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

[BuddyThomas]

Everyone’s excited for Barbie!

But here’s the odd thing. I’ve read two positive reviews of the film in industry sources, and both make negative comments that the film sometimes feels like a freshman women’s study course and stops the satire dead several times to deliver Big Significant Speeches.

Oh no! It’s “woke!”

But where’s the rage? It’s muted or nonexistent, because Disney isn’t really being targeted primarily for the contents of its film. It’s being targeted as part of a larger moral panic about the fact that the ideology of the younger generation isn’t mirroring that of the older. That’s not unusual, of course. What IS unusual is that those younger folks aren’t changing their politics as they get older, and suddenly the generational divide becomes an existential crisis. Thus, the culture war has launched a frantic assault on everything associated with childhood, education, and character formation - schools, colleges, libraries… and Disney. That’s why the mouse is in the crosshairs while any number of seemingly more controversial films - like Barbie - come out from other studios.

Well, I have not seen it yet (seeing it tomorrow night) but if anyone needs to have a moral panic over a Barbie movie, regardless of how "woke" (a good word, not a bad word) it is, then they need to seek therapy immediately.

 

[BuddyThomas]

I was driving all day today, did I miss anything?

No? Good. I drove 7 hours across the desert to get to San Diego. First 2 hours to Las Vegas I listened to the news on Sirius, then had a long lunch/layover at Caesars Palace, then the last 5 hours to the La Jolla Parkway offramp I listened to amateur travel and cooking podcasts.

Not a single Hollywood writer or actor was needed for that entertainment. It's no longer 1985 kids. The world has changed.

Why would you need a writer or actor to entertain you on a car ride? Most people listen to music while they pay attention to the road.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Well, I have not seen it yet (seeing it tomorrow night) but if anyone needs to have a moral panic over a Barbie movie, regardless of how "woke" (a good word, not a bad word) it is, then they need to seek therapy immediately.

The reviews are positive, but they agree it’s VERY political, and not particularly subtle or nuanced about it - they really smack the audience around the head and neck with it.

But it hasn’t been targeted by the culture war machine largely for the reasons I talked about, so the usual suspects haven’t been activated.

 

[TP2000]

Why would you need a writer or actor to entertain you on a car ride? Most people listen to music while they pay attention to the road.

Because as I mentioned, the entertainment was entirely the spoken word done mostly by amateurs. But it was either via satellite news in the middle of the desert, or via amateur podcasters I follow. None of that would have been possible during the 1980's Hollywood strikes.

I saved the actual music done by unionized professionals until I turned onto La Jolla Parkway, then I cued up my traditional "Driving Into Town For The Summer" music of The Beach Boys. I played "Surfin USA" on La Jolla Parkway, and "I Get Around" from La Jolla Shores Drive to my driveway.

 

[BuddyThomas]

The reviews are positive, but they agree it’s VERY political, and not particularly subtle or nuanced about it - they really smack the audience around the head and neck with it.

But it hasn’t been targeted by the culture war machine largely for the reasons I talked about, so the usual suspects haven’t been activated.

Ted Cruz and others of his ilk is already blabbering nonsense about it, but it is not going to work. This film appears to be a major summer hit. We will know for sure in a few days.

 

[TP2000]

Our tickets for Barbie aren't until next weekend the 29th, but I just checked and our theater is already sold out entirely for Barbie that night. We have seven seats in a lounge chair n' waitress service theater where you sit in pairs of two with a cocktail table between you, and even the one empty seat next to our 7 seats is taken.

Barbie is going to be huge, and I'm so glad I thought to snap up the tickets a few weeks ago. I'm rarely that good at planning.

 

[Disney Irish]

Nothing ties anything together from the beginning...as it has to be a hit first.
If Iron man was not a hit first, we would not have gotten Captain America and others rushing to tie in.
And clearly you have not watched the Universal classics that certainly do.

So the splitting hairs part.
Your other comment about it lasting longer than any other IP property is complete bunk because MCU did not start.as a film series until 2008 and it's 2023.
Even if you counted when Marvel movies were first seen as viable attempts in cinema, we go back to the 80s.

Monsters and Bond for example, have far outlasted that, with their own ebb and flow of course.

Ok my friend. Obviously there have been other cinematic universes, not saying there haven't been.

Maybe you have something against the MCU, I don't know. But I'm sorry to have touched a nerve with you.

With the examples you gave, its not unified like the MCU. There nothing that ties Connery's Bond stories to Dalton's Bond stories, they are reboots using the same character, its not a shared universe like the MCU. The same with the Universal Monsters Universe. The standalone monster films didn't interweave the stories to the "team-up" films, and vice-versa. You didn't see Dracula for example in a standalone Frankenstein movie. So its not the same, and is really an oversimplification of the "shared universe" concept.

So again nothing against those other universes, they are all great. And if I might they were a stepping stone to what Marvel did with the MCU. So they get their due in my book, but the MCU is something different. Maybe there is some Japanese Cinematic Universe that I'm not aware of, so who knows. But right now to me the MCU has done it better, but ymmv.

 

[BuddyThomas]

Our tickets for Barbie aren't until next weekend the 29th, but I just checked and our theater is already sold out entirely for Barbie that night. We have seven seats in a lounge chair n' waitress service theater where you sit in pairs of two with a cocktail table between you, and even the one empty seat next to our 7 seats is taken.

