2012: Year of the Blockbuster

Several hotly anticipated films were released in 2012, especially during the summer blockbuster season. Marvel’s The Avengers, directed by the creator of cult TV shows like Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was released in April 2012 to much excitement and media buzz. It also garnered the approval of critics, receiving a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a website that aggregates the opinions of major and minor film critics. Peter Travers of The Rolling Stone said of the film: “It's Transformers with a brain, a heart and a working sense of humor.” Most critics agreed that it was a good mix of crowd-pleasing visual effects and humor with more nuanced plot and writing, though some felt it favored the former too often. It also broke numerous box office records in North America, including the most lucrative opening weekend, opening week, and second week, as well as the shortest amount of time to reach $500 million: a record previously held by James Cameron’s Avatar.

Other superhero movies were released in 2012 as well. The Amazing Spider-Man, a reboot of the 2002 Spiderman franchise starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, made $262,030,663 at the box office, landing it at #7 on the 2012 charts. Christopher Nolan’s final installment of his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, was released in July 2012 to critical acclaim and about $448 million, making it the second-highest grossing film of 2012. At #3 was The Hunger Games, based off of a bestselling YA series, followed by the James Bond film Skyfall at #4. 2012 was a great year for blockbusters.