10 Highest Grossing Movies of 2012 (Scifi/Fantasy/Horror)

Will Smith in MIB 3 Photo: Box office mojo

Below are the 10 movies that took the biggest bites off the Box Office apple in 2012. The selected films all fall within the speculative fiction category that is, science fiction, fantasy and horror. All figures in American dollars.

1. The Hunger Games

Budget:	78m
Box office:	686.5m

2. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

Budget:	120m
Box office:	600.5m

3. MIB 3

Budget:	225m
Box office:	624.0m

4. Prometheus

Budget:	130m
Box office:	402.4m

5. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

Budget:	79m
Box office:	325.8m

6. Wrath of the Titans

Budget:	150m
Box office:	301.9m

7. Dark Shadows

Budget:	150m
Box office:	239.1m

8. John Carter

Budget:	250m
Box office:	282.7m

9. Looper

Budget:	30m
Box office:	163.9m

10. Battleship

Budget:	209m
Box office:	302.8m

Box office results courtesy: Box Office Mojo

With a little help from Wikipedia.

Akpan

How to Make your Story Compelling

If anything’s 100% guaranteed to put the kick in your story, it’s your fictional people–your characters.

Story is important, yes. But somebody once said, Plot is character. I believe him/her. And you will as well once you see what this post has to offer.

Your story is bound to move your readers if it’s populated with compelling characters

Will Smith and son in Pursuit of Happyness
Photo credit: Flickr

Readers want characters they can identify with.

The protagonist of your story does not necessarily have to be superhuman. They don’t even have to fit into the prototype Rambo-style hero niche. The single ingredient which shoves a reader beyond the edge of reality and sends them scrambling into your fictional world (and if I may add, with great pleasure) is how much you make your characters partakers in the fellowship of your reader’s sufferings.

Compelling characters are often than not, ordinary people going through the motions, having the blues. And especially, characters who attain the goal of their dreams when they come through. That goal could be anything from something as other-worldly as superpowers to one as ordinary as a job. (I’m thinking of Will Smith in the Pursuit of Happyness, here.)

What are the things that strike you about your favorite stories? Who are your favorite characters? There might be a story there.

Plot is what your characters do. The bottom line is who your characters are and what your characters do should be interesting or you end up with a blunt tale in your hands.

Without compelling characters, there can be no compelling story.

Let your pen bleed!

Akpan

Related articles

• Should Fictional Characters Be Drawn Directly From Life?
• 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing A Story
• The 21 Key Traits of Best-Selling Fiction
• 4 Questions To Ask Yourself When Writing Scenes
• The 7 Rules of Picking Names for Fictional Characters
• Bring Your Characters to Life: An Exclusive Writing Kit

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Akpan