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

[LittleBuford]

Unfortunately the box office didn’t respond like Disney had hoped… hey some people liked new coke back in the 80s but most were upset Coke classic disappeared and it was brought back.

It didn't do nearly as well as previous remakes, but it still secured over half a billion dollars, thereby becoming the ninth highest-grossing film of the year globally and the sixth domestically.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

It didn't do nearly as well as previous remakes, but it still secured over half a billion dollars, thereby becoming the ninth highest-grossing film of the year globally and the sixth domestically.

A couple months ago I would have argued a more traditional retelling would have likely made a billion dollars but after the Marvels and Wish I’m not so sure a white lead movie would have done any better, my former belief that people rejected Bailey as Ariel has been replaced with a belief that people are simply rejecting Disney, regardless of who they cast or what they do.

TLM box office looked horrible at the time, now it looks normal for “new Disney”.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

A couple months ago I would have argued a more traditional retelling would have likely made a billion dollars but after the Marvels and Wish I’m not so sure a white lead movie would have done any better, my former belief that people rejected Bailey as Ariel has been replaced with a belief that people are simply rejecting Disney, regardless of who they cast or what they do.

TLM box office looked horrible at the time, now it looks normal for “new Disney”.

Well there is little doubt it made half what they wanted…

But I am wondering if my “calculations”were off too?

I think race had a hand in it…but I think it’s much smaller than what it looked like.

I think people rejected paying for another remake post lockdown…and the streaming numbers tanked too…which means people likely aren’t interested in a remake.

If that’s “rejection of Disney”?…then yeah…I can see it

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It didn't do nearly as well as previous remakes, but it still secured over half a billion dollars, thereby becoming the ninth highest-grossing film of the year globally and the sixth domestically.

Blaming the plague again?

That isn’t a good number…

A handful of movies have grossed about a billion and beyond in the last 2 years…some way more

So maybe it sucks or the people didn’t want it?

But by all means…let’s “massage” the chart like was tried with the last Jedi…

It’s not the figure…it’s the decline in interest of the product is where they’re really losing.
In the end the truth will be born out again.

 

[el_super]

The force awakens did $2.06 billion
The Last Jedi did $1.33 billion
Rise of Sky Walker did $1.07 billion.

So if a movie that is critically panned in 2019 can still make a billion dollars, why aren't the critically panned movies still making a billion dollars now?

There are factors impacting the box office outside of critical reception that people are trying to ignore because it doesn't fit their agenda.

 

[LittleBuford]

Blaming the plague again?

That isn’t a good number…

A handful of movies have grossed about a billion and beyond in the last 2 years…some way more

So maybe it sucks or the people didn’t want it?

But by all means…let’s “massage” the chart like was tried with the last Jedi…

It’s not the figure…it’s the decline in interest of the product is where they’re really losing.
In the end the truth will be born out again.

Another helping of word salad. No thanks.

 

[Tha Realest]

Asking the question again in this thread where it's more relevant, what happens if Frozen 3 underperforms?

I think It would completely undermine Iger's whole business strategy and confidence in the brand.

I would never expect such a thing to happen a couple years ago, but now I feel anything is possible.

It’s entirely possible it does. Who knows what the theatrical landscape looks like a year or two from now. Or whether the Disney brand has righted itself.

At one point, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and the Disney Princess brands were ATMs and invincible - and look what happened.

While it’s hard to argue with its success, Frozen 2 was a bit of a mess tonally and narratively, and seems to have a very disjointed production process. It’ll be interesting to see how and where they take Frozen 3.

 

[LittleBuford]

A couple months ago I would have argued a more traditional retelling would have likely made a billion dollars but after the Marvels and Wish I’m not so sure a white lead movie would have done any better, my former belief that people rejected Bailey as Ariel has been replaced with a belief that people are simply rejecting Disney, regardless of who they cast or what they do.

TLM box office looked horrible at the time, now it looks normal for “new Disney”.

To me, its performance seems solid in the current box-office climate. Let's not forget that even the new Mission: Impossible film, released shortly afterwards, failed to earn anything like its precursors.

 

[Willmark]

Star Wars is dead… Disney killed it. It’s a TV show now.

I don't think anything is "dead" once the Mouse gets its hands (paws?) on it. They paid waaayy too much money to let it sit idle.

From the look of it though they likely have even more data and realize how much of a problem on their hands. More than it being correctly pointed out the drop from TFA to Solo. Each time they were bleeding $ and customers.

As time goes by TLJ is going to be remembered for what it is: a movie that while a success financially ended up putting a massive dent into a money-printing franchise. It's telling they are laying low on the movie front for now. I say for now as there is no way they don't make another movie.

Here is the kicker. Had they not allowed Johnson to wander away with the story it might have been better received. But in his hubris to "subvert expectations" he forgot to tell a good story, let alone the holes in the story that make no sense.

The Phantom Menace at least had some redeeming qualities, not the least of which was the best Jedi fight of every movie. Attack of the Clones? Ugh, we know the problems of that train wreck. Revenge of the Sith outside of the "NNNNNooooooo!!!!" is a good Star War film.

The sequels? Yeah...

 

[BuddyThomas]

Star Wars is dead… Disney killed it. It’s a TV show now.

Star Wars is dead? I must not have gotten the memo when I went to Star Wars land on my last visit to Disneyland and the standby line to Rise of the Resistance was over four hours long.

 

[CinematicFusion]

Star Wars is dead? I must not have gotten the memo when I went to Star Wars land on my last visit to Disneyland and the standby line to Rise of the Resistance was over four hours long.

First part of the memo came out with the close of Star Wars hotel. By dead I mean theatrically, I don’t see it ever being as popular in the movie theater.

