2013's Biggest Social Media Successes
The most followers, the biggest Tweeters of 2013 revealed...
Much Ado About Nothing
The Social Media Success: Hard to believe that 2013 was the year that Joss Whedon finally got up off his backside and joined Twitter.
That fact no doubt helped the social media aspect of promoting his Shakespeare adaptation, which was the fourth most popular indie film on social platforms in 2013 with 19,025 followers. Much ado about something, we'd say…
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Whedon's film didn't make a massive dent in the box office, but its $4m was respectable enough considering it was probably made for about 10% of that.
Source: Silverpop
White House Down
The Social Media Success: Director Roland Emmerich knows how to make an impression - just take a look at his explosive CV, in which he's blown up more than a few important landmarks.
Fitting, then, that his latest blockbuster annihilated much of the competition when it came to social media - White House Down was the 24th most-followed film on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Nope. This was Emmerich's first big blockbuster since Independence Day to fail to earn over $90m at the US box office ( 10,000 BC scraped $94m).
Source: Silverpop
Epic
The Social Media Success: It's a film in which size and scale are messed around with, but Epic came in big where social networking's concerned.
It was the sixth most 'liked' animated film on Facebook this year, with a respectable 414,740 people following the film's social media campaign.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Though it didn't earn Pixar-style numbers, Epic performed well - particularly outside of the US.
It took $259m worldwide, meaning we wouldn't be surprised if an Epic 2 popped along soon.
Source: Silverpop
Planes
The Social Media Success: Though its number of Facebook fans didn't exactly reach great heights, Planes was still the fifth most-followed animated film on the social network this summer.
With 509,365 'likes', Pixar's aerodynamic spin-off fell below Turbo (1.2m), but was leagues ahead of Epic .
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Planes was a moderate success, taking $150m - a figure that Pixar's hits like Toy Story 3 would have sniffed at, but not bad considering it was a spin-off from one of the studio's least popular brands.
Source: Silverpop
Pacific Rim
The Social Media Success: Robots and monsters smashing each other to pieces? What's not to love?!
Clearly social fans agreed - they helped Guillermo del Toro's film become the tenth most-followed non-sequel/prequel across media platforms, with 684m followers on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook. Robo-high five!
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Yep, both in the US and elsewhere across the globe. At home in the States, the film grossed $101m before hitting China hard, where the del Toro's monster mash-up earned an impressive $45m.
Source: Silverpop
The Conjuring
The Social Media Success: Punters certainly weren't afraid to click 'follow' on the various social feeds attached to this spooky ghost story.
James Wan's seventies-set chiller starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga was the ninth most popular movie on social platforms with 701,000 followers - just a pinch behind nearest competitor The Lone Ranger .
Did It Translate Into Box Office? The Conjuring 's box office earnings were anything but a horror story. During its opening weekend, Wan's film took $41.5m, breaking the record for biggest opening of an original R-rated horror movie.
The film held strong in subsequent weeks and ended up taking $305m worldwide. That was on a budget of just $20m. Cheap and very, very cheerful.
Too bad Wan says he's done with horror…
Source: Silverpop
The Hangover Part 3
The Social Media Success: The wolfpack bowed out with a bang where Facebook was concerned - their third and final movie was the second most-followed sequel on the social network website, with almost double the followers of nearest-competitor Iron Man 3.
So how many people thought this threequel was worth a 'like'? Well, 24m. There's no accounting for taste, eh?
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Big time. It became the second biggest opening for an R-rated comedy (behind The Hangover Part 2 ), and made $350m despite scathing notices from critics.
Source: Silverpop
The Smurfs 2
The Social Media Success: The fifth most-followed 2013 sequel on Facebook and the second most-liked animated movie page, The Smurfs 2 proved that blue is badass when it comes to the social network website.
With a massive 10.2m Facebook fans, the Neil Patrick Harris-starring follow-up trounced the competition.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Just about, though the film performed lower than its predecessor ($69m compared to the first film's $142m).
