William Hill has backed JJ Abrams Star Wars reboot, ‘Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens’ to be the highest grossing film of 2015.
The bookmaker is currently offering odds-on for the Disney Studios film to top this year’s worldwide box office revenues, ahead of Marvel’s Avengers Age of Ultron (4/1) and Jurassic World (8/1). UK blockbuster hopes will be placed on the upcoming James Bond Spectre (10/1) movie produced by EON productions and financed by Sony Entertainment.
Hollywood’s ‘Big Six’ studios (Disney, Sony, Warner Bros, Universal, Fox, Paramount) have already begun to market their 2015 blockbusters as the industry hopes for much improved box office revenues following its worst box office performance in eight years.
The US film industry saw a 15% slump in 2014 box office revenues, recording its worst summer in a decade, as several major releases failed to ignite the public’s interest.
Hollywood’s stream of expensive flops in 2014 included Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables 3, which had a budget of $90 million but generated only $30 million in the US. iFrankenstein which generated less than $20 million gross revenues on its $80 million production cost and Sin City, A Dame for a Kill which bombed with meagre takings of $13.75 million (investment $60 million).
Several movie studios reported losses of more than $100 million on movies they had backed. The poor box office performance witnessed in 2014 led legendary film director/product Steven Spielberg to predict a ‘Hollywood meltdown’, labelling the movie industry as no longer a growth market.
The Big Six movie studios will look to curve the downturn, by backing it proven popular blockbusters titles in 2015, Disney Studios ‘Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens’ is set to headline efforts as Hollywood aims for a worldwide box office comeback.
William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly told Crunchsports.com: “After a slow year for blockbusters in 2014, it looks as though 2015 could be the best ever year for movies