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

[Disney Irish]

Project Hail Mary can only do so much to help overcome their flops this year:

Mercy
Melania
Crime 101

The Sheep Detective is not at breakeven and may not get there

Add Mortal Kombat 2 to that list.

 

[DCLcruiser]

You're wrong.

If a movie has IMAX theaters, it will bring in unexpectedly big income!!!!

At least, that's what I've heard.

On these forums.

To explain why movies someone doesn't like does financially well.

So... it has to be true.

AMC Dolby Cinema > Imax

 

[Nevermore525]

Add Mortal Kombat 2 to that list.

For Warner Bros yes.

Masters of the Universe, Project Hail Mary, Mercy, Crime 101, Melania, the Sheep Detectives are Amazon/MGM

Sony also not doing so hot having international distribution for some of those films, as well as how poorly 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple performed

 

[DKampy]

And speaking of films that nobody wanted and will actually bomb its opening weekend -

Who thought this was a good idea… an IP created to sell toys…, whose fan base really only consists of the original people who watched the show in the short 5 years or so it was on air…. The film would need to be excellent to attract a wider general audience

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Who thought this was a good idea… an IP created to sell toys…, whose fan base really only consists of the original people who watched the show in the short 5 years or so it was on air…. The film would need to be excellent to attract a wider general audience

Original ideas don’t have built in obligatory nostalgia that is guaranteed to generate SOME revenue…so there you go

Disney is leading this charge…with frozen 13 and Toy Story 31 in production.

 

[Andrew C]

Who thought this was a good idea…

Every kid with a bowl of cereal...

 

[coffeefan]

Who thought this was a good idea… an IP created to sell toys…, whose fan base really only consists of the original people who watched the show in the short 5 years or so it was on air…. The film would need to be excellent to attract a wider general audience

I think it's Amazon wanting in on the IP movies, but the majority of valuable IPs are owned by Disney/WB/Nintendo/Universal, so everyone else has to look for scraps. The movie is reviewing decently though.

 

[Tha Realest]

I have zero interest in seeing Mando in the theaters, and this is coming from someone that arranged his college courses to be free on Friday afternoons so I could go see the “special edition” rereleases during their first showings, and has consumed just about every Legends book and video game.

I am leaning to seeing MOTU in theaters, because the opening scene on Cybertron in Knight’s Bumblebee has been the purest expression on “film” of G1 Transformers to date. It looks like he’s more than nailed the look of this film.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I am leaning to seeing MOTU in theaters, because the opening scene on Cybertron in Knight’s Bumblebee has been the purest expression on “film” of G1 Transformers to date. It looks like he’s more than nailed the look of this film.

Knight's involvement was the one thing that gave me hope it might be good

It's only his 3rd movie as director, but Bumblebee and Kubo and the Two Strings were ones I both liked.

Wildwood, which gets released in October, will be his 4th

 

[coffeefan]

I have zero interest in seeing Mando in the theaters, and this is coming from someone that arranged his college courses to be free on Friday afternoons so I could go see the “special edition” rereleases during their first showings, and has consumed just about every Legends book and video game.

I'm still going to see it on Thursday, which is the last day it's playing in Imax. Since I will see it eventually anyway, I might as well experience it in the best format. I have a-list, though, so it doesn't cost me anything extra.

Knight's involvement was the one thing that gave me hope it might be good

It's only his 3rd movie as director, but Bumblebee and Kubo and the Two Strings were ones I both liked.

Wildwood, which gets released in October, will be his 4th

Yeah, Bumblebee was my favorite Transformers movie. So that alone is what piqued my interest. I know nothing else about it.

 

[TP2000]

Its marketing was a very popular meme. So, yeah. It was marketed. Just not in a traditional way.

How much did it cost them to create the meme that got spread independently on Social Media?

And how does that compare to how much Burbank spent on marketing Mandalorian & Grogu?

That's what I meant by "no actual marketing". They didn't buy ads on Dancing With The Stars for Obsession.

I would guess that it will have a huge drop-off next week once the memers got their full.

I've got no idea what it does from here, but it's already made $76 Million in profit two weeks into its run in only 2,700 theaters.

They've got to be thrilled in Universal City over this one.

