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Valley Studios Gross Tops $4 Billion

San Fernando Valley movie studios grossed more than $4.2 billion at the domestic box office in 2014, or 41 percent of Hollywood’s market share. In total, the U.S. box office hit $10.2 billion, down 6.4 percent from last year, according to Burbank movie reporting service Box Office Mojo. L.A.’s 20th Century Fox was the top studio of the year with $1.8 billion in revenue. Walt Disney Co., in Burbank, led the way of the four Valley-based studios with $1.6 billion in box office revenue from 17 movies. That included animated smash “Frozen” held over from 2013, and break-out summer hit “Guardians of the Galaxy,” the top grossing movie domestically for the year at more than $332 million. The 2014 total, however, was a 6.8 percent decrease from 2013 when the studio had five movies that grossed more than $200 million, including “Iron Man 3,” which brought in $409 million. Three other Disney films landed in the top ten: “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” with $260 million; “Maleficent” with $241 million; and the autumn release “Big Hero 6” with $202 million. Warner Bros. Entertainment, in Burbank, brought in $1.5 billion domestically for the year from 31 movies, which included the surprise hit “The Lego Movie” at $258 million – the fourth-highest gross of the year – and summer blockbuster “Godzilla” with $201 million in revenue. The year’s gross was 21 percent down from 2013, when the studio brought in $1.9 billion, led by “Man of Steel” with $291 million, and seven other films that brought in $100 million or more. Universal Studios, in Universal City, earned $1.1 billion with summer fare such as “Neighbors” at $150 million and thriller “Lucy” at $127 million. The 2014 domestic gross was a 23 percent decrease from the $1.4 billion the year before when Universal released “Despicable Me 2” which brought in $368 million and “Fast and Furious 6” which brought in $239 million. DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. is not included in the studio totals at Box Office Mojo because its films are distributed by 20th Century Fox. However, the Glendale studio had another tough year. It released three films, with “How to Train Your Dragon 2” bringing in the most box office revenue with $177 million. The studio took a $57 million write down on its spring release, “Mr. Peabody and Sherman.” That was the third write down for the studio over the past two years. For the coming year, Disney is sticking with proven formulas of success with the sequel “Avengers: Age of Ultron” in May, two new Pixar movies, live-action versions of two animated Disney classics – and what will likely be the most anticipated movie of the year, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” for Christmas. In February, Warner Bros. will release the sci-fi thriller “Jupiter Ascending,” which has a release date pushed up from the summer, and come May post-apocalyptic road warrior Mad Max returns to the big screen with “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Mel Gibson is not featured in the film, which is a prequel. Universal has the seventh installment of the “Fast and Furious” franchise in early April, and continues the story of genetically created dinosaurs with “Jurassic World” in June.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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