What are the top 10 highest grossing movies in 2012?

Per TheWrap, here are the top 10 highest grossing movies, domestic and international, from last year:

Marvel’s The Avengers: $1.5B

The Dark Knight Rises: $1.08B

Skyfall: $1.03B

The Hobbit: $888.3M

Ice Age: Continental Drift: $876.4M

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: $822.7M

The Amazing Spider-Man: $754.8M

Madagascar: Europe’s Most Wanted: $743.8M

The Hunger Games: $691.2M

Men In Black 3: $625M

Let’s see: Sequel, Sequel, Sequel, Prequel, Sequel, Sequel, Reboot, Sequel, Adaptation, Sequel. Hm. Is there a possible trend here?

If we drill down beneath this obvious news, we find something else: 9 of the 10 movies generated more revenue in international markets than domestic, most at least twice as much with Ice Age leading the way: $161.2M domestic / $715.2M foreign, which means 82% of revenues by this film derived from international box office.

The only movie in the top 10 that did not earn more dollars overseas was The Hunger Games: $408M domestic / $283.2M foreign. Why? Is the book series not popular overseas? The only movie in the top ten with a female lead? People internationally haven’t discovered how fantastic Jennifer Lawrence is? Your thoughts?

One takeaway for screenwriters: If you want Hollywood to froth over you and fling massive coinage your way? Write a franchise movie.

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