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

[Trauma]

Great. Audiences should go to see original content. But they don’t. We need to deal with that reality.

This past weekend saw the release of a sexy star-filled spy thriller from one of the world’s most well-known and respected directors and a light-hearted action film with a catchy premise. Both got excellent reviews. Both bombed.

Studio execs should get some blame for shaping audience tastes, but they are less responsible then broader technological, economic, social, and cultural changes. Ultimately, audiences decide what they see, and that decision determines what gets made.

Yes but now the sequels and remakes are also not performing as well as they were previously.

Sure some still make a Billion but the frequency is lower.

The zeitgeist seems to be shifting but what to ?

 

[MagicMouseFan]

You are right. Disney should have told Zegler to say this.

I blame Disney on this. Zegler is an actress being paid by Disney to act, that acting job should have extended to any interviews and or social media.

I am told over and over when talking about theme parks Disney is a for profit business. Disney should think that way in their movie business and control the talent they are paying every step of the way to ensure success of their brand and product.

To me it’s not on Disney. It’s on team Zegler, it’s her career. She will move on and Disney will move on to the next project.
She is the one who has the most to lose.
All public figures have more to lose when speaking to the hidden masses online.


Crash Davis:
“Don’t try to be colorful. Don’t try to be interesting. The press’ll eat you alive. I’m tellin’ ya—you’re gonna have to learn your clichés. You’re gonna have to study them, you’re gonna have to know them. They’re your friends. Write this down: ‘We gotta play it one day at a time.’ ‘I’m just happy to be here. Hope I can help the ballclub.’ ‘I just want to give it my best shot, and the good Lord willing, things’ll work out.’”

Zegler is very talented and she will recover.

 

[MagicMouseFan]

Yes but now the sequels and remakes are also not performing as well as they were previously.

Sure some still make a Billion but the frequency is lower.

The zeitgeist seems to be shifting but what to ?

YouTube and Roblox

 

[Chi84]

To me it’s not on Disney. It’s on team Zegler, it’s her career. She will move on and Disney will move on to the next project.
She is the one who has the most to lose.
All public figures have more to lose when speaking to the hidden masses online.


Crash Davis:
“Don’t try to be colorful. Don’t try to be interesting. The press’ll eat you alive. I’m tellin’ ya—you’re gonna have to learn your clichés. You’re gonna have to study them, you’re gonna have to know them. They’re your friends. Write this down: ‘We gotta play it one day at a time.’ ‘I’m just happy to be here. Hope I can help the ballclub.’ ‘I just want to give it my best shot, and the good Lord willing, things’ll work out.’”

From the reviews of her actual performance I think she’ll be fine.

Richard Roeper came out with his review today and said “it’s Rachel Zegler who shines like the the brightest star in the sky, with a funny and warm and empathetic performance, and a singing voice that carries to the heavens”

 

[Trauma]

From the reviews of her actual performance I think she’ll be fine.

Richard Roeper came out with his review today and said “it’s Rachel Zegler who shines like the the brightest star in the sky, with a funny and warm and empathetic performance, and a singing voice that carries to the heavens”

Honest question here.

Do studio execs cast on reviews or box office results ?

I guess the answer might be it depends.

But for big budget films I’m sure they look at past results.

 

[MagicMouseFan]

From the reviews of her actual performance I think she’ll be fine.

Richard Roeper came out with his review today and said “it’s Rachel Zegler who shines like the the brightest star in the sky, with a funny and warm and empathetic performance, and a singing voice that carries to the heavens”

Yes, Zegler will be fine. She is very talented.
And it’s her choice how she wants to approach the public and media.
It’s her career to win or lose.

But I do think her comments impacted this one particular film or at least it’s opening weekend.
it’s something public figures need to study and be aware of. One comment can instantly hit millions of phones in 4 seconds.
Scary.

 

[Chi84]

Yes, Zegler will be fine. She is very talented.
And it’s her choice how she wants to approach the public and media.
It’s her career to win or lose.

