Universal Pictures has broken a new record for the highest-grossing international box office year ever, having raked in a mammoth $3.78 billion from January to August. Including domestic returns, Universal’s total box office haul is estimated at $5.5 billion.
What is perhaps most significant about Universal’s latest achievement though, is that it was done without the financial boost of a Superhero franchise. While many of their competitors – including Disney, Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox – have relied heavily on the comic-book genre, Universal has taken in more money by investing in different commercial ventures.
Jurassic World and Fast and Furious 7 have proven to be two of Universal’s biggest hits of the year, so far.
The biggest winners for the studio include Jurassic World ($1.623 billion), Fast and Furious 7 ($1.512 billion), Minions ($990.2 million) and Fifty Shades of Grey ($569.7 million).
The studio’s other non-blockbuster productions, including Trainwreck, Ted 2 and Straight Outta Compton, have also done well for themselves by exceeding the $50 million mark.
Universal’s next big release is Guillermo Del Toro’s luscious horror flick, Crimson Peak, which is expected to perform just as well in the Box Office as it’s predecessors – therefore ensuring that even in the midst of several big rival releases (Spectre, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Universal will still come out on top when 2015 comes to a close.
Watch the trailer for Crimson Peak below.
