For Universal Pictures, the action occurred more on its lot than on the screens this year. In the spring, Marc Shmuger and David Linde were named the studio’s chairman and co-chairman, respectively, after longtime chairman Stacey Snider left her position in February to run DreamWorks. Jon Gordon resigned as president of production in August, leaving Donna Langley as the studio’s sole production chief. Moviewise, only the anti-romantic comedy “The Break-Up,” starring Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, cracked the $100 million mark. “Miami Vice” proved to be an expensive disappointment. But the studio did offer a number of challenging films — “United 93,” “The Good Shepherd” and “Children of Men” — that found spots high on critics’ year-end lists.
| Universal releases | Date | Boxoffice |
| Nanny McPhee | 1/27 | $47.1 |
| Curious George | 2/10 | 58.3 |
| Inside Man | 3/24 | 88.5 |
| Slither | 3/31 | 7.8 |
| American Dreamz | 4/21 | 7.2 |
| United 93 | 4/28 | 31.5 |
| The Break-Up | 6/2 | 118.7 |
| Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift | 6/16 | 62.5 |
| You, Me and Dupree | 7/14 | 75.6 |
| Miami Vice | 7/28 | 63.4 |
| Accepted | 8/18 | 36.3 |
| Idlewild | 8/25 | 12.5 |
| The Black Dahlia | 9/15 | 22.5 |
| Man of the Year | 10/13 | 37.3 |
| Let?s Go to Prison | 11/17 | 4.6 |
| The Good Shepherd | 12/22 | 38.3 |
| Children of Men | 12/25 | 1.3 |
| Munich | 12/23/05 | 31.4 |
| The Producers | 12/16/05 | 7.7 |
| King Kong | 12/14/05 | 43.5 |
| Jarhead | 11/4/05 | 0.2 |
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The boxoffice and market share for each distributor represents tickets sales from Jan. 3, 2006, through Jan. 1, 2007, inclusive. “Films tracked” represents the total number of films, including 2005 releases that generated ticket sales for each distributor. For 2005 releases, only boxoffice returns from 2006 are reported. |
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2006 BOXOFFICE WRAP
- Avast ye b.o. slide: ’06 receipts gained back ground
- Booty call: The year’s top films boosted boxoffice
- Overview: Dividing the treasure
- Fox: Polishing its franchises
- Sony Pictures: Cracking a winning code
- MGM: Getting back to basics
- Universal Pictures: Marking a transition
- Warner Bros.: Getting back on its feet
- Buena Vista: Riding summer’s wave
- New Line: Sitting on the sideline
- Paramount: Introducing the new team
Studio scorecards:
