Comic film adaptations are big dollars and we track how they do each week to see trends and what’s working and what’s not.
2018 is a record setting year for comic film adaptations. It has topped 2017’s record year and then some. Currently, comic adaptations have earned $2.697 billion domestically, $4.562 billion internationally, $7.258 billion worldwide, with a “profit” of $6.047 billion. That’s off of 10 films. 2017, with 16 films, saw domestic earnings of $2.365 billion, international earnings of $3.755 billion, worldwide earnings of $6.120 billion, and “profits” of $4.442 billion.
While 2018’s films are winding down as far as earnings, they’re still not done!
It had to happen eventually and this weekend was it. Avengers: Endgame was knocked from the top of the box office to come in second place. It earned an estimated $29.4 million after four weeks of release. Domestically, the film has earned $770.8 million and has passed Avatar to be the second highest grossing film domestically. Star Wars: The Force Awakens has the top honor having earned $936.7 million in 2015. It’s unlikely Avengers: Endgame will pass it before its run is over. Worldwide, Endgame now stands at $2.615 billion putting it about $174 million behind Avatar to become the highest grossing film worldwide. There’s a chance it’ll pass that film to take the top honor but will have to rely on the foreign box office to do so.
This past weekend Captain Marvel dropped to #14 from #11 earning $727,000 after 11 weeks at the box office. The film stands at $425.1 million domestically. Internationally, the film earned about $700,000 over the week to bring that total to $700.8 million. Worldwide, the film has earned $1.126 billion. It’s about $22 million behind Aquaman, which looks to have ended its run.
Shazam! was right behind Captain Marvel coming in at #15. The previous week the film was #12. It earned $681,000 to bring its domestic total to $137.9 million after seven weeks. It also earned $1.2 million internationally over the week to bring that total to $222.7 million and $360.6 million worldwide.
With a budget of just $100 million, the film has an average gross to the budget for a DC Cinematic film and will likely remain in the middle of the pack for that. It remains the lowest grossing big-budget DCU film so far and is unlikely to change that. Still, it’s hard to call the film a failure with its return on its budget.
Hellboy continued to not rank on the weekend box office but over the week earned about $72,000 domestically to bring that total to $21.9 million.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse didn’t chart this past week but earned $36,000 internationally to bring that to $185.2 million. With a domestic earning of $190.2 million the worldwide total is $375.4 million. It’s the last release on 2018 to still be earning money.
Here’s where this year’s comic films stand as far as the actual numbers.
Total Domestic Gross: $2.697 billion
Total International Gross: $4.562 billion
Worldwide Gross: $7.258 billion
Total Reported Budgets: $1.187 billion
Total “Profit”: $6.047 billion
Average Domestic Gross: $269.7 million
Average International Gross: $456.2 million
Average: Worldwide Gross: $725.8 million
Average Budget: $131.9 million
Average Profit: $671.9 million
Below is where the films released stand when it comes to being compared to this year’s averages. Those in green are above average while those below are red.
