Summer has been a pretty mixed bag at the 2016 box office. While many movies have surprised, likeThe Conjuring 2andThe Secret Life of Pets, it has been a season filled with a lot ofbox office bombsand disappointments. No studio has been more negatively affected by this than Paramount, who is set to post a massive loss for 2016, and it isn’t looking all that much better for 2017 either. As it stands, the studio is looking to post more than $500 million in losses for between this year and next.
Speaking with The Street, media analystMichael Nathansonshed some light on what he feels will be a very, very bad year for Paramount. According to his estimates, the studio is set to lose what he calls a “mind numbing” $360 million in 2016. According toNathanson, 2017 doesn’t look a whole lot better, as he estimates the studio will lose another $200 million over next year.
One of the major surprises for Paramount was thepoor performance of Star Trek Beyond, whichNathansonacknowledges the studio is very aware of. As of right now,Star Trek Beyondhas earned $231 million worldwide, on a staggeringly high $185 million production budget. The movie has yet to open in China, and when it does on September 2, that should definitely help. However, the foreignbox officehas been down forBeyondwhen compared to the previous two entries in the franchise, so China won’t likely be enough to call it a win overall. With a large marketing budget, the movie likely needs to make somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 million to break even, which isn’t looking overly likely.
This weekend at the box office certainly didn’t help matters either, as the remake ofBen-Huris looking to be even more disastrous, and may go down as one of thebiggest flopsof the entire year. On its opening weekend,Ben-Huronly brought in $11.3 million domestically on a reported $100 million production budget. The movie is still going to be rolled out in a lot of foreign markets, but with such a rocky start, it is very unlikely the movie will break even. Luckily, the movie was co-financed with MGM, and Paramount only has a 20 percent stake inBen-Hur, so they will be at less risk, but won’t make the money they were expecting to either.
Paramount’s other big release for the summer wasTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, which proved to be yet another under-performing sequel. With another massive budget of $135 million, only pulling in $239 million worldwide makes for another very poor outing. That marks a significant decline when compared to 2014’sTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which pulled in $493 million worldwide.
Outside of the summer, Paramount has struggled to find a runaway hit. The studio pulled in some money from late 2015 releases likeDaddy’s HomeandThe Big Short, which helped soften the blow, but only slightly. Arguably, the studio’s biggest hit of the year was10 Cloverfield Lane, which pulled in $104 million on a reported budget of just $15 million. Outside of that, nearly everything else has disappointed. EvenMichael Bay’s well liked war movie13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazionly managed to bring in $69 million worldwide on a $50 million budget. Let us not forget that Paramount is also responsible for the release ofZoolander 2, which absolutely tanked, bringing in just $28 million domestically, and wasdemolished by critics.
As for the rest of this year, Paramount can only hope thatTom Cruisecan help ease the pain withJack Reacher: Never Go Back, and that theAmy Adamssci-fi movieArrivalis something audiences turn out for. As for next year, the ever reliableTransformers franchisewill be back withTransformers: The Last Knight, and that will surely bring in big money. Viacom, the parent company of Paramount, has been trying to sell a 49 percent stake in the studio, and after this abysmal summer, that is going to be a much more difficult task to accomplish.
