Lilo and Stitch live-action remake

[Agent H]

I think you’re missing the point, outside the “Disney Bubble” where is Goofy Movie being marketed? It’s not, that is the point. It’s targeted marketing for a target audience. This is the same with any of the rereleases, its target marketing for target audience, ie they ain’t spending like they are a wide release movie because they are not, they are rereleases and only a target audience is going to go not the general audience like a new release. It has limited appeal with limited box office returns.

It’s a tragedy that they aren’t marketing it more. It’s such a great film that deserves to be seen by more of the general public.

 

[Disney Irish]

It’s a tragedy that they aren’t marketing it more. It’s such a great film that deserves to be seen by more of the general public.

I think the problem is it’s a film the appeals only to a specific sub-set of the audience, and those are Disney fans. That is why it’s marketed as such. If they did a wide release I’m not sure it would have the same appeal as it is with Disney fans. And that is the point, the rereleases are meant for a specific audience and marketed that way.

 

[Brer Panther]

It was a deliberate stylistic choice to have Nightmare be stop motion animation and not live action or 2D animated

It's essential to the movie's look and feel as per the creator's vision

Doing it in live action (or realistically, mostly CGI) would be pointless and ignore why it existed in the first place.

And even if they got Henry Selick, the original director, involved... well, the guy's already proven with Monkeybone that he shouldn't be doing live action movies. Though that movie would've still been crap even if it was fully animated...

 

[LindseyDisney]

I have a question. I'm out of the loop. Has Disney done any marketing with Stitch and their new Pixar film, Elio? It seems like an obvious cross-marketing move. Synergy and what-not.

 

[Nevermore525]

I have a question. I'm out of the loop. Has Disney done any marketing with Stitch and their new Pixar film, Elio? It seems like an obvious cross-marketing move. Synergy and what-not.

They sort of do during screenings of Lilo and Stitch. Had an intro to an Elio preview showing Stitch going to the theater to watch it:

 

[MisterPenguin]

Oh sure, a Goofy movie gets lots of love, but a dance party with Goofy in a big box gets panned!!!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I doubt that, as the MCU is different and several other movies already in production so they aren't pausing that anytime soon in my opinion.

No I mean they’re gonna come under more and more pressure from above to say “no mas” with development at the pace they have for quite some time. It’s not working

 

[Ayla]

I am all for standing on principle, but do you realize how insignificant your $15 is to a (probably) billion dollar movie? You will neither help nor harm Disney whether you see it or not.

I am fully aware my $15 means nothing to a company like Disney. But my principles are not insignificant to me. Seeing this movie (ie financially contributing to its success) means you (general you) are supporting it.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Disney did advertise the recent ones, it’s just not getting a huge marketing campaign, and for good reason, like a new movie. It’ll be posted on social media, an article in Deadline and Hollywood Reporter, probably a D23 media notice, maybe some posters and a small display for the theaters, and that’s about it. So I’m not sure what you’re expecting, but they aren’t going to have a full marketing campaign with tv ads and such like it’s a new movie, they are rereleases. And I believe we even talked about it here in the movie forum. So if you missed it then you're probably not paying attention or not following the right places, I suggest maybe following Disney Studios on Instagram as they usually post it there.

Now I don't know about where you live, but in my area which is a large metro area with almost 8M people, there were a few theaters that their whole business model was playing old and recent rereleased movies, they were called second run theaters. But they all closed back in the 2010s because they never got enough business. So I don't think there is as much of a market for rereleases as you think there is. The $4M ($3.8M to be exact, I looked it up) you guys mentioned for Princess Mononoke is nothing when compared to larger new films released at the time, even Snow White as bad as it performed did more that weekend bringing in more than triple that at $14.3M. It just doesn't make sense from a financial standpoint for Disney or any other studio to invest heavily into rereleases like this, there just isn't a huge market for it. It has its followers, such as yourself, but beyond that its not getting huge amounts of business and in many cases costs the studios more to market it than they actually bring in.

