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

[Tha Realest]

In a thread entitled “Hit or Flop: Simplistic Positions Only!”, no, it wouldn’t matter. But this isn’t that thread.

No-one here is denying that Wish has done much, much worse than Disney would have hoped. An acknowledgment of that reality should not preclude discussion of the particular ways in which its box-office performance has played out.

“Other studios’ films are struggling too.” Sure. But they didn’t cost $200M+ to produce. This wide gulf in production costs is something many of you fail to account for.

 

[BuddyThomas]

I thought Lily Gladstone was great in Killers of the Flower Moon and deserves the nomination But Emma Stone was the performance of the year for me

I haven't seen Killers of the Flower Moon yet, but Emma Stone's transformation from the beginning of Poor Things until the end was really amazing.

 

[LittleBuford]

“Other studios’ films are struggling too.” Sure. But they didn’t cost $200M+ to produce. This wide gulf in production costs is something many of you fail to account for.

Whom are you quoting? Certainly not me. Your post has nothing to do with what I was saying, except in bearing out my claim that discussion is less important to some of you than just repeating the same talking points again and again.

 

[brideck]

I thought Lily Gladstone was great in Killers of the Flower Moon and deserves the nomination But Emma Stone was the performance of the year for me

Part of my reservation is that with Poor Things, it's the role. Anyone (who successfully pulled it off) would be award-worthy for playing that role. My spouse described it as the first role for a woman they can think of where someone would be automatically nominated, akin to playing the Joker, etc.

 

[Tha Realest]

In a thread entitled “Hit or Flop: Simplistic Positions Only!”, no, it wouldn’t matter. But this isn’t that thread.

No-one here is denying that Wish has done much, much worse than Disney would have hoped. An acknowledgment of that reality should not preclude discussion of the particular ways in which its box-office performance has played out.

“Other studios’ films are struggling too.” Sure. But they didn’t cost $200M+ to produce. This wide gulf in production costs is something many of you fail to account for.

 

[brideck]

“Other studios’ films are struggling too.” Sure. But they didn’t cost $200M+ to produce. This wide gulf in production costs is something many of you fail to account for.

Huh. I didn't realize this thread was called "Disney's Films Cost Too Much - So what happens now?"

Which is kind of a question that answers itself by the way...

 

[LittleBuford]

Huh. I didn't realize this thread was called "Disney's Films Cost Too Much - So what happens now?"

Which is kind of a question that answers itself by the way...

It’s a legitimate thing to discuss, but it’s been discussed amply already. What sense is there in bringing it up every time the conversation moves in a different direction?

 

[DKampy]

I haven't seen Killers of the Flower Moon yet, but Emma Stone's transformation from the beginning of Poor Things until the end was really amazing.

Completely agree… this is my favorite type of performance when you can see a transformation on screen

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

It’s a legitimate thing to discuss, but it’s been discussed amply already. What sense is there in bringing it up every time the conversation moves in a different direction?

It feels like that’s true of this thread in general, we’ve discussed every aspect of every movie released to the point of reputation, until the next Disney movie comes out I’m not sure what else we can add that hasn’t already been said… it’s an interesting topic though so we keep coming back to it, and in doing so keep repeating ourselves.

 

[brideck]

It’s a legitimate thing to discuss, but it’s been discussed amply already. What sense is there in bringing it up every time the conversation moves in a different direction?

It certainly is, but it's not as if it's a thing that's going to be fixed on a dime, and as documented elsewhere in this thread, it is not a Disney-only problem. It's just more obvious when looking at Disney because of how ludicrously successful their movies were in 2019.

The US market went from producing 8 movies that grossed $350M+ in 2019 (7 of which were Disney's, the other of which was Spider-Man) to producing only 4 such movies in 2023 (1 of which was Disney's). That is a dramatic change in assumptions that needs to made.

 

[LittleBuford]

It feels like that’s true of this thread in general, we’ve discussed every aspect of every movie released to the point of reputation, until the next Disney movie comes out I’m not sure what else we can add that hasn’t already been said… it’s an interesting topic though so we keep coming back to it, and in doing so keep repeating ourselves.

