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

DKampy

Well-Known Member
As someone who has never seen the Broadway show…I was already looking forward to seeing Wicked…. But with the near unanimous praise…. It is getting me really excited for it… we have our tickets set for Friday

I saw Gladiator 2 yesterday…. Already hearing it did not top the original….I kept my expectations in checked…thought it was very entertaining… fake looking CGI animals aside…. The action set pieces was fantastic
 

Ghost93

Well-Known Member
I enjoy most Broadway productions I see and really like musicals (movie and stage) but, for whatever reason, Wicked just felt flat to me.
Maybe the emotions of the story might land more in the movie, as it gives things more time to breathe. But it's hard for me to say without having seen the Broadway show.

As someone who has never seen the Broadway show…I was already looking forward to seeing Wicked…. But with the near unanimous praise…. It is getting me really excited for it… we have our tickets set for Friday

I saw Gladiator 2 yesterday…. Already hearing it did not top the original….I kept my expectations in checked…thought it was very entertaining… fake looking CGI animals aside…. The action set pieces was fantastic

I thought Gladiator 2 was an okay 7/10 movie. The story was mediocre, but the spectacle and the action sequences were very well done. Also liked Denzel Washington's performance. It doesn't hold a candle to the original, but I'm glad I saw it.
 

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
I love musicals. I love musical movies and wish there were a lot more.

I really, really dislike Wicked. Wicked is going to be the biggest musical hit of all time and probably get a land at Universal.

This has been my largely substanceless grumbling about something that is very much only my problem.
 

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
What didn't you like about it?
As I said, this is purely personal taste, but I've never been a HUGE fan of the Oz mythos and I have a certain distaste for "revisionist" media that tries to reframe villains as heroes (I've always wanted a satire of the genre with someone like Hook trying to rewrite his history to make himself the hero and just comically revealing himself to be an even bigger jerk then we thought). I also don't particularly like the music. Nothing profound, it's just a collection of elements that aren't to my liking. I'm certainly not going to make any judgements on the film's quality without seeing it or hold up my taste in musicals as particularly refined (I went to see Cats several times in my younger days). It's just a personal bummer that we FINALLY get a musical megahit and it's... this one.
 

LittleBuford

Well-Known Member
As I said, this is purely personal taste, but I've never been a HUGE fan of the Oz mythos and I have a certain distaste for "revisionist" media that tries to reframe villains as heroes (I've always wanted a satire of the genre with someone like Hook trying to rewrite his history to make himself the hero and just comically revealing himself to be an even bigger jerk then we thought). I also don't particularly like the music. Nothing profound, it's just a collection of elements that aren't to my liking. I'm certainly not going to make any judgements on the film's quality without seeing it or hold up my taste in musicals as particularly refined (I went to see Cats several times in my younger days). It's just a personal bummer that we FINALLY get a musical megahit and it's... this one.
I initially mistook your post (which was perfectly clear) to be referring to the film adaptation rather than to the musical itself. I know what it's like not to "get" something that the rest of the world seems to love. For me, it's The Bear (very different genre, I know!).
 

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
I initially mistook your post (which was perfectly clear) to be referring to the film adaptation rather than to the musical itself. I know what it's like not to "get" something that the rest of the world seems to love. For me, it's The Bear (very different genre, I know!).
Yup. Very off topic, but another big one for me is anti-hero TV. Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Penguin, etc. I've watched quite a bit and I can absolutely admire the craft and skill but on a profound level it just doesn't appeal to and sometimes even troubles me. I guess I don't want to root for the bad guy!

Back to Wicked, I certainly hope this launches a string of big musical films, although I'm not entirely sure what the logical follow-up to Wicked would be. The huge lesson Hollywood should draw from this is that, as Barbie indicated, there's a vast, untapped market for blockbusters aimed primarily (though certainly not solely) at a female audience. On a more specific note, between Wicked and the success of Agatha All Along, if I'm a Hollywood exec I'm looking for some more witch-based properties.
 