But I do think her comments impacted this one particular film or at least it’s opening weekend.
it’s something public figures need to study and be aware of. One comment can instantly hit millions of phones in 4 seconds.
Scary.

I don’t think it impacted it as much as the Herculean task of bringing that film into a modern day setting.

But the speed at which nonsense travels these days is concerning.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I think we all stand to learn more on issues of representation and equality. All of us have our blind spots and biases, myself included.

I said I was bowing out but this is a great post and I agree, biases have levels though and on a scale of 1-10 I’d put racist as the 10, it’s the worst of the worst and should be used appropriately.

 

[erasure fan1]

You steadfastly refuse to acknowledge historical context. Making Disney’s ONLY Black princess white is not the same as casting an Hispanic actress as Snow White. I am sure you are familiar with the history of race in the United States.

And who's fault is it that she's the only one? Maybe direct your issues at Disney instead of looking for reasons to shame people here. Serious question. Do you really think race swapping is the answer to equality? Seems to me they've proven they can make new diverse films. Moana, encanto, coco... And the ones that didn't succeed like Reya and wish, just weren't good films not because of race.

This is similar to your claims that the reaction to Mackie as Captain America can’t be driven by racial views because he was accepted as Falcon. Yes, historically African-American men have been consigned to secondary sidekick roles. That has been viewed as “their place.” It is when Mackie is elevated to the role of hero

There's always a but with you. He wasn't just accepted, he was loved by the majority. A fan favorite. The thing you refuse to acknowledge, is that maybe, just maybe, people would have liked/preferred, to see a character they loved, get a shot to break out of that sidekick role and be the lead.

And for the record, I don't refuse to acknowledge that race can be a part of it. At this point I just don't think you want to listen. Where we differ is I'm not looking at the world all side eyed all the time. There's bad people in the world, there always will be. History is littered with them. But I don't think they are controlling the narrative as much as you do.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Thus far, the number of RT reviews goes up, but the average seems stuck at 46%.

I considered seeing it last night, was just feeling tired. More likely to wait until Sunday/Monday now.

 

[AdventureHasAName]

If PatF came out today there would be a firestorm of rage over “race swapping” a “European” princess.

You steadfastly refuse to acknowledge historical context. Making Disney’s ONLY Black princess white is not the same as casting an Hispanic actress as Snow White. I am sure you are familiar with the history of race in the United States. Without delving into too much detail, given the realities of 21st century Hollywood, insisting that the race of characters remains unchanged guarantees that the marginalization of minority groups in media continues.

This is similar to your claims that the reaction to Mackie as Captain America can’t be driven by racial views because he was accepted as Falcon. Yes, historically African-American men have been consigned to secondary sidekick roles. That has been viewed as “their place.” It is when Mackie is elevated to the role of hero - a hero that represents the concept of America - that the racial standards many people still believe in, consciously or unconsciously, are violated and a firestorm erupts.

Different things are different.

The public isn't interested in your social engineering and the box office results demonstrate it repeatedly.

 

[Disney Irish]

Early estimates has Thursday night previews at $3.5M. From what I can tell this is middle of the road for the "classic" Disney era live action movies but lower than some of the renaissance Disney live action movies, which maybe telling unto itself where audiences have the most nostalgia for these days.

It seems to be tracking high with kids, especially girls under 12 which isn't surprising.

"Disney‘s Thursday preview figure for Snow White came in at $3.5 million. Early PostTrak shows 5 stars with kids under 12. Of those kids who showed up last night, 84% were girls under 12.

The film’s general audience is 3 stars. However, definite recommend is low at 39%. In fact, Warner Bros’ The Alto Knights has a higher definite recommend of 44%. Parents with Snow White are weathering the film at 2 1/2 stars, though their definite recommend is higher at 52%."

Ho-Hum, Ho-Hum: ‘Snow White’ Opens To $43M — What Poisoned This Princess At The Box Office – Sunday AM Box Office Update

Disney's controversial 'Snow White' begins with $3.5M in previews on Thursday.

deadline.com

We'll see how it goes, but from these early results parents (especially those with young girls) seem not to care as much about the "drama" as some here would have us believe.

