When it comes to evaluating the financial performance of top movies, it isn’t about what a film grosses at the box office. The true tale is told when production budgets, P&A, talent participations and other costs collide with box office grosses, and ancillary revenues from VOD to DVD and TV. To get close to that mysterious end of the equation, Deadline is repeating our Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament, using data culled by seasoned and trusted sources. We’re counting down from No. 20 and will present the data en masse Monday. THE FILM: A satisfying animated film based on LEGO blocks? This was the other most pleasant and playful franchise launch surprise besides Guardians Of The Galaxy, as minted another franchise to go along with the DC Comics superhero line that will drive its slates for the next five years. It also gave writer-directors and two films in the Top 10 (22 Jump Street is the other), and will keep them busy in coming years with a Batman LEGO spinoff and sequels.
How well did it do financially? Let’s take a look: THE BOX SCORE: Here are the costs and revenues as our experts see them: THE BOTTOM LINE: The film accomplished what so many other toy to movie transfers have tried to achieve. Released February 7, the film posted a whopping $69 million opening weekend, and it kept going. It grossed $257 million domestic and $211 million foreign, with no help from China (storyline too subversive?). That $468 million total pales in comparison to many of the films in the Top 20, but the key here is cost and a lack of participation deals that would have depleted the bottom line. The film’s budget was only $60 million, and you’d have to look at Despicable Me to find a blockbuster animated film that came in at that price point. According to our experts, the talent payouts were healthy for a cast that included Will Arnett, Charlie Day, Jonah Hill, Will Ferrell and Morgan Freeman. Even when factoring in those bonus payments that added $20 million after cash break, The LEGO Movie left $229 million in net profit to Warner Bros, for a stellar Cash on Cash return of 1.80.
And sequels and spinoffs to look forward to. Those films will have to factor in bigger paydays for Lord and Miller and returning voice talent, but that is the price of doing blockbuster business. No. 4 – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 No. 2 – American Sniper Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happyDanish toymaker sold 62 billion Lego elements last year, amounting to 102 Lego bricks for every person in the world Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, Lego CEO: ‘Our ability to innovate and reinvent the Lego play experience every year is vital for our success.’ Danish toymaker sold 62 billion Lego elements last year, amounting to 102 Lego bricks for every person in the world A successful foray into cinema has helped Lego post a rise in annual sales and profits. Buoyed by interest linked to the Warner Brothers film The Lego Movie, the Danish toymaker saw profits lift 15% to 7bn Danish krone (£686m) last year. Sales rose by 13% to 28.6bn Danish krone (£2.8bn).
The privately owned firm, which overtook Barbie doll-maker Mattel to become the world’s bestselling toy firm last year, added that sales were boosted by strong demand for its Lego City, Star Wars and Technic lines. It said it sold 62 billion Lego elements last year, amounting to 102 Lego bricks for every person in the world. Amid double-digit sales growth in the UK, France, Russia, China as well as its largest market, the US, the company estimates that more than 85 million children across the world played with Lego during 2014. The group, which employs over 14,700 staff, added that it had no product recalls for the fifth year running. Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, the chief executive, said: “Our ability to innovate and reinvent the Lego play experience every year is vital for our success.” It added its operating margin was 34% last year. Independent analyst Louise Cooper said: “That is an extraordinarily high profit margin for a business that essentially extrudes commoditised coloured plastic into different shaped bricks.
A brilliant company to make such a high profit margin from making basic plastic shapes.” The firm said its three best selling Lego sets last year were Police Station, Mindstorm and Heartlake Shopping Mall. The group said it expects continued sales growth in 2015. The Lego business was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Cristiansen. The company passed from father to son and is now owned by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, a grandchild of the founder. The name is an abbreviation of the two Danish words “leg godt”, meaning “play well”. The brick in its present form was launched in 1958.Goofy superhero kids’ toys beat kinky whips and bondage at movie theaters this weekend as “The Lego Batman Movie” topped “Fifty Shades Darker” for the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office.Warner Bros.’ new “Lego Movie” spinoff grossed $55.6 million in the U.S. and Canada from Friday through Sunday, according to studio estimates, proving the unexpected success of the 2014 original comedy was not a fluke.
The opening result for “Lego Batman,” a send-up of the DC Comics character, was slightly lower than the $60 million to $65 million analysts predicted last week. Yet it was still a strong start for the movie that cost an estimated $80 million to make, considerably less expensive than the typical animated feature.In international markets, "Lego Batman” made an estimated $37 million over the weekend. Reviews for “The Lego Batman Movie,” featuring the voice of Will Arnett as the growling billionaire vigilante, have been overwhelmingly positive, which bodes well for the movie’s prospects in the coming weeks, not to mention future Lego cartoons from the studio. “We were so excited when the ‘Lego Movie’ launched a whole franchise in 2014, and to see this first standalone film take off like this is pretty cool for us,” said Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros. “We’re getting everybody. We’re of course getting young families, but we’re also getting tweens, teens and adults.”
Universal Pictures’ “Fifty Shades of Grey” sequel, meanwhile, settled for second place with an estimated $46.8 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada through Sunday, a solid result for the movie that cost less than $60 million to make. The debut was considerably lower than the stellar opening for the original, which was released during a four-day weekend when the E.L. James erotic novel series was at the height of its popularity. The opening for the first film topped $93 million over a long weekend that coincided with Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day. The follow-up also cost more to produce. Yet Nick Carpou, Universal Pictures’ domestic distribution president, said the picture should continue to play well during the Valentine’s Day week and the upcoming four-day weekend, especially among females who made up 70% of the audience for “Fifty Shades Darker.” The movie also proved popular abroad, bringing in $100 million from countries outside the U.S. and Canada.
“We have a good chance of continuing to be very relevant next weekend,” Carpou said. “This is a win for the franchise.” By far the biggest surprise was “John Wick: Chapter 2,” which took in $30 million in its debut, close to double what the original made in 2014. The healthy result easily topped industry projections of $20 million.The first “John Wick,” introducing Keanu Reeves as a highly effective ex-hitman who comes out of retirement in a revenge-fueled killing spree, was a modest performer at theaters but became a cult favorite on home video among young men and video gamers. The three new wide releases provided a much-desired boost to the movie industry during the weekend before Valentine’s Day, coming after a dismal Super Bowl weekend that delivered a pair of disappointments in “Rings” and “The Space Between Us.” Strong holdovers also gave theater owners reason to be happy. M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split,” the hit thriller from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions, finally yielded the No. 1 perch after three weeks at the top, and fell to fourth place.