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

[celluloid]

You seem to have left out the part where Universal spent $400 million to buy the Exorcist IP to make Believer. Sorta feels like that’s relevant.

But yes, First Omen is underperforming. Considering it’s very well reviewed, why do you think that is? It’s worth noting that Night Swim and Imaginary also underperformed - has box office chaos finally taken its toll on cheap horror? Monkey Man, which also has great reviews and lots of nerd hype, is falling short of expectations. Meanwhile, Kong x Godzilla, which has miserable reviews and follows a film with disappointing box office returns, is doing gangbusters. If anyone can make sense of the box office, I’d love to hear it.

Well that is an aquistition of an entire property...Not specific to budget and audience attendance of theatrical horror.

Should I have mentioned the Fox Purchase with The First Omen and every time a Fox Studios film does not do well?

Night Swim was very low marketed and a low budget. I don't think it really underperformed. Why would you say that?
Imaginary was meh because the movie was meh. It was Lionsgate ready to want something like Five Nights and M3GAN was for Uni.

Many people understand the box office situation right now.

Many have tried explaining it to you, but you don't like to hear it.

Don't forget Kung Fu Panda 4 still racking it in further solidifying Universal as the modern animation house of choice.

Monkey Man, other than high marketing had a low budget and will likely do pretty well.

Its RATED R and an odd title and concept for many to understand from marketing. It will perform likely fine.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Well that is an aquistition of an entire property...Not specific to budget and audience attendance of theatrical horror.

Should I have mentioned the Fox Purchase with The First Omen and every time a Fox Studios film does not do well?

Night Swim was very low marketed and a low budget. I don't think it really underperformed. Why would you say that?
Imaginary was meh because the movie was meh. It was Lionsgate ready to want something like Five Nights and M3GAN was for Uni.

Many people understand the box office situation right now.

Many have tried explaining it to you, but you don't like to hear it.

Don't forget Kung Fu Panda 4 still racking it in further solidifying Universal as the modern animation house of choice.

Monkey Man, other than high marketing had a low budget and will likely do pretty well.

Its RATED R and an odd title and concept for many to understand from marketing. It will perform likely fine.

If Fox had been acquired entirely to make three specific films like Exorcist was... yes.

I'm sorry I made an effort to engage you. You don't even address Omen. And yes, Monkey Man, Night Swim, and Imaginary are all considered underperformers by the industry. Do you ever read any articles and analysis, or do you just look at raw box office?

 

[celluloid]

If Fox had been acquired entirely to make three specific films like Exorcist was... yes.

I'm sorry I made an effort to engage you. You don't even address Omen. And yes, Monkey Man, Night Swim, and Imaginary are all considered underperformers by the industry. Do you ever read any articles and analysis, or do you just look at raw box office?

Firstly. The purchase was not soley for three films. Universal now OWNS the rights to utilize The Exorcist company wide. Including Streaming shows for Peacock, future films and a lot of other synergy in theme parks. The 400 million was arguably a steal.

The same way Fox has some hits and many flops. It was comparable.

The movies you mentioned were profitable in theaters enough to make their money and let some "gravy"(as others have said) flow in from later broadcasts and home video.

The point was to compare. The First Omen is yet again, another far underperformer for the budget. And unless some great word of mouth, will struggle around the rest of the better received horror and Rated R options that cost less to produce.

Monkey Man is an odd action film that is RATED R that just came out. Its a weekend against a large theatrical release that is not rated R and scattered more family friendly properties.

You read analysis and you, Newton Crosby, PHD do not know this?

MSN

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Because it is on trend by a certain group in this country to hate on Disney… most of the hate you see come from people who did not watch the film

Because no one watched it…

Try to keep up here. People
Go to see good movies. They don’t spend the time and money to see crap.

Except fast and the furious…those defy common sense

 

[Animaniac93-98]

But yes, First Omen is underperforming. Considering it’s very well reviewed, why do you think that is?

The movie may have been liked by most critics, but got a C Cinemascore. It's sitting at 64% audience score on RT

Not unusual for a horror movie, but in this case there was a clear lack of interest/appreciation from the general public.

Deadline estimating $8.4 million for the weekend.

