Disney (and others) at the Box Office - Current State of Affairs

[TalkingHead]

Does Iger bail sooner than later and find another Chapek to take the blame?

Does a string of flops increase the likelihood of a major sale or financing partnership deal? I’d love to know what their internal expectations are for Frozens 3&4.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Does a string of flops increase the likelihood of a major sale or financing partnership deal? I’d love to know what their internal expectations are for Frozens 3&4.

Frozen 1 and 2 made over $1.2 billion each.

I can't imagine the expectation for Frozen 3 to be anything less than a billion, even with Disney+ impacting ticket sales.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I'd still like to know who thought moving Haunted Mansion up from August 14 to July 28 was a good idea?

It should have been released Labor Day weekend to coincide with the start of Halloween in the theme parks and capitalize on kids being out of school for the long weekend. Then it could have been put on Disney+ right before Halloween after a 45 day+ theatrical only window.

 

[flynnibus]

Honestly, I don’t know what Disney can do to steer the ship to a different direction to get back the rep and loyalty it used to enjoy; it’s probably going to be very difficult and really could use some unabashed original hits

The one saving grace is... Disney films have been in ruts like this in the past. It's almost cyclic. In the 70s they were too conservative and wouldn't advance their content or technique.. in a downward spiral. Then some expansion of the brand under Eisner saved live action... while Animation faltered until the second renaissance. Then in less than 10yrs they were faltering again until buying Pixar saved things.

Maybe we just got spoiled that their run lasted a bit longer than the others.. and we've coasted down... without the savior in our sights yet in terms of what pivot or creative lead will lead them out of the wilderness.

(I wrote this with mainly animation in mind... but live action isn't too much different.. tho the times and pivot moments differ).

That said... given the history, and their scale, you hope they find the next spark. No one today holds Disney down for their down films... they always remember them for their highlights. So keep on truckin...

 

[BrianLo]

As a company I think D+ is the largest drag on their ability to turn their movies into events anymore. While there has been an excess of sub par content this year, the audience still tunes in eventually for the stuff that is good.

Unfortunately way too much of their empiric audience are now in the streaming fold, but that has totally disincentivized that audience from need to go to the theatre.

Marvel and Star Wars are very salvageable if they refocus and better move the prime narratives forward. Inside Out 2 (if it’s good) is a pretty good test of how much their core audience has been trained to tune out theatrical releases. I know Iger has blame, but really the direct to streaming push from Chapek destroyed the theatrical animated potential the most. Which was partially pandemic situational, I don’t know if Chapek would have gone down the same hole otherwise.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Marvel and Star Wars are very salvageable if they refocus and better move the prime narratives forward.

I agree, but also think Disney's needs to stop relying so much on Marvel, Star Wars and Princesses to pay their bills.

The company has always benefited from the expansion of content. Like in the 50s when they first started live-action movies and TV shows and in the 80s with Touchstone.

Limiting what kind of movies get made has never worked for Disney in the long run.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

There’s no sugar coating this one, it’s a rejection of the brand. There must be full on panic in Burbank right now.

That’s exactly what it is. Based on the evidence. I have never…not once (check it)…said anything about “wokeness”

It’s brand rejection…and that’s an excuse to cover it

Just look at what they’ve torched in the last 5/6 years?

The little mermaid
Indiana Jones
Luke Skywalker
Buzz Lightyear
…Captain America inbound


Do we need any more discussion on this?
(That’s rhetorical)

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

As a company I think D+ is the largest drag on their ability to turn their movies into events anymore. While there has been an excess of sub par content this year, the audience still tunes in eventually for the stuff that is good.

Unfortunately way too much of their empiric audience are now in the streaming fold, but that has totally disincentivized that audience from need to go to the theatre.

Marvel and Star Wars are very salvageable if they refocus and better move the prime narratives forward. Inside Out 2 (if it’s good) is a pretty good test of how much their core audience has been trained to tune out theatrical releases. I know Iger has blame, but really the direct to streaming push from Chapek destroyed the theatrical animated potential the most. Which was partially pandemic situational, I don’t know if Chapek would have gone down the same hole otherwise.

They have to get their head out of their colons if they want to salvage anything

That means bringing in the high price talent back to MCU and a total leadership change at LFL…

…go ahead…don’t believe me.

 

[TsWade2]

I know I shouldn’t be here and I wish I never said this, but maybe it’ll be better if Disney should just give up movie theaters and release them on DisneyPlus from now on since Wish maybe be popular there than at the movie theaters.

 

[celluloid]

A lie? I deliberately used the word “most” and I wasn’t talking about you.

Surely if it were most, you could name a four or five of them?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I know I shouldn’t be here and I wish I never said this, but maybe it’ll be better if Disney should just give up movie theaters and release them on DisneyPlus from now on since Wish maybe be popular there than at the movie theaters.

Disney plus doesn’t make a dime…and it’s losing subscribers and that will increase

Management change is the only effective move now

 

[TalkingHead]

I still think a WDAS-Lucasfilm project has incredible potential. The best part of Strange World was the pulpy intro. Take the extreme stylization a la Spider-verse and join it to Star Wars and there might actually be a creative path forward that feels fresh while being rooted in the franchise’s origins.

