A Spirited Perfect Ten

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twebber55

Well-Known Member
the.dreamfinder said:
Chinese ticket presales for TFA aren't looking so hot.
http://www.ibtimes.com/star-wars-ch...ould-signal-trouble-disney-juggernaut-2248706
‘Star Wars’ China Box Office: Lukewarm Presales Could Signal Trouble For Disney Juggernaut
LOS ANGELES — "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" shattered box office records at home and around the world when it opened late last month. But tepid presale numbers from China, the one major market the movie has yet to debut in, may mean its expectation-smashing run is about to come to an end.

According to data shared by Jonathan Papish, an industry analyst for China Film Insider, "Star Wars" sold about 2.2 million yuan — about $330,000 — in tickets for the midnight premieres at the end of Friday, and 8.7 million yuan — $1.3 million — for the Saturday opening.

To compare, the 2014 movie "Gone With the Bullets" reeled in 4 million yuan in tickets to its midnight premiere — more than $650,000 at the exchange rate at that time. The historical drama had 120 million yuan — $19.6 million — in total internet presales one month before it hit theaters.

And that lukewarm reception comes despite Disney making a Disney-sized effort to introduce the "Star Wars" universe to a country full of millions of moviegoers who didn't grow up with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo — such as putting 500 storm troopers on the Great Wall.

In the United States and Europe, where "Star Wars" smashed a constellation of box office records, presale numbers were commensurate with the eventual haul. The movie broke $50 million in presales in the U.S. alone. And the movie's extremely strong performance at premium-format Imax theaters in the U.S. — which are popping up faster in China than anywhere else — had hopes high that those super-sized screenings would carry "Star Wars" to another soaring success at the gate.

But for whatever reasons — and almost certainly affected by a crowded slate of January films in China, including what's likely to be one of the year's biggest, "Kung Fu Panda 3" — the Chinese moviegoing public isn't chomping at the bit to secure good seats for "Star Wars." There is clearly no need for 3 a.m. showings in Shanghai, like there was in New York.

That may change when the movie opens, but early returns from what's soon to be the world's biggest box office show that there may yet be some parts of the world immune to "Star Wars" mania. To competing studios — American and Chinese — that could be welcome news.
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seems like it would of been a no brainer to put star wars into Shanghai if it were popular so im not that surprised with this
 
gmajew

gmajew

Well-Known Member
twebber55 said:
seems like it would of been a no brainer to put star wars into Shanghai if it were popular so im not that surprised with this
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Is this article even a surprise? It was said by everyone that China was going to be a tough opening for the movie.. Now I still think it will do extremely well but the population of china just got introduced to the old movies in the last 15 years or so... they did not grow up with them and so it is not going to open like it did everywhere else...

It does not take away that the movie was a huge huge hit and will more then likely end up the number 2 movie of all time when said and done.
 
T

twebber55

Well-Known Member
gmajew said:
Is this article even a surprise? It was said by everyone that China was going to be a tough opening for the movie.. Now I still think it will do extremely well but the population of china just got introduced to the old movies in the last 15 years or so... they did not grow up with them and so it is not going to open like it did everywhere else...

It does not take away that the movie was a huge huge hit and will more then likely end up the number 2 movie of all time when said and done.
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of course it doesnt take away from the movie
 
rael ramone

rael ramone

Well-Known Member
hopemax said:
Which is a big change from the "It's not my fault, but it's my problem (to solve)," mentality they used to teach at Disney Institute's customer service training programs.

https://disneyinstitute.com/blog/2013/08/how-disney-leaders-recover-from-a-service-failure/187/

But I guess that is just for other people to put into practice.
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Teaching that stuff takes valuable time for the stuff they have to teach CM's now.... like how to file for government assistance so they can hand off their responsibility to provide a livable existence to them to the taxpayer...
 
D

doctornick

Well-Known Member
gmajew said:
Is this article even a surprise? It was said by everyone that China was going to be a tough opening for the movie.. Now I still think it will do extremely well but the population of china just got introduced to the old movies in the last 15 years or so... they did not grow up with them and so it is not going to open like it did everywhere else...

It does not take away that the movie was a huge huge hit and will more then likely end up the number 2 movie of all time when said and done.
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Yeah, the tone of the article seems off. If TFA doesn't do well in China, that's not really that surprising. The article makes it sound like it's a "failure" which seems odd given the global take (and still growing) for the movie. While I'm sure Disney would love to have the movie be a huge hit in China, it doesn't have to be in order to make plenty of money.
 
rael ramone

rael ramone

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
Yeah, the tone of the article seems off. If TFA doesn't do well in China, that's not really that surprising. The article makes it sound like it's a "failure" which seems odd given the global take (and still growing) for the movie. While I'm sure Disney would love to have the movie be a huge hit in China, it doesn't have to be in order to make plenty of money.
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I was thinking that anything less then 'all time biggest worldwide hit including China' would have a small negative effect on the stockprice, but since SW7's success or 'failure' in the eyes that expected it to break records has nothing to do with ESPN and cord cutting, so in the end I don't think it will move the needle at all.
 
