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

[Disney Irish]

That's right. A bunch of us have been saying that for a long time when the "why do you care, it's not your money" comments come in. What do people think happens when the company has to tighten the belt because the movies are falling short financially? The parks get the lions share of it. There's zero chance we as parks fans see Disney address the capacity issues of the resort if the studio side is bleeding money.

Lets be honest here, and I say this as someone who defends more than criticizes. Disney can spend money on the Parks anytime they wanted to, they have the capital to do so now with 10B in cash and access to 10s of Billions more.

So don't get fooled into this false sense of hope here that somehow when studios start doing better its going to somehow lead to a sudden influx of investments. The Parks will always be the cash cow that Disney uses to squeeze as much revenue out of while trying to spend as little as possible on improvements.

 

[erasure fan1]

So don't get fooled into this false sense of hope here that somehow when studios start doing better its going to somehow lead to a sudden influx of investments.

True. But I don't think it's a coincidence that the studios have struggled and there are zero answers for epic universe. And while they wouldn't all of a sudden fix every problem if the studios were doing gangbusters. There's a sure correlation to a greater drop in quality, efficiency and entertainment in the parks. I highly doubt we see as big of a drop if the films weren't struggling like they are.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Sounds like a not so great box office weekend in general. Blue Beetle is DC’s worst Friday opening yet.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Sounds like a not so great box office weekend in general. Blue Beetle is DC’s worst Friday opening yet.

Not a surprise. I mean, Who wants to see a repulsive bug as a superhero???? I hate beetles and all creepy crawly things,LOL.

 

[Andrew C]

Not a surprise. I mean, Who wants to see a repulsive bug as a superhero???? I hate beetles and all creepy crawly things,LOL.

Ant man?

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Ant man?

Spider-Man?

 

[erasure fan1]

Sounds like a not so great box office weekend in general. Blue Beetle is DC’s worst Friday opening yet.

It's not really all that surprising. DC is a mess, but like Disney in some respects, they just keep plowing forward and hope they get a different result. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who figured all the leftover DC films would most likely fail. And because of that, you risk tainting the new films as well.

 

[Disney Analyst]

It's not really all that surprising. DC is a mess, but like Disney in some respects, they just keep plowing forward and hope they get a different result. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who figured all the leftover DC films would most likely fail. And because of that, you risk tainting the new films as well.

At least WB has one major win this year.

 

[Disney Irish]

Sounds like a not so great box office weekend in general. Blue Beetle is DC’s worst Friday opening yet.

I saw it on Thursday, as a standalone movie I thought it was pretty good in general. Had lots of funny moments, lots of action, and lots of heart.

As for being part of the larger "new" DCU, yeah I can see why most would stay away given how the general public doesn't know what is happening with DC. I anticipate Aquaman2 not doing too well either.

 

[Disney Irish]

True. But I don't think it's a coincidence that the studios have struggled and there are zero answers for epic universe. And while they wouldn't all of a sudden fix every problem if the studios were doing gangbusters. There's a sure correlation to a greater drop in quality, efficiency and entertainment in the parks. I highly doubt we see as big of a drop if the films weren't struggling like they are.

Whats the saying, correlation is not causation...

Anytime Disney needs to "tighten its belt" for whatever reason its the Parks that get the brunt of it. And during more prosperous times, those same cuts that happened for the most part never seem to get reverted. Why? Because Disney sees the Parks as an ATM. So whatever they have to do to keep it spitting out as much money as possible without spending is what they will do.

As for Epic Universe, I don't think Disney is really all that worried. If they were they would have started working on something a long time ago even when the studios had lots of hits at the Box Office. So its not like they were going to announce a 5th gate anyways if somehow studios were doing better.

 

[erasure fan1]

Whats the saying, correlation is not causation...

Anytime Disney needs to "tighten its belt" for whatever reason its the Parks that get the brunt of it. And during more prosperous times, those same cuts that happened for the most part never seem to get reverted. Why? Because Disney sees the Parks as an ATM. So whatever they have to do to keep it spitting out as much money as possible without spending is what they will do.

Sooooo, we should be ok with Disney movies continuing to underperform? Got it.

As for Epic Universe, I don't think Disney is really all that worried. If they were they would have started working on something a long time ago even when the studios had lots of hits at the Box Office. So its not like they were going to announce a 5th gate anyways if somehow studios were doing better.

Well when they had a lot of hits, while they weren't really adding capacity, they were spending money. No one is asking for a 5th gate. They saw what Mario did to every single one of their animated films. It was a blood bath. So either they are arrogant beyond belief when it comes to Epic. Or they just don't want to spend the cash with the losing streak they're on. You can give Disney a pass for their underperformance and that it doesn't effect anything. But I would much rather see them succeed so they have a reason to invest in the parks. Even if it's just smaller experiences.

