The “summer movie season” of 2019 — releases first hitting theaters between May and August — provided a very familiar array of sequels, remakes, superheroes, animation, horror, big-budget spectacle, and any combination thereof (plus one Quentin Tarantino movie). While there were some hefty blockbusters, the overall collective gross was lower than last year’s summer haul.
Here's how things shook out at the domestic box office for the Summer (as of 9/3/19):
| 1. THE LION KING | $523 M |
| 2. TOY STORY 4 | $430 M |
| 3. SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME | $386 M |
| 4. ALADDIN | $354 M |
| 5. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM | $170 M |
| 6. FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW | $159 M |
| 7. THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 | $157 M |
| 8. POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU | $144 M |
| 9. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD | $131 M |
| 10. GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS | $110 M |
The international box office lined up in a similar way, with Disney holding control of the overseas market in its mousy grip. The summer's worldwide totals (as of 9/3/19):
| 1. THE LION KING | $1.56 B |
| 2. SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME | $1.12 B |
| 3. TOY STORY 4 | $1.04 B |
| 4. ALADDIN | $1.04 B |
| 5. NE ZHA | $688 M |
| 6. FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW | $687 M |
| 7. POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU | $431 M |
| 8. THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 | $422 M |
| 9. GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS | $385 M |
| 10. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM | $321 M |
THE UPS & DOWNS
DIS BIZ – This summer definitely proved one thing for Disney: people like seeing movies they’ve already watched, just in a shiny new wrapper. The Mouse House continued its self-cannibalization with updates of their animated classics THE LION KING and ALADDIN and scored two of the year’s biggest global moneymakers with $1.56 billion and $1.04 billion respectively, with Simba’s photorealistic remake also becoming both their biggest “re-imagining” and the highest-grossing musical of all time. In addition, Pixar’s beloved playthings were welcomed back yet again as Buzz and Woody’s return in TOY STORY 4 pulled in another $1.04 billion worldwide. In fact, if you add in the record-breaking $2.78 billion of AVENGERS: ENDGAME (which technically arrived before summer) and the $1.12 billion of March’s CAPTAIN MARVEL, Disney generated $7.5 billion in worldwide grosses from just five 2019 releases, furthering the company’s ever-expanding (if slightly unsettling) absolute domination of the globe.
AGENTS DOWN – Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson demonstrated crackling charisma together in Marvel’s THOR: RAGNAROK, but none of that appeal translated to a different alien-infested franchise in MEN IN BLACK INTERNATIONAL. Hot off STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON and THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS, director F. Gary Gray tried to revive the sci-fi comedy series without Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones handling the planet-protecting duties, and audiences might have well been neuralyzed and instructed to seek their entertainment elsewhere. With $79 million domestic and $253 million worldwide on a $110 million cost, it seems unlikely that Hemsworth and Thompson will be slipping into sharp dark suits again (but it’s a safer bet that moviegoers will show up for their Asgardian reunion in the upcoming THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER).
LAUNCH VELOCITY – After last year’s stadium-sized smash Queen chronicle BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY ($216 million domestic and $900 million worldwide on a $52 million budget), there was some expectation that a new movie about another globally famous musician might have an equally grandiose financial result. The Elton John musical fantasy ROCKETMAN (also directed by Dexter Fletcher, who completed RHAPSODY after Bryan Singer was released) ran out of fuel just short of reaching $100 million domestic and $200 million worldwide, but while it didn’t approach the box office stratosphere of Freddie Mercury’s biopic, it was a decent success for an R-rated movie with a cost of $40 million — and an excellent showcase for star Taron Egerton’s talents.
A QUIET X-IT – A dozen movies and nearly two decades after Marvel’s mutants first stepped onto the big screen in live-action, they made a dire departure with DARK PHOENIX. The feature directing debut of longtime X-movie writer/producer Simon Kinberg delivers a retelling of the classic comic book saga (seen already in 2006 with Brett Ratner’s X-MEN: THE LAST STAND) where telepath/telekinetic Jean Grey becomes deranged with power from a cosmic entity. But this $200 million Phoenix was snuffed with a tragic $65 million domestic and $252 million worldwide, the lowest box office figures in Fox’s entire X-MEN franchise (and not even halfway to the grosses of disappointing previous entry X-MEN: APOCALYPSE). With the current cast in the past, comic fans anticipate the future adventures of their favorite mutants now that the characters have returned home to Marvel Studios.
