Summer Box Office Review: Disney, A24 and Indies

Marvel Studios

If the mediocre ratings and commercial success of Aladdin and The Lion King indicate anything it’s that Disney isn’t entirely immune to criticism but nearly untouchable at the box office. All four Disney titles released this summer—which includes these live-action remakes, Toy Story 4, and Spiderman: Far From Home—each grossed over $1 billion at the global box office. With the re-release of Avengers: Endgame in late June, another Marvel-Disney property and the highest-grossing film of all time, there was hardly any weekends for non-franchise titles to compete in the summer. The underwhelming performances of Shaft and Stuber, which were wedged in-between the theatrical releases of these Disney, display just how little agency smaller films have at the summer box office. 

But this summer also showed that the stand-alone film isn’t completely dead through the releases of several successful A24 studio titles. The Last Black Man in San Francisco, The Farewell and Midsommar were some of the summer’s smallest films but all received near -universal critical appraisal. What might actually be dead are “true” indie projects and mid-budget films. While A24 might seem to fit somewhere in-between the two, the beloved New York-based studio is somewhat the Disney of indie tier films. Like Disney, A24 is absolutely incredible at branding its films and has, six years after its creation, established a formula and distinct aesthetic. A24 films promise beautifully crafted, “slice-of-life”, artisan, and cinematic stories in the same way Disney promises a nostalgic, high-budget, family fun popcorn movie in all its titles.

Apart from Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood and Fox’s Yesterday, which was distributed under Disney but produced in an autonomous Fox era, there weren’t many critically or commercially successful films released this summer which weren’t Disney, A24, or franchise properties (Godzilla: King of Monsters, Pokemon: Detective Pickachu, John Wick 3: Parabellum, The Secret Life of Pets 2, Men in Black International, and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw).  The box office dominance and popularity of these films display how the landscape of American cinema is completely shifting towards the studio film. As this summer has shown original projects and star-studded ensemble casts won’t pull in numbers unless they’re attached to a brand name or larger cinematic universe. 

BOX OFFICE ROUNDUP: In its sixth weekend since release Kumail Najiani’s buddy cop film Stuber has grossed an underwhelming $22,352,956 at the domestic box office. Despite accumulating  $31,395,787 in worldwide ticket sales, Stuber is still $1 million shy of doubling its estimated $16 million budget.

The Lion King is this summer’s biggest film and is second only to Avengers: Endgame as this year’s highest-grossing title. The live-action reboot of the beloved 90s classic generated $510,635,735 in domestic ticket sales last weekend and has made $1.5 billion dollars at the global box office. 

Lulu Wang’s directorial feature-length film The Farewell broke box office records 3 weeks ago with the highest per-theater average ever. Since expanding to a wide release on August 2nd, Wang’s film has made $14,474,395 at the domestic box office. The Farewell’s returns are expected to grow in the weeks to come as it is set to release in several other countries throughout the month of September. 

Luce, a film about a young-White couple whose adopted Eritrean son writes a disturbing essay at school, opened at only 5 theaters on its August 2nd release date. The Sundance feature from Nigerian-American filmmaker Julius Onah has continued to expand nationwide and generated $864,182.