Sony/Columbia (incl. Screen Gems)
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Quality: | D | Score Averages: |
Critics | Users | Metascore Distribution (23 releases): |
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| 47.1 | 5.6 | |||||||
| Performance: | D+ | Score Trend: | ||||||
Sony managed to place third in domestic market share among the major studios last year, and grow its foreign box office total by nearly a third compared to 2010. If only we had anything else nice to say about the studio's 2011 performance.
The studio managed only one global hit last year: The Smurfs, which grossed over $560 million worldwide. But even that film grossed just $142 million in the U.S., meaning that Sony was the only major studio without a $150 million film in 2011. (By comparison, Sony released two such films the year before.) Sony also had the lowest per-film average gross of the six major distributors in 2011, and its foreign box office growth (which includes a nice total for The Adventures of Tintin, for which Sony held the foreign distribution rights) didn't prevent the studio from finishing fifth in global market share for the second straight year.
Sony also had the lowest average Metascore among the major studios in 2011, down from third place the year before. Even though Sony released only one positively reviewed film in 2010 and managed to boost that total to six films in 2011 (led by best picture nominee Moneyball), its overall Metascore still dropped nearly two points last year, while the studio's average Metacritic user score was also the lowest among the big six distributors. And, for the second year in a row, Sony managed to release the year's lowest-scoring movie.
Will 2012 be any different? A new James Bond movie (Skyfall) should help, and the studio has some potential critical hits in the sci-fi film Looper and a new Kathryn Bigelow action film. But a belated Men in Black sequel, a Total Recall remake, and a Spider-Man reboot would seem to represent Sony's best chances for success—or utter failure—this year.
| Film | Studio | Domestic Gross* | Metascore | User Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moneyball | Columbia Pictures | $75,605,492 | 87 | 7.9 |
| Attack the Block ** | Screen Gems | $1,024,175 | 75 | 7.0 |
| The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Columbia Pictures | $98,350,134 | 71 | 8.1 |
| Arthur Christmas | Columbia Pictures | $46,462,469 | 69 | 7.7 |
| The Ides of March | Columbia Pictures | $40,962,534 | 67 | 7.2 |
| Friends with Benefits | Screen Gems | $55,802,754 | 63 | 6.6 |
| Jumping the Broom | TriStar Pictures | $37,295,394 | 56 | 4.6 |
| Soul Surfer | TriStar Pictures | $43,853,424 | 53 | 6.9 |
| Anonymous ** | Columbia Pictures | $4,463,292 | 50 | 5.7 |
| 30 Minutes or Less | Columbia Pictures | $37,053,924 | 49 | 5.4 |
| Bad Teacher | Columbia Pictures | $100,292,856 | 47 | 5.2 |
| Straw Dogs | Screen Gems | $10,324,441 | 45 | 5.5 |
| Colombiana | TriStar Pictures | $36,665,854 | 45 | 5.3 |
| Courageous | TriStar Pictures | $34,522,221 | 42 | 7.7 |
| Priest | Screen Gems | $29,136,626 | 41 | 4.9 |
| The Green Hornet | Columbia Pictures | $98,780,042 | 39 | 5.8 |
| Battle: Los Angeles | Columbia Pictures | $83,552,429 | 37 | 6.0 |
| Just Go with It | Columbia Pictures | $103,028,109 | 33 | 6.4 |
| The Smurfs | Columbia Pictures | $142,614,158 | 30 | 4.3 |
| Zookeeper | Columbia Pictures | $80,360,843 | 30 | 3.8 |
| Jack and Jill | Columbia Pictures | $73,350,669 | 23 | 2.6 |
| The Roommate | Screen Gems | $37,300,107 | 23 | 3.4 |
| Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star | Columbia Pictures | $2,529,395 | 9 | 1.6 |
