The Big Picture: Which Films Are Set To Dominate The Box Office This Year?

Judging by the dominance of franchise-based films such as ‘Jurassic World’, ‘Avengers: Age of Utron’, ‘Furious 7’ and, of course, the biggest hit of them all ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ in 2015, it’s highly likely 2016 will follow in the same vein.

More franchise-based films dominated by superheroes, sci-fi and fantasy, sequels, remakes and spinoffs are due. It sounds like the film industry is becoming very formulaic as it chases the big box office dollars, but given the money up for grabs who would blame them? Plus, there are some variations on the theme just to spice things up in the next 12 months or so…

Big name superheroes square up to each other in the form of a Batman versus Superman confrontation, the Harry Potter franchise is back but this time with a prequel concerning a menagerie of animals escaping in New York, and the Ghostbusters return with an all-female team.

So what films will likely dominate the box office?

01. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

This massive release is DC Comic’s bid to compete with arch comic rival Marvel and its hugely successful ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ franchise.

Batman is a huge brand in itself, so pairing the character up with another big box office superhero shows DC mean business with its opening salvo in the superhero film arena. This film will be one of several planned for release over the next half decade, and features characters such as Wonder Woman and Aquaman, who will eventually appear in their own titles.
02. Captain America: Civil War

Tipped by some to be Marvel’s biggest-ever film, this release will be the main competition to DC’s release discussed above.

It includes such popular superheroes as Spider Man, the Black Panther and the Avengers and works as a stand alone title along with being a ‘Captain America’ sequel. There’s no doubt Marvel is ready for the DC competition. The battle starts here.
03. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Maybe the above two films will be eclipsed by this Harry Potter prequel? With box office sales of over $7.5 billion it’s one of the biggest franchises of all.

Oscar-winning Eddie Redmayne, playing an eccentric British wizard, brings a collection of magical creatures to New York that cause chaos when they escape. The film marks Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling’s first foray into screenwriting.
04. Finding Dory

Twelve years after the hugely successful ‘Finding Nemo’, animated fish are back in this sequel concerning the amnesiac Dory from the original. This release could give ‘Frozen’ – the highest-ever grossing animated film – a run for its money.
05. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

With the massive success to date of the latest mainstream Star Wars film ‘The Force Awakens’ (which made big money well into the new year) there could easily be two Star Wars films in the top half a dozen – or maybe top three – films of 2016.

With a decade passing before ‘The Force Awakens’ sated the Star Wars fans’ appetites, there’s plenty of demand for even more. Disney’s CEO Bob Iger, speaking to investors recently, expressed satisfaction at how ‘Rogue One’ has turned out and said there are more stand alone Star Wars releases planned, with the next due in late spring 2018. The franchise strikes back.
More big films

More animations such as a remake of ‘The Jungle Book’ are set for success as are other superhero films such as ‘Suicide Squad’ and ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’. Hit films for children could include the Steven Spielberg-directed Roald Dahl adaptation ‘BFG’, and one of the biggest disaster film hits ever returns with ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’, twenty years after the original showed entire cities being laid waste by aliens. Expect more of the same from this sequel.