 

[flynnibus]

Yesterday was the first time i had heard anything about a blue beetle movie. The marketing people do today must really be ineffective

Didn’t see it in movie trailers last i went…
Never saw online ads for it…
Necer had youtube fed stuff about it…
Never heard any tv/radios pots or snyone talking about it

 

[Prince-1]

Yesterday was the first time i had heard anything about a blue beetle movie. The marketing people do today must really be ineffective

Didn’t see it in movie trailers last i went…
Never saw online ads for it…
Necer had youtube fed stuff about it…
Never heard any tv/radios pots or snyone talking about it

I have seen tons of trailers on TV and in the theater. Might just be you.

 

[Prince-1]

I saw it on Thursday, as a standalone movie I thought it was pretty good in general. Had lots of funny moments, lots of action, and lots of heart.

As for being part of the larger "new" DCU, yeah I can see why most would stay away given how the general public doesn't know what is happening with DC. I anticipate Aquaman2 not doing too well either.

BB is the first movie that fits in the James Gunn-verse but I think people are just not going to come out to see a DC movie until Superman: Legacy comes out in 2025. It will be written and directed by Gunn and it centers on arguably the most recognized comic book character of all time.

 

[DKampy]

Yesterday was the first time i had heard anything about a blue beetle movie. The marketing people do today must really be ineffective

Didn’t see it in movie trailers last i went…
Never saw online ads for it…
Necer had youtube fed stuff about it…
Never heard any tv/radios pots or snyone talking about it

I have seen some trailers… but you are correct I feel this has not seen as much promotion as usual… but I believe that is the strike effect… as I have not seen as much promotion for any upcoming releases… it is why there have been delays of some of the films on the release schedule

 

[erasure fan1]

Yesterday was the first time i had heard anything about a blue beetle movie. The marketing people do today must really be ineffective

Didn’t see it in movie trailers last i went…
Never saw online ads for it…
Necer had youtube fed stuff about it…
Never heard any tv/radios pots or snyone talking about it

I've seen a lot of trailers and commercials for it. I'm guessing it isn't getting as big of a marketing budget as something like the flash, because this was originally supposed to be only streaming for hbo if I remember right. The reviews seem to be good, but it was really dead in the water.

 

[Disney Irish]

Sooooo, we should be ok with Disney movies continuing to underperform? Got it.

I never said that. But we also have no choice. Its not like we have any say over the matter. So we sit here on a forum and some complain and some don't. But we have no real affect on the situation. Disney is going to do what they are going to do. And they are going to put out whatever product they choose. It'll either perform well or it won't. Rinse and Repeat.

Well when they had a lot of hits, while they weren't really adding capacity, they were spending money. No one is asking for a 5th gate. They saw what Mario did to every single one of their animated films. It was a blood bath. So either they are arrogant beyond belief when it comes to Epic. Or they just don't want to spend the cash with the losing streak they're on. You can give Disney a pass for their underperformance and that it doesn't effect anything. But I would much rather see them succeed so they have a reason to invest in the parks. Even if it's just smaller experiences.

And they are still spending money today while still cutting operations, just not major new investments and/or not in a way that most fans want.

Basically you aren't going to see Disney do a major investment in the domestic Parks until they think they have squeezed all the revenue out of it. This is modern business in corporate America. This is why as some posters have pointed out Iger being replaced isn't likely to bring in someone that is going to change course, it'll likely be more of the same or worse. This is because this is how a majority of Wall St focused corporations are run. Oh sure there will be new ideas and probably some olive branch projects to get fans on the side of the new CEO but overall its basically just more of the same.

Back on the movie side there isn't going to be some major course change to get back to the "Disney of old". Outside of a few projects, like maybe Wish, they will still produce films that will be divisive to some and applauded by others. That is just modern Hollywood. The overall hope is that more general audiences will be accepting of the majority of the films they put out, and my bet is over time they will.

 

[Tha Realest]

Haunted Mansion continues to fall hard domestically with absolutely no traction. Down to less than $3M in its only fourth weekend

8.) Haunted Mansion (Dis) 2180 (-680) theaters Fri $795K (-49%) 3-day $2.94M (-49%)/Total $58.7M/Wk 4

oof. A $150M budgeted film (plus marketing) that won’t even break $100M worldwide.

 

[flynnibus]

HM is another one that I don't think I've seen any promotion for...

Are studios just not able to reach where consumers are now? It's not like my life is ad-free... stupid liberty mutual insurance ad is going to be playing in my head for a decade after I die.

 

[Casper Gutman]

A lot of very good films have done very badly this Summer. It sounds like Blue Beetle is another one. Paramount has been hit unfairly hard - Dungeons & Dragons, TMNT, and Mission: Impossible all deserved to do a lot better then they did.