Barbie is going to be huge, and I'm so glad I thought to snap up the tickets a few weeks ago. I'm rarely that good at planning.

Yes we have already figured that out. Enjoy your screening.

 

[celluloid]

Ok my friend. Obviously there have been other cinematic universes, not saying there haven't been.

Maybe you have something against the MCU, I don't know. But I'm sorry to have touched a nerve with you.

With the examples you gave, its not unified like the MCU. There nothing that ties Connery's Bond stories to Dalton's Bond stories, they are reboots using the same character, its not a shared universe like the MCU. The same with the Universal Monsters Universe. The standalone monster films didn't interweave the stories to the "team-up" films, and vice-versa. You didn't see Dracula for example in a standalone Frankenstein movie. So its not the same, and is really an oversimplification of the "shared universe" concept.

So again nothing against those other universes, they are all great. And if I might they were a stepping stone to what Marvel did with the MCU. So they get their due in my book, but the MCU is something different. Maybe there is some Japanese Cinematic Universe that I'm not aware of, so who knows. But right now to me the MCU has done it better, but ymmv.

You did not touch a nerve, but once again, you post things unactual and then act like the issue is you must have touched a nerve with someone.

I think interstudio wise, it is fair to say MCU was unique.

 

[Disney Irish]

I think interstudio wise, it is fair to say MCU was unique.

And that is ultimately what I was saying, the MCU created a unique interwoven cinematic universe. I'm happy you concur with that sentiment.

 

[celluloid]

And that is ultimately what I was saying, the MCU created a unique interwoven cinematic universe. I'm happy you concur with that sentiment.

Yes, the one that was untrue was after that where you stated:
"It has lasted longer than any other IP based franchise."

 

[wtyy21]

It's going to be quite the movie weekend.

Barbie director Greta Gerwig explains movieâs âmic dropâ ending â latest

Gerwig broke the domestic box office record for female director with ‘Barbie’ debut

www.independent.co.uk

That's really coincides with limited theatrical re-release of Toy Story 1 (1995) in some theaters (currently POTC 1 showed at theatres until today).

Regardless of that, these two films (Barbie and Oppenheimer) are expected to open big this weekend, either domestic or overseas, and also would be the another battle of two summer films released at the same date (after The Flash vs Elemental on June 16 and Indy 5 vs Ruby Gilman on June 30). For Warner Bros., this is a film that really need to save WB after The flash's disastrous flop.

 

[TP2000]

For Warner Bros., this is a film that really need to save WB after The flash's disastrous flop.

TP2000 Pro Tip to Warner Brothers: Don't hire creepy child groomers like that weirdo in The Flash, and only hire lovely and attractive actors and actresses like Margot Robbie the former Pan Am stewardess and whoever is playing Ken with those abs whose name escapes me.

 

[Disney Irish]

Yes, the one that was untrue was after that where you stated:
"It has lasted longer than any other IP based franchise."

I see where the issue is, you misunderstood what I was saying, and that is partially my fault for not being clearer.

But hey let us move on and just agree to disagree.

 

[DKampy]

If you’re talking about Barbie, it is expected to be huge. I tried to go see an early screening tonight but it was completely sold out. I scored a ticket for tomorrow night, barely. Almost every ticket for Barbie at prime hours are sold out tomorrow. As to what I watched tonight instead of Barbie, a rare theatre screening of the original Terrifier. LOL - not what I was in the mood for/

Yeah… the momentum is real.., who would of guessed in 2022 Barbie could be the biggest
Movie of summer 2023

I am seeing it Sunday… and I am beyond hyped for it… I would not have though that would happen 6 months ago… the marketing has been genius

 

[DKampy]

Well, I have not seen it yet (seeing it tomorrow night) but if anyone needs to have a moral panic over a Barbie movie, regardless of how "woke" (a good word, not a bad word) it is, then they need to seek therapy immediately.

Agreed… I have a couple of coworkers that complain of people being “woke”… I immediately respond with I am woke… shuts them up quickly

But I think the big take away is you are not seeing the outrage with Barbie the same way you are with every Disney movie… which I think would be different if it was produced by Disney… says something about this so called “Culture War”

 

[Casper Gutman]

I will be very interested in reactions to Barbie. It sounds surprisingly didactic.

 

[Phroobar]

‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ to Ignite Summer Box Office in Historic Showdown

Warner Bros. and Mattel's 'Barbie' movie could strut past $100 million in its domestic opening, followed by Christopher Nolan's latest feature with as much as $50 million or more.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[celluloid]

Conservative armchair orediction. I think Barbie will fall in the 102 opening weekend range and Oppenheimer will be sl.a hard one to peg at 38 to 50 opening.

Both will match or (with Barbie) likely stomp haunted Mansion's release next week.

 

[flynnibus]

Eh, I'm not discounting any other "universe" out there. But arguably the MCU has been the first to have a unified universe from the beginning that has tied all the movies together into one overarching continuous story. Universal Monsters for example didn't do that and wasn't conceived as that from the beginning.

So short of maybe Kevin Smith's ViewAskew Universe, which I'm a huge fan of, there really hasn't been another like the MCU. At least that I can remember, but I'm open to being corrected.

The wizarding world would like a word….