 

[pigglewiggle]

Because no one watched it…

Try to keep up here. People
Go to see good movies. They don’t spend the time and money to see crap.

Except fast and the furious…those defy common sense

People saw Mario and by god, that was not a good movie.
Never base a good movie on what the paying public goes to see.

We watched Night Swim last night. That was bad.

Horror is a tough genre. We rented the latest in the Hell House series - Hell House Origins. It was fine. Had some creepy moments like the first and third movie, but not as good. The very first one is still the best.

We will rent the Omen when it comes out, won't wait for it to be free.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

People saw Mario and by god, that was not a good movie.
Never base a good movie on what the paying public goes to see.

We watched Night Swim last night. That was bad.

Horror is a tough genre. We rented the latest in the Hell House series - Hell House Origins. It was fine. Had some creepy moments like the first and third movie, but not as good. The very first one is still the best.

We will rent the Omen when it comes out, won't wait for it to be free.

Well I may have gotten crossed up there…I wasn’t making a comment about horror…horror is a strange thing to predict

 

[celluloid]

People saw Mario and by god, that was not a good movie.
Never base a good movie on what the paying public goes to see.

For sure. I was so dissapointed that I did not even think Mario was simple fun.

What it did have was the great branding of Illumination and of course Mario itself behind it.

However, I would rather watch Mario twice and Kung Fu Panda 4, 5 times than ever watch Wish again like I sat through most of last night.

What you can base on what the public wants to go see is how well that studio's reputation is doing.

 

[brideck]

The movie may have been liked by most critics, but got a C Cinemascore. It's sitting at 64% audience score on RT

Not unusual for a horror movie, but in this case there was a clear lack of interest/appreciation from the general public.

Deadline estimating $8.4 million for the weekend.

Last year's '70s horror revival, Exorcist: Believer, also got a C and was 22%/59% on RT, yet it opened at $26m, so there's literally no accounting for taste here.

I will say that I'm not surprised it's coming in below Monkey Man this weekend. The theater count is misleading -- First Omen may have more theaters, but appears to have fewer actual screens by about a 3:2 ratio, at least around me.

re: interest -- It doesn't appear to have really separated itself from Immaculate in that regard. Who knows if having two similar seeming horror movies so close together had any impact? It definitely does not seem to have helped in either case.

 

[Tha Realest]

You seem to have left out the part where Universal spent $400 million to buy the Exorcist IP to make Believer. Sorta feels like that’s relevant.

But yes, First Omen is underperforming. Considering it’s very well reviewed, why do you think that is? It’s worth noting that Night Swim and Imaginary also underperformed - has box office chaos finally taken its toll on cheap horror? Monkey Man, which also has great reviews and lots of nerd hype, is falling short of expectations. Meanwhile, Kong x Godzilla, which has miserable reviews and follows a film with disappointing box office returns, is doing gangbusters. If anyone can make sense of the box office, I’d love to hear it.

Weird that you’ve spent the last year or so lecturing us how “cheap horror” was a sure / safe bet but you’ve changed your tune now that Disney’s recent foray has stumbled out of the gate.

Of course, it’s not too cheap - why does something that should be budgeted around $10-$15M cost Disney double that?

 

[celluloid]

Weird that you’ve spent the last year or so lecturing us how “cheap horror” was a sure / safe bet but you’ve changed your tune now that Disney’s recent foray has stumbled out of the gate.

Of course, it’s not too cheap - why does something that should be budgeted around $10-$15M cost Disney double that?

Yeah. Funny how that cheap horror tune changed.

Now Disney can't be the most successful at family releases or horror.

Wait until some here realize that Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, a fourth installment 40 years later from the original that was harshly panned by critics before release, has already domestically surpassed Wish, Haunted Mansion and The Marvels on a budget that is half or less of those.

Also, in two weeks, while it may not perform strong, bad news for more The First Omen's divided audience when Blumhouse's latest high concept horror is released with Abigail.

 

[brideck]

Also, in two weeks, while it may not perform strong, bad news for more The First Omen's divided audience when Blumhouse's latest high concept horror is released with Abigail.