That hasn't stopped Sony greenlighting a Smurfs 3 , though…
Source: Silverpop
The Lone Ranger
The Social Media Success: The eighth most successful movie on social media platforms, Disney's slick Western update boasted 706,000 followers on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Um, not really. Branded 2013's biggest turkey, The Lone Ranger was not only mauled by critics and movie-goers, it also belly-flopped at the box office.
Want figures? It grossed just $255m worldwide on a budget of $225m (plus marketing costs of $100m). Poor Johnny Depp and his crow…
Source: Silverpop
This Is The End
The Social Media Success: With promotions including how to make your own This Is The End meme, plus an active Twitter account that didn't just focus on the film and barrage followers with review RTs, Sony showed this is just the beginning for films on social media.
With 730,000 followers across social platforms, This Is The End was the seventh biggest social hit of 2013.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Any film that breaks the $100m line is considered a success these days, and This Is The End did exactly yet - particularly impressive given its reasonably modest budget of $32m.
So, yes, This Is The End was a box office hit. Who’s in the mood for a Backstreet Boys musical interlude?
Source: Silverpop
World War Z
The Social Media Success: Considering the early bad feeling surrounding this zombie book adap (mostly thanks to reports of the film's 'troubled' shoot), social media had to work extra hard to turn opinion around.
Luckily, with 836,000 followers on Twitter, Facebook and Google+, the World War Z 'socialisers' did exactly that…
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Heck yes. World War Z went on to net Brad Pitt his largest ever opening weekend and has so far earned $539m on its $190m budget.
A sequel's already been given the green light…
Source: Silverpop
Dwayne Johnson
The Social Media Success: No Twitter list would be complete without the King of Social Media muscling in on the action.
The Rock's long set the bar for what actors can and should be doing on Twitter, and this year has been no different.
Over the summer alone, he was the third most active actor on the social network, sending 610 tweets. Most of them about the release of Fast & Furious 6 and filming Hercules: The Thracian Wars …
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Fast & Furious 6 became the third highest-grossing film of the year ($788m worldwide).
Meanwhile, GI Joe: Retaliation made $371m and Pain & Gain crushed its $26m budget with box office earnings of $86m.
Source: Silverpop
Before Midnight
The Social Media Success: It's fitting that the third film in a series that's all about communication should be one of the year's biggest social media hits.
Coming third in the indie social media chart, Julie Delpy's drama has 20,724 followers across Google+, Twitter and Facebook, meaning the conversations can carry on even when the film's insightful chatter has finished.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Though its $11m worldwide earnings were just shy of Before Sunse t's $15m, Midnight was still deemed a success - both commercially and critically.
Source: Silverpop
R.I.P.D.
The Social Media Success: Who can resist a film that boasts a winning combo like Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds?
In social media terms, very few, if the figures are anything to go by. Of the hundreds of films being promoted on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, R.I.P.D . was the 29th most-followed movie…
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Sadly not - R.I.P.D . lost money, making just $75m back on a budget of $130m. Which is a shame, because it had an awesome premise.
Source: Silverpop
Monsters University
The Social Media Success : It may have lost out to sequels Despicable Me 2 and The Smurfs 2 , but Monsters University was still the third most 'liked' animated movie on Facebook this summer.
With a nothing-to-sniff-at 1.8m 'likes', people clearly hadn't forgotten who Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sully (John Goodman) were, despite the fact that this was a sequel to a film made all the way back in 2001…
Did It Translate Into Box Office? In short, this was a monster hit for Pixar, becoming its fourth highest-grossing film.
So far, it's taken over $700m worldwide on an estimated budget of $200m. Not bad for a much-belated sequel.
Source: Silverpop
The Internship
The Social Media Success: It would be embarrassing if this Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson comedy hadn’t been a social media success, given the entire plot revolves around Google.