Ghost93

Well-Known Member
The huge lesson Hollywood should draw from this is that, as Barbie indicated, there's a vast, untapped market for blockbusters aimed primarily (though certainly not solely) at a female audience.
While I agree, I think the other lesson Hollywood should learn from Wicked's success is to hire professional singers when making musical adaptations. We should never have to endure another Russell Crowe in Les Miserables again! 🤣
 

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
While I agree, I think the other lesson Hollywood should learn from Wicked's success is to hire professional singers when making musical adaptations. We should never have to endure another Russell Crowe in Les Miserables again! 🤣
No argument about Crowe... although as much as I love Goldblum, he's no Pavarotti.

I don't think there really are many other Broadway shows that could capitalize on the success of Wicked. If I'm Disney, start getting some of my top talent working on a big, colorful, over-the-top, unashamed original live-action fantasy musical property.
 

Farerb

Well-Known Member
Yup. Very off topic, but another big one for me is anti-hero TV. Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Penguin, etc. I've watched quite a bit and I can absolutely admire the craft and skill but on a profound level it just doesn't appeal to and sometimes even troubles me. I guess I don't want to root for the bad guy!

Back to Wicked, I certainly hope this launches a string of big musical films, although I'm not entirely sure what the logical follow-up to Wicked would be. The huge lesson Hollywood should draw from this is that, as Barbie indicated, there's a vast, untapped market for blockbusters aimed primarily (though certainly not solely) at a female audience. On a more specific note, between Wicked and the success of Agatha All Along, if I'm a Hollywood exec I'm looking for some more witch-based properties.
What Hollywood should draw from this is that there's a market for "chick flicks", which Hollywood has completely abandoned for some reason a decade ago.

By the way, what Broadway musicals do you like?
 

Farerb

Well-Known Member
No argument about Crowe... although as much as I love Goldblum, he's no Pavarotti.

I don't think there really are many other Broadway shows that could capitalize on the success of Wicked. If I'm Disney, start getting some of my top talent working on a big, colorful, over-the-top, unashamed original live-action fantasy musical property.
Frozen is basically Wicked 2.0. Disney will eventually make a live action remake and a remake for Tangled as well.
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
What Hollywood should draw from this is that there's a market for "chick flicks", which Hollywood has completely abandoned for some reason a decade ago.
The "chick flick" as you're calling them, or more traditionally called RomComs and other female oriented films haven't been abandoned by Hollywood. What has happened, as is the case with many low to medium budget films of all genres, have moved to streaming over the last decade. Netflix picked up a lot of these movies that would have traditionally been direct-to-video or on the rare occasion in theaters for a couple weeks before being dumped to video. So they are still being made, but they are now being made for Netflix or PVOD instead of being in theaters.

What is happening is that Hollywood is seeing the appeal of having a female oriented blockbuster like a Barbie, instead of it always being relegated to the low to medium budget direct-to-streaming fate. That is the traditionally untapped market that Hollywood is waking up to, and expect more to come over the next few years in my opinion.
 

Tony the Tigger

Well-Known Member
Yup. Very off topic, but another big one for me is anti-hero TV. Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Penguin, etc. I've watched quite a bit and I can absolutely admire the craft and skill but on a profound level it just doesn't appeal to and sometimes even troubles me. I guess I don't want to root for the bad guy!

Back to Wicked, I certainly hope this launches a string of big musical films, although I'm not entirely sure what the logical follow-up to Wicked would be. The huge lesson Hollywood should draw from this is that, as Barbie indicated, there's a vast, untapped market for blockbusters aimed primarily (though certainly not solely) at a female audience. On a more specific note, between Wicked and the success of Agatha All Along, if I'm a Hollywood exec I'm looking for some more witch-based properties.
It’s more realistic. Villains and evil people are caricatures. People aren’t born bad; they’re born into bad circumstances. Or they wander over into bad circumstances (neighborhoods, families.) Tony Soprano most probably wouldn’t have been a gangster had he been born in Alaska.

If what we would call a true villain isn’t insane, they have an origin story which may not absolve, but explain why they are the way they are. If what makes people tick isn’t interesting, I don’t know what is.