HORROR HITS – Oscar winner Octavia Spencer befriended some teens before becoming their worst nightmare in MA, ending with a solid $45 million domestic total on a typically frugal Blumhouse budget of $5 million. Producer Sam Raimi and director Alexandre Aja sent killer alligators into a hurricane-stricken home in CRAWL, and moviegoers waded in with $39 million domestic and $74 million worldwide on a $13 million cost. ANNABELLE COMES HOME ended up the lowest-grossing entry in both the haunted-doll series and THE CONJURING universe proper, but still made $72 million domestic and $222 million worldwide on a $30 million budget. Producer Guillermo del Toro and THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE director Andre Ovredal brought Alvin Schwartz's folklore fright books to life in SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK, and the $25 million adaptation scared up $58 million domestic and $85 million worldwide.
HORROR MISSES – CHILD’S PLAY attempted an update of the iconic 80s slasher (with Mark Hamill voicing the new Chucky doll) but crowds virtually ignored the homicidal toy with $28 million. Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch gathered an impressive ensemble (Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Adam Driver, Steve Buscemi) for his wry small-town zombie satire THE DEAD DON’T DIE, but the movie quickly went to the grave with $13 million. 47 METERS DOWN: UNCAGED tried to follow the surprise success of the first movie with more shark terror, and swiftly sank with $19 million. The James Gunn-produced BRIGHTBURN asked “What if young Superman was a murderous jerk?” and audiences shrugged at the super-powered horror question with $17 million domestic. Last year’s HEREDITARY chilled many spines on its way to $44 million domestic and $79 million worldwide, but audiences weren’t as interested in taking an unnerving trip with filmmaker Ari Aster’s sophomore effort MIDSOMMAR, which ended with $26 million domestic and $35 million worldwide.
ROCK AND ROLL – Getting Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham together in a FAST & FURIOUS spinoff didn’t come cheap – with a $200 million price tag, it wasn’t quite as costly as previous entry THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS ($250 million) but still presented a theoretical risk as the first movie without the rest of the popular franchise’s regular cast. With JOHN WICK co-director David Leitch in charge of the physics-defying action, the beefy bald rivals rose to the occasion as they clashed with superhuman Idris Elba in FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW, thundering to a current $687 million worldwide and still barreling up the international chart.
MONSTER, MASHED – In 2014, GODZILLA roared to success with $200 million domestic and $529 million worldwide, then the giant simian of KONG: SKULL ISLAND climbed to a $168 million domestic total and $566 million worldwide in 2017. But this summer, rounding up a bunch of formidable beasts to brawl with the legendary atomic goliath didn’t result in box office that was proportional to the amount of destruction unleashed on the screen. TRICK ‘R TREAT director Michael Dougherty’s GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS only ended up trundling to $110 million domestic and $385 million on a $170 million budget, landing at the bottom of the new “MonsterVerse” totals. The scaly behemoth will duke it out with the enormous ape in next year’s GODZILLA VS. KONG, but we’ll see if audiences are still interested in more of these oversized fisticuffs.
COME TOGETHER – Sometimes it only takes a novel premise (and a whole lot of instantly recognizable music) to make a low-key summer success. With YESTERDAY, director Danny Boyle (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, 28 DAYS LATER) presented a struggling singer who awakens in an alternate world where nobody else remembers Beatles songs and subsequently takes advantage of the scenario by becoming rich and famous off the Fab Four’s discography. Over the course of a couple of months, the $28 million comedy/fantasy slowly strummed its way to $73 million domestic and $134 million worldwide.
GETTING SHAFTED – By some measures, Samuel L. Jackson is one of the highest-grossing actors in history with his cinematic appearances totaling more than $13 billion, but this summer’s SHAFT certainly didn’t move that needle. The R-rated sequel from director Tim Story (FANTASTIC FOUR, RIDE ALONG) has Shaft family members Richard Roundtree and Jesse T. Usher joining Jackson’s private dick on his latest case, but while the 2000 movie closed its investigation with $107 million worldwide, this time audiences dissed the detective with a mere $21 million domestic total on a reported $30 million cost (the movie went direct-to-video outside of North America).
