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

[TP2000]

Top 20 global box office so far for 2023:

View attachment 738812


Disney has four in the top 10, five total in the top 20.

That would normally be okay.

But because of the massively bloated mega-budgets that Disney spends on these films, only one of them actually made money theatrically (Guardians 3 with a $57 Million profit).

So if you had 4 movies in the Top 10, but because of bad cost management only one of them made a profit, that's nothing to brag about.

 

[Communicora]

Who is the audience for this? And will it pull an audience?

Or are they just desperate to get a few last gasp nickels from the summer box office?

Tracking the box office for this rather odd offering will be interesting, to say the least.

These showings can be fun. They did the same thing with Beauty and the Beast.

 

[Hawkeye_2018]

I do think it's unfair that several franchises like Mission Impossible and Fast X, and Transformers, really underperformed, especially domestic, and it's been mostly ignored

 

[doctornick]

I do think it's unfair that several franchises like Mission Impossible and Fast X, and Transformers, really underperformed, especially domestic, and it's been mostly ignored

Just a quibble, I'm not sure anyone could really say Transformers "underperformed" - that franchise has been on a downward spiral for the last few installments, since before the pandemic. The franchise is just cooked and needs to be put out of its misery.

(Personally, if they want to take revive the franchise in the future, I'd start with a complete reboot and make it animated to separate it from the Bay films. Try to do basically what Mario did and just go back to the roots and do a lot of easter eggs/fan service).

 

[DKampy]

Who is the audience for this? And will it pull an audience?

Or are they just desperate to get a few last gasp nickels from the summer box office?

Tracking the box office for this rather odd offering will be interesting, to say the least.

The other sing alongs they have done in the past has done decent enough…. Did not break the bank, but added to the gross

 

[doctornick]

The other sing alongs they have done in the past has done decent enough…. Did not break the bank, but added to the gross

The singalongs are a simply way to get a bit extra box office and be something fun for those who want to do them. Certainly fits for the core demographic for something like TLM. I would think the biggest issue is getting the screens from the movie theaters if they have other options (but I'd imagine that theaters love things that are kid focused given how they probably drive concession sales).

Honestly, it is the type of thing that Disney should always do when available. Why not open up as many avenues for revenue as possible?

 

[TalkingHead]

The other sing alongs they have done in the past has done decent enough…. Did not break the bank, but added to the gross

Probably trying to goose the domestic number to $300m. It’s not going to get there otherwise.

 

[DKampy]

The singalongs are a simply way to get a bit extra box office and be something fun for those who want to do them. Certainly fits for the core demographic for something like TLM. I would think the biggest issue is getting the screens from the movie theaters if they have other options (but I'd imagine that theaters love things that are kid focused given how they probably drive concession sales).

Honestly, it is the type of thing that Disney should always do when available. Why not open up as many avenues for revenue as possible?

I think there should be some room… the next couple of months are pretty lack luster with releases… and at this point Barbenheimer should not need as many screens as they both have been out for over a month

 

[Disney Irish]

The singalongs are a simply way to get a bit extra box office and be something fun for those who want to do them. Certainly fits for the core demographic for something like TLM. I would think the biggest issue is getting the screens from the movie theaters if they have other options (but I'd imagine that theaters love things that are kid focused given how they probably drive concession sales).

Honestly, it is the type of thing that Disney should always do when available. Why not open up as many avenues for revenue as possible?

You know, I had said in the TLM thread that it could get a rerelease if it gets nominated from some awards, just didn't think it would be for a sing-along lol.

Anyways, with nothing major releasing until November there should be plenty of screens to go around.

Disney has done this before with other releases, so it is something they think about with their musical films.

 

[TP2000]

I do think it's unfair that several franchises like Mission Impossible and Fast X, and Transformers, really underperformed, especially domestic, and it's been mostly ignored

Who is to say on Universal and Paramount fan forums they aren't worrying about those flops? I'm sure they are. They should be.

But that doesn't change the fact that Disney has lost more money as a studio overall this year from all their flops from their flagship studios; Marvel, Walt Disney Studios, Pixar, Lucas. The only flagship studio from Disney that hasn't released a film yet this year is Walt Disney Animation, and Wish comes out in 3 months.

As for the three other flops from Paramount and Universal, they still lost a lot less than Indy 5. Which is why Indy 5 is such an utter failure and embarrassment for Disney and Lucas. As it should be.

Mission: Impossible - $290 Production/$145 Marketing, Box Office Take $249 = $196 Million Loss
Fast X - $340 Production/$170 Marketing, Box Office Take $317 = $193 Million Loss
Transformers - $195 Production/$100 Marketing, Box Office Take $207 = $88 Million Loss

Indy 5 - $300 Production/$150 Marketing, Box Office Take $183 = $267 Million Loss

 

[TP2000]

The other sing alongs they have done in the past has done decent enough…. Did not break the bank, but added to the gross

I remember the sing-along show they had for Frozen at DCA a decade ago. It was very cute, and all the girls seemed to love it.

