2012 movie preview

Nice article at Box Office Mojo:

With the U.S. box office poised to finish down around four percent year-over-year for 2011, Hollywood is setting its sights on 2012 with the hope that grosses can at least stabilize in the next 12 months. Similar to 2011, the upcoming lineup is packed with established and aspiring franchises and plenty of animated titles, most of which will be delivered in 3D. Considering audience interest in these areas appears to be on the decline, 2012 may not deliver the sort of jolt needed to revive confidence in the theatrical business.

Some key titles they list: The Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2, The Hobbit, Avengers, Men in Black 3, The Hunger Games, John Carter, Battleship, Snow White and the Huntsman, Brave.

Then this interesting note:

As always, there are plenty of comedies on the schedule as well, though not nearly as many as in 2011. Only 29 comedies are currently scheduled for nationwide release, and that includes action comedies like MIB 3 and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. At the same point last year, there were closer to 40 comedies on the schedule. Of course, comedies are lower budget and plenty will be added as the year goes on, but it’s still worth keeping an eye on these to see if fewer comedies means higher grosses for each entry.

This dovetails with the decrease in the sale of comedy spec scripts in 2011, falling from the #1 genre the year before to #2. Conventional wisdom is that during grim or lean economic times, audiences like comedies, but there seems to be a sense in Hollywood that moviegoers are in a darker mood of late which probably explains in part why the spec market has been dominated by thrillers this year.

More analysis of the 2011 spec script market to come in January with my annual breakdown per genre, studio, agents and managers, first-timers, and top $$ sales.

For more of the original BOM article, go here.

For the complete list of movies on the 2012 release schedule thus far, go here.

Which movies are you excited to see in 2012?

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