PIKACHU, I SEE YOU – The first major release that dared to arrive in the shadow of April’s towering AVENGERS: ENDGAME was the videogame adaptation POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU. The family adventure, with Ryan Reynolds cracking wise as the voice of the titular yellow sleuth, didn’t quite catch ‘em all at the box office (especially considering the ongoing global phenomenon that is the critter-collecting series). But while the $150 million comedy only captured $144 million domestically, it went on to $431 million worldwide to become the second-biggest videogame adaptation in history behind WARCRAFT, which is… probably some kind of accomplishment.
HEROIC PERFORMANCE – Unsurprisingly, audiences wanted to see what happened next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after most of the planet witnessed the events of superhero extravaganza AVENGERS: ENDGAME. The Sony-distributed web-slinger sequel SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME put a button on Marvel’s “Phase 3” while also giving Tom Holland’s Peter Parker and his costumed alter-ego a breather for a European vacation (complete with supervillain encounter, of course), and the wall-crawler webbed up an impressive $385 million domestic and $1.12 billion worldwide before the character potentially swings out of the MCU for good.
BARELY ANIMATED – Aside from Pixar’s beloved toy collection (and director Jon Favreau’s lifelike beasts in THE LION KING remake), it wasn’t a fantastic summer for animated fare. Yes, the furry friends of THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 managed to crawl to $157 million domestic and $422 million worldwide, but those figures are each less than half of what the original THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS collared in 2016, and the sequel ended up as one of the lowest-grossing releases from DESPICABLE ME makers Illumination Entertainment. The irate feathered flyers of THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 2 plopped to the ground with $93 million worldwide, far short of the first videogame adaptation’s $352 million global finish. And the UGLYDOLLS movie, based on the line of colorful plush toys, was completely shunned with just $27 million worldwide.
HOLLYWOOD SWINGING – As filmmaker Quentin Tarantino nears the apparent self-imposed end of his feature directing career, he decided to spend some time (around 2 hours and 40 minutes) meandering around Tinseltown circa 1969 with the period love letter ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD. Having Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie along for the ride helped steer the $90 million time-capsule comedy-drama to $131 million domestic and $284 million worldwide so far, making it one of Tarantino's highest-grossing efforts (although some reports claim it needs to go a lot further to reach profitability thanks to some sizeable backend deals for the main talent).
MAKING A KILLING – Everyone’s favorite formerly retired hitman was back in action for a third time this summer, leading to the biggest success in the series about assassins and the complexities of their deadly business. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM shot up the box office chart with a domestic total of $170 million and finished with $321 million worldwide, on a reasonable budget of $75 million. The resilient contract killer may have been excommunicado from The Continental, but director Chad Stahelski’s third time orchestrating the efficient elimination tactics of star Keanu Reeves ended up giving the actor his biggest global hit outside of SPEED and the MATRIX movies.
SMALL SUCCESSES – Producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg sent some kids on an R-rated adventure with GOOD BOYS and have made $59 million domestic on a $20 million budget. The Awkwafina-fronted family comedy-drama THE FAREWELL kept adding a few screens at a time until reaching $16 million on a $3 million cost. Olivia Wilde’s directing debut with the R-rated coming-of-age comedy BOOKSMART had to struggle for eyeballs against some gargantuan summer competition and still managed $22 million on a $6 million budget. And while it’s only been released on a few dozen screens in North America, the Chinese animated fantasy NE ZHA is a mammoth hit in its home country already with $688 million.
THE REST OF THE MESS – Moviegoers loved the LORD OF THE RINGS movies but didn’t care much about the guy who wrote them, and the biopic TOLKIEN was tossed into Mount Doom with $4 million. Filmmaker Luc Besson followed his expensive sci-fi flop VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS with the spy movie ANNA, which was rejected with $7 million. She may be immensely popular exploring as a Nickelodeon cartoon, but DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD is reaching the end of her big-screen adventure with $51 million domestic on a $49 million cost. Man’s best friend got left at the kennel this summer, with canine dramas A DOG’S JOURNEY and THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN ending with $22 million and $24 million respectively. And the Dave Bautista/Kumail Nanjiani ride-service buddy-cop comedy STUBER sputtered and stalled with $22 million.