A

Arthur Wellesley

Well-Known Member
doctornick said:
Yeah, the tone of the article seems off. If TFA doesn't do well in China, that's not really that surprising. The article makes it sound like it's a "failure" which seems odd given the global take (and still growing) for the movie. While I'm sure Disney would love to have the movie be a huge hit in China, it doesn't have to be in order to make plenty of money.
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I've learned lately that when it comes to TFA-related articles, to take them all worth a grain of salt. There was one a few weeks ago implying the movie was a failure because (*gasp* the horror!) not every person liked the film, and there are some out there who were quite disappointed! :eek:

Considering the same can be said for every single film to be released since the dawn of motion pictures...I think it's safe to assume a lot of these articles are overblown fluff.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
PhotoDave219 said:
Dueling dragons. Spider-Man. The Mummy.

Shame the hulk is down, it's the best coaster I've ridden.

Edit: actually do both sides of doing dragons… Shame they changed it so you probably won't go head on if the other coaster train but that was epic when they did it…
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I disagree with you on The Hulk and Dragon Challenge. Now that Dragon Challenge no longer duels, the novelty has worn off. They are now just decent inverted coasters. The launch on The Hulk is awesome, but as a coaster I would much rather ride Kraken. I don't think Dragon Challenge or The Hulk belong in IoA, they break the theme too much.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
ParentsOf4 said:
Although not explicitly stated, my impression is that this year's international Parks & Resorts capex will remain approximately the same as last year's. Shanghai Disneyland is a hungry beast and must be fed. :hungry:

Domestically, last year's Parks & Resorts capital expenditure was $1.457B while depreciation was $1.169B. As I've documented in the past, Disney has indicated that maintenance capex roughly equals depreciation, without "special projects" included.

The difference between last year's numbers, $288M, provides a rough estimate of what Disney spent in 2015 on Pandora, Disney Springs, the Frozen attraction at the Norway Pavilion, TSM's third track, and Rivers of Light at DAK. (It could be about $100M light.)

Disney is clearly stating that they intend to spend $800M above that in 2016 on domestic projects that they've already announced.

What are these?

In addition to the previously mentioned projects, major capex projects are Star Wars Land on both coasts, Toy Story Land at DHS, and the new WL DVC. Unless I am missing something (help!), I believe other announced projects are relatively small from a capex perspective, practically a rounding error for Disney's enormous budget.

To me, the huge number beyond what was spent in 2015 implies an aggressive schedule for the DHS redo and SWL in CA.

Others are free to interpret it differently. :)
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Poly DVC last year.
 
PhotoDave219

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
I disagree with you on The Hulk and Dragon Challenge. Now that Dragon Challenge no longer duels, the novelty has worn off. They are now just decent inverted coasters. The launch on The Hulk is awesome, but as a coaster I would much rather ride Kraken. I don't think Dragon Challenge or The Hulk belong in IoA, they break the theme too much.
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Tim, I didn't even go to sea world when I lived a block from it. May be if they opened up the wonderful world of mermaids but… Sea world just doesn't tickle my fancy at all.
 
T

twebber55

Well-Known Member
VJ

VJ

Well-Known Member
Jon Snoddy, Disney EVP of Imagineering — the House of Mouse's artist-scientist genius division — dropped some big hints about just how cool the rides at Disneyland's forthcoming "Star Wars" area will be on stage at a CES 2016 panel.

Thanks to the involvement of Industrial Lights and Magic, the legendary special effects firm that Disney acquired in its big 2013 purchase of "Star Wars" studio Lucasfilm, Snoddy says that one of the rides will be "unprecedented, in a way."

While Snoddy didn't share any details on which ride, exactly, this was in reference to, the description lines up with the previous announcement of an attraction that takes riders through a battle between the evil First Order and the heroic Resistance, inspired by the record-smashing movie "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

Snoddy hinted that one of the rides that Disney Imagineering is working on with ILM is a "boat ride," with boats moving alongside a track, kind of like Disney park crowdpleaser "Pirates of the Carribean."

Where ILM comes in, Snoddy says, is in helping Disney mix super-high-resolution projections with real-life physical sets and characters to create an immersive mix.

Thanks to Disney Imagineering's robotics and ride know-how, they'll know where the boats will be at any moment, down to the milimeter, meaning they can predict with almost guaranteed accuracy where a rider's attention will be.

Indeed, Snoddy says that having ILM's expertise on tap has made a huge difference in the already-complicated business of building a new Disney park attraction, let alone one that's this immersive.

"When you build a theme park attraction, you're building a building, you're building a massive device," Snoddy says.

In order to make way for its new "Star Wars"-themed land, Disneyland will close several attractions later in Jaunary 2016, including Big Thunder Ranch, Big Thunder Ranch petting zoo, and Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree. Eatery Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue will also close.
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http://www.businessinsider.com/ces-2016-disney-imagineering-on-star-wars-land-ride-2016-1
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
PhotoDave219 said:
Tim, I didn't even go to sea world when I lived a block from it. May be if they opened up the wonderful world of mermaids but… Sea world just doesn't tickle my fancy at all.
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It's a fair point... they've gotta get you in the door, I just consider The Hulk to be overrated. I hope it's improved significantly in this overhaul.
 

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