I'm not expecting a full-on marketing campaign like for a new movie, but making sure there are posters in theaters and putting together an ad that could pop up on social media or YouTube or something would go a long way. Heck, even an ad in theaters before a movie would be great- Ghibli Fest has a new ad every month telling you what's up next in the rotation. I'm not a D23 member, so I miss out on those notifications. I've also never used the movie section of the forum before now, and I only started regularly visiting here last year. I live in rural New England, so second run theaters were very rare if not nonexistent. Cinemark has their classic movie runs every now and then (it's how I saw The Muppet Movie last year), but even seeing a new smaller film (like Robot Dreams or the recent 2D Looney Tunes film) requires driving out to New York or Connecticut (though sometimes theaters in Mass will have them).

The key thing you're missing with the box office performance though is that Princess Mononoke's rerun made $3.8m in a weekend on a $0 film budget (because it was already made and paid off decades ago) and I guarantee a less than $1m marketing budget (for it specificially, not Ghibli Fest as a whole), whereas Snow White made $14.3m on a $240–270m film budget and a reportedly minimum $70m marketing budget, $310-340m total. Princess Mononoke was sitting at +$2.8m after that weekend, Snow White was sitting at -$295.7m, and was at -$105m by the end of its run. Ghibli walked away making a small profit, Disney walked away making a huge loss. Even though the market for rereleases is much smaller, they're easy and quick profits. If Disney did one rerelease a month that did as well as Mononoke (because as amazing a Ghibli is, I imagine if Disney had a film rerelease fest that was as marketed as Ghibli, they'd do just as well if not better), that's an extra $48m they're making a year on movies they've already paid off many times over (as I doubt they'd rerelease films that bombed), probably not much less after marketing is removed (as I doubt cardboard standees and movie theater posters and ads cost much, as that's Ghibli Fest's main marketing).

I dunno what else they could really do aside from that, though. They don't really seem to care about reaching out to people.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

I think you’re missing the point, outside the “Disney Bubble” where is Goofy Movie being marketed? It’s not, that is the point. It’s targeted marketing for a target audience. This is the same with any of the rereleases, its target marketing for target audience, ie they ain’t spending like they are a wide release movie because they are not, they are rereleases and only a target audience is going to go not the general audience like a new release. It has limited appeal with limited box office returns.

I'd argue a lot of the films they choose to rerelease are general audience appealing. They never rerelease niche films, it's always their most popular ones. But you're right, they don't market outside their bubble and that's why the films don't make much. Ghibli is able to pull large numbers and their films are even less general audience appealing, but they market them well enough with signs and posters all over theaters.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I am fully aware my $15 means nothing to a company like Disney. But my principles are not insignificant to me. Seeing this movie (ie financially contributing to its success) means you (general you) are supporting it.

To a point. I go see movies all the time that disappoint - maybe I technically supported it by buying a ticket, but the support ends there. No positive word of mouth or social media posts, no merch, etc.

You can buy a ticket, then hate it and trash it.

 

[Disney Irish]

I'm not expecting a full-on marketing campaign like for a new movie, but making sure there are posters in theaters and putting together an ad that could pop up on social media or YouTube or something would go a long way. Heck, even an ad in theaters before a movie would be great- Ghibli Fest has a new ad every month telling you what's up next in the rotation. I'm not a D23 member, so I miss out on those notifications. I've also never used the movie section of the forum before now, and I only started regularly visiting here last year. I live in rural New England, so second run theaters were very rare if not nonexistent. Cinemark has their classic movie runs every now and then (it's how I saw The Muppet Movie last year), but even seeing a new smaller film (like Robot Dreams or the recent 2D Looney Tunes film) requires driving out to New York or Connecticut (though sometimes theaters in Mass will have them).

Ads in theaters is up to the theater not the studio. Studios sends their ads such as displays and posters to the theaters but it up to the theater to put them up and display them, not all do. Trailers and ad packages that play in-front of movies are also up to the theaters. So the question is why haven't your local theaters setup displays/posters and play trailers (if they exist) for rereleases? I suspect its because they don't get much traction (ie butts in seats) compared to a new release. If you're in a small town, as it appears you are, your theater probably has a limited amount of screens and so only has a certain amount of physical space to put up displays. So which is more beneficial to them, advertising a new release or a rerelease? A new release of course.

