BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
Poor Things will more than “break even” at the box office. You have called it a flop from day one. Admit that you were wrong and move on.
Last edited by a moderator:
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Disney (and others) at the Box Office - Current State of Affairs
- Thread starter Disney Analyst
- Start date
TP2000
Well-Known Member
If we assume that they only spent a shoestring global marketing budget of $15 Million on it, with its stated production budget of $35 Million, as of this past weekend it is very close to breaking even at "only" a $1 Million loss. Poor Things very well could end up making a profit of $5 Million or more by the weekend after the Oscars!
Which then begs the question, how much has Searchlight lost on All Of Us Strangers at the same time?
Poor Things: $35 Production, $15 Marketing, Domestic B.O. Take $20, Foreign B.O. Take $29 = $1 Million Loss
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
As has been explained multiple times, All of Us Strangers has a total of four (4) speaking roles in the ENTIRE film. The budget is minuscule. It most certainly will be profitable and it has won all sorts of awards as well.
Last edited by a moderator:
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
You’re 100% correct, and really too bad on his part. But what can ya do?
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
I found this bit interesting:Grab the popcorn
Disney Shakeup: Sean Bailey Exits As President Of Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios, Searchlight’s David Greenbaum Takes Over & Also Will Run 20th
Walt Disney's President of Motion Picture Studios Sean Bailey is departing after 15 years on the lot.deadline.com
... strongly implying Bailey's only ability as head of WDMP was to find ways to make money off the company's previous creative successes - not actually making new ones - and if that's how he was seen, that he lasted so long in his position says a whole lot about management's priorities over the last decade or so.
Anyway, sounds like someone is at least trying to right the ship, now.
Last edited:
Disney Irish
Premium Member
I was thinking the same thing, it seems that Disney is now looking to go beyond the live action remakes which is what many here complain about.
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
OK here’s a weird one I haven’t seen discussed, but saw it had a couple of nominations, so I watched it during a free Cinemax weekend: Beau Is Afraid.
Joaquin Phoenix really can’t act badly. Patti LuPone is in it. Nathan Lane is in it.
This started off like a “normal movie,” sort of, and got nuttier and nuttier over the three hour runtime. Truth be told, I fast-forwarded past at least an hour of it.
I guess I’m not as arty as I thought.
And it even had a Mariah Carey song in it.
Joaquin Phoenix really can’t act badly. Patti LuPone is in it. Nathan Lane is in it.
This started off like a “normal movie,” sort of, and got nuttier and nuttier over the three hour runtime. Truth be told, I fast-forwarded past at least an hour of it.
I guess I’m not as arty as I thought.
And it even had a Mariah Carey song in it.
brideck
Well-Known Member
OK here’s a weird one I haven’t seen discussed, but saw it had a couple of nominations, so I watched it during a free Cinemax weekend: Beau Is Afraid.
Joaquin Phoenix really can’t act badly. Patti LuPone is in it. Nathan Lane is in it.
This started off like a “normal movie,” sort of, and got nuttier and nuttier over the three hour runtime. Truth be told, I fast-forwarded past at least an hour of it.
I guess I’m not as arty as I thought.
And it even had a Mariah Carey song in it.
Oh, man. We really enjoyed Beau is Afraid, but were apparently mostly alone in that since no one else saw it in the theaters. The depiction of the world in the first act is 100% what I think Fox News viewers believe the world to be like.
It's the kind of massive swing for the fences that movies need to do more often; however, it did not manage to capitalize on its $35m budget (compare to Poor Things here) and A24 has announced that they're going to have to pivot to making more mainstream fare as a result.
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
OK here’s a weird one I haven’t seen discussed, but saw it had a couple of nominations, so I watched it during a free Cinemax weekend: Beau Is Afraid.
Joaquin Phoenix really can’t act badly. Patti LuPone is in it. Nathan Lane is in it.
This started off like a “normal movie,” sort of, and got nuttier and nuttier over the three hour runtime. Truth be told, I fast-forwarded past at least an hour of it.
I guess I’m not as arty as I thought.
And it even had a Mariah Carey song in it.
Oh gosh, I started to watch this one on, I think... Paramount? Peacock? I'm not even sure.
I thought the trailer looked interesting but, man, I only made it to the point where his stuff got stolen when his apartment door got left open and it felt painful getting that far, which I don't think was even very far in.
So you're saying it's not at that sort of pace the whole time?
Maybe I'll try to pick it back up from there.
This feels like a situation where seeing a movie in the theater is better because I'd have sat there and toughed it out if I'd paid and was sitting there in the dark vs. watching it while laying in bed trying to stay awake through it.
Tony the Tigger
Well-Known Member
That was not very far in.
I can only take so much of a film or show wherein the lead actor is constantly stressed, embarrassed, etc. If they’re having a tough time, I’m having a tough time.
So when his very bad, no good day continued to get worse and worse, with odd extreme things happening, I bailed using the FFWD, but had seen enough that I wanted to see the ending.
To say it was nuts is both an understatement and entirely on the nose.
A few left and right turns here and there, and it may have ended up a more mainstream dark flick, albeit disturbing. When you leave the plane of reality, I find it hard to go along. Also, when violence is meant to be funny, you totally lose me (like A Clockwork Orange.)
I need to watch Wonka again to recover lol.
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
You know, I think that's what it was - his high level of stress and anxiety and nothing else to really anchor it to up to that point.That was not very far in.
I can only take so much of a film or show wherein the lead actor is constantly stressed, embarrassed, etc. If they’re having a tough time, I’m having a tough time.