Happily, it was the fifth most popular movie across social media platforms with 871,000 followers eager to see what the former Wedding Crashers would do next.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Critics scoffed at its ties to Google, branding the film a feature-length ad for the company, and the film struggled at the box office.
On a budget of $58m, the film made just $91m worldwide. Decent, but nowhere near the $285m haul of Wedding Crashers.
Source: Silverpop
Turbo
The Social Media Success: It's not even out in the UK yet, but this big tale about a little snail thinking outside of the shell has already become one of social media's success stories for 2013.
It has the fourth most followers on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook, with a gargantuan 1.25m followers. Clearly it's not just the French who love a snail…
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Though it's yet to open here in the UK, Turbo 's failed to make much of a splash at the US box office.
Earning just $5.8m on its opening day, it was beaten out by The Conjuring and Despicable Me 2 , and was DreamWorks Animations' lowest ever earner when figures were adjusted for inflation.
Source: Silverpop
Mark Ruffalo
The Social Media Success: Not exactly the first celebrity you'd think of when attempting to figure out who the top Twitter stars of 2013 were, but Mark Ruffalo transformed into a veritable one-man marketing machine over the summer.
During promotion of Now You See Me , the actor tweeted 645 times, shaming the likes of Seth Rogen (just 141 tweets) and Channing Tatum (a paltry 219). He may be 45, but Ruffalo's still got it.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Thanks For Sharing totalled a jaw-slackening $979,000 worldwide (yikes), while Now You See Me took over $300m worldwide, sort of balancing things out.
Source: Silverpop
The Way Way Back
The Social Media Success: This tiny coming-of-ager is about a young boy finding his voice - and the film well and truly found its own pipes on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.
The indie drama - which stars Toni Collette, Steve Carell and a scene-stealing Allison Janney - was the fifth most-followed indie film on social networks with 11,799 fans.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Yep, the film's marketing as the new Little Miss Sunshine worked a treat, and it made $23m on a miniscule $4.6m budget.
Source: Silverpop
Iron Man 3
The Social Media Success: It's the third Iron Man film AND the third most-popular sequel on Facebook this year.
Iron Man's popularity was even stronger than ever in 2013, with the Iron Man 3 page on Facebook garnering over 15.5m 'likes'. Not bad for a film about a guy who wears a tin can for a living.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Heck yes - Iron Man 3 was the highest-grossing Iron Man film yet, making $409m in the US alone (compared to Iron Man 2 's $312m).
Worldwide, it's already crossed the $1bn line…
Source: Silverpop
After Earth
The Social Media Success: It might be hard to believe that After Earth was successful at anything given its mediocre box office earnings and scathing reviews, but the M. Night Shyamalan sci-fi came out singing where social media's concerned.
The film was the third biggest social hit of the year, gaining just shy of two million followers (1,854,471) across Facebook, Twitter and Google+…
Did It Translate Into Box Office? It all went a bit wrong when the film was released and everybody realised it was sort of pants.
Suddenly, social media was a place to slate the film off, rather than get excited about it…
Source: Silverpop
Chloe Grace Moretz
The Social Media Success: If anybody should have a decent handle on Twitter, it's a teenager, so it's no surprise that 16-year-old Chloe Moretz (yes, she really is 16 now) topped the league table of top Tweeters in 2013.
Sending a whopping 767 tweets over the summer alone, she dwarfed even prolific twit Dwayne Johnson. Now that takes commitment…
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Not particularly. The truly horrendous Movie 43 made $8m (and we're shocked it made even that), while Kick-Ass 2 disappointed with its worldwide trawl of $59m.
Carrie 's out in a couple of weeks, though, which should put Moretz back on an even keel.
Source: Silverpop
The Spectacular Now
The Social Media Success: This indie dramedy from director James Ponsoldt is hitting the London Film Festival this week, where it can surely expect to pick up a few more followers on its social networks.