FWIW, Abigail is not a Blumhouse picture. It's Radio Silence -- the crew behind Ready or Not and Scream 5/6.

Blumhouse doesn't have anything new until September.

 

[celluloid]

FWIW, Abigail is not a Blumhouse picture. It's Radio Silence -- the crew behind Ready or Not and Scream 5/6.

Blumhouse doesn't have anything new until September.

Good point. Thank you. I forgot, they split for a production and their earlier one this year was with Lionsgate for Imaginary.

It is however, a studio that has done pretty well with horror. A Universal distribution so that is why it was confusing to suddenly not have it be a Blumhouse. We will see how it does without the Blumhouse marketing. I have certainly seen some theatrical previews for it.

And still not great news for any other horror out that is hoping to stay anywhere close to top play.

 

[brideck]

Of course, it’s not too cheap - why does something that should be budgeted around $10-$15M cost Disney double that?

It's budgeted similar to the other recent franchise horror films, e.g. Scream, Halloween, Exorcist, etc.

 

[erasure fan1]

People saw Mario and by god, that was not a good movie.
Never base a good movie on what the paying public goes to see.

Mario did exactly what it needed to. It gave fans exactly what they wanted out of a Mario movie. If it was some uber deap film touching on social issues, it would have failed miserably. Sometimes it's not a bad thing to give the fans what they want. While I agree that you can't always base the quality of a film based on box office. But just because a movie isn't Shawshank doesn't make it bad.

 

[pigglewiggle]

Mario did exactly what it needed to. It gave fans exactly what they wanted out of a Mario movie. If it was some uber deap film touching on social issues, it would have failed miserably. Sometimes it's not a bad thing to give the fans what they want. While I agree that you can't always base the quality of a film based on box office. But just because a movie isn't Shawshank doesn't make it bad.

I love popcorn movies. I can watch anything if enjoyable.

As someone posted earlier about Kung Fu Panda, we enjoyed those.
I enjoy the Despicable Me movies.

Mario was just not enjoyable for us.

 

[TP2000]

Weird that you’ve spent the last year or so lecturing us how “cheap horror” was a sure / safe bet but you’ve changed your tune now that Disney’s recent foray has stumbled out of the gate.

When I was looking into this First Omen movie, I mistakenly read an article about it and how horrifically gory and disgusting it was in a few nude scenes. It apparently got an NC-17 rating for its horrific gore and nudity content, and they dialed it back ever so slightly to get an R rating.

I've never liked horror movies much, but graphic nudity gore is just a bridge too far for me. I simply won't do it.

 

[TP2000]

Box Office estimates are out for this weekend, to be revised down to exact dollars tomorrow.

The First Omen had a very modest estimate a week ago of a $15 Million opening weekend, it missed its revised-down estimate of $10 Million and ended up with $8.4 Million its debut weekend.

Box Office results from overseas for The First Omen will be in by Tuesday, as it has opened in nearly all its overseas markets this weekend as well, except for France and the BeNeLux gang. With its $30 Million production budget, and a shoestring marketing budget of $15 Million, The First Omen would need roughly $90 Million at the global box office to break even for Disney.

 

[pigglewiggle]

When I was looking into this First Omen movie, I mistakenly read an article about it and how horrifically gory and disgusting it was in a few nude scenes. It apparently got an NC-17 rating for its horrific gore and nudity content, and they dialed it back ever so slightly to get an R rating.

I've never liked horror movies much, but graphic nudity gore is just a bridge too far for me. I simply won't do it.

Just FYI, but graphic nudity normally just means a male full frontal. (Sorry Disney message board)

It's been fine for women all these years, but men get the graphic warning.

 

[celluloid]

When I was looking into this First Omen movie, I mistakenly read an article about it and how horrifically gory and disgusting it was in a few nude scenes. It apparently got an NC-17 rating for its horrific gore and nudity content, and they dialed it back ever so slightly to get an R rating.

I've never liked horror movies much, but graphic nudity gore is just a bridge too far for me. I simply won't do it.

It is funny, as a teen I was a gore hound. For the artistry of effects hit the magic liking part of me. But there are times where it is frequently overused as a shock that thinks it is a scare.