Early in the year, there was one common statement being heard among industry professionals, “we need just to survive until 2025.” A statement that made sense, after all 2024 was the year that theaters, audiences, and studios would have to ride out the consequences stemming from the 2023 actors and writers strike which shut down Hollywood’s movie-making machine for nearly seven months. So waiting it out was the best laid plan.
And for the first five months of 2024, that perception seemed grimly correct, with a string of high-profile films struggling at the box office. Sadly this included one of the most fun films of the year, The Fall Guy, which received a 7.6 A Cute Film Addictive Rating.
Meanwhile, online you could find cries of frustration that the theater movie experience was dead. It seemed embattled theaters might not even make it to 2025 with the meager attendance numbers that put the box office total down roughly 20% versus the highs of 2019. Then something magical happened in June, audiences flocked to Inside Out 2, the emotional animated sequel that has gone on to crack the all-time top ten. Twisters, along with Deadpool & Wolverine, would also prove to have similarly large box office success. This would also show that it wasn’t just families fueling theater fortunes. And just like that, theaters were back.
November brought the titanic sequels of Gladiator II and Moana 2, and with the likes of Mufasa: The Lion King and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 set to round out the year, it seems the industry is in safe hands. Certainly, audiences have made the move to the ease of streaming, but it seems there is also a strong appetite for the cinema experience. For those of us that are still counted as fans of the big screen, 2025 will have a lot to offer, featuring Snow White, Wicked: For Good, James Gunn’s Superman, Jurassic World: Rebirth, How to Train Your Dragon, Captain America: Brave New World, Lilo & Stitch, Ballerina, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Thunderbolts, Karate Kid: Legends, A Minecraft Movie, Wolf Man, Freakier Friday, Tron: Ares, The Bad Guys 2, The Running Man, Zootopia 2, The Naked Gun, The Accountant 2, Now You See Me 3, Elio, Nobody 2, The Smurfs Movie and Dirty Dancing 2. Wow, that’s a load!
I’m excited about the potential of covering those films for you here. Almost as much as I am about catching them in the theater myself. Here’s to the cinema continuing to thrive in 2025! And now let’s look back at the best of 2024.
Making an emotional impact with Pixar Studios Inside Out 2
It had been nearly a decade since Inside Out arrived in theaters and became one of Pixar Studios most beloved films. Showing it has similar franchise potential to Toy Story, Inside Out 2 went on to become the highest-grossing Pixar film ever in North America with close to $653 million. As it turns out families had been spending the last nine years watching the original film together, growing up with it, and that meant when the sequel arrived in theaters this summer, it was primed for success. When you tack on the billion plus in international gross, the film eventually earned $1.69 billion worldwide, making it not only the highest-grossing Pixar film ever, but the highest-grossing animated film in the history of cinema. What an incredible achievement!
Deadpool & Wolverine (aka the Super-Odd Couple)
With the desire for superhero movies seemingly cooling down, it has been a while since we saw anticipation as high as it was for Deadpool & Wolverine. But this was no ordinary superhero film. It was the arrival of Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and if that was not enough to get people excited, adding in Hugh Jackman coming out of retirement to play Wolverine once more was the perfect stroke of genius. There was simply no way audiences would miss this movie.
And those audiences didn’t waste a minute of time getting to the theater, as the film opened to the tune of $211 million in July on its way to breaking multiple box office records. By the end of its theatrical run, the film had earned $636 million in North America alone, and raked in $1.33 billion worldwide, which saw it passing Joker to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all-time. So rest assured, Deadpool is here to stay, and surely will be shaking up the MCU even more fairly soon.
Despicable Me 4 (The further tales of the reformed supervillain)
Similarly to Inside Out and Deadpool, it has been a bit since we got a new film in at least the principal Despicable Me franchise. And despite the seven years since Despicable Me 3, the series had only grown in popularity with huge thanks to the Minions spin-off films and the generally massive popularity of the Minions as collectible merchandise. I’m looking at a Minion received in a McDonald’s happy meal right now. They’re everywhere, and fans would not be disappointed, they were even a bigger part of the story in Despicable Me 4.
With the help of the little yellow pills (side note: Can you call Mega Jerry little?), the film was propelled to box office glory. Opening to $75 million over the July 4th weekend in North America, it went on to earn $361 million domestically and its international total topped $600 million for a staggering $969 million worldwide. Which is not too shabby for a reformed supervillain.