I guess I just had no idea they also released these things in theaters for full ticket prices. Learnin' something every day.

 

[BuddyThomas]

$4.00 movie tickets this Sunday.

See a movie for $4 on National Cinema Day

NEW YORK (PIX11) – If you’re looking to indulge in everything a movie theater has to offer, you may want to go to the movies on National Cinema Day. More than 3,000 locations across the U.S. …

pix11.com

 

[DKampy]

I remember the sing-along show they had for Frozen at DCA a decade ago. It was very cute, and all the girls seemed to love it.

I guess I just had no idea they also released these things in theaters for full ticket prices. Learnin' something every day.

Did you ever see the Frozen Sing Along at Hollywood Studios… it is great… although I think the historians make it… they are hilarious

 

[erasure fan1]

Did you ever see the Frozen Sing Along at Hollywood Studios… it is great… although I think the historians make it… they are hilarious

I will say, if you like Frozen, the show was pretty entertaining. I expected the historians to get annoying but I gotta say, they were actually pretty funny. I'd give it a recommend, and I'm not a frozen fan.

 

[Phroobar]

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

It was pretty mediocre. It felt like the Mexican version of Venom crossed with Ms. Marvel

 

[BrianLo]

I do think it's unfair that several franchises like Mission Impossible and Fast X, and Transformers, really underperformed, especially domestic, and it's been mostly ignored

Not ignored!

Here's an updated Box Office Studio flop talley. Movies that couldn't even recover a ~1.5x multiplier on their budgets. Meant for anything classified as non-indie.

Knowing 250% (2.5x) somewhat reliably is recovering spend theatrically. 200% (2.0x+) puts us into a weird post theatrical argumentative state, these movies are disappointing, but will also reliably recover money for the studio within the full SVOD window. Your Rise of the Beasts (2.1x), Little Mermaid (2.2x), Elemental (2.3x)** type performers.

1) Strays - Universal - (26%)**
2) Voyage of the Last Dementer - Universal - (27%)**
3) The Covenant - MGM - (38%)
4) Renfield - Universal - (41%)
5) Blue Beetle - WB - (45%)**
6) Ruby Gillman - Universal/Dreamworks - (50%)
7) Haunted Mansion - DIS - (71%)**
8) Shazam 2 - WB - (107%)
9) The Flash - WB - (121%)
10) Magic Mike: Last Dance - WB (126%)
11) Indiana Jones 5 - Dis/Lucas (128%)**
12) 65 - Sony - (134%)
13) Dungeons and Dragons - Paramount - (138%)

**Still in theatres

Special mentions - These movies are kind of grey due to enormous budgets, residuals that have to be paid out to Tom regardless of profitability and a terrible Domestic split in Fast X's case.
14) Mission Impossible 7 - Paramount - (186%)**
15) Fast X - Universal - (207%)

By far Disney's most notable flop of the year is Indy, in my opinion. For the same reason Blue Beetle will get hand waved onto Max, HM is a D+ play and probably the service will pick up the majority of the bill - though very much still a theatrical 'flop'.

 

[BuddyThomas]

I saw this absolutely insane thing tonight.



Now I am officially out of movies. I've seen everything. Grrrrrrr.

 

[TP2000]

Did you ever see the Frozen Sing Along at Hollywood Studios… it is great… although I think the historians make it… they are hilarious

No, I only saw the DCA version around 2013. But for the life of me I can't remember who was with me; was it with my family on a Thanksgiving weekend when they were in town, or was it just me sitting there as a an old AP guy (which could be kind of creepy)?

But I do remember sitting there in what is now the Philarmagic Theater in DCA watching this, and noticing how all the girls in the audience were singing along very loudly and I thought that was rather sweet....

 

[GimpYancIent]

I saw this absolutely insane thing tonight.



Now I am officially out of movies. I've seen everything. Grrrrrrr.

I thought you advocated for new, creative, imaginative and different? Looks interesting.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Just a quibble, I'm not sure anyone could really say Transformers "underperformed" - that franchise has been on a downward spiral for the last few installments, since before the pandemic. The franchise is just cooked and needs to be put out of its misery.

(Personally, if they want to take revive the franchise in the future, I'd start with a complete reboot and make it animated to separate it from the Bay films. Try to do basically what Mario did and just go back to the roots and do a lot of easter eggs/fan service).

Surprising given the two recent movies were much better than the Michael Bay films, particularly the latter ones.

They are doing an animated origin story but I don't think it will do well from the fan service perspective given it's not the original cast.

Transformers isn't going anywhere regardless. It's a merchandise behemoth. The movies will continue to serve as something that keeps the franchise in the public eye, even if some installments underperform.