Americans spent $10,391,972,821 at movie theaters in 2012, the highest yearly total in history. As usual, production companies offered a wide variety of movies for moviegoers to enjoy, with the superhero genre flourishing for much of the year.
Here are the top grossing films of 2012:
“Marvel’s The Avengers”: $623,357,910
One might ask oneself “how could a superhero movie get any better?” The geniuses at Marvel answered that question by combining their strongest franchises and the results were outstanding. “The Avengers” is the third highest grossing film of all time behind “Titanic” and “Avatar” earning $1.5 billion worldwide.
“The Dark Knight Rises”: $448,139,099
Despite the tragic Aurora theater shooting, Batman aficionados still flocked to theaters to help this film have the highest grossing opening for a non-3D movie. “The Dark Knight Rises” accumulated a worldwide total of $1.08 billion, the seventh highest grossing film of all time.
“The Hunger Games”: $408,010,692
The first installment of Suzanne Collins’ trilogy made the largest worldwide opening for a movie that was not released during the summer or a holiday weekend ($211.8 million). The sequel, “Catching Fire,” is still in production and will hit theaters Nov. 22, 2013.
“Skyfall”: $290,904,271
The highest grossing Bond film to date, “Skyfall” received very good reviews from film critics. Due to the lack of cool gadgets, Judi Dench’s nagging, and Daniel Craig’s unenthusiastic jogging, I was more entertained by the “Zero Dark Thirty” preview before this Bond-stinker started.
“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2”: $286,422,893
Teenage girls and single moms got to theaters as fast as they could to catch the final “Twilight” film. Grossing over $800 million worldwide, “Breaking Dawn Part 2” surpassed the rest of the “Twilight” movies as the highest earning film of the series.
“The Amazing Spider-Man”: $262,030,663
The reboot of Toby Maguire’s “Spider-Man” series was the seventh highest grossing movie of 2012, but ironically is the lowest grossing “Spider-Man” film out of the four.
“Brave”: $237,262,163
Pixar releases about one movie per year, “Brave” being the highest grossing animated feature in North America this year.
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”: $228,546,604
Had it been in theaters earlier, “The Hobbit” could have easily dominated the yearly box office. It has been in theaters less than a month and has still managed to rake in $228.5 million.
“Ted”: $218,815,487
If you like “Family Guy,” you’d enjoy “Ted.” This raunchy buddy film about a teddy bear coming to life earned Universal Studios over $400 million worldwide, the highest grossing movie from the studio in 2012.
“Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted”: $216,391,482
The latest “Madagascar” movie rounds off the top ten highest earning films of 2012. Box offices outside of North America more than doubled the domestic box office earnings with a $752 million worldwide total.
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