 

[BrianLo]

Honest question here.

Do studio execs cast on reviews or box office results ?

I guess the answer might be it depends.

But for big budget films I’m sure they look at past results.

Box office for their tentpoles and then Searchlight surely fishes for attaching stars to vehicles to Oscars.

It’s really easy to look at this retrospectively only from a place of judgement. There’s really nothing to suggest Disney miscast her at the time. A rising star, tested through several big musical studio productions. Excellent voice and skills. Right age. The look is right. Now by all indications she did a great job in the role.

The comments (from her end) came after. I don’t see how she was a miscast at the time, she’s infinitely better casting than Kristen Stewart.

 

[TalkingHead]

Richard Roeper came out with his review today and said “it’s Rachel Zegler who shines like the the brightest star in the sky, with a funny and warm and empathetic performance, and a singing voice that carries to the heavens”

And Roeper’s a hack so there’s that

 

[Baloo124]

I can only imagine how heated this would have gotten had the internet been around back in the 80's when this was announced:

Does anybody here remember the outrage when Michael Keaton was announced to play Batman in the 1989 film? It was brutal.

And very much like what I'm hearing about Zegler's performance as Snow White, he took the well-known, iconic role and NAILED it.
I love it when the haters get humbled by a knockout performance they didn't see coming. I'm happy for the reviews surrounding Zegler in this SW adaptation, and look forward to seeing it.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

And Roeper’s a hack so there’s that

Justify that.

 

[Tha Realest]

Box office for their tentpoles and then Searchlight surely fishes for attaching stars to vehicles to Oscars.

It’s really easy to look at this retrospectively only from a place of judgement. There’s really nothing to suggest Disney miscast her at the time. A rising star, tested through several big musical studio productions. Excellent voice and skills. Right age. The look is right. Now by all indications she did a great job in the role.

The comments (from her end) came after. I don’t see how she was a miscast at the time, she’s infinitely better casting than Kristen Stewart.

There are fascinating parallels between this and Snow White and the Huntsman. Both have a more feminist take on the protagonist, don’t have a conventional Prince as the love interest. Probably the same budget adjusting for inflation, and roughly the same RT scores (as of this writing). SWATH got a sequel, so let’s see what this gets.

I tend to agree Zegler fits the need here much better than Stewart in her casting.

 

[Tha Realest]

I can only imagine how heated this would have gotten had the internet been around back in the 80's when this was announced:
View attachment 849144

Does anybody here remember the outrage when Michael Keaton was announced to play Batman in the 1989 film? It was brutal.

And very much like what I'm hearing about Zegler's performance as Snow White, he took the well-known, iconic role and NAILED it.
I love it when the haters get humbled by a knockout performance they didn't see coming. I'm happy for the reviews surrounding Zegler in this SW adaptation, and look forward to seeing it.

Batman helped usher in a new era of blockbusters and was a worldwide phenomenon. Keaton had a remarkable career since.

What is Zegler’s follow up to this film? Start serving that humble pie to the haters.

 

[Disney Irish]

Box office for their tentpoles and then Searchlight surely fishes for attaching stars to vehicles to Oscars.

It’s really easy to look at this retrospectively only from a place of judgement. There’s really nothing to suggest Disney miscast her at the time. A rising star, tested through several big musical studio productions. Excellent voice and skills. Right age. The look is right. Now by all indications she did a great job in the role.

The comments (from her end) came after. I don’t see how she was a miscast at the time, she’s infinitely better casting than Kristen Stewart.

And I'm sure she'll get cast in another movie (especially a musical) soon, particularly once there is a little distance from Snow. The West End is a perfect place for her at the moment, and they don't typically hire someone that they don't think can draw an audience, especially not for a high profile role like Eva Peron from Evita. So I'm sure she'll do fine.

 

[Chi84]

And Roeper’s a hack so there’s that

What a silly thing to post with nothing to back it up.