Five things to know about 2014 box office: 'Guardians of Galaxy' save the day

This year is pretty much over for Hollywood, since this past weekend was the last of 2014. With that in mind, it’s time to look at Hollywood’s finances and how poorly this year turned out. Sure, the summer blockbusters made money, but aside from Guardians of the Galaxy and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I, there wasn’t much to be happy about.

For starters, no films from 2014 hit $400 million as of this week. Marvel and Disney’s Guardians finished its run with $332.7 million and that was the top-grossing movie of the year. The only other film to hit $300 million was Mockingjay I, which has $306.6 million at the moment.

By comparison, three films from 2013 ended their runs with at least $400 million (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Iron Man 3 and Frozen). One had at least $300 million (Despicable Me 2).

At least in 2014, all films in the Top 10 had at least $200 million, according to Box Office Mojo stats. Here’s the full Top 10:

Guardians of the Galaxy ($332.7 million, Disney/Marvel)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I ($306.6 million, Lionsgate)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($259.7 million, Disney/Marvel)
The LEGO Movie ($257.7 million, Warner Bros.)
Transformers: Age of Extinction ($245.4 million, Paramount)
Maleficent ($241.4 million, Disney)
X-Men: Days of Future Part ($233.9 million, Fox)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ($208.5 million, Fox)
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($202.8 million, Sony)
Godzilla (2014) ($200.6 million, Warner Bros.)

Now, let’s break it down into five big facts about this year’s box office:

image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com

[new page = Familiar characters]

What all those numbers tell us is that audiences are still rushing out to see familiar characters. Six of these films are sequels. Godzilla was a reboot of the most famous monster franchise in the world. The LEGO Movie - the only animated film in the Top 10 - featured beloved toys we all played with. And Maleficent was Disney’s latest retelling of a familiar fairy tale (Sleeping Beauty in this case).

Further down the list, there are even more sequels and reboots with familiar characters. 22 Jump Street scored $191.2 million for Sony. Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot earned $191.2 million. The third Hobbit film, The Battle of the Five Armies, will probably climb up the list and has already made $168.5 million.

Obviously, this isn’t a trend anymore, but the normal in Hollywood. With more sequels and reboots coming in the future, they are here to stay. Why fix what isn’t broken (yet)?

[new page = Female representation]

Sadly, only two of these films feature central female characters - Mockingjay I and Maleficent. Yes, there are female members of the Guardians and X-Men, but they aren’t the big stars of the films.

Outside of the Top 10, there are more female-driven hits. David Fincher’s Gone Girl scored $165.9 million. Luc Besson’s Lucy, which put Scarlett Johansson front and center, was a big hit with$126.6 million. Divergent tried to turn Shailene Woodley into Jennifer Lawrence and worked, to a degree, grossing $150.9 million.

[new page = Lack of critical acclaim]

Yes, critics loved Guardians, The Winter Soldier, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Godzilla, but unlike last year, critical darlings were not among the top-grossing films of the year. In fact, unless Interstellar and Gone Girl are nominated for Best Picture by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, we could have zero Best Picture nominees with $100 million or more.

Interstellar has $177.3 million so far, while Gone Girl is up to $165.9 million. Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, which is the frontrunner for Best Picture, earned $24.2 million. Alejandro G. Inarritu’s Birdman is up to $23.7 million. Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel made $59.1 million.

[new page = the major studios]

The major studios are still dominating the scene. Both of Disney’s 2014 Marvel releases are in the top 10 and the studio also had Maleficent. In total, 11 Disney films are in the Top 100.

However, Warner Bros. had 16 movies in the Top 100, even though only two (LEGO and Godzilla) are in the Top 10. Fox also had two in the Top 10 (Apes and X-Men) and 17 total in the Top 100.

Paramount struggled this year, with only one (Transformers) in the top 10 and only seven movies in total in the Top 100. Sony did Paramount one better with eight moves in the Top 100, but only one (ASM2) in the Top 10.

[new page = this year’s total]

In total, the film industry wound up grossing $10.5 billion in ticket sales, according to Rentrak data at USA Today. That’s down 5 percent from last year, when films earned $10.9 billion domestically. During the summer, ticket sales overall were down 20 percent and would have been even worse if not for Guardians. Fall hits like Interstellar, Gone Girl, Mockingjay I and The Hobbit have all helped better Hollywood’s overall numbers.