Marvel just feels like its time in the sun is over. Releasing Iron Man today wouldn’t generate the MCU. It’s a relic of the pre-streaming movie landscape when things were relatively contained to theatrical releases. (Nolan’s Batman films benefited from this self-containment as well.)

Marvel will always bring out the comics fans (probably most of the guys who saw The Marvels) but the general non-Disney fandom audience that made MCU a “thing” has moved on, I suspect.

 

[Miru]

Another thing… I think we should concentrate on improvements outside the box office, which could help box office returns and serve as a failsafe should the box office go down entirely;

* Greenlight a new MvC with full Capcom control; this would not only save our skins but also save the possible CvS3 from being forced to include an influx of “wacky” characters as a result of MvCI’s failure. If Capcom genuinely want an MCU-oriented direction then so be it. Maybe do an animated Megaman ZX movie on your end of the bargain.

* Strike a deal with Universal to let them use Fox IP (possibly also ABC IP) in perpetuity in exchange for Marvel being non-exclusive.

* Do a release of Song of the South in the Criterion Collection for adult collectors. It’s out, but not quite through us at Disney.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Another thing… I think we should concentrate on improvements outside the box office, which could help box office returns and serve as a failsafe should the box office go down entirely;

* Greenlight a new MvC with full Capcom control; this would not only save our skins but also save the possible CvS3 from being forced to include an influx of “wacky” characters as a result of MvCI’s failure. If Capcom genuinely want an MCU-oriented direction then so be it. Maybe do an animated Megaman ZX movie on your end of the bargain.

* Strike a deal with Universal to let them use Fox IP (possibly also ABC IP) in perpetuity in exchange for Marvel being non-exclusive.

* Do a release of Song of the South in the Criterion Collection for adult collectors. It’s out, but not quite through us at Disney.

Interesting ideas…but NONE of it is gonna happen

Not for a second

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don’t think there’s rejection of a brand. Disney’s audience is primarily families with small kids - it’s just easier and cheaper to wait for Disney+.

Also, Disney’s recent offerings seem bland and uninspired, which isn’t going to get people excited about seeing them.

I wish Disney would just make movies that tell good stories and not care about who they offend.

This is about 100% against all the trends that have been tracked…

But ok anyway

 

[erasure fan1]

Someone who claims Disney’s latest movies are bad should be able to explain what makes them so. Of course, that becomes essentially impossible when you have no firsthand knowledge of the material.

I think this is an oversimplification of it. I haven't seen the marvels. I have seen all the other marvel films leading up to it. Plus I've seen the trailers and all the B-roll footage. I've also seen plenty of reviews, from multiple sources either pro Disney or not. So there's more than enough information out there to form an opinion on if you think the film will be good or not. Now keep in mind I said opinion. The Marvels might be the single most misunderstood movie in history. I doubt it based on the abundance of information and data we have. So it's not entirely fair to say it's "essentially impossible" to say it was bad. I can give plenty of examples of why I think the movie is "bad" without having seen it.

 

[celluloid]

I think this is an oversimplification of it. I haven't seen the marvels. I have seen all the other marvel films leading up to it. Plus I've seen the trailers and all the B-roll footage. I've also seen plenty of reviews, from multiple sources either pro Disney or not. So there's more than enough information out there to form an opinion on if you think the film will be good or not. Now keep in mind I said opinion. The Marvels might be the single most misunderstood movie in history. I doubt it based on the abundance of information and data we have. So it's not entirely fair to say it's "essentially impossible" to say it was bad. I can give plenty of examples of why I think the movie is "bad" without having seen it.

This is exactly coincides with the lack of brand trust.
May e Wish us better to some then Trolls 3. But there is lack of people's faith in that being the case and they trust Universal/DreamWorks right now, even with the occasional miss, than they do Disney.

At a certain point, they lose enough trust where people won't fork over the benefit of the doubt.
When the movie is less than stellar, that hurts the brand more.

 

[LittleBuford]

I think this is an oversimplification of it. I haven't seen the marvels. I have seen all the other marvel films leading up to it. Plus I've seen the trailers and all the B-roll footage. I've also seen plenty of reviews, from multiple sources either pro Disney or not. So there's more than enough information out there to form an opinion on if you think the film will be good or not. Now keep in mind I said opinion. The Marvels might be the single most misunderstood movie in history. I doubt it based on the abundance of information and data we have. So it's not entirely fair to say it's "essentially impossible" to say it was bad. I can give plenty of examples of why I think the movie is "bad" without having seen it.

It’s impossible to explain why something you haven’t seen is bad. Sure, you might be able to tell it’s not your cup of tea, but (as we’ve seen time and again in these threads) when people who haven’t seen the films they’re criticising attempt to account for their harsh assessments, they frequently make stuff up or parrot questionable (mis)information they’ve found online.

 

[TP2000]

Look at these numbers for Thanksgiving Weekend Domestic Box Office. It's brutal for Burbank.

These are the initial estimates, revised numbers down to the single dollar will be released tomorrow. But already its brutal.

 

[TalkingHead]

Worth mentioning overall it’s the worst non-pandemic total for this 5-day Thanksgiving stretch since 2001, not counting inflation which would make it look even worse. Still don’t see how the theatrical business continues without major changes.

Thanksgiving 5-Day Weekend Box Office

www.boxofficemojo.com