The key thing you're missing with the box office performance though is that Princess Mononoke's rerun made $3.8m in a weekend on a $0 film budget (because it was already made and paid off decades ago) and I guarantee a less than $1m marketing budget (for it specificially, not Ghibli Fest as a whole), whereas Snow White made $14.3m on a $240–270m film budget and a reportedly minimum $70m marketing budget, $310-340m total. Princess Mononoke was sitting at +$2.8m after that weekend, Snow White was sitting at -$295.7m, and was at -$105m by the end of its run. Ghibli walked away making a small profit, Disney walked away making a huge loss. Even though the market for rereleases is much smaller, they're easy and quick profits. If Disney did one rerelease a month that did as well as Mononoke (because as amazing a Ghibli is, I imagine if Disney had a film rerelease fest that was as marketed as Ghibli, they'd do just as well if not better), that's an extra $48m they're making a year on movies they've already paid off many times over (as I doubt they'd rerelease films that bombed), probably not much less after marketing is removed (as I doubt cardboard standees and movie theater posters and ads cost much, as that's Ghibli Fest's main marketing).

I dunno what else they could really do aside from that, though. They don't really seem to care about reaching out to people.

I'm not missing anything. I'm aware that a rereleased movie like Princess Mononoke is a minimal cost effort and any box office they gain is likely pure profit compared to a new release which has a higher cost point. But it still has to make business sense, how much is that "profit" going to be compared to the cost it would take to market it in the way that you seem to want. And by and large they aren't getting this huge profit and you think it is. $4M for a movie is nothing to Disney, even a rerelease. Sure they are happy to get anything, but if they have to spend more than $4M or more to get that $4M its not worth it, which is what I think is what you miss. Basically its likely not worth it to Disney in the long run to do lots of investments in rereleases to theaters compared to doing something like putting it up on D+ and advertising for that, ie they'll get more money in the long run with streaming than trying to rerelease them.

 

[Disney Irish]

No I mean they’re gonna come under more and more pressure from above to say “no mas” with development at the pace they have for quite some time. It’s not working

We'll see, I don't feel that is the case but who knows how they actually feel internally. I just don't see them putting a hold on the MCU overall unlike the live action remakes.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

We'll see, I don't feel that is the case but who knows how they actually feel internally. I just don't see them putting a hold on the MCU overall unlike the live action remakes.

Neither are working right now

MCU has more upside…but I don’t think it’s as high ceiling as we might assume?

Except stitch…$600-$650 mil by the end of the weekend possible. Not bad in 10 days for the little fuzzball

 

[Disney Irish]

I'd argue a lot of the films they choose to rerelease are general audience appealing. They never rerelease niche films, it's always their most popular ones. But you're right, they don't market outside their bubble and that's why the films don't make much. Ghibli is able to pull large numbers and their films are even less general audience appealing, but they market them well enough with signs and posters all over theaters.

And I'd argue that Disney's focus and business requirements is different than Studio Ghibli. Studio Ghibli doesn't have a streaming service where they can send their fans, unlike Disney who has D+/Hulu. So its more beneficial for Studio Ghibli over Disney to have these rereleases in theaters. Which is likely why Disney only markets to their bubble when they do have the rereleases, because its primarily those that are going to go versus them wanting the general audience to go to D+/Hulu.

 

[Nevermore525]

I'm not expecting a full-on marketing campaign like for a new movie, but making sure there are posters in theaters and putting together an ad that could pop up on social media or YouTube or something would go a long way.

Thing is, they did that for the Pixar movies, just nobody cared enough to make Disney want to put more marketing behind them.

The first ad announcing the movies going to theaters has less than 700,000 views on YouTube as of today.



