Well, 2010 is closing shop, making it a natural time to take stock of the year behind us and look forward to the year ahead. And if entertainment studios are doing the same thing, they may look at the year-end box office figures and have an important New Year’s resolution: To make more family films.
Get an eyeful of North America’s Top 10 films for 2010 (according to boxofficemojo.com):
1. Toy Story 3
3. Iron Man 2
5. Inception
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
10. The Karate Kid
One thing I notice right off the bat: There’s not an R-rated film in the bunch. Most are rated PG or PG-13, and the year’s top-earning film carries a flat-out G rating. Six are clearly family films—designed specifically for parents and kids to watch together—and another three (Iron Man, Eclipse and Harry Potter) had strong family audiences. Only Inception could be classified as a film that appealed mainly to adults.
Another thing you might notice is that four of the 10 films are animated—with another two, still in theaters, knocking on the door (Tangled is 13th, and Megamind 14th). Does this bolster my argument that we’re living in a golden age of animation right now? Probably not. We all know popularity is not necessarily an indication of quality. But is it fair to say that animated films are as popular as they’ve ever been? And might this be the year when DreamWorks caught up to the excellence of Pixar? (I loved Toy Story 3, but my favorite animated film this year was How to Train Your Dragon.)
Also, almost every film (The Karate Kid being the exception) has an element of fantasy about it: From the talking toys of Toy Story 3 to the hocus-pocus of Harry Potter to the mind-bending dream world of Inception, this bevy of blockbusters makes Iron Man 2 look practically like a docudrama.
I wonder whether this emphasis on fantasy and lighter family fare speaks to the toil and trouble in our workaday world. The recession may be over, but it still doesn’t feel like it to many of us, and with Iran rattling sabers and North Korea lobbing over the occasional shell, I wonder whether we’re all a little on edge—whether, more than ever, we’re looking for our movies to provide an escape.
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