2008 Box Office: The Year of Paramount?
by Reg Seeton

Who knows what the future holds, but it’s fun to speculate on the year ahead in the world of film. When looking ahead to the slate of movies being released by Paramount Pictures in 2008, it’s hard to imagine the studio won’t be both the number one domestic and worldwide box-office earner by the end of the year. Coming off its best year ever in the International market, Paramount has positioned itself well to possibly conquer the entire cinematic globe in 2008. Although success is never guaranteed in the movie business, Paramount has four films in its 2008 slate that look to be huge earners for the studio - Cloverfield, Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and Star Trek. But wait, there’s more...

If you remember back in 2006, Walt Disney Pictures cut up to 20 percent of its workforce after the massive success of the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, trimming the non-essential film fat to focus on projects that appeal to a wider audience, which could also generate significant revenue in the merchandising sector. Although most studios made significant cutbacks in the last few years due to rising overhead costs, skyrocketing production budgets, and increased marketing costs, the execs at Paramount Pictures might find themselves with an unbelievable (and enviable) surplus of box-office funds by the end of 2008 that could serve as an incredible foundation to sell a ton of merchandising well into 2009 and beyond. All four of Paramount’s "big four" - Cloverfield, Iron Man, Indiana Jones, and Star Trek - are ripe material for new toys, books, action-figures, video games, comics, and a whole lot more. To us simple folk, that translates into a enough dough that could save a few countries from being foreclosed by the World Bank.

Although Disney enjoyed one of the best box-office windfalls ever over the last five years with the Pirates franchise (even 2007 with a combined domestic and International take of $961 million for At World’s End), Warner Bros. with the Harry Potter films, New Line Cinema with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Sony with all three Spider-Man movies, Paramount might be on its way to having one of the best box-office years in its history, if not the best ever since the studio was founded. With the potential of Paramount’s "big four" to become major, major moneymakers in 2008, the studio also has seven other films that could do relatively well and turn decent profits in 2008 - The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Ruins, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Revolutionary Road, Madagascar: The Crate Escape, (and to a lesser extent) Case 39, and A Tale of Two Sisters - which would only add to the pile of loot earned from an already incredible year at the box-office.

The smartest move Paramount made prior to 2008 was enlisting Lost creator/director J.J. Abrams to helm Mission Impossible III in 2006. The move, and subsequent relationship, certainly paved the road for the releases of Cloverfield and Star Trek since Abrams serves as producer on the former and director on the latter. After sneaking a peek at J.J. Abrams’ unproduced script Batman vs. Superman back in 2001, I wasn’t sure where his career would wind up. But that was then and this is now, and J.J. Abrams is on top of the film world, solidifying himself as one of today’s top producers and directors. Throw in the highly anticipated Jon Favreau directed Iron Man and another Indiana Jones movie, and there’s a good chance Paramount will be able to take top spot in both the domestic and worldwide share of the 2008 box-office market.

While nothing is ever certain when it comes to box-office success, Warner Bros. looks to give Paramount the best run for its money in 2008 with the releases of The Dark Knight, Speed Racer, and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. If anything, the earnings of The Dark Knight should rival Iron Man and the same could be said for Indiana Jones: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, which, in the end, could simply cancel each other out in terms of box-office numbers. The real question becomes... can Speed Racer earn more than Cloverfield and Star Trek? The end of the year totals (for all films on both rosters) would then depend on the non-blockbusters both studios have on their slates.

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