It’s been a great couple of years for Universal Pictures. After crossing the milestone 100th anniversary year, the film studio has now broken its second record this year. In September it was announced that for the first time in the studios history, they had crossed $2 billion worldwide, which is obviously a remarkable achievement that they should be immensely proud of.
Now it’s been confirmed that Universal has also broken their 2012 record for domestic box office gross this year with $1.352 Billion. This is thanks to both FAST & FURIOUS 6 and DESPICABLE ME 2 which both out grossed their predecessor’s and performed remarkably at the box office. FAST & FURIOUS 6 is Universals highest North American opening of 2013 and currently sits at a domestic total of $238.7 million. DESPICABLE ME 2 however is the second highest domestic opening of 2013 after the mighty IRON MAN 3 from Marvel and currently has a domestic take of $365.9 million. Both films also sit comfortably below IRON MAN 3 in the second and third spots of the top grossing films of 2013, which will also please Universal executives. To top it off, if they weren’t satisfied already, Universal’s total worldwide gross for 2013 so far is $3.49 billion for the most successful year the studio has ever seen.
Here are some other releases that have opened at the number one spot from Universal Pictures this year:
MAMA ($71.6 million), IDENTITY THEIF ($134.5 million), OBLIVION ($89.1 million), THE PURGE ($64.5 million), 2 GUNS ($75.6 million) and RIDDICK ($42 million).
The Studio also still has Spike Lee’s OLDBOY remake, 47 RONIN starring Keanu Reeves and LONE SURVIVOR starring Mark Wahlberg set for this year, so they can hopefully look forward to plenty more success before the end of 2013. Upcoming films from Universal over the next few years include FAST & FURIOUS 7, JURASSIC WORLD, TED 2 and DUMB AND DUMBER TO.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
