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

erasure fan1

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
Disney Irish said:
Sure you have the occasional Good Dinosaur, but by and large the rest still were seen to be of good quality in my opinion. Certainly not badly reviewed.
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Maybe some consider them of good quality. But when push comes to shove, they haven't connect with me masses for the most part. I'm at work right now and I just asked, just for this discussion, one of my employees who goes to the movies a few times a month. I asked him "did you see Elio yet?" It's one person I know. His answer, and I quote. Pixar just isn't what it used to be.

I know some like to point to reviews and say, see lightyear was really good, the reviews say so. As the opposite happens as well. The movies trash because the reviews are bad! I take all reviews with grain of salt. The last ten year pixar has been a mixed bag. I know that hurts a lot of hardcore Disney fans like we have on this site. The output just isn't the quality or hasn't resonated like it once did.

Movies like Luca or Soul or onward... aren't bad films. But they didn't create that IT factor of previous works. Can they get to original films doing well? Of course they can. But it won't be because of one film. They need to earn that benefit of the doubt back. That means multiple films back to back that resonate. Just because something like inside out 2 really hit, it's most definitely an outlier.
 
Disney Irish

Disney Irish

Premium Member
erasure fan1 said:
Maybe some consider them of good quality. But when push comes to shove, they haven't connect with me masses for the most part. I'm at work right now and I just asked, just for this discussion, one of my employees who goes to the movies a few times a month. I asked him "did you see Elio yet?" It's one person I know. His answer, and I quote. Pixar just isn't what it used to be.

I know some like to point to reviews and say, see lightyear was really good, the reviews say so. As the opposite happens as well. The movies trash because the reviews are bad! I take all reviews with grain of salt. The last ten year pixar has been a mixed bag. I know that hurts a lot of hardcore Disney fans like we have on this site. The output just isn't the quality or hasn't resonated like it once did.

Movies like Luca or Soul or onward... aren't bad films. But they didn't create that IT factor of previous works. Can they get to original films doing well? Of course they can. But it won't be because of one film. They need to earn that benefit of the doubt back. That means multiple films back to back that resonate. Just because something like inside out 2 really hit, it's most definitely an outlier.
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I just don't like to be reductive and say its just a "quality issue". Because its not just one thing, and certainly not just about "quality". Because, and while I don't like to normally point to audience scores either, they don't really indicate an actual quality issue overall. As we've had plenty of Disney content outside of Pixar that have gotten bad reviews that really do indicate quality issues.

I also really don't like to think we here on this site are some indication of anything either. We're more hardcore than the casual fan and even more than the general public. So that is why I look at the overall sense of the market rather than just one single piece of data.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
editorial.rottentomatoes.com

29 Pixar Movies Ranked (Elio, Toy Story 3)

From Toy Story and Incredibles to Inside Out and Wall-E, all the best Pixar movies (and that one worst) by Tomatometer!
editorial.rottentomatoes.com editorial.rottentomatoes.com

Looking at this almost every Pixar movie gets high ranking from the free Disney fan audiences that get surveyed. They just don't like the Cars franchise. But somehow are fine with trading away the Rivers of America at MK for a ride based on it.
 
N

Nevermore525

Well-Known Member
Phroobar said:
editorial.rottentomatoes.com

29 Pixar Movies Ranked (Elio, Toy Story 3)

From Toy Story and Incredibles to Inside Out and Wall-E, all the best Pixar movies (and that one worst) by Tomatometer!
editorial.rottentomatoes.com editorial.rottentomatoes.com

Looking at this almost every Pixar movie gets high ranking from the free Disney fan audiences that get surveyed. They just don't like the Cars franchise. But somehow are fine with trading away the Rivers of America at MK for a ride based on it.
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That ranking is ordered by critics score and also speaks to quality doesn’t always matter with movies. The Cars franchise has been consistently among the lowest rated of the Pixar films yet has been one of the most marketable
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Nevermore525 said:
That ranking is ordered by critics score and also speaks to quality doesn’t always matter with movies. The Cars franchise has been consistently among the lowest rated of the Pixar films yet has been one of the most marketable
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Super far down the critic list and higher than Elemental and Brave.
 