 

[BuddyThomas]

First part of the memo came out with the close of Star Wars hotel. By dead I mean theatrically, I don’t see it ever being as popular in the movie theater.

You don’t know that. There have been 12 films so far. That’s a pretty good run.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Star Wars just produced the greatest piece of Star Wars media since Empire.

Star Wars fans hate Star Wars. They just want the original trilogy over... and over... and over...

 

[_caleb]

A couple months ago I would have argued a more traditional retelling would have likely made a billion dollars but after the Marvels and Wish I’m not so sure a white lead movie would have done any better, my former belief that people rejected Bailey as Ariel has been replaced with a belief that people are simply rejecting Disney, regardless of who they cast or what they do.

TLM box office looked horrible at the time, now it looks normal for “new Disney”.

This is why some of us have been interested in discussing WHY people don't like Disney's films. Why would people reject Disney, regardless of who they cast or what they do?

My take? It's the culture. Internet-affected culture.

It's not the films themselves, because word spreads that each film is bad for certain sociopolitical reasons well before it comes out, which is one big reason people aren't going to theaters. Disney panics and makes last-minute changes or throws together a poorly-cut trailer to try to fight bad word of mouth.

Then the film does poorly, and people say, "see, it's a bad film! Nobody went to see it!" Film does poorly at box office, Disney goes into damage control mode, tries to sweep it under the rug.

And then it's "Why pay to watch it, when I can see it for free on D+" (never mind they're paying subscription). Also, people complain there isn't enough content on D+, or that everything is the same. Disney responds by ordering a lot of expensive and slightly-off-beat content.

Eventually people actually watch the films, but by then they're are so indoctrinates and invested in disliking it for the reasons mentioned above, they have to nitpick the silliest little things (song lyrics, blink-and-you'll-miss-it scenes, too divisive/boring) to justify not liking it. And then it's, "Why can't they just do it like the olden days?"

This is why we can't have nice things.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I wouldn’t pick these movies either but maybe they are hoping kids will want to see them.

If it were my decision I’d take advantage of the 100th anniversary and pick 52 of the animated classics and release them in order, start with Snow White, a week later release Pinocchio, a week later release Dumbo, etc. By the end of the first month you’d be replacing Snow with something else. They could have a “new movie” in theaters every week of the year. None of them will be box office hits but it would be a nice anniversary treat and I think they’d have as much appeal as any individual movie they pick.

Now that movies are distributed digitally the costs would be negligible.

They have been showing the classics in theaters for several months now.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

My guess?

Because there tends to be an instinctual resistance to minority characters - or those not in traditional roles - being represented more than you would find them statistically on the street.

And I’m all for more varied material…it’s interesting

But here’s a tip: don’t redo old stories with different races “just cause”…because it looks judgement

And don’t replace luke Skywalker with a 90 lb 20 year old…who coincidentally hasn’t worked since…proving what a bad idea it was.

Make new stories and new characters and expand “the world”:..not swap it out for money

It’s not working

Depends on which street.

The moms were new.

Strange World was new.

 

[DisneyHead123]

This is why some of us have been interested in discussing WHY people don't like Disney's films. Why would people reject Disney, regardless of who they cast or what they do?

My take? It's the culture. Internet-affected culture.

It's not the films themselves, because word spreads that each film is bad for certain sociopolitical reasons well before it comes out, which is one big reason people aren't going to theaters. Disney panics and makes last-minute changes or throws together a poorly-cut trailer to try to fight bad word of mouth.

Then the film does poorly, and people say, "see, it's a bad film! Nobody went to see it!" Film does poorly at box office, Disney goes into damage control mode, tries to sweep it under the rug.

And then it's "Why pay to watch it, when I can see it for free on D+" (never mind they're paying subscription). Also, people complain there isn't enough content on D+, or that everything is the same. Disney responds by ordering a lot of expensive and slightly-off-beat content.

Eventually people actually watch the films, but by then they're are so indoctrinates and invested in disliking it for the reasons mentioned above, they have to nitpick the silliest little things (song lyrics, blink-and-you'll-miss-it scenes, too divisive/boring) to justify not liking it. And then it's, "Why can't they just do it like the olden days?"

This is why we can't have nice things.

I think a substantial portion of the population (not a huge portion, but a significant one,) is straight up boycotting Disney and all of their movies at the moment. I’m not saying that’s fair - I don’t think it is - but I think that’s the reality.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Star Wars is dead? I must not have gotten the memo when I went to Star Wars land on my last visit to Disneyland and the standby line to Rise of the Resistance was over four hours long.

When was that? I visit the parks regularly and it’s usually 55-85 minute waits. As I type this I just checked the app and it’s showing a 35 minute wait currently.

I think a substantial portion of the population (not a huge portion, but a significant one,) is straight up boycotting Disney and all of their movies at the moment. I’m not saying that’s fair - I don’t think it is - but I think that’s the reality.

Extra significant in that it was part of Disneys core demographic.

 

[DKampy]

When was that? I visit the parks regularly and it’s usually 55-85 minute waits. As I type this I just checked the app and it’s showing a 35 minute wait currently.

I will say when I visited WDW about a year and half ago that was my experience…I ended up getting in line 5 minutes before Hollywood stdios closed and cut my line down to 45 minutes

 

[TP2000]

Here's how box office looked on Monday, without the Beyonce' concert movie in theaters.

Bizarrely, Wish is still in 3,900 theaters this week. Even though it's in 6th place and is only pulling in $100 per theater.

The Marvels and Next Goal Wins are limping to some sort of finish line; The Marvels may get to $85 Million domestically if it can last a few more weeks in theaters, and Next Goal Wins likely won't even break $8 Million.