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

[Tha Realest]

I think they should of had a Shang-chi 2 at least in production by now…that seemed well received even if the box office did not show it at the time… as people were still a bit wary of Covid at the time

Director/writer Destin Cretton, who directed/wrote Shang-Chi (and more recently, had been announced to direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty) was just announced to be doing writing/directing on a live action Naruto film, so either SC2 needs to find someone else or this will be awhile before we see a sequel.

 

[DKampy]

Poor Things has now grossed more than the directors last film The Favourite… It is about to cross a hundred million worldwide with 2 weeks until the Oscars which I believe is what the haters said it needed to break even… I wonder if they will admit it’s a hit now

 

[Casper Gutman]

Director/writer Destin Cretton, who directed/wrote Shang-Chi (and more recently, had been announced to direct Avengers: The Kang Dynasty) was just announced to be doing writing/directing on a live action Naruto film, so either SC2 needs to find someone else or this will be awhile before we see a sequel.

Destin Cretton is currently working on a project for Marvel, the D+ series Wonder Man, which is shooting now. Stories on Naruto note he is attached to Shang-Chi 2. It will come out when Disney wants it. It's entirely possible it could shoot before Naruto, but its unlikely since the MCU dance card is pretty full until 2026. So yeah, it'll be a couple years, but not because of the director's commitments. Also, I'm fairly certain Destin Cretton is no longer attached to Avengers, so he has an opening in his schedule (both Avengers films will be shot by the same director, PROBABLY but not certainly Raimi).

 

[Bullseye1967]

Poor Things has now grossed more than the directors last film The Favourite… It is about to cross a hundred million worldwide with 2 weeks until the Oscars which I believe is what the haters said it needed to break even… I wonder if they will admit it’s a hit now

So if it $5 over what it cost to make and market, it becomes a "hit" ? It is a strange world. A "hit" used to be when a picture made a bunch of cash for the studio. Apparently if you break even or better, it is a "hit".

 

[celluloid]

Poor Things has now grossed more than the directors last film The Favourite… It is about to cross a hundred million worldwide with 2 weeks until the Oscars which I believe is what the haters said it needed to break even… I wonder if they will admit it’s a hit now

I don't think anyone ever said it could not be a "hit?" although doubling its box office production by having to use international numbers have never been a thing before when discussing box office here.

And I think the focus was, this was not a movie that was going to be saving the billion plus loss in the box office for Disney last year.

Not sure what Oscar season will do. March has a lot of theaters to take up screens compared to the writer's strike months.


Migration is also playing at number 5 ranking in theaters at 120 Million domestically and international total over 268 million. The movie people scoffed at performing like Wish or Haunted Mansion has surpassed both at a level that is double the attendance at about half the production cost. No Despicable Me or Puss'n Boots. But a hit in the sense of the actual budget and expectations.

 

[celluloid]

So if it $5 over what it cost to make and market, it becomes a "hit" ? It is a strange world. A "hit" used to be when a picture made a bunch of cash for the studio. Apparently if you break even or better, it is a "hit".

Be careful, you will be labeled a hater.

 

[Bullseye1967]

Be careful, you will be labeled a hater.

I prefer to be called a realist. I liked Turning Red. I call them like I see them.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

So if it $5 over what it cost to make and market, it becomes a "hit" ? It is a strange world. A "hit" used to be when a picture made a bunch of cash for the studio. Apparently if you break even or better, it is a "hit".

It looks like a smaller "art house" movie. Those might typically make a moderate amount theatrically and reach a larger audience at home.

$100 million worldwide so far against a $35 million budget is likely considered good for this scale of movie.

 

[DKampy]

Be careful, you will be labeled a hater.

Why do you think I was referring to you? I don’t ever recall you saying anything about Poor Things one way or another… I probably should of moved on…but I was thinking of one specific poster who refused to acknowledge Poor Things was a hit and even called it a flop last weekend… I just did not want to call them out by name

I never thought of you as a hater… just a universal fanboy

 

[Miss Rori]

Migration is also playing at number 5 ranking in theaters at 120 Million domestically and international total over 268 million. The movie people scoffed at performing like Wish or Haunted Mansion has surpassed both at a level that is double the attendance at about half the production cost. No Despicable Me or Puss'n Boots. But a hit in the sense of the actual budget and expectations.

Yeah, it wasn't as big as it might have been pre-Covid, but it hung around a lot longer than Wish. And keep in mind that like Wonka it's been available for digital purchase/rental for weeks now, but families still made trips to the theater. I don't know offhand when the physical media release arrives (Wonka's arrives on Tuesday) but it will probably sell well when it does. I remain really curious to see how the Wish physical release sells next month and whether that will lead to an Encanto-style second wind for the film, especially as we know that the Disney+ release won't be until April at the earliest.

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

Just to defend her a little bit, but she doesn't see any of her own movies commonly. But I can see why she wouldn't want to see this one.

I read that as well. I was poking a little fun.

 

[celluloid]

Why do you think I was referring to you? I don’t ever recall you saying anything about Poor Things one way or another… I probably should of moved on…but I was thinking of one specific poster who refused to acknowledge Poor Things was a hit and even called it a flop last weekend… I just did not want to call them out by name

I never thought of you as a hater… just a universal fanboy

Why do you think that I was referring just to you? You are not the only one calling someone a hater. (I don't know who you are even speaking of)

I was piggy backing more on the fact that the poster after you could be labeled a company hater because he is right, the goalpost of doubling profit with overseas theatrical take has not ever been anyone here's label of a hit in discussion until now.

