A Spirited Perfect Ten

[wdwgreek]

I honestly don't get Disney and Frozen merchandise. Last year, was bad enough since they had no idea the film would touch the cultural zeitgeist of little gals and fanbois everywhere. So, you can sorta explain away the Toy Story (go back to 1995 if you don't get the reference) choice in not producing merchandise last year.

But now? Sure, you can get plenty of Anna and Elsa costumes (I wore one on formal night on the cruise and Angie said my **** looked big!) and talking Olafs ... but what else? There seems to be much more Frozen merchandise at Target or Publix than at WDW or on the DCL or at Disney Stores. There just isn't a variety at all ... now, they're desperately having all their licensees (think Jim Shore's line) throw out pieces well over a year after the film opened.

Sure, kids (and adults) are singing 'Let it Go' now ... but they sang a lot of 'Hakuna Matata' in 1994. But it didn't go on for years on end.

One could argue that Lion King did keep on going for years on end, Lion King on Broadway is consistently the highest or second highest grossing Broadway show, it switches places with a green witch every week. It has staying power at premium prices! I just saw it for the first time, I've seen 75 Broadway shows in the past 4 years and Lion King was the only one I have seen that I paid full price for, normally I get comp tickets or rush them.
Edit* If Frozen lands on Broadway and proves as successful it will be singing let it go for some time.

 

[WDW1974]

I'm glad Angie M was able to take a vacation before the ordeal with Greece!

So excited to see another Spirited thread and happy to hear that things have stabilized on your end. Praying for a more peaceful 2015!

Angie can handle Greece. ... Matter of fact, she went out for Greek food for lunch over the weekend with Santa and Mrs. Claus!

And thanks!

 

[WDW1974]

A few hours after you posted that, the Miceage Update crew dropped a big 'ol update on us out here in California. It's an interesting mix of Christmas Recap, 60th Anniversary Rumors, and Star Wars/Marvel Future Projects. All about Anaheim though, as per Miceage usual.

According to Miceage, TDA is planning a big media event on January 28th and 29th to announce the 60th Anniversary Diamond Celebration offerings. It's quite a rundown of stuff, if you believe Miceage. (And I do.) http://micechat.com/91544-disneyland-diamond-anniversary/

Oh, and the Miceage Update also says the Disney Parks Blog kids will release 60th Anniversary artwork of the new offerings on Friday, January 30th, for the fans on sites like this one.

Yep. Saw it.

And I have no reason to doubt that info at all. I did find their gate numbers for days last week to be interesting.

 

[WDW1974]

Just wanted you to know that I appreciate the joke here.

Joke? I have no idea what you are talking about!

 

[WDW1974]

So did Angie M enjoy her first Thanksgiving here WDW 1974? Does she plan on retiring from her present position so she can move to South Florida to start a turkey farm?

Enjoy it? My gal helped save it. Well, her and Publix and having a new fridge delivered at 7 the night before Turkey Day.

I have tried to convince her, but I just don't see her resigning her position to join me in paradise. I'd move first. I like pretzels und wurst and am starting to like (German) beer.

It's great to see you back here. I've thought about you a lot and meant to get in touch. I hope things have been well in your world. Would love to talk soon.

 

[WDW1974]

Thank you for dropping in, Spirit. I hope that 2015 brings better things for you and yours.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Fantasy. In general, we found the service and overall atmosphere much nicer on the Fantasy than on the Dream. (I have theory as to why, but it might offend some folks.) We also had an outstanding experience at Remy.

Oh, go on. I love to offend people, especially those who live to be offended.

I think we may have the same theory. Mine is that the Dream attracts people who have never cruised before at all and don't quite know how to behave. You are more likely to get a WDW crowd on the Dream would be another way to put it.

 

[Sped2424]

Oh, go on. I love to offend people, especially those who live to be offended.

That's offensive.

 

[choco choco]

https://twitter.com/ALittleWhistle/status/552611806888198144
Will the unbridled corruption of WDI be the ignorant destruction of Iger's legacy?

I'm sorry but that tweet is a terrible, terrible, meaningless, non-sentence. I'm not even sure it's grammatically correct (What is the verb in that statement? And just what is the adjective "ignorant" referring to?).

Will the obfuscate language be the incompetent inhibition of Little Whistle's tweet?

 

[Sped2424]

Bad news for Disney big wigs, as into the woods has leaked online.

 

[Tom]

Bad news for Disney big wigs, as into the woods has leaked online.

I don't think the target demographic is downloading torrents and watching it on their Commodore 64 in their mom's basement. So, probably not too damaging.

 

[Tom]

In more news, it's officially January 7 in the Eastern Time Zone, which means the hat is officially closed forever.

So there's that.

 

[tigger1968]

In more news, it's officially January 7 in the Eastern Time Zone, which means the hat is officially closed forever.

So there's that.

I wish they would have waited a day. My birthday is the 8th and that would have been the best present I could get...

 

[Mike730]

Bad news for Disney big wigs, as into the woods has leaked online.

