As the summer winds down, many films surprised at the box office powering up what was a solid season while others failed to generate interest. Reboots and sequels brought mixed results while Indie films failed to generate much buzz. Yet there was a lot to celebrate when it all ended. While there are technically two more weekends left, the films being released in the latter part of August are not expected to generate much buzz or are receiving the lush marketing campaigns that the blockbusters did. So who were the winners and losers?

Winners:

Marvel

The summer proved that Marvel is still on fire even if "Ant-Man" was far from the success the company expected. The movie ranks as the second lowest grossing film in the Marvel world as it made $159 million. However, it is still formidable enough to merit a sequel.

Meanwhile, "Avengers: Age of Ultron" showed legs. The film ended up grossing $457 million, which is great news for Marvel. While it did not come close to the original, this figure is still good enough for the company.

Critically, the films were mixed, with many critics unhappy with either film. Still the company should be proud of its marketing team and of its box office grosses.

Universal

The studio has much to celebrate as it has some of the best grossers all summer. The company started off with "Pitch Perfect 2," which made $183 million, which is incredible for a $29 million budgeted film. The gross was helped by the incredible word of mouth the popularity of the first film.

"Jurassic World" followed and broke every major record including opening weekend. It went on to hit the $1 billion worldwide and made over $600 million domestically. This was unseen when the summer started but a great marketing campaign and the franchise's nostalgia factor helped boost this reboot.

"Minions" was also success and proved that the "Despicable Me" brand still has selling power. Grossing over $300 million, Universal is likely to continue making "Despicable Me"and "Minions" films.

After a slew of misfires Judd Apatow and Universal returned with "Trainwreck," which was not only a critical hit but also a box office hit. With a lack of comedies, Universal took advantage and released it late in July when audiences were already tired of big explosions.

The company's final success was "Straight Outta Compton," which surprised opening to $60 million. The company used a viral only campaign and took advantage of the subject matter.

However, despite the success there was a misfire and that was "Ted 2." The film could live up to the original and audiences did not care regardless of how much they loved the first film.

Mad Max

Financially this was not Warner Bros.' biggest success but it had critics raving all over. This gave the film positive word of mouth and it allowed the film to break even domestically. While it is unlikely that there will be a sequel, the film proved that the blockbuster can still be fun, engaging and intelligent.

Losers

Fox

Fox had a rough summer that began with "Poltergeist" failing to meet expectations and creating the same buzz as the original. The company also failed to live up to the success of "The Fault in Our Stars" with the John Green adaptation of "Paper Towns." That movie was released to mediocre reviews and a lack of buzz.

However, the company's biggest failure was "Fantastic Four." Not only was the reboot panned worse than the originals but it opened to $26 million. With a reported $150 million budget, the film is unlikely to hit the $100 million mark, which could mean no sequel. The company topped off the bad opening with a controversy between the studio and the director of the film.

Fox is likely to end the summer with another misfire this weekend as "Hitman: Agent 47" is scoring the worst reviews of the year and is also slated to open with less than $10 million.

Thankfully the company had "Spy" to celebrate as that film made $109 million and proved Melissa McCarthy is a box office draw.

Indie film

The category seems too broad but no Indie film really broke out into the mainstream. IFC Films attempted to relive the magic of "Boyhood" by opening the Sundance hit "The D Train" in wide release on opening weekend. However, it was met with one of the worst opening weekends ever. The film could not even top the $1 million mark.

Sony Pictures Classics had the worst opening ever with the Berlin Film Festival selection "Aloft" while the company's Woody Allen film "Irrational Man" also failed to live up to the success of Allen's recent films. Sony's "Testament of Youth" also failed to deliver even though the film obtained great reviews. Even Ken Loach's "Jimmy's Hall" never took off.

A24's "Slow West" was a bust while "The End of the Tour" is not shaping up to be the box office standout that most expected. The company can however, celebrate that the documentary "Amy" about Amy Winehouse topped the $7 million mark, which is great for a documentary film.

Fox Searchlight struggled even though "Far From the Madding Crowd" was a moderate success. However, its release "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" flopped. The movie, which won Sundance was expected to be a breakout but it never quite took off and enthusiasm for the film was low. "Mistress America" had a solid opening if nothing spectacular.

Open Road's "Dope" was also a bomb as it opened wide but never took off.

Tomorrowland

Probably one of the biggest busts was "Tomorrowland," the Disney blockbuster that never really turned into one. Domestically the film did not even top the $100 million even though it starred George Clooney and had a production budget of $190 million. Critically it also failed to engage audiences. More importantly it showed that Disney's original concepts are not always a hit. This reminded audiences of "John Carter" and "The Lone Ranger," both of which were huge write offs. Any plans for a sequel were definitely cancelled especially after such a disastrous result.

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