N

Nevermore525

Well-Known Member
Phroobar said:
Yet critics and movie goers rated them lower but they make Disney the most.
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Which again speaks to it’s not always about quality, but makes it worse when better received movies don’t perform well at the box office and beyond.

The worst rated of the bunch has generated loads for them. And will generate a lot more once the new accessible to all guests area opens for Cars in MK.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Nevermore525 said:
Which again speaks to it’s not always about quality, but makes it worse when better received movies don’t perform well at the box office and beyond.

The worst rated of the bunch has generated loads for them. And will generate a lot more once the new accessible to all guests area opens for Cars in MK.
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Yet at the other end of the spectrum, you have perfect scores for Toy Story and Finding Nemo. Disney has huge areas for both. Either fail with critics and get a full land or succeed with critics and get a full land. Seems like it doesn't matter what the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes is. It's how much money it makes in theaters regardless of scores.

It really does have to do with the eye candy and/or story.

Look at Jurassic World Rebirth. Not a good story but has plenty of eye candy and a loved IP. It made more in one day then Elio has in three weeks. Elio has a loved IP in Pixar but still no one showed up. Even the Disney fans.
 
N

Nevermore525

Well-Known Member
FrontierSpirit said:
Would WALL-E bring in an audience today or has Pixar lost its relevance and sparkle in the eyes of the audience?

I’m thinking it would still do well. The character has so much expression and relatability. Trailer hooks you the moment your are introduced to him. Maybe that earlier post about the new Pixar animation is on to something. Audience doesn’t like the new style?


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If everything else had been the same as far as animated releases are concerned Wall*E probably does more along the lines of how The Wild Robot performed recently.
 
Disney Irish

Disney Irish

Premium Member
Phroobar said:
Yet at the other end of the spectrum, you have perfect scores for Toy Story and Finding Nemo. Disney has huge areas for both. Either fail with critics and get a full land or succeed with critics and get a full land. Seems like it doesn't matter what the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes is. It's how much money it makes in theaters regardless of scores.

It really does have to do with the eye candy and/or story.

Look at Jurassic World Rebirth. Not a good story but has plenty of eye candy and a loved IP. It made more in one day then Elio has in three weeks. Elio has a loved IP in Pixar but still no one showed up. Even the Disney fans.
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I've argued for a long time now, especially recently, that the box office is becoming less and less an indicator of potential earnings by a franchise. Sure its a "factor" but is no longer the sole factor as it has been in decades past. Now its about engagement, clicks and views, more than any other factors in terms of potential earnings.

Take the Cars franchise that you brought up earlier. Not a particularly high earner at the box office, especially number 3. But yet its one of the best selling franchises in all of Pixar outside of Toy Story. So the box office doesn't really tell the whole story, and if Disney is pushing a certain franchise over another you can be assured its a high earner inside the company no matter what the box office numbers say.
 
N

Nevermore525

Well-Known Member
Phroobar said:
Yet at the other end of the spectrum, you have perfect scores for Toy Story and Finding Nemo. Disney has huge areas for both. Either fail with critics and get a full land or succeed with critics and get a full land. Seems like it doesn't matter what the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes is. It's how much money it makes in theaters regardless of scores.
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Toy Story has the benefit of being the first and being a great franchise and at the same time a merchandise machine.

Nemo/Dory were great films that were well received and had solid box office returns.

Cars was barely profitable across its 3 films, but it did gangbusters with merchandise after the fact which is more what greenlit the additions to the parks than the movies themselves
 
Agent H

Agent H

Well-Known Member
BrianLo said:
Agreed. Wall-E still did the worst of its trio (Ratatouille, UP) and I love Wall-E. But there is this sci-fi audience gap that seems to still plague Disney and a bit broadly.
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I think it’s possible that in addition to being one of the all time great Pixar movies another reason could be that it’s just as much a romance story as it is a sci-fi movie.
 
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