Assessing the Nexus' Summer Movie Preview

Now that the summer is behind us; and "Avengers: Age of Ultron" is coming off its successful $459 million domestic, $1 billion-plus take and out on digital platforms; the time has come to assess how accurate the summer movie preview of this blog was. All the releases will be tallied in the assessment; regardless of where they fell on the preview. Let's see how each one did. (source for all grosses: Box Office Mojo)

Jurassic World
Budget: $150 million
Domestic Gross as of 10/13/2015: $651,128,986

While many expected the film to do well; given its reputation, no one really expected it to be the biggest hit of any movie since the likes of "Avatar" or "The Avengers." With $1.6 billion worldwide under its belt; Universal has wasted no time in greenlighting sequels in the coming years.

Inside Out
Budget: $175 million
Domestic Gross as of 10/13/2015:$354,363,926

With critics and audiences alike hailing the film as the best entry from Pixar since the likes of "WALL-E", "Up" and "Toy Story 3;" the film managed to score the biggest non-#1 opening weekend ever and climbed to the top spot later in its run. While what lies ahead for Riley and her family is uncertain; it's clear that Pixar will continue to be making quality films such as this for years to come.

Terminator Genesis

Budget: $170 million

Domestic Gross as of 9/17/2015:$89,760,956

Yes, in hindsight; it may have been a bit foolish to insinuate this film would match or beat the record set by the 1991 smash it was partially emulating. The film even made less than the much-derided "Terminator Salvation" amid competition from the above two films. The planned sequels have even been indefinitely postponed as a result. Unless DVD sales and stronger international numbers can justify another reboot; the franchise will have been officially terminated.

Minions

Budget: $74 million

Domestic Gross as of 10/13/2015:$334,215,500

Even without Gru; the film still drew massive crowds as the mascots of Illumination Entertainment have become some of the biggest animated characters in recent years. With a proper "Despicable Me 3" in the wings for the coming years; don't expect "Minion Madness" to die down anytime soon.

Ant-Man

Budget: $130 million

Domestic Gross as of 10/13/2015:$178,636,091

Speaking of movie franchises which only seem to be gaining in momentum; Marvel can now celebrate having another successful superhero film under their belt to add to the multi-billion dollar Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film has been hailed as Marvel's biggest surprise since the first Iron Man or Guardians of the Galaxy; and the character of Ant-Man is now expected to play a large part in future entries (such as the two-part "Infinity War;" on track for 2018 and 2019 for both respective entries).

Fantastic Four (2015)

Budget: $122 million

Domestic Gross as of 10/13/2015:$56,086,051

Very public knowledge of the film's troubled production made it that much harder for the reboot to overcome the Tim Story duology's failures; and led to Josh Trank publicly disowning the film via Twitter. Mulligan, please.

Now, in the spirit of good sportsmanship; the other side shall now be addressed with the films that were expected to fail by this blog.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Budget: $150 million

Domestic Gross as of 9/24/2015:

$153,636,354

Warner Bros. seems to not be having much success with science fiction tentpoles that don't involve Batman or Superman in some way in recent years. Despite massive critical and fan acclaim; the film ultimately underperformed amid competition from the a cappella chick flick "Pitch Perfect 2." In fact, for the planned fifth entry in "Mad Max: The Wasteland", Warner Bros. is now tapping director George Miller for a planned sequel to "Man of Steel" in order to secure funding for it. At least the film can revel in its strong international numbers and should perform better in the DVD and home streaming markets.

Poltergeist (2015)

Budget: $40 million

Domestic Gross as of 8/6/2015:$47,425,125

As expected, this pallid remake was largely shunned on principle by devout fans of the 1982 classic; effectively sealing another potential horror relaunch in the depths of a Native American burial ground.

Pixels

Budget: $110 million

Domestic Gross as of 10/13/2015:

$78,202,755

Against competition from "Ant-Man", this high-concept action-comedy is expected to take a $75 million loss for Sony; resulting in yet another misfire for the once-untouchable box office drawing power of Adam Sandler. With the animated sequel "Hotel Transylvania 2" out now and Nintendo now planning to take direct control over any future films using their games; it's now officially "game over" for this '80s retread.

Overall, it's been a successful summer; so be on the lookout for yet more articles from this blog, including a look at the films coming out in the last quarter of the year.