The wayfinder finds box office success again in Moana 2
Yes, it’s true, some movies are just destined to be mega hits from the moment they’re announced, and Moana 2 was one of those movies. As I covered here recently, the sequel to the beloved 2016 film is second only to Frozen in the terms of sheer cultural impact for Disney Animation Studios in recent decades, and it has been eight years since the original film, which meant audiences were ready for more of the Moana story.
That desire, along with a Thanksgiving release date, propelled Moana 2 to a really nice $139 million opening weekend. As I am writing this, the movie has been in theaters around the world just shy of three weeks, and it’s already grossed more than $700 million worldwide, easily putting it on a pace to hit the billion dollar mark by the end of its theatrical run.
The further adventures of Po in Kung Fu Panda 4
Po the Panda may be the most beloved panda around the world, all apologies to Fu Bao. But audiences have been turning out in droves for the lovable Kung fu warrior voiced by Jack Black since his debut in 2008, making the films and animated series in the franchise family favorites. Kung Fu Panda 4, the latest film in the series, is the first film of the franchise in eight years, the longest gap by far for Po. And thus, everyone was excited for this film, and the ticket receipts are proof of the desire.
Posting a respectable opening weekend of nearly $58 million back in March, Kung Fu Panda 4 then proved to have enough energy to continue earning both domestically and abroad. The film pulled in $193 million in North America and roughly $355 million internationally, topping half a billion dollars for the year with a total of $547 million.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice proves that absence makes the heart grow fonder…
A sequel for Tim Burton’s dark comedy classic Beetlejuice has been talked about for decades now, especially among fans of the Michael Keaton character. And finally, nearly three decades later Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was announced and hit theaters in September. And all that anticipation was worth it, as the film rode in to strong audiences and high praise from critics.
Not relying solely upon brand recognition, the cast is the real strength behind the film that features the returning duo of Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder, alongside Catherine O’Hara, who’ve all been enjoying a career resurgence of late. Then there’s Jenna Ortega of Wednesday fame continuing her collaboration with Burton. Clearly, it was all too much for audiences (and soda maker Fanta, who distributed collectible cans around the movie) to resist. After an opening weekend that saw the movie bring in more than $111 million, the film went on to earn $451 million worldwide. What’s next… maybe a third film, dare you say the name three times?
Smith and Lawrence continue their Bad Boy ways in Ride or Die
After the early 2020 release of Bad Boys for Life proved audiences still had a huge interest in the further adventures of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s renegade cop best friends, work on its follow-up began. And in 2024 we got Bad Boys: Ride or Die, which sees Smith and Lawrence once again on a kill-or-be-killed adventure against some bad guys targeting their families.
Smith, who is now an Oscar-winner in addition to a major action star, and Lawrence, who still has unparalleled comedy chops, proved their on-screen chemistry is still unmatched in the action-comedy genre. It’s that chemistry, along with the action scenes that were all the buzz online just moments after trailers were released, that helped the film open to a $56 million opening weekend, and eventually a worldwide gross of nearly $405 million.
That concludes a look at some of the biggest movies of 2024. And lastly, I present to you the A Cute Film Addict Top Movies of 2024. Before I do, I will remind you of what it takes to be one of these selections. Well, really there are only two guidelines: the film has to feature comedic elements and receive a 7.0 or above A Cute Film Addictive Rating. To date, there are 15 movies that meet these qualification. How many have you seen?
The A Cute Film Addict Top Movies of 2024
1. Inside Out 2 (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 8.3/10)
2. Deadpool & Wolverine (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 8.3/10)
3. Moana 2 (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.8/10)
4. The Fall Guy (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.6/10)
5. The Ministry of Ungentemanly Warfare (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.5/10)
6. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.4/10)
7. Fly Me to the Moon (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.3/10)
8. Bad Boys: Ride or Die (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.2/10)
9. Red One (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.2/10)
10. Wolfs (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.2/10)
11. IF (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.1/10)
12. Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.1/10)
13. Kung Fu Panda 4 (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.0/10)
14. The Idea of You (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.0/10)
15. Despicable Me 4 (A Cute Film Addictive Rating 7.0/10)
Now it’s time for the quiz, where you rate your movie watching year. How many of these wonderful films have you seen? Where do you rank on the scale? Feel free to notate your ranking in the comments below.
Movie Addict: 13 -15
Movie Buff: 10 -12
Movie Enthusiast: 7 – 9
Casual Movie Fan: 4 – 6
You Need More Popcorn: 1 – 3
What is a Movie? – 0
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