Not that it needs them - it's already the second most-followed indie flick of 2013, with 46,894 fans across the various social platforms.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Stateside the film's already taken $6.7m, which is respectable enough for an indie film.
Expect that figure to rise when it's given a worldwide release…
Source: Silverpop
Fast & Furious 6
The Social Media Success : Considering its cast included avid 'socialisers' Vin Diesel and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, it should come as no surprise that the Facebook page for Fast & Furious 6 was the most 'liked' sequel page of the year.
Thanks to support from those action stars, the F&F6 page received 38.3m 'likes' on Facebook. Talk about full throttle…
Did It Translate Into Box Office? By miles - it was the highest-grossing Fast & Furious film ever, taking $788m at the worldwide box office. Small wonder another two films are being planned…
Source: Silverpop
Despicable Me 2
The Social Media Success: People just couldn't get enough of the minions in 2013, which meant this sequel's Facebook page was the number one most 'liked' animated movie on Facebook.
The follow-up's 'likes' totalled 11.4m on Facebook, also making it the fourth most-liked 'movie sequel' page in 2013. Minion domination is surely just around the corner…
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Not only was it a hit, it trounced on its predecessor's box office figures, making $362m at the US box office and $872m worldwide.
Bodes well for the minion spin-off movie…
Source: Silverpop
The Great Gatsby
The Social Media Success: With its Q&A sessions with the filmmakers (Baz Lurhmann dropped by to promote the film) and giveaways, Warner Bros did everything right when it came to 'socialising' The Great Gatsby.
The result? It was the second most-followed social media movie this year, with 1.8m followers. Not bad, old sport.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Though critics were divided over the merits of Lurhmann's uber-spangly adap, there's no denying it did well at the box office.
Its worldwide haul totalled $348m, and it was Leonardo DiCaprio's second-largest opening weekend ever, just behind Inception .
Source: Silverpop
Leonardo DiCaprio
The Social Media Success: Considering he's so secretive about his private life, it's a surprise that Leonardo DiCaprio was 2013's most popular male Tweeter.
At least, that's according to stats from over the summer, when he gained 1.2m new followers clearly eager to get the drop on The Great Gatsby.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Leo only had one movie out in 2013, but that movie was The Great Gatsby , which mopped up $144m Stateside before taking $348m worldwide.
Not astronomical figures, but nothing to be ashamed of, either.
Source: Silverpop
Emma Watson
The Social Media Success: She only had two films out in 2013 (and one of them, This Is The End , basically afforded her an extended cameo), but Emma Watson was the biggest hit on Twitter this year.
Over the summer alone, she gained over 2.2m new followers - no doubt in part thanks to the release of The Bling Ring , which gave her good girl image a proper dressing down.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Though This Is The End made it big at the box office ($101m in the US alone), The Bling Ring sank like a stolen diamond, making just $5m.
Source: Silverpop
Fruitvale Station
The Social Media Success : It wasn't all about Hollywood blockbusters on social networks this year - increasingly, indie films are giving the blockbuster big daddies a run for their followers.
None more than this Sundance hit, which gained 73,609 social followers over the summer of 2013. Not bad considering its cast is largely unknown and though awesome, the film's, well, a bit of a downer.
Did It Translate Into Box Office? Thanks to positive buzz (and no doubt all that social media activity), Station 's made a massive $16m Stateside, which bodes well for its worldwide roll-out.
Source: Silverpop
Man Of Steel
The Social Media Success: Not only did Superman make a triumphant return to cinemas this year, he also made a serious dent in the social media stakes. Well, they don't call him the Man of Steel for nothing, do they?
In the league table of biggest non-sequel movies on social media this year, Man Of Steel sits pretty at number one, with just over two million followers on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook. Everybody loves Superman…
Did It Translate Into Box Office? When Superman flies, he soars, and that's definitely true for Man Of Steel , officially the highest-grossing Superman film ever made.
To date, it's made almost $1bn worldwide…
Source: Silverpop
Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.