With only seven months having passed by, Universal Pictures has Hollywood in awe with its record ravaging run in 2015. An official statement by the studios reported $5.53 billion in revenues for the year, making it the most successful production house ever in any given year, in the history of cinema. The previous record was held by 20th Century Fox, at $5.52 billion for 2014, but it took them a full year to reach that mark, while Universal still have five full months to spare. That performance is staggering to say the least!
With one record-busting movie after another, Universal has had a dream run in the year 2015. Jurassic World has been leading that money riot, grossing $1.562 billion followed by Furious 7 bringing home $1.515billion – both the movies have already become the third and fifth highest grossing movies in the history of cinema already. Those two monster hits are followed by Minions, grossing $875 million, Fifty Shades of Grey with $570 million and Pitch Perfect earning $283 million. Of the total $5.53billion grossed by Universal, $3.59 billion has been earned internationally while $1.94 billion has been minted at the domestic box office. And those numbers are swelling, FAST!
With 5 months to spare, Universal still has some big movies to be released later this year, which may push the record breaking revenue figure to an astonishingly high level. The upcoming big money flicks from the studios include the biopic on hip hop group N.W.A namely Straight Outta Compton, due for a release in August. Another movie which is almost certain to rake in good amounts of money is Michael Fassbender starrer, Danny Boyle directed Steve Jobs which is releasing in October. Finally the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler comedy “Sisters” is also set to hit the screens in December.
Other pending Universal releases for 2015 include M Knight Shyamalan’s thriller The Visit, Baltasar Kormákur directed Everest, Gullermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak, Brad Pitt starrer By the Sea and horror comedy Krampus.
Speaking about the stellar financial performance of the company, Jeff Shell, Chairman, Universal Filmed Entertainment Group said “At Universal we are fortunate to have the best team in the business. This tremendous success is a result of continued strategic decision-making from our production, marketing and distribution teams, along with strong dating choices. I’m tremendously proud of the success we’ve been able to achieve together.”
“We are in business with some of the most talented people in the industry and the success of our slate this year is a testament to the creativity and vision of our filmmakers, With five months remaining in 2015 and ten films still to come, we look forward to celebrating even more record-breaking milestones” added another Chairman Donna Langley.