 

[Chi84]

So if it $5 over what it cost to make and market, it becomes a "hit" ? It is a strange world. A "hit" used to be when a picture made a bunch of cash for the studio. Apparently if you break even or better, it is a "hit".

But what about a movie that is critically acclaimed and wins tons of awards; a movie that wasn't made with the expectation of reaching a wide audience that also included kids and families. If a movie like that could never be called a "hit" we would be doomed to seeing the kind of crap that resonates with the masses these days. I've seen enough superheroes and car chases to last me a lifetime.

 

[celluloid]

But what about a movie that is critically acclaimed and wins tons of awards; a movie that wasn't made with the expectation of reaching a wide audience that also included kids and families. If a movie like that could never be called a "hit" we would be doomed to seeing the kind of crap that resonates with the masses these days. I've seen enough superheroes and car chases to last me a lifetime.

I get not wanting oversaturation however, this is hilarious considering there are two raunchy Frankenstein themed movies playing in some theaters right now.

 

[DKampy]

Why do you think that I was referring just to you? You are not the only one calling someone a hater. (I don't know who you are even speaking of)

I was piggy backing more on the fact that the poster after you could be labeled a company hater because he is right, the goalpost of doubling profit with overseas theatrical take has not ever been anyone here's label of a hit in discussion until now.

Well someone said the magical number was a 100 million between flop and hit… not my number… I already thought Poor Things was a hit.., especially for an art film like that… I am sure Disney has been pleased with the results

 

[MrPromey]

This is what I think they need to figure out: how to make "super-hero films" not a genre. There is enough great content in the Marvel universe that they should be making all kinds of content: thrillers, comedies, westerns, heists, crime/procedurals, action, mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, etc. I know they've tried some of these with varying degrees of success, but they always seem to want to return to the Avengers formula and in my opinion, it's holding them back.

How do you do that with the whole connected universe thing?

I'm already pretty interested in how they try to thread the needle with an R-rated Deadpool 3 becoming part of the MCU. How do they make the events of that movie relevant to everything else without causing issues for the families with kids who saw the movies before and will see the movies after but which the parent's aren't comfortable with taking their kids to a movie without language restrictions, graphic violence and jokes about pegging?

For them to break into different genres of content, they have to accept that large chunks of their audience are not going to come along for the ride for each showing and that they can't expect to rely on the events of those films to fill in the gaps in the "main" releases like they've done up to this point.

I think that only works if they're standalone films or in their own connected "universes".

Want to do horror?

Fine but that kind of needs to be its own whole thing because a huge chunk of the main audience isn't going to watch that or, at least, not want their children to watch that which would poison the well for things like future Avengers movies if they rely on the events of such films for backstory.

We saw how the main MCU audience reacted to the comedy court procedural attempt that had a "why did I waste my time caring about any of this?" ending.

Sure, I think they can branch out more but if they do, the whole MCU thing kind of unravels unless they want to spin out a whole slew of "universes" and then only have them converge in easter-egg sorts of ways.

 

[celluloid]

Well someone said the magical number was a 100 million between flop and hit… not my number… I already thought Poor Things was a hit.., especially for an art film like that… I am sure Disney has been pleased with the results

That's fine. I imagine the 100 million was domestic. As that is typically the threshold where you have one deemed so by the "rule of thumb" after marketing and such. A movie typically will be seen as a financial investment and theatrical success by doubling its cost in the theatrical window.

 

[DKampy]

I get not wanting oversaturation however, this is hilarious considering there are two raunchy Frankenstein themed movies playing in some theaters right now.

Lisa Frankenstein is not raunchy… and neither is going for the same audience… Lisa is more warm bodies related

 

[celluloid]

Lisa Frankenstein is not raunchy… and neither is going for the same audience… Lisa is more warm bodies related

A few things here.

You have you seen Lisa Frankenstein? It is different for sure, but has a raunch in it. When you see it, you will know. (chopping an appendage off with an ax and sewing it on someone else is not raunchy to you?)

Also, different audience was irrelevant to what I was responding to with the logic of seeing enough car chases.

The Fast and Furious movies and Bourne both have car chases, but are different audiences.

Lego Batman and The Marvels are both superhero movies with different audience.

My post stands in response to the humor of the oversaturation and trends.

Lisa Franeknstein: Rated PG-13 for bloody scenes, violence, sexual assult, Sexual assult and Sexual material.
Warm Bodies: Rated PG-13 for Zombie Violence and Language.

Piece of advice, don't just go by trailers.


I will take a thousand superhero movies, car chase films, ROM-Coms or supernatural thrillers, as long as they all try to be the best versions of themselves and we get more good films.

Hollywood has always had trends.

 

[DKampy]

That's fine. I imagine the 100 million was domestic. As that is typically the threshold where you have one deemed so by the "rule of thumb" after marketing and such. A movie typically will be seen as a financial investment and theatrical success by doubling its cost in the theatrical window.

I am not one who thinks theatrical box office is the end all be all especially for art film of it’s caliber…but it has more than doubled it’s cost at a 35 million budget and has already out performed the directors last film which I am sure what Disney was wanting