 

[Disney Irish]

For Warner Bros yes.

Masters of the Universe, Project Hail Mary, Mercy, Crime 101, Melania, the Sheep Detectives are Amazon/MGM

Sony also not doing so hot having international distribution for some of those films, as well as how poorly 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple performed

Sorry, wasn't thinking specific studios at that point, just overall movies for the year.

This is why I was saying earlier in the year that 2026 was looking like it could be another down or flat year, and it wasn't going to bring theatrical back to prepandemic levels despite what some have said, the market is just gone.

 

[Willmark]

I’m a Critical Drinker fan and he’s mentioned the hate machine a few times and how much he wishes they actually had the power attributed to them, primarily because if they did the studios would be forced to make better movies. YouTubers like him get good views, often over a million, but in a world of 7 billion people (or even a country of 350 million) their reach is tiny. If a couple million views on YouTube can override the media machine and the hundreds of millions Hollywood spends on advertising then the movie industry is even more doomed than I thought.

Disney = multi billion dollar corporation
Critical Drinker = what? Maybe a million subscribers. Reaches maybe double that on one platform?

And yet if we believe the line pedaled here, the big bad Youtuber is forcing the multi billion dollar company to do what exactly?

Sounds totally legit. /sarcasm

 

[DKampy]

I think it's Amazon wanting in on the IP movies, but the majority of valuable IPs are owned by Disney/WB/Nintendo/Universal, so everyone else has to look for scraps. The movie is reviewing decently though.

Amazon does have James Bond which is pretty valuable

 

[DKampy]

I have seen some of the hate channels mention the reason it’s projections are tanking are for it’’s take on Toxic masculinity without anyone watching yet…odd….I find that kind of humorous….because if projections were great the narrative would be comparing it to Mando and Grogu…anything to prove people agree with them

I do think the Movie should of been titled He-Man rather then Masters of The Universe….that is how most people who are not the rabid fan base know the IP as

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Amazon does have James Bond which is pretty valuable

I think by the time they actually pick who to play Bond and make the movie, people won't care as much...and will complain that the person they picked was the wrong choice

This is probably another franchise that's past its prime

 

[Baloo124]

I do think the Movie should of been titled He-Man rather then Masters of The Universe….that is how most people who are not the rabid fan base know the IP as

Just combine two current movies and call it "He-Mando".

Especially considering both are about a hero who hangs out with a little cloaked sidekick with blue pointy ears who does magic.

 

[sedati]

Disney = multi billion dollar corporation
Critical Drinker = what? Maybe a million subscribers. Reaches maybe double that on one platform?

And yet if we believe the line pedaled here, the big bad Youtuber is forcing the multi billion dollar company to do what exactly?

Sounds totally legit. /sarcasm

Yet on the social platforms the general public sees Star Wars as a series of negative thumbnails full of red laser eyes and AI fake trailers. You don’t have to click on any of it to still have it dominate your feed. You don’t have to engage with it for it to get its point across. We’re soaking in it and soaking it in.

 

[Disney Irish]

Yet on the social platforms the general public sees Star Wars as a series of negative thumbnails full of red laser eyes and AI fake trailers. You don’t have to click on any of it to still have it dominate your feed. You don’t have to engage with it for it to get its point across. We’re soaking.in it and soaking it in.

I think this is an important point.

Humans by nature (especially in the modern age) don't have to engage directly with something for it to influence them, especially the youth. Most social media interaction these days are in less then 30 second short videos, get enough of those all saying similar things and it'll influence ones opinion about a topic. And for those that think it doesn't influence then why is every media company on that planet investing in short form videos for ads to the tune of over $100B annually.

So one doesn't have to watch specific YouTubers to get influenced, you just have to come across enough of the 15-30 second negative videos on your feed to sway an opinion.

 

[Willmark]

Yet on the social platforms the general public sees Star Wars as a series of negative thumbnails full of red laser eyes and AI fake trailers. You don’t have to click on any of it to still have it dominate your feed. You don’t have to engage with it for it to get its point across. We’re soaking.in it and soaking it in.

To get what point across? That Disney has no one to blame but themselves for sub par movies/content in terms of SW?

If so I agree.