'The Boy Next Door' Cast News & Movie 2015: A Look Back at Jennifer Lopez's Box Office History
Jennifer Lopez returns to the box office with her latest film "The Boy Next Door." Lopez is not only starring in the film, but also producing it as well.
The actress has seen the best and worst of times from the critics and the box office. But how has she done overall? What have been her greatest hits and biggest flops? Here's a look at "JLo's" box office performance throughout her career.
Greatest Box Office Hits
While "Ice Age: Continental Drift" is her highest-grossing film of all time with over $161 million during its theatrical run, there is no doubt that Lopez's biggest hit to date was the 2002 film "Maid in Manhattan." Lopez was the main star of that film and brought in a whopping $94 million on a $55 million dollar budget. With the exception of "Ice Age," which was an established franchise by the time the actress came on board, no other film with Lopez has grossed over $44 million more than its budget in its U.S. run. Even the highly successful "Antz" which put up $90.7 million in its U.S. run cost $60 million. "Monster-in-Law," which also starred Jane Fonda grossed $82 million despite costing $45 million. Other big successes for Lopez include "The Cell ($61 million)," "The Wedding Planner ($60 million)," "Jack ($58 million)," "Shall We Dance ($57 million)," "Selena ($35 million)" and "What to Expect When You're Expecting ($41 million)."
Box Office Flops
But not everything has been great for the superstar diva. In fact, she has had her fair share of major flops throughout her Hollywood career. None was greater than "Gigli," a film many perceived as a stunt to put Lopez and then-boyfriend Ben Affleck on the silver screen together. The marketing ploy was a disaster as the film, budgeted to cost around $54 million, wound up bringing in a measly $6 million during its U.S. run and only $7 million worldwide in 2003! Out of all of Lopez's films, that one ranks second-worst with only the 1997 "Blood and Wine," which grossed $1 million in 166 theaters despite costing $26 million. Other busts for Lopez include the 2013 film "Parker," which cost $35 million but only brought in $17 million domestically, "Angel Eyes" (a gross of $24 million on a $38 million budget) and "An Unfinished Life" ($8 million gross with a $30 million budget). Another bust was the 2007 film "El Cantante," which starred Lopez and ex-husband Marc Anthony. That film brought in $7.5 million despite a tremendous marketing push; the budget has never been unveiled for the film.
Overall Box Office Performance
Throughout her career, Lopez's films have an average budget of $32.5 million and her films have grossed an average of $38.1 million, thus proving her bankability. That said, her films have slowed down over the years with "Ice Age" the only film to really perform well above her average; "What to Expect What You Are Expecting" put up numbers slightly above her average gross (and marginally topped its $37.5 million budget), but that success was offset by the four other busts. Also worthy of note is that Lopez films average $10 million in their opening weekend.
Critical Reception
When it comes to the critics, Lopez does not manage the same level of success, however. The actress has gotten pounded time and again by the majority of critics with only a handful of films scoring strong marks. Her highest rated picture to date is the 1997 film "Antz" which was approved by 95 percent of critics. Her first film "My Family" landed an 85 percent approval rating (albeit with only 13 critics registered on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes), while "Out of Sight" was praised by 93 percent of critics. "Blood and Wine" and "Selena" received more modest receives, clocking in above 60 percent approval ratings.
But that is where the praise ends for the actress. Every other film she has been a part of has been blasted by critics. Some have mixed reception, such as "An Unfinished Life (53 percent)" and "Shall We Dance (46 percent)," but most have received marks under the 30 percentile. Overall, Lopez's films have averaged 38 percent approval rating from critics. Moreover, as noted in the graph below, the trend line indicates that the quality of her films is in decline. Of course this could change drastically with one outlier, but it does paint an interesting picture of how critics have perceived the quality of Lopez's films over the years.
Another review aggregator, Metacritic, paints a similar picture. That website lists three Lopez films as positively received by critics, nine as mixed and 11 as decidedly negative; her average score is 43/100 on that website.
"The Boy Next Door" is not tracking well with critics; as of this writing the film has only scored positive reviews from under 20 percent of critics according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Lopez earned one Golden Globe nomination for her performance in "Selena." She has never gotten an Oscar Nomination, though she has been repeatedly honored at the ALMA Awards.
Implications for "The Boy Next Door"
"The Boy Next Door" is a unique film because it features Lopez starring alongside another Latin American actor and rising star Ryan Guzman. Guzman is noted for his work on the "Step Up" franchise and appeared in two installments of the series.
But this is not the first time that Lopez stars alongside another Latin American in a film. In fact, a number of her films have featured other Latin Americans in lead roles. Has this helped box office?
In the case of her early critical successes "My Family" (which also starred Edward James Olmos, Esai Morales and Jimmy Smits) and "Selena" (which also featured James Olmos), Lopez found strong box office performances. "Selena" was the undisputed winner here as "My Family" grossed a decent $10 million throughout its run.
But such films as "U-Turn" (featuring Puerto Rican actor Joaquin Phoenix) and "El Cantante" (also starring Marc Anthony) were far from the box office success anyone expected. The latter was, as noted, a big failure all around at the box office.
Guzman is the X-factor here of course as he has had box office success with "Step Up Revolution" ($35 million gross on a $33 million budget) and "Step Up All In" ($14.9 million domestic gross). However, whether he brings more audiences (in addition to Lopez fans) to the theater will determine whether his success thus far is a product of being in a popular franchise or whether he does in fact have potential box office star power.
"The Boy Next Door" is currently tracking to make $11 million its opening weekend. That would be above the $10 million average opening weekend of all Lopez films.