Most Valuable Blockbusters

Deadline did a series of "Final Four" style match-ups today, just for amusement.

With one exception, the entertainment daily had the animated movie coming out on top.

Like for instance:

Despicable Me 2 vs. Star Trek: Into Darkness

... A first-round rout. The good news for Star Trek is, even without Abrams, Paramount and Skydance are formulating another sequel and continuing one of Hollywood’s most enduring franchises. In this matchup though, it’s no contest. Despicable Me 2 is pouring off $394.5 million in profit, by our estimates. By comparison, Star Trek generated $29.9 million. ...

And this:

Monsters University vs. Thor: The Dark World

The Winner: Neither gains much of an edge because each is the second installment of a franchise, though Thor 2 probably amps up expectations of the next installments of Marvel’s biggest jewel, The Avengers. So we go to the profit numbers. According to our experts, Monsters University will return $179.8 million to Disney, besting the $139.4 million that Thor 2 returns to Disney. Total cash-on-cash return edge goes to Monsters University. ...

The take-away here isn't that animated features made it into the match-ups, but that numerous animated features dominated the match-ups. How a small sub-set of movies that were once ignored are now at the top of the "Most profitable" category of feature films continues to amaze me.