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

[DKampy]

I'm honestly shocked Poor Things made that much money. I thought it was a very good movie, but it seems like it would be rather niche in appeal.

Everyone wants to bash Disney anytime they perceive them of making a mistake… so I think Disney should be applauded that they took a risk and it paid off

 

[celluloid]

You think Gladiator 2, a sequel to a 24-year-old film with little place in the current zeitgeist and none of the original cast, is a strong bet to have a box office of nearly a billion? It’s a good thing you’re not just reflexively anti-Disney.

(Check's Top Gun Maverick)

It is likely, I mean Tom Cruise was there but others were showing face and most were not original cast. Many who saw it did not even care that it was a sequel who care who Tom Cruise is. It was all the rage with many HS aged students and youngins when it played.

310 million for a movie is a big budget but as EPIC as a gladiator film in the current climate is not unreasonable compared to Haunted Mansion needing to cost near 200 million pre Writers and actors changes.

You just like being unreasonable.

 

[brideck]

I would look to Everything Everywhere All at Once for a gauge on what you are describing.

If EEAaO is the yardstick for art films then nothing would ever get made again. It was such a massive box office outlier for indies. No one is making these expecting to get that kind of result. Hoping, sure, but it's not part of the business plan.

 

[Casper Gutman]

(Check's Top Gun Maverick)

It is likely, I mean Tom Cruise and some showing face came back but most were not original cast. Many who saw it did not even care that it was a sequel who care who Tom Cruise is. It was all the rage with many HS aged students and youngins when it played.
310 million for a movie is a big budget but as EPIC as a gladiator film in the current climate is not unreasonable compared to Haunted Mansion needing to cost 200 million pre Writers and actors changes.

You just like being unreasonable.

Top Gun has a tremendous cultural footprint and a returning superstar, one of the last in Hollywood. You’re reaching so hard…

 

[brideck]

I completely agree. What I was saying wasn't a knock against the film or anything. It was just more of a why it has come under the microscope here. If Disneys big tent poles had hit, no one would be talking about a small film like this not making it's budget back.

Personally? It came under the microscope here because ignorant folks presented it as a massive flop after 2 weeks of sub-100 screen release in December. You can't just let that sort of nonsense narrative be presented as the truth.

 

[celluloid]

Top Gun has a tremendous cultural footprint and a returning superstar, one of the last in Hollywood. You’re reaching so hard…

You keep acting like they are so far. Why is 310 million unreasonable for a follow up? Post Strike EPIC movie cost.

 

[TalkingHead]

310 million for a movie is a big budget but as EPIC as a gladiator film in the current climate is not unreasonable compared to Haunted Mansion needing to cost near 200 million pre Writers and actors changes.

You just like being unreasonable.

Correction: $310m is ridiculous, especially if it was budgeted at half that.

 

[celluloid]

Correction: $310m is ridiculous, especially if it was budgeted at half that.

Why is the Hollywood market different from others effected by same thing? Everything about movie making now cost a lot more than it did eight years ago.

Ridiculous to me is an animated hour and a half feature costing 200 million.


It is only ridiculous when it doesn't work.

 

[brideck]

I'm honestly shocked Poor Things made that much money. I thought it was a very good movie, but it seems like it would be rather niche in appeal.

Ditto. I was surprised that it zoomed past The Favourite since that one would probably have had more broad appeal. I know that this is where people raise the "yeah, but inflation" point, but here's what's interesting to me. If you convert grosses to rough estimates of ticket sales, you'll see that roughly 1/3 (~32%) of pre-Covid sales are still missing for the US market as a whole. However, Poor Things has already made 83% of the sales that The Favourite did, and it's not done just yet.

I can't tell if that just means that the art film audience has retained a larger percentage of its audience than the mainstream one after the pandemic or if that means that Poor Things has really done pretty exceptionally.

 

[celluloid]

Ditto. I was surprised that it zoomed past The Favourite since that one would probably have had more broad appeal. I know that this is where people raise the "yeah, but inflation" point, but here's what's interesting to me. If you convert grosses to rough estimates of ticket sales, you'll see that roughly 1/3 (~32%) of pre-Covid sales are still missing for the US market as a whole. However, Poor Things has already made 83% of the sales that The Favourite did, and it's not done just yet.

I can't tell if that just means that the art film audience has retained a larger percentage of its audience than the mainstream one after the pandemic or if that means that Poor Things has really done pretty exceptionally.

Not picking on Poor Things, as it helped all movies that released and had more play time on screens, but writer's/actors strike impact not having many theatrical releases from late December through February certainly helped.

 

[Ghost93]

I can't tell if that just means that the art film audience has retained a larger percentage of its audience than the mainstream one after the pandemic or if that means that Poor Things has really done pretty exceptionally.

Art film enthusiasts are more likely to be adamant about seeing movies at "the cinema" over watching something at home.

