This year was a blockbuster year for the entertainment industry. Records were broken at the box office and the music charts. As the year comes to a close, let’s take a look at what made 2015 such a record-breaking year for the entertainment industry.
Monumental is just one word to describe the 2015 box office. Fire can be another. The top-grossing movie of 2015 was “Jurassic World,” making $652,188,221 and still playing in theaters, according to boxofficemojo.com. The fourth installment in the Jurassic Park franchise garnered Chris Pratt a sequel and a spot in the leading male category. Not Oscar material, per se, but definitely enough for Pratt to become a household Hollywood name. Pratt was previously on the NBC comedy “Parks and Recreation” as everyone’s favorite lead singer, Andy of Mouse Rat. “Jurassic World” is not the only cult classic film looking to make history.
The highly anticipated “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is already breaking records. It was announced that four weeks before its release—four weeks—the movie had already generated $50 million in pre-sale tickets, according to the Wall Street Journal. It is an accomplishment in itself for a movie to make that much in an opening weekend, and if “Star Wars” has already broken records, the film can only go up from here. With two generations of Star Wars fans prepping for the film’s release since the announcement in January 2013, the ticket sales are expected to peak at an all-time high. It is quite possible that “Star Wars” can kick the dinosaurs off their throne, but with only a twelve-day run in 2015, it is highly unlikely—but never underestimate the power of the force.
Compared to previous years, 2015 is an anomaly. In 2014, the top grossing movie according to boxofficemojo.com was “American Sniper,” generating $350,126,372 domestically in a six -month run. “Jurassic World” doubled that easily. What does that say about 2015 and about the future of movies? The average movie ticket price has actually increased from $8.17 in 2014 to $8.34 domestically in 2015, showing that the moviegoer is willing to pay up for her show. The increase in movie tickets and attendance proves that in terms of movies, Americans are still going to theaters and not waiting to stream. TV shows are a different story.
The music industry also had some impressive performances. The most popular song of 2015 was Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk.” Don’t believe me? Just ask Nielsen’s list. Taylor Swift also had an impressive 2015 with her first official pop album, “1989,” reigning no. 1—it was released in 2014. Mars and Swift both have a knack for creating pop songs that are impossible not to dance to. Try not dancing it out to “Shake It Off.” I dare you.
2015 has proven to be a record breaking year. What will come with 2016? With the releases of “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” “Captain America: Civil War” and “Star Wars: Rogue One” in the upcoming year, 2016 could be the next record-breaking contender.