So when his very bad, no good day continued to get worse and worse, with odd extreme things happening, I bailed using the FFWD, but had seen enough that I wanted to see the ending.
To say it was nuts is both an understatement and entirely on the nose.
A few left and right turns here and there, and it may have ended up a more mainstream dark flick, albeit disturbing. When you leave the plane of reality, I find it hard to go along. Also, when violence is meant to be funny, you totally lose me (like A Clockwork Orange.)
I need to watch Wonka again to recover lol.
The whole thing with the guy chasing him down the street until he got into his building and pulled the door shut with seemingly no reason kind of bothered me, too.
I was tired when I started with it so it probably wasn't my best choice at the time.
I'll give it another try. I liked "I'm Thinking of Ending Things"* so I might do better when more alert.
*Liked isn't the right word but I can't think of the right way of putting it... had an appreciation for, maybe?
brideck
Well-Known Member
All right, so I think that the guess that art theater audiences are doing better than general audiences post-pandemic is incorrect.
I took a super generous definition for "limited" release of less than 3000 screens maximum for this experiment. That seems big, but when you consider that things like Poor Things and Parasite and Uncut Gems all played on 2000+ screens, I think it needs to be. I should also note that the 2023 release numbers are incomplete, since some of those movies are still in theaters earning a bit of cash, but that won't make a substantial difference.
In 2019, there were 706 such releases, grossing a combined $1.8b. This accounts for only 16% of the total box office that year, and measures out to just a touch over 200 million tickets sold.
In 2023, there were only 427 such releases (although it should be noted that some Fathom Events no longer seem to report numbers and all of their releases would qualify for this. They only totaled $53m in 2019, though), grossing a combined $1.1b. This accounts for only 12.5% of the total box office, and equals about 105 million tickets sold.
These smaller releases have actually lost market share to the blockbusters and by tickets sold have retained only 52% of their customer base. This number is smaller than what it actually is for the reasons listed above, but I don't think those are enough to bring it in line with the 68% number that represents the entire domestic theater market.
ETA: 2023 actually represents a pretty significant improvement on 2022's EEAaO-fueled numbers. In 2022, there were 392 movies, grossing $681m. Less than 10% of the total box office for the year.
Last edited:
TalkingHead
Well-Known Member
Two odd points: 1) he’s serving as president of Dis live-action and 20th Century, but his resume would suggest he’s more aligned with the latter; 2) Bailey will still be producing Tron 3. Might as well put that one out to pasture.
Could be that the future of Disney live-action becomes more anemic.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Not sure why you would think it might become more anemic. I take this as a good sign, one that puts Disney live action back to doing diverse projects and not just remakes of their previous animated movies. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
As for Tron: Ares, that I imagine will continue without much issue even if Bailey is staying on as a producer, especially since filming already started.
you do realize once a film breaks even at the theatrical box office everything else is gravy…it will continue to add to it’s profits long after it’s theater run is done….I imagine the profits will especially continue with those average film goers who were afraid to take a chance on an artful film such as Poor Things…but will be willing to take a chance on a rental out of curiosity especially with all the awards talk…This is very much a win for Disney
i was originally Interested in Beau is Afraid after I saw the trailer and I like the writer/directors other work…Hereditary is especially great, but when the reviews were not great and I heard from some others that it was weird just for weirds sake I skipped it…I think the length deter me as well…as I was not sure I could take 3 hours of just complete weirdness…but your review has me thinking of giving it a go…I could watch in parts at home
brideck
Well-Known Member
It's broken into 4 or 5 pretty distinct and obvious acts, so would be easy to watch in parts. Basically, every time the setting changes just decide if you want to keep watching.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Poor Things is now available for digital purchase, and will be available for rental on March 12th the same day it gets released on physical media.
I suspect we’ll see it on Hulu (and D+/Star outside the US) in late March/early April.
I suspect we’ll see it on Hulu (and D+/Star outside the US) in late March/early April.
Last edited:
brideck
Well-Known Member
Has anyone watched Nimona on Netflix? This was the Blue Sky animation project that Disney essentially rejected for being too queer before Disney just shuttered Blue Sky altogether. [The title character is NB and two other characters are in a gay relationship and <gasp> share a kiss.] DNEG animation ultimately finished it up for Annapurna.
I found it a little uneven in the first act, but it eventually found its stride. Chloe Grace Moretz really knocked it out of the park with her portrayal of the title character. Fantastic energy and humor. I would not have been sad to see it in theaters under 20th Century, or however that would have worked.
I found it a little uneven in the first act, but it eventually found its stride. Chloe Grace Moretz really knocked it out of the park with her portrayal of the title character. Fantastic energy and humor. I would not have been sad to see it in theaters under 20th Century, or however that would have worked.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Yes, I understand the basics of profit/loss. The problem is that Poor Things is about $1 Million away from breaking even, and in the best case scenario it will make a profit of $10 or $20 Million. (Realistically, closer to a $5 Million profit, but let's just go big).
Searchlight lost over $65 Million on its three movies in 2023. On top of the hundreds of millions of dollars Disney's flagship studios lost on the flops and outright bombs from Marvel, Lucasfilm, WDAS, Walt Disney Pictures, and Pixar.
That's not sustainable. Searchlight artsy movies will never make big profits, and it's okay for them to lose a little money if it keeps the rather needy Hollywood types engaged until their next big blockbuster. But when the blockbusters fail one after another like they are now doing for Disney, you can't keep throwing money away at Searchlight. It's just not sustainable.