These were the top ten grossing movies of 2013…and the bottom ten losers

2013 has come and gone, leaving behind many an empty wallet and that strange feeling you get in your guts when you’ve been served stale popcorn by a cinema staff member who should be wearing a safety helmet indoors. There were winners, there were losers and plenty of cash was spent. Here’s how 2013 made the giants of the entertainment industry even richer.

Worldwide, the king of the box office was Iron Man 3. Stark tech pulled in a whopping $1.2 billion in cash over the year, and is currently the fifth highest grossing movie of all time. Not to be outdone, various other blockbusters slipped in and earned filthy amounts of cash. Animated films Despicable Me 2 and The Croods were big winners here, with Gravity being the only film on this list that traded colourful explosions for more highbrow entertainment.

• Iron Man 3 – $1.2 Billion
• Despicable Me 2 – $918.6 Million
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – $797.4 Million
• Fast and Furious 6 – $788.6 Million
• Monsters University – $743.5 Million
• Man of Steel – $662.8 Million
• Gravity – $653.2 Million
• The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug – $633.1 million
• Thor: The Dark World – $629.5 million
• The Croods – $587.2 million

Not everyone could walk away with large sacks of cash in 2103 though. Out of the 676 movies released in North America and worldwide, these films fell flatter than a South African sitcom:

Bottom Ten

• Khumba – $1029
• Remnants – $1022
• Billy and Buddy – $894
• I spit on your grave 2 – $804
• Into the white – $704
• Syrup – $663
• Hammer of the gods – $641
• Triumph of the wall – $476
• A perfect man – $445
• Storage 24 – $72

Going local, the South African 2013 top ten was pretty much a mirror copy of international trends, with a swap here and there on that list. The most popular film of 2013 was the return of Gru, which made over $4 million on our shores. Here’s the rest of that list, in almighty dollar values:

South Africa

• Despicable Me 2 – $4 Million
• Fast & Furious 6 – $3.7 Million
• Iron Man 3 – $3.1 Million
• The Smurfs 2 – $2.1 Million
• The Croods – $2.053 Million
• Thor: The Dark World – $2.026 Million
• Man of Steel – $1.8 Million
• Monsters University – $1.7 Million
• Grown Ups 2 – $1.6 Million
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – $1.4 Million

And here’s the very worst of the performers that hit our shores last year, as voted by your wallets. The usual run of limited art house films suffered, thanks to poor promotional attempts, viewer apathy and limited runs in very select theatres. But the very bottom of the list of 195 tracked films, shows that local Jackass wannabe Bustin’ Chops bombed in the worst possible way.

A mere $2758 was spent on tickets for the film, when roughly adjusted, means that around 600 tickets in total were bought. In other news, about 600 people still want a refund.

Local bottom ten

• The reluctant fundamentalist – $10 642
• Black nativity – $10 456
• Robot and Frank – $10 245
• Detachment – $7189
• The fifth estate – $5788
• Killer Joe – $5664
• Sleeper’s Wake – $4956
• Stoker – $4934
• I’m so excited – $3708
• Bustin’ Chops – $2758

Well that’s that’s the best and worst of the year. Let’s see what 2014 has in store.

 

 

Last Updated: January 6, 2014