You'd be hard pressed to find a major movie in at least the past 2 years that hasn't been available online within a month of it's release. This is the nature of movies nowadays, and the industry isn't collapsing. All they can do is make sure it's not TOO easy to get. The path of least resistance is to pay to see it legally, so that's what most people who really want to see it will do.

 

[Tony Perkis]

Bad news for Disney big wigs, as into the woods has leaked online.

Awards season screener. Happens every year.

 

[The Visionary Soul]

And, please, don't send links to me with threads involving individuals describing why Disney shouldn't give free water to guests without a purchase because ... I just honestly can't take opinions like that and I'd rather not know as it isn't entertaining to me any longer (and I know you meant well!)

I know I'm not the one who linked you to my thread, but really, you're not thirsty? What a shame!

 

[Snowflake82]

Oh, go on. I love to offend people, especially those who live to be offended.

I think we may have the same theory. Mine is that the Dream attracts people who have never cruised before at all and don't quite know how to behave. You are more likely to get a WDW crowd on the Dream would be another way to put it.

I definitely agree with the 'more likely to get a WDW crowd' sentiment. My theory is that the lower cost of the short hops that go only to the Bahamas attracts the demographic that 'don't know how to behave' as you have delicately put it. True, that likely includes many first time cruisers who see it as a lower cost way to try a cruise if they are not sure if they will like it. But I think the issue goes beyond just the first-timers.

 

[BrerJon]

I definitely agree with the 'more likely to get a WDW crowd' sentiment. My theory is that the lower cost of the short hops that go only to the Bahamas attracts the demographic that 'don't know how to behave' as you have delicately put it. True, that likely includes many first time cruisers who see it as a lower cost way to try a cruise if they are not sure if they will like it. But I think the issue goes beyond just the first-timers.

There's definitely something to this - You've got the killer combo of Magical Express direct from Orlando to Port Canaveral combined with the shorter duration of the cruise, making it cheaper and better for first timers, and easier to do as a 'bolt-on' after a WDW stay, so the mindset will still be the same.

Agree on Vero and Hilton Head... they feel like WDW time warps where the mistakes of the late 90s and 2000s never happened. Let's hope Burbank doesn't notice them any time soon!

 

[asianway]

Oh, go on. I love to offend people, especially those who live to be offended.

I think we may have the same theory. Mine is that the Dream attracts people who have never cruised before at all and don't quite know how to behave. You are more likely to get a WDW crowd on the Dream would be another way to put it.

Wonder was the same way pre Dream. It attracted a different "type" of guest.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Again, I'm just the messenger. Don't shoot.

Don't worry Spirit, I wasn't attacking you, just the opinions of others you described.

But my news comes from high up the food chain in Burbank. And if you look at the numbers, they aren't as glowing as you might think.

The film has made $211 million in the USA (domestic box office is far more important than global as I'm sure you know ... international isn't insignificant, but it is far less important to the bottom line). It cost $165 million to produce. It probably cost another $75 million (or more) to market. You do the math.

When the info was passed to me, the film had made about $170 million here and it isn't hard to believe that Iger and Rasulo and Co would have wanted a number north of $300 million.

Being that it made $4.8 million last week (the last of the holiday movie season in the USA) to finish tenth, I think it's pretty safe to say the film is going to struggle to hit $250 million here. Now, maybe that should be a huge hit, but that isn't the reality with costs and marketing.

The domestic box office may give a higher % of returns, but the international makes up a larger slice of the pie than it ever did, China in particular. It's why its critical a movie as expensive as this does well in both in order to recoup its costs. We went over that last year with Oz the Great and Powerful and its good-here-weak-abroad performance. Maleficent made less than $250 million here, but over $750 million worldwide so I doubt anyone is complaining about those numbers. This discussion also ignores merchandise and video sales, both of which are typically stronger for an animated release like BH6.

Wanting a movie to make over $300 million is very different from having realistic expectations about a non-sequel based on a 13-issue Japanese comic nobody has ever heard about.

Last year, 3 movies made $400 million or more in the US. This year only 5 movies will have made over $250 million, 3 of which were sequels. If anything less than $250 million is considered a disapointment for any tentpole release, then the way Hollwood makes movies is fundamentally broken.

And having a VERY slow roll out and opening in January in the UK (for example) when kids are back in school just is head scratching.

Having these slow roll outs for film and TV shows in this day and age is flat out archaic. They don't even show movies on film anymore, so why should Australia (for example) have to wait 6 months to get an American release? There's a reason why it has been consistently ranked one of the worst countries for downloading movies illegally.

 

[71jason]

I think we may have the same theory. Mine is that the Dream attracts people who have never cruised before at all and don't quite know how to behave. You are more likely to get a WDW crowd on the Dream would be another way to put it.

Did a 4-night last December with a friend who turned around and did the 3-night immediately after. He said the latter was more crowded, far more kids, rowdier, and just a less "cruise-saavy" crowd. I think they are all WDW fans--DCL still can't seem to break out of that ghetto--but it's the difference between a Christmas week crowd and a Marathon Weekend crowd. The clueless vs. the lifestyle brigade.