There was an ad done for Soul when it hit theaters but they didn’t do ads for the other two once it became clear the interest was minimal.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

And I'd argue that Disney's focus and business requirements is different than Studio Ghibli. Studio Ghibli doesn't have a streaming service where they can send their fans, unlike Disney who has D+/Hulu. So its more beneficial for Studio Ghibli over Disney to have these rereleases in theaters. Which is likely why Disney only markets to their bubble when they do have the rereleases, because its primarily those that are going to go versus them wanting the general audience to go to D+/Hulu.

Studio Ghibli is also a unique case where interest has grown gradually over time, so a lot of more recent fans may not have seen the earlier films in theaters.

I sell their soundtracks. There was a time I was afraid to stock them because they were so expensive and they might sit for a long time. Now, they sell like crazy because good word of mouth has increased interest, as has a good reputation for quality product.

But once they run through their catalogue, what are they going to do? This is not a sustainable business model. You can’t just keep re-running the same bunch of movies every year.

 

[Charlie The Chatbox Ghost]

Studio Ghibli is also a unique case where interest has grown gradually over time, so a lot of more recent fans may not have seen the earlier films in theaters.

I sell their soundtracks. There was a time I was afraid to stock them because they were so expensive and they might sit for a long time. Now, they sell like crazy because good word of mouth has increased interest, as has a good reputation for quality product.

But once they run through their catalogue, what are they going to do? This is not a sustainable business model. You can’t just keep re-running the same bunch of movies every year.

They've actually been doing Ghibli Fest since 2017. So the fact that in 2025, their ninth calendar year doing this, one of their movies made $4 million in a weekend and topped newer movies shows the staying power of these films. I'd say that interest might decrease, as Ghibli's popularity has boomed in the last 3 or so years, but for every person who's already seen one of their films there's a dozen who haven't and might be interested. I could see them doing this for the foresable future, since it apparently doesn't cost them much to rerelease all of their movies. It also helps that every year has a unique lineup, swapping out the more niche films for other niche films, and even movies that are in every Fest are shown at different times of year- in 2023, they ended with Spirited Away, and then started with it in 2024 (which was a weird move imo, why do the same one twice in a row?). It's an interesting business model and one that Disney could easily do, but as Disney Irish said, Disney+ kinda defeats the purpose, the only thing the rerelease offer are the big screen. Then again, Ghibli is all on HBO Max, so I suppose that makes Ghibli Fest redundant too.

(Also it's funny that the Ghibli Fest dubs of the movies are mostly the Disney versions, and those are also on HBO Max rather than Disney+/Hulu. Rights are a bizarre thing lol)

 

[Comped]

I'm not expecting a full-on marketing campaign like for a new movie, but making sure there are posters in theaters and putting together an ad that could pop up on social media or YouTube or something would go a long way. Heck, even an ad in theaters before a movie would be great- Ghibli Fest has a new ad every month telling you what's up next in the rotation. I'm not a D23 member, so I miss out on those notifications. I've also never used the movie section of the forum before now, and I only started regularly visiting here last year. I live in rural New England, so second run theaters were very rare if not nonexistent. Cinemark has their classic movie runs every now and then (it's how I saw The Muppet Movie last year), but even seeing a new smaller film (like Robot Dreams or the recent 2D Looney Tunes film) requires driving out to New York or Connecticut (though sometimes theaters in Mass will have them).

There used to be a handful of 2nd run theatres closer to Worcester/Leominster/Fitchburg (one across from a Walmart, but i forget where, is the one I'd go to as a kid), but I don't think any of them have survived the pandemic. But they were cheap things that weren't terribly enjoyable to watch a film in. Orlando doesn't have nearly as many first run theatres as you'd think actually - there's barely a dozen movie theatres within the county across every major chain! I think we only have 1-2 2nd run ones. It's very odd actually.

 

[Baloo124]

Oh sure, a Goofy movie gets lots of love, but a dance party with Goofy in a big box gets panned!!!

A Goofy Movie gave us Lester's Possum Park, cheese sauce as a form of currency, and Bigfoot disco dancing to the Bee Gees.
That movie deserves worship.