I disagree. the disparity between Wish's domestic and international performance took us in a new direction. But it was promptly met with cries of "So what, the film still failed!"

Too many are here either to gloat or to air their grievances.

 

[DKampy]

Part of my reservation is that with Poor Things, it's the role. Anyone (who successfully pulled it off) would be award-worthy for playing that role. My spouse described it as the first role for a woman they can think of where someone would be automatically nominated, akin to playing the Joker, etc.

I will say that Lily Gladstone stole the film for me and that is no small feat in which she stars opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I disagree. the disparity between Wish's domestic and international performance took us in a new direction. But it was promptly met with cries of "So what, the film still failed!"

Too many are here either to gloat or to air their grievances.

We’ve even discussed that though, as a domestic/international percent it’s similar to previous releases, so not really an outlier, and we’ve discussed it compared to previous releases international box office, where it is still vastly underperforming. What else is there to say?

IIRC Disney doesn’t have a new release until June though (Inside Out 2) so we’re going to be repeating ourselves a lot over the next 6 months if we want to keep the film threads alive.

 

[Disney Irish]

We’ve even discussed that though, as a domestic/international percent it’s similar to previous releases, so not really an outlier, and we’ve discussed it compared to previous releases international box office, where it is still vastly underperforming. What else is there to say?

IIRC Disney doesn’t have a new release until June though (Inside Out 2) so we’re going to be repeating ourselves a lot over the next 6 months if we want to keep the film threads alive.

Disney has The First Omen releasing April 5th under the 20th Century banner.

And then Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes on May 10th, also under 20th Century.

 

[Chi84]

If people think there's nothing left to say, then maybe stop posting until a later date.

Why engage with posters who are "stuck on repeat" and then complain about them? Just ignore the post (or the poster) and engage with posts that make substantive points. It will make for more interesting, less acrimonious discussion and have the side benefit of drastically reducing the overall number of posts in the thread.

We are all (or at least were) fans of WDW so we have that in common.

 

[LittleBuford]

We’ve even discussed that though, as a domestic/international percent it’s similar to previous releases, so not really an outlier

The breakdown is different enough from the recent pattern to be notable. The comparison with Encanto in particular is striking.

What else is there to say?

We might speculate as to why international markets seems to have responded more warmly to the film than Americans did. Some have already advanced some interesting thoughts on this question.

 

[LittleBuford]

If people think there's nothing left to say, then maybe stop posting until a later date.

Why engage with posters who are "stuck on repeat" and then complain about them? Just ignore the post (or the poster) and engage with posts that make substantive points. It will make for more interesting, less acrimonious discussion and have the side benefit of drastically reducing the overall number of posts in the thread.

We are all (or at least were) fans of WDW so we have that in common.

This is fair.

Good to hear from you again!

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Hmmm… I don’t know I think Poor Things is an interesting box office to watch leading up to the Oscars… or is that film to successful for you

It’s too successful for Disney these days…for sure.

“Other studios’ films are struggling too.” Sure. But they didn’t cost $200M+ to produce. This wide gulf in production costs is something many of you fail to account for.

Disney took a billion dollars in losses on Films last year

Even ole Nelly Pelz said it

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

If people think there's nothing left to say, then maybe stop posting until a later date.

Why engage with posters who are "stuck on repeat" and then complain about them? Just ignore the post (or the poster) and engage with posts that make substantive points. It will make for more interesting, less acrimonious discussion and have the side benefit of drastically reducing the overall number of posts in the thread.

We are all (or at least were) fans of WDW so we have that in common.

Good advice

This is fair.

Good to hear from you again!

Psssst…you are stuck on repeat

I was gone for along time and it was like a soap opera…it took 10 minutes to catch up because it was all the same stuff from the same people

…and I can’t believe Victor double crossed Jack again

 

[Tha Realest]

Huh. I didn't realize this thread was called "Disney's Films Cost Too Much - So what happens now?"

Which is kind of a question that answers itself by the way...

Yes, but pointing to what you claim is an “industry wide” problem in terms of relative performance while ignoring comparative production costs doesn’t fully contextualize Disney’s unique problem here.