TORONTO — A look at the biggest movies of 2014 suggests Hollywood has run out of original ideas. Every one of the 10 top-grossing flicks — including two that were made in Canada — was based on toys, comic books, books or classic movies.
According to data compiled by boxofficemojo.com, the year’s top-grossing movie not based on previously published or produced material is Interstellar, which ranks 16th.
The figures for 2014 could change depending on how much The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies makes in its first 15 days. (The previous chapter, The Desolation of Smaug, made $958 million during its 18-week run.)
The biggest money-maker of 2014 was Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth film based on the Hasbro toys. It earned a whopping $1.1 billion worldwide.
Second on the list is Guardians of the Galaxy, based on the Marvel Comics characters, which raked in $772 million.
Maleficent, with $758 million, placed third. Angelina Jolie played the titular Sleeping Beauty villain.
The made-in-Montreal X-Men: Days of Future Past — the seventh movie based on the Marvel characters — earned $746 million around the world.
Behind it were comic book adaptation sequels Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714 million) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($709 million).
READ MORE: What the critics said about some of 2014’s movies
The seventh-biggest movie of 2014 was Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, the eighth movie in a series that began in 1968. It earned $708 million.
Based on the novel by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, is the only movie in the year’s Top 10 that is still in wide release. To date it has made $564 million around the world. It’s unlikely to rise above eighth place.
The B.C.-made Godzilla — a reboot of a film series that debuted six decades ago — made $525 million in 2014, enough for ninth place.
Rounding out the year’s Top 10 is The LEGO Movie ($468 million), based on the popular interlocking plastic bricks introduced in 1949.
In the U.S. and Canada, the list of Top 10 movies consists of the same titles but in a slightly different order.
Guardians of the Galaxy was the top-grossing movie, with $332 million in domestic ticket sales, followed by The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 ($261 million and growing), Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($260 million), The LEGO Movie ($258 million), Transformers: Age of Extinction ($245 million), Maleficent ($241 million), X-Men: Days of Future Past ($234 million), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ($209 million), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($203 million) and Godzilla ($201 million).
The bad news is 2014 will likely be the first year since 2009 in which total domestic box office earnings dip below $10 billion.
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