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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Wolf once believed to be dead shows up near Crater Lake ... One of Oregon's two health insurance co-ops says it will shut down ... Rogue Valley gubernatorial candidate blasts Gov. Brown on climate change ... Wolf once believed to be dead shows up near Crater Lake ... One of Oregon's two health insurance co-ops says it will shut down ... Rogue Valley gubernatorial candidate blasts Gov. Brown on climate change ... Worldwide ticket sales shake up Hollywood box office figures Overseas box-office tallies for Hollywood blockbusters sometimes dwarf the number of tickets sold in North America. Comment By Chris Hicks, Deseret News MailTribune.com By Chris Hicks, Deseret News Posted Feb. 13, 2015 at 9:05 AM By Chris Hicks, Deseret News Posted Feb. 13, 2015 at 9:05 AM » Social News At the end of December, the biggest film of 2014 was “Guardians of the Galaxy." But that changed during the first month of 2015 when a latecomer, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1,” climbed to the top. And in the past couple of weeks, another 2014 movie opened around the country even later, and now “American Sniper” may be a new threat. What’s more, if you look at international ticket sales — something the major Hollywood studios are doing with more vigor now — the shift is even more dramatic. This is the way the top 10 North American box-office tally for 2014 stands right now, according to boxofficemojo.com : 1. "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1" ($335.7 million) 2. "Guardians of the Galaxy" ($333.1 million) 3. "American Sniper" ($282.9 million) 4. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" ($259.7 million) 5. "The Lego Movie" ($257.7 million) 6. "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" ($252.9 million) 7. "Transformers: Age of Extinction" ($245.4 million) 8. "Maleficent" ($241.4 million) 9. "X-Men: Days of Future Past" ($233.9 million) 10. "Big Hero 6" ($218.5 million) At the end of December, “Guardians” was No. 1 and “Mockingjay” was No. 2. And although “American Sniper” opened in Los Angeles (and a few other major cities) Dec. 25 to qualify for Oscar nominations, it didn’t open across the country until Jan. 16, when it became an unexpected box-office smash. In fact, the film opened so big that it broke several records, chiefly by becoming the biggest January opening and the biggest winter opening. Ever. It’s possible that “American Sniper” could earn enough money in the next few weeks to displace “Guardians of the Galaxy” in the No. 2 spot, especially if it does well at the Oscars next weekend. Another major film that opened in December — this one all around the country — was “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.” And “Big Hero 6,” which opened Nov. 7, built on positive word-of-mouth (a rarity these days) to climb into the year-end top 10 more slowly. As a result of these surprises, three films that were in the top 10 at the end of the year dropped into the second 10: “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” and “Godzilla.” But when you look at worldwide grosses, two things leap out. First, the rest of the moviegoing world is just as superhero/fantasy crazy as Americans. Second, Transformers, Hobbits, X-Men and Spider-Man are even more popular around the rest of the world. Here’s the overseas box-office top 10 for 2014: 1. "Transformers: Age of Extinction" ($842 million) 2. "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" ($686.4 million) 3. "Maleficent" ($517 million) 4. "X-Men: Days of Future Past" ($514.2 million) 5. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" ($506.1 million) 6. "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" ($500.3 million) 7. "Interstellar" ($484.7 million) 8. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" ($455 million) 9. "Guardians of the Galaxy" ($441 million) 10. "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1" ($393.2 million) But what Hollywood is really looking at is worldwide totals. So if you put the North American and overseas tallies together, this is the 2014 worldwide top 10 : 1. "Transformers: Age of Extinction" ($1 billion) 2. "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" ($939.4 million) 3. "Guardians of the Galaxy" ($774.2 million) 4. "Maleficent" ($758.4 million) 5. "X-Men: Days of Future Past" ($748.1 million) 6. "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1" ($728.9 million) 7. "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" ($714.8 million) 8. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" ($709 million) 9. "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" ($708.8 million) 10. "Interstellar" ($671.6 million) If you’re interested, the second 10 domestically goes like this: “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” “Godzilla,” “22 Jump Street,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Interstellar,” “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” “Gone Girl,” “Divergent” and “Neighbors.” The second 10 worldwide: “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” “Godzilla,” “Big Hero 6,” “Rio 2,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “The Lego Movie,” “Lucy,” “Edge of Tomorrow,” “Gone Girl” and “Noah.” “Noah” was the 20th-biggest hit worldwide? Ay-yi-yi. And, of course, 2015 is going to bring us more superheroes, more monsters, more fantasies, more cartoons and a lot more sequels and remakes. It says something that of the six biggest moneymakers so far this year, three of them are sequels — “Taken 3,” “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” and “The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death.” I know it’s only mid-February and none of those three films will be near the top 10 by the end of the year, but it says something when this early in 2015 the most successful films are sequels. By Chris Hicks, Deseret News MailTribune.com By Chris Hicks, Deseret News Posted Feb. 13, 2015 at 9:05 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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