Disney hit the mark. Warner Bros. hit the mark. Now Universal is joining the club as it has reached $5 billion for the year at the worldwide box office.
In some respects, Universal’s year at the box office has been a microcosm for the box office as a whole. While Universal has done well domestically with $1.6 billion grossed — third among all studios — it got to this point off of a huge $3.4 billion haul from international markets, primarily from “The Fate of the Furious” and “Despicable Me 3.”
“Fate of the Furious,” which is expected to finish the year as the third-highest grossing film behind “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Beauty and the Beast,” grossed $1 billion from international markets alone, becoming just the sixth film to do so while becoming the highest grossing foreign film in China with $392.8 million. “Despicable Me 3,” which grossed over $1 billion worldwide, made $767 million overseas while making the “Despicable Me” series the highest grossing animated franchise of all time with $3.7 billion in lifetime gross.
On the domestic side, the big story for Universal is their first-look deal with Blumhouse, which produced three horror hits in 2017: “Split,” “Happy Death Day,” and the critically acclaimed Oscar contender “Get Out.” Together, the three films have grossed over $630 million worldwide off a combined production budget of less than $20 million. Universal and Blumhouse will look to continue their low-risk/high-reward streak with a sequel to “Insidious,” a prequel to “The Purge,” a remake of “Halloween,” and a new film called “Truth Or Dare.”