 

[erasure fan1]

Personally? It came under the microscope here because ignorant folks presented it as a massive flop after 2 weeks of sub-100 screen release in December. You can't just let that sort of nonsense narrative be presented as the truth.

Yes I do remember that. And the reason was because almost every movie Disney released underperformed. Therefore bringing scrutiny to it, that was obviously premature. Again, the movie doesn't really even get talked about except for an awards blurb on here if the tent poles are knocking it out of the park.

 

[brideck]

Art film enthusiasts are more likely to be adamant about seeing movies at "the cinema" over watching something at home.

Yeah, I might do some comparisons year-over-year for limited releases as a whole to see what that trend looks like.

 

[DKampy]

Yes I do remember that. And the reason was because almost every movie Disney released underperformed. Therefore bringing scrutiny to it, that was obviously premature. Again, the movie doesn't really even get talked about except for an awards blurb on here if the tent poles are knocking it out of the park.

This is the dangers of people talking about box office even though the have no interest or wanting to understand the film business

 

[MrPromey]

Yes I do remember that. And the reason was because almost every movie Disney released underperformed. Therefore bringing scrutiny to it, that was obviously premature. Again, the movie doesn't really even get talked about except for an awards blurb on here if the tent poles are knocking it out of the park.

The cruel irony being that while it's being picked apart, it's not only one of the only movies they've had over the last couple of years to meet expectations, it seems to be surpassing those expectations, handily.

... but in this case, it's guilty by association, I guess.

 

[TalkingHead]

Disney Shakeup: Sean Bailey Exits As President Of Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios, Searchlight’s David Greenbaum Takes Over & Also Will Run 20th

Walt Disney's President of Motion Picture Studios Sean Bailey is departing after 15 years on the lot.

deadline.com

Grab the popcorn

 

[BuddyThomas]

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

Don’t hold your breath.

 

[TP2000]

Hi gang! Hope everyone had a fun weekend. The box office data is now out for this past weekend.

What stands out to me is the incredible staying power of Migration and Wonka. They're still in the Top 10 almost three months later! This tells me there is strong market demand for family movies in traditional theaters; movies parents can comfortably take their young children to, buy popcorn and Cokes, and keep the suburban multiplexes humming.

Poor Things is at #15 this weekend.

Wish and All Of Us Strangers dropped into the 30's this weekend. Referencing where Wish is, and then looking where Wonka and Migration are still sitting this weekend, and I ask myself "How could Burbank screw this up so badly?!?"

The Numbers - Weekend Box Office Chart for August 2, 2024

Weekend Domestic Box Office Chart for the weekend of August 2, 2024

www.the-numbers.com

 

[BuddyThomas]

Hi gang! Hope everyone had a fun weekend. The box office data is now out for this past weekend.

What stands out to me is the incredible staying power of Migration and Wonka. They're still in the Top 10 almost three months later! This tells me there is strong market demand for family movies in traditional theaters; movies parents can comfortably take their young children to, buy popcorn and Cokes, and keep the suburban multiplexes humming.

View attachment 770376

Poor Things is at #15 this weekend.

View attachment 770377

Wish and All Of Us Strangers dropped into the 30's this weekend. Referencing where Wish is, and then looking where Wonka and Migration are still sitting this weekend, and I ask myself "How could Burbank screw this up so badly?!?"

View attachment 770378

The Numbers - Weekend Box Office Chart for August 2, 2024

Weekend Domestic Box Office Chart for the weekend of August 2, 2024

www.the-numbers.com

For your information, All of Us Strangers is now on Hulu, so your gleeful little post that it is in the “30’s” is absolutely irrelevant.

The Best Movie of 2023 Is Now on Hulu

Everything we can't stop loving, hating, and thinking about this week in pop culture.

www.thedailybeast.com

 

[TP2000]

As for falsehoods, back in January @MrPromey did a wonderful job of explaining to me that these little artsy films aren't designed to make much money at the box office; rather, they are designed to keep talent engaged and creative until the studio needs them for their next big tentpole movie that actually is designed to make money at the box office. It's sort of like the Works Progress Administration, keeping folks working until better days arrive.

After that information was processed from Mr. Promey, I said this about Poor Things back on January 19th...

After their disastrous 2023, it would be wonderful if Disney's Searchlight had a movie that at least breaks even in 2024.

With its admirably modest $35 Million budget, maybe Poor Things is just the movie to do that?

The problem is that in 2023 almost all of Disney's tentpoles from the flagship studios did badly at the box office and lost hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars for Disney. Which makes losing money at their little artsy Searchlight brand far more troubling than it should be.

But at least it looks like Poor Things will break even at the box office, if All Of Us Strangers does not. Now we just need Disney to get back to making profitable, successful tentpoles from Marvel, WDAS, Walt Disney Pictures, Lucasfilm, and Pixar.