy, but the next movie "comes out" in a little over a month and there's no marketing whatsoever. Who at Paramount thinks that's alright??? No pictures, trailers, poster, not even an updated synopsis. Even 10 Cloverfield Lane was revealed two months before it came out. This only harms word-of-mouth, not help it.

[Foggy]

2018 looks better for them, with M:I 6 and Bumblebee (hopefully a change in direction and tone will reignite the Transformers franchise). Annihilation already a write off for them, and Cloverfield could go either way at this point though.

[Poya]

Originally Posted by Foggy

2018 looks better for them, with M:I 6 and Bumblebee (hopefully a change in direction and tone will reignite the Transformers franchise). Annihilation already a write off for them, and Cloverfield could go either way at this point though.

Imagine if Mary friggin’ Poppins manages to outperform a Transformers film.

[Foggy]

I can actually imagine Mary Poppins doing similar Beauty and the Beast numbers if it turns out decent. Certainly not one to underestimate.

[tigertron]

I only see God Particle and M:I:6 doing well.

Not looking great for Paramount.

[robgmun]

Originally Posted by Predatorix38417

I get it that Paramount likes to market Cloverfield in Abrams-style secrecy, but the next movie "comes out" in a little over a month and there's no marketing whatsoever. Who at Paramount thinks that's alright??? No pictures, trailers, poster, not even an updated synopsis. Even 10 Cloverfield Lane was revealed two months before it came out. This only harms word-of-mouth, not help it.

If it's anything like 10 Cloverfield Lane then it'll bomb and it'll deserve it. That should have been a separate movie and not playing on the Cloverfield name.

We need a proper sequel or GTFO

Also i didn't realise that Ghost in the Shell did so badly! That's a proper bomb!

[dcfan88]

This year Paramount didn't release anything I wanted to see while it was in theaters (I might rent Suburbicon). I bought XXX during Black Friday but it was a very "meh" movie to me.
Ghost in the Shell I wrote off before it came out because I still have yet to see an anime adapted into live action that I like.

As far as 2018 goes, I'll check out A Quiet Place and Sherlock Gnomes but other than that, Paramount hasn't and isn't releasing anything I want to see

[principehomura]

Bought by Disney in 2020