With 2016 finally coming to a close, the time has come when we reflect on the last 365 days of movies. And it should come to no surprise that the year was once again dominated by the superhero genre, as the DC Extended Universe, Marvel Cinematic Universe, and X-Men franchise all released ambitious projects to varied results. But the MCU ended up winning the day, as Captain America: Civil War proved to be both a critical darling and financial juggernaut. It's that impressive gross revenue that resulted in all three of the 2016's top grossing actors being stars of the MCU.
Forbes recently released their annual Top-Grossing actors list, which this year was made up of exclusively Marvel contracted actors. Coming out on top for the year is Scarlett Johansson, who brought in a whopping $1.2 billion in box office revenue through her work in both Captain America: Civil War and the Cohen Brothers' Hail, Caesar! Just behind Johansson were her Civil War co-stars Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr., who were both tied for second with $1.15 billion.
The continued feud between DC and Marvel fans will likely be fueled with these results, as the DC Extended Universe attempts to keep up with its predecessor. However, the DCEU made massive strides this year, and greatly expanded the overall universe in just two movies. While the MCU took its time to introduce each individual character, DC is using a more aggressive tactic- allowing fans to see their favorite characters far sooner than Marvel typically would.
Regardless, it's clear that serialized storytelling and massive franchises are what audiences are willing to shell out money for. Fans are rewarded for consistently investing their time and money in each installment through satisfying crossover events like Captain America: Civil War and the impending Avengers: Infinity War movie.
Of course, the numbers aren't exactly final, as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is continuing to make buckets of cash across various markets. However, the Felicity Jones led adventure to a galaxy far, far away is the first standalone film of the franchise. While the film has been well received by critics and is doing great at the box office, the sense of urgency and excitement which surrounded the latest Skywalker chapter, The Force Awakens, was significantly higher. So while Rogue One will likely be one of the biggest successes of the year overall, it doesn't have much of a change to dethrone the third Captain America movie.
Regardless of which franchise ended up on top, 2016 is likely to be the biggest year of cinema history, according to reports by THR. It should be interesting to see how 2017 matches up, as all of the major superhero universes are once again releasing majorly anticipated installments. Keep it here at CinemaBlend for the latest.
