Recently I was going over the upcoming summer movie slate and trying to make my predictions on what will hit and miss at the box office. I’m notoriously awful at these predictions but it is fun nevertheless. While going over the releases it occurred to me how many family films are being released this summer. 2015 summer had 8 family films- Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tomorrowland, Jurassic World, Inside Out, Minions, Ant-Man, Fantastic 4, and Pixels. Some might count Mission Impossible 5 but I think that is a stretch. In comparison this year there are 4 just in May.
First let’s talk about the animated films. There are 5 (6 releases but Sausage Party not family friendly.) These 5 are: Angry Birds Movie, Finding Dory, Secret Life of Pets, Ice Age: Collision Course, Kubo and the 2 Strings
Then we have comic book movies. I’m not counting Suicide Squad because I think that will be a pretty hard PG-13. There are 3 films: Captain America: Civil War, X-Men Apocalypse and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Out of the Shadows.
We have other live action family films. (I’m not sure about Warcraft family friendly status as I’ve never played the game). But here’s some of them that could attract a family audience:Alice through the Looking Glass, Ghostbusters, Independence Day: Resurgence, The BFG, Legend of Tarzan, Star Trek Beyond, Pete’s Dragon.
That’s 15 movies, almost double what we had in 2015 using basically the same criteria. Even if a few turn out to not be family films it’s still kind of amazing. That leads me to my next question- which will rise and which will sink?
I mean just Disney alone has 5 films within all of their brands and one of them has to strike out. Will it be Pete’s Dragon? Will it be Alice Through the Looking Glass? The BFG? That last one would make me sad because The BFG is the one non-sequel/remake of the group but the book is less well known than Roald Dahl’s others and it doesn’t have a big star like Johnny Depp or Robert Redford.
Other interesting films to look at is the nostalgia wars. Will Star Trek Beyond, Ghostbusters or Independence Day: Resurgence be this year’s Pixels or Terminator: Genisys to bomb at the box office or will they be huge like Jurassic World?
You have 2 video game movies with Angry Birds Movie and Warcraft that will be interesting to watch and 2 studios, Illumination and Liaka, trying something new with Secret Life of Pets and Kubo and the 2 Strings. Will audiences embrace new or flock to known properties like Ice Age Collision Course, X-Men Apocalypse and Finding Dory?
I’m really curious to see how it all plays out. What do you think? What will be the big hits and misses for family films 2016? Have I left something out? Let me know in the comments section. It’s all speculation so let’s have fun talking about it.
I have high hopes for the Secret Life of Pets, but I don’t know how it really will be! The trailer makes me laugh every time.
You considered Avengers: Age of Ultron as a family film? I don’t think I’d consider any superhero film as a “family picture”. But, that’s just me.
Well, I feel we can say Finding Dory will be a mega-hit, lol! I’m wondering about whether Kubo will be or not.
I feel that Pete’s Dragon and BFG will flop at the box office.
Yeah the superhero genre is debatable but I think the Marvel films classify as family films. They are usually pretty tame. I guess it depends on the age of the kids but I dont think they are any more violent than say Jungle Book. Either way I asked my friends before picking Iron Man for family movie night and they all agreed they watched it with their kids. So yeah I’d consider Avengers Age of Ultron an older family film. I don’t think both BFG and Pete’s will be flops but I think one of them will be. They both have good weekends and reviews will impact them. It woll be interesting to see
My guesses? Let’s see….Civil war wins in the category Superhero movies, no question there. The animated features will most likely all make a lot of money, but Finding Dory will beat them all, though I have the feeling that Kubo will be the better movie. It will certainly artistically the most pleasing. Ice Age will be the worst entry by a large margin. I really don’t know why this stupid series is still around (yeah, I do know, it makes good money internationally, for whatever reason). In the nostalgia wars, my money is on Independence Day being the one movie which will walk away with a lot of money, Star Trek will do decently at best unless it gets glowing reviews and Ghostbuster, well, it’s like watching a trainwreck.
Which leaves Disney’s wild cards. I actually have a good feeling concerning the BFG, because while it doesn’t have any big stars in it, it is a Spielberg movie and I think a lot of people crave something along this line from him. Pete’s Dragon…yeah, I wish they had approached this one differently, but what can you do.