Darth Vader found redemption in saving his son, in putting Luke above the Emperor. Most religions emphasize the power of redemption and penance. Seeing Voldemort as a kid didn’t make him less of a villain; it just explains why he got to where he was. It fleshes out the character into more than a one dimensional randomly bad guy.
 

Farerb

Well-Known Member
traditionally been direct-to-video or on the rare occasion in theaters for a couple weeks before being dumped to video.

This is false.
I didn't invent the term. It has existed for a long time:

And not every chick flick is a romcom, and they have been successful in theaters, they were not just DTV trash.
I'm talking about films like Clueless, Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, 13 Going on 30, etc....
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
This is false.
I didn't invent the term. It has existed for a long time:

And not every chick flick is a romcom, and they have been successful in theaters, they were not just DTV trash.
I'm talking about films like Clueless, Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, 13 Going on 30, etc....
Guess you didn't read my post fully or didn't comprehend my point, which is why you only quoted a small snippet of it. I never claimed that you invented the term, I'm old enough to have been around when the term was first being used in the mainstream. I'm just saying that you're using a term that is fairly outdated now.

Also never claimed that every "chick flick" was a RomCom, which is why I said other female oriented films. But the RomCom is the one most widely known and identified "chick flick", so it became synonymous with the term.

Also notice how all your examples are 90s and early 00s movies being the successful ones in theaters. Its because again many started to go the route of the direct-to-video and short theater run in the late 00s. Which is where Netflick comes into play taking over that market in the early 10s, with some minor players like Hallmark, Lifetime, and a few others on the linear side in the early 00s.

So no Hollywood has not abandoned the "chick flick" and never did, the landscape changed. As is always the case in the box office world, the pendulum swings back and genres that weren't popular in the past become popular again.
 

Ghost93

Well-Known Member
Moana 2 seems to be fluctuating between 68 and 72% on Rotten Tomatoes. I suspect a strong opening weekend, but think its legs might be hurt by the middling reviews. I think it will still be a juggernaut at the box office, but it might not reach the heights it could have had Disney started this as a theatrical project from the start and ensured it was a top-tier film.

Hopefully the sequel doesn't damage the Moana brand. I don't think it will, as the direct to video sequels were unable to kill the classics or the Renaissance films.
 

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Moana 2 seems to be fluctuating between 68 and 72% on Rotten Tomatoes. I suspect a strong opening weekend, but think its legs might be hurt by the middling reviews. I think it will still be a juggernaut at the box office, but it might not reach the heights it could have had Disney started this as a theatrical project from the start and ensured it was a top-tier film.

Hopefully the sequel doesn't damage the Moana brand. I don't think it will, as the direct to video sequels were unable to kill the classics or the Renaissance films.
It kind of reminds me of when they released Return to Neverland. Yes, it made money and didn't hurt the brand but it didn't help either. I just worry Disney will start releasing these originally made for tv shows as stand alone movies further cheapening the brand. It is history repeating from the early 2000s.
 

DisneyWarrior27

Well-Known Member
It kind of reminds me of when they released Return to Neverland. Yes, it made money and didn't hurt the brand but it didn't help either. I just worry Disney will start releasing these originally made for tv shows as stand alone movies further cheapening the brand. It is history repeating from the early 2000s.
If there’s one that should be made into a movie, it’s Tiana becoming The Princess and the Frog 2 to try and usher in the return of fully 2D/theatrical hand-drawn animated movies for theaters at Walt Disney Animation Studios, though I think they should delay it to Thanksgiving 2029 to ensure the transition from Disney+ series to theatrical movie is given time and not rushed.
 

DKampy

Well-Known Member
I was looking at my local theater what was playing this weekend… as we were planning to go to the theater this Sunday… and there were a total of 4 movies on 14 Screens…Red One, Wicked, Gladiator, and Moana 2….. by then I would of seen everything except Red One…. Which I am not really interested in…come on give some people a little variety besides tentpole blockbusters… I was hoping for something else like Anora or A Real Pain which were both playing there for just one week the week before Glicked….It makes me miss our other close less busy theater that closed last year… we use to get smaller movies all the time…. As the 2 theaters could split the movies between them…being of the same chain
 

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