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

[Disney Irish]

Disney Irish…
no need for mockery in response to a good-faith contribution. Let’s keep the discussion constructive and respectful.

Constructively and respectfully, if you've followed this thread you'd know that I'm very capable of knowing when a movie reaches the breakeven point. Its something those of us who constantly post in this thread discuss religiously. Its why it should have been pretty obvious my post about Gladiator 2 was meant to be humorous and rhetorical, something others picked up on, and why I responded the way I did to your post which is just copy/pasted from a Google search, something I could very well do on my own.

 

[MagicMouseFan]

The industry eviscerated Zalev over this. Financially if pre/post theatrