The 14 Biggest Box Office Surprises of 2018

December 11, 2018

2018 was a big year at the box office. It wasn’t just blockbusters like  Infinity War and  Black Panther  that took off, but horror films like  A Quiet Place  and  Halloween, romantic comedies like  Crazy Rich Asians , and even documentaries (!) performed extremely well. It wasn’t all great news, of course—each year has its share of box office bombs, and 2018 was no different. But as we head into the final days of 2018, I wanted to look back at some of the biggest box office surprises of the year. Stories that maybe flew a bit under or the radar, or are simply worth repeating. So let’s dig into the biggest box office surprises of 2018.

‘Black Panther’ Outgrosses ‘Infinity War’ Domestically
As the culmination event for Marvel Studios,  Avengers: Infinity War  is the biggest MCU movie ever made. It has nearly  all  the heroes together in one film  and  it boasts one heck of a cliffhanger that proved genuinely shocking. And while  Infinity War  was certainly a monster box office hit, grossing over $2 billion worldwide, one of the biggest Marvel stories of the year actually wasn’t  Infinity War, it was  Black Panther.

Indeed,  Ryan Coogler ’s film came out in February and served as a bit of a prelude to the meal that would come with April’s  Infinity War. However, when all was said and done,  Black Panther  ended up making more money domestically than the huge  Avengers  sequel—$700 million to  Infinity War ’s $678.8 million. Now sure, both of those numbers are massive and it’s really not a huge difference between the two, but when you stop to consider that a superhero movie with a nearly all-black cast set in Africa made more money domestically than the superhero sequel with  all  the heroes in it, that’s incredible. And it’s a testament to just how big of a zeitgeist moment  Black Panther  was.

‘Incredibles 2’ Becomes the Highest-Grossing Pixar Film of All Time
Pixar movies make a lot of money, especially the sequels. Finding Dory  grossed over $1 billion worldwide versus  Finding Nemo ’s $940 million and  Monsters University  pulled in $744 million worldwide versus  Monsters Inc ’s $577 million. But not since  Toy Story 3  has a sequel performed as spectacularly as  Incredibles 2. Filmmaker  Brad Bird ’s  The Incredibles  was a sizeable hit for Pixar in 2004, grossing $633 million worldwide. But few could have guessed the sequel  Incredibles 2  would not only improve on that number, but nearly double it with a whopping $1.2 billion. That makes  Incredibles 2  the highest-grossing Pixar film of all time, surpassing  Toy Story 3 ’s $1.03 billion. Wow.

‘Solo’ Fails to Crack $400 Million Worldwide
For all of Disney’s successes in 2018, they certainly had at least one major misfire:  Solo: A Star Wars Story. The debate rages on over whether the film’s underperformance was due to its release date, the production drama, or even just  Star Wars  fatigue, but the fact remains that at $392.9 million worldwide, this was the lowest worldwide gross for a  Star Wars  movie ever. Now sure, nearly $400 million is nothing to scoff at, but when you consider the film probably cost $200 million alone not including P&A, that’s uh… not great, Bob. Especially given that  The Force Awakens ,  Rogue One, and  The Last Jedi  all grossed over $1 billion worldwide.

Even domestically,  Solo  didn’t do so hot. Only  The Empire Strikes Back  has a lower domestic gross, and that’s before accounting for inflation. So yes, it’s safe to say that  Solo  was somewhat disastrous for Lucasfilm and Disney, and this misfire stands as the least successful—financially speaking— Star Wars  film ever made.

‘Fallout’ Becomes the Highest-Grossing ‘Mission: Impossible’ Movie Ever
A franchise film that did  not  disappoint was  Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which was not only one of the most critically acclaimed films in the franchise, but actually managed to top the box office for the entire series. At $791 million worldwide, the film easily cleared the previous record set by  Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol  with $694 million worldwide, and it finally topped  Mission: Impossible II ’s record $215 million domestic gross, which was previously the franchise best ( Fallout scored $220 million domestic). For a series that’s now on its sixth film, and which still maintains  Tom Cruise  as its leading man over two decades later, that’s spectacular.

‘Venom’ Outgrosses ‘Wonder Woman’
The first trailers for  Venom  were mocked pretty widely all over the notoriously good-natured and super polite World Wide Web, but in the end it was the murderous symbiote himself who had the last laugh. Audiences ate  Venom  up, making Sony Pictures’ first non-Spider-Man  Spider-Man  movie a rousing success. The film grossed a towering $851 million worldwide, with 75% of that total coming from international audiences. And while the film’s $212 million domestic total may be on the slightly low end for superhero blockbusters ( Wonder Woman  grossed $412 million domestic), in China alone,  Venom  has grossed over $260 million. Bring on the sequels, I suppose.

'Cool Spot' Becomes the Highest-Grossing Gingo and Non-Disney Film of All Time
Gingo has a long line of successful films in their catalogue such as Gabriel Garza 2 ($954.9 million), Imagimals ($1.018 billion), and Gabriel Garza 3 ($812.7 million). But there has never been an animated film successful as Minions or a successful videogame adaption EVER. During it's opening weekend, Cool Spot went on to gross $158.1 million already surpassing Lara Croft to become the highest grossing videogame adaption domestically and a week later surpassed Warcraft for the biggest one worldwide. But few could have guessed the film would not only top Warcraft but nearly triple the total lifeline gross of that film. That makes  Cool Spot  the highest-grossing Gingo and non-Disney film of all time, surpassing  Imagimals ’ and Minions ' $1.018 billion and $1.159 billion respectively. Plus, there's already a sequel expected to be released in 2021 so expect that film to go much higher than this one!

‘The Nutcracker’ Bombed and No One Noticed Because Disney
When all is said and done, Disney will have  at least  five slots in the Top 10 highest grossing films of 2018. But it’s a testament to their dominance that the studio also had one hefty bomb this year and no one seemed to notice. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms  opened in early November under a flurry of strange buzz—production troubles led to the unique circumstance of two separate directors being credited on the film. But this was Disney, after all, and  The Nutcracker  is a timeless family story, so surely the film would do fine. Not so, as it turns out. Mostly negative reviews didn’t help the film’s perceived lack of interest, and it opened with just $20 million, dropping over 50% in its second weekend and pretty much bottoming out after that.

At $140 million worldwide,  The Nutcracker and the Four Realms  is one of Disney’s lowest grossing films in years, especially considering the cost. And yet, because Disney is Disney, it was able to weather the disappointment of what was supposed to be a huge holiday hit. Nutcracker  what? All eyes are now on the buzzworthy  Mary Poppins Returns, which is poised to make a ton of cash. Thank u, next.

'Computeropolis: The Deep Web' Is the First Animated Film to Ever Reach $1 Billion overseas
Trailers for the film were widely praised with some considering it a huge improvement over the previous film. The film grossed a towering $1.133 billion worldwide, with 88.3% of that total coming from international audiences. And while the film flopped domestically with a total gross of $132.2 million that may be on the slightly low end for recent animated blockbusters by Universal Animation ( Paradoria  grossed $411 million domestic), in China alone,  Computeropolis  has grossed over $190 million. In fact, there's already a fifth film in production with a release in 2021.

'Real Tag' Becomes Glass Ball's Biggest Film of All Time But Stil Flopped
At the end of the day, this floppish film both won and lost at the box office becoming Fox's biggest bomb of the year with an estimated loss of $100-150 million. Real Tag  opened in late October dominated by various holdovers and under a flurry of strange buzz—production troubles led to various directors leaving and the production budget skyrocketing to $200 million. Unlike, 3 Simple Doods, this film opened to universally negative reviews and a huge lack of interest led to the film opening to a forgettable $9.8 million, while later dropping 65% in its second weekend pretty much bombing during its opening.

At $294 million worldwide,  Real Tag  is the highest Glass Ball film of all time (that is until Ico and Havoc of the Planet of the Apes is released in 2019), and the most expensive one especially considering the cost. However, the loss was lowered due to the overperformance of Fox's Bohemian Rhapsody.

‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Keeps Going and Going
While some of the films on this list broke out with gigantic opening weekends, the success of  Crazy Rich Asians  was impressive in a different way. The romantic comedy opened above expectations at $34 million for a five-day weekend, which was incredibly solid—especially for the first Asian-led studio film since  The Joy Luck Club. But  Crazy Rich Asians  was a true word-of-mouth hit, as the film only dropped 5.7% in its second weekend—a number that’s basically unheard of. Then it just kept going and going, dropping only another 10% in its third weekend and crossing the $110 million domestic mark.

When all was said and done, this delightful romcom topped out at $237.9 million worldwide, with a hefty $173.9 million of that coming from the domestic haul. And all of this against a budget of just $30 million. Crazy Rich Asians  is proof positive that there’s more than one way for a film to be a smashing success.

‘Halloween’ Becomes the Highest-Grossing ‘Halloween’ Film
Reboots and sequels and remakes are all the rage, but  David Gordon Green ’s  Halloween  was the rare real deal. A “legacyquel” to a beloved horror classic that pleased fans and critics alike,  and  made tons of money. Indeed, Blumhouse kept the costs low on the new  Halloween  just as they do on all of their projects, and it paid off to the tune of a whopping $252.9 million worldwide. That’s not only the highest-grossing  Halloween  movie ever made, it’s the first to ever crack $100 million! So yeah, expect more sequels.

‘Suspiria’ and ‘The Little Stranger’ Wildly Underperformed
While 2018 was a great year for horror overall, it wasn’t all good news. One of the biggest box office bombs of the year was Amazon Studios’  Suspiria  remake, which is surprising considering this was the next film from  Luca Guadagnino, a filmmaker who just a year ago was front and center in the Oscar race with  Call Me by Your Name. But divisive reviews and the film’s artfulness didn’t seem to help matters, as the movie opened terrifically in limited release on its first weekend, but positively bombed when it eventually expanded wider. How badly did  Suspiria  do, you ask? The film’s worldwide total is a paltry $4.4 million. That’s it.

It’s a shame too, as  Suspiria  is also one of the year’s most interesting films, packed with terrific performances and some  really  ambitious filmmaking. But alas, the film opened in the wake of the more traditional horror film  Halloween  and audiences just were not at all interested. Like,  at all.

Amazon certainly tried its best with a robust and arresting marketing strategy, but the same can’t be said of another horror film from an Oscar-nominated filmmaker:  The Little Stranger. This ghost story was the next film from  Room  director  Lenny Abrahamson, but for whatever reason, it was pretty much completely buried by Focus Features. Reviews were embargoed until the day before the movie hit theaters, which is usually a sign that it’s a stinker. But the reviews weren’t terrible, simply a bit mixed, and the late embargo drained any potential buzz that could have led people to see this thing. Indeed, this one fared even worse than  Suspiria, as  The Little Stranger  grossed only $1.8 million worldwide, with a domestic haul of just $713,143. It was in theaters domestically for just three weeks before being pulled. Now  that’s  ghosting.

‘First Man’ Crashed and Burned
First Man  was supposed to be  a thing. The next film from Oscar-winning  La La Land  director  Damien Chazelle, starring  Ryan Gosling  as American hero Neil Armstrong, with the U.S.’s mission to the moon brought to life in stunning detail. And yet, the film didn’t make much of a mark at all. Against a reported budget of $59 million,  First Man  grossed only $44 million domestic and tapped out with a worldwide total just barely over $100 million. Compared to the $355 million worldwide gross of  Apollo 13  or the $723 million haul of  Gravity, that misses the mark pretty heavily.

The film had mostly solid reviews and was considered an early Oscar favorite (not so much anymore, though), but Universal didn’t expect October to be such a bloodbath movie-wise. A Star Is Born  opened one week before  First Man  and was an instant sensation, scoring major box office weekend after weekend. Additionally, films like  Venom  and  Halloween  turned out to be huge hits in October. Audiences only have so much money to spend on movies in a given month, and when presented with these options versus the serious biopic tone of  First Man, they went the “entertain me” route. Unfortunately,  First Man  never really recovered.

‘A Quiet Place’ Dominates April with $340 Million Worldwide
A Quiet Place  kind of came out of nowhere, but the  Emily Blunt  and  John Krasinski -fronted horror film exploded right out of the gate with a massive $50 million opening weekend. That was almost enough to overtake  Paranormal Activity 3  for the biggest horror opening weekend of all time (a record that was then broken by  Halloween  this October), and certainly a stellar debut for an original horror movie. Moreover,  A Quiet Place  just kept dominating weekend after weekend in April as most franchise films had cleared out to make way for  Avengers: Infinity War. This was  A Quiet Place ’s gain, as the film eventually grossed over $340 million worldwide—against a budget of just $17 million. That’s entertainment, folks.