Universal Pictures Passes Global Box Office Record on Path to Highest-Grossing Year in Studio History

With more than six months remaining in the 2015 calendar year, Universal has already achieved several milestones fueled by such franchise hits as Fifty Shades of Grey, Furious 7, Pitch Perfect 2, Jurassic World and Minions.

July 17 update: With the release of Minions, Universal Pictures passed $5 billion at the worldwide box office for the year, faster than any other studio has reached that milestone.

June 23: With this weekend’s business, Universal Pictures’ worldwide box office grosses have reached $3.819 billion, besting the 2013 previously established record of $3.691 billion, for the studio’s highest-grossing year in history.  With more than six months remaining in the 2015 calendar year, Universal has already achieved several milestones fueled by such franchise hits as Fifty Shades of Grey, Furious 7, Pitch Perfect 2 and Jurassic World.  The announcement was made by Chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Jeff Shell and Universal Pictures Chairman Donna Langley.  

"This has been a fantastic year for our studio, as we’ve had the privilege of releasing some of the most highly- anticipated films of 2015," said Shell.  "Together with my partners Ron Meyer and Donna Langley, I’m incredibly proud to lead a team of people at Universal who are the truly best in the business."

"We are fortunate to be in business with some of the most talented filmmakers in the industry today," said Langley.  "Together with our Universal team, we’re thrilled to celebrate a slate of fantastic films that audiences have embraced all over the globe.  From production to marketing and publicity, music, and the front lines of distribution, it is that passion, commitment and hard work that makes an achievement like this possible." 

Below are some of the biggest records the studio has achieved in 2015 thus far:

• Fastest a studio has ever reached $1 billion at the domestic box office; $2 billion at the international box office; and $3 billion at the worldwide box office.

• Highest opening ever at the domestic ($208.8 million), international ($316.8 million) and worldwide ($525.6 million) box offices with Jurassic World, marking the only time a film has ever opened to $500 million or more in history.

• Highest-grossing hold in history at the domestic box office ($106.6 million) and the biggest second-weekend hold internationally ($163.4 million) for a day-and-date release with Jurassic World.

• Furious 7 is the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time worldwide, ranking with Avatar, Titanic and Marvel’s The Avengers.  It is the third-highest-grossing film internationally, behind only Avatar and Titanic.

• Universal Pictures’ films held the No. 1 position at the worldwide box office for eight weeks—more than any other studio in 2015.

• Four films have opened No. 1 at the North American box office (Fifty Shades of Grey, Furious 7, Pitch Perfect 2 and Jurassic World) for a total of nine weeks on top of the domestic box office—more than any other studio this year.

• Universal has had four of the top seven domestic openings this year: No. 1 Jurassic World ($208.8 million), No. 3 Furious 7 ($147.2 million), No. 6 Fifty Shades of Grey ($85.2 million) and No. 7 Pitch Perfect 2 ($69.2 million).  Fifty Shades of Grey, Furious 7 and Jurassic World are also the highest-grossing North American openings ever for the months of February, April and June, respectively.

• Jurassic World had the quickest climb to $1 billion in history—reaching that milestone in 13 days.

• Fifty Shades of Grey is Universal’s highest-grossing "R"-rated film of all time; the highest-grossing February weekend opening ever (three day), the highest Valentine’s Day weekend opening ever (three day) and the highest grossing opening for a female director (Sam Taylor-Johnson).

• Pitch Perfect 2 was the highest-grossing film musical opening and the second-highest-grossing PG-13 comedy opening ever.

What makes this record year even more remarkable is that the studio still has six months to go and a summer slate with more for audiences to look forward to, including Ted 2, the follow-up to the highest-grossing original "R"-rated comedy of all time, from writer, director and voice star Seth MacFarlane and Minions, Illumination Entertainment and Universal’s comedy adventure that stars the voices of Sandra Bullock and Jon Hamm.  In July, Universal will release Trainwreck, the latest film from director Judd Apatow, written by and starring breakout comedy star Amy Schumer, and Straight Outta Compton, the astonishing story of the meteoric rise and fall of N.W.A., which is directed by F. Gary Gray.

Later this year; Universal releases writer, director, producer M. Night Shyamalan’s return to the genre that launched his career in a new original thriller, The Visit, produced by Jason Blum; Everest, an epic adventure from Universal, Cross Creek and Working Title, inspired by the incredible events surrounding an attempt to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain that is directed by Baltasar Kormákur; the drama Steve Jobs, from the brilliant minds of director Danny Boyle and writer Aaron Sorkin, produced by Mark Gordon, Guymon Casady, Scott Rudin and Christian Colson;  the haunting gothic horror story from Legendary directed by Guillermo del Toro, Crimson Peak; the musical-adventure Jem and the Holograms, from director Jon M. Chu; the drama, By The Sea, the new film from writer/director Angelina Jolie Pitt, starring Brad Pitt and Jolie Pitt; Legendary’s horror-comedy, Krampus; and the eagerly-awaited comedy Sisters, starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and directed by Jason Moore.

About Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures is a division of Universal Studios (www.universalstudios.com).  Universal Studios is part of NBCUniversal.  NBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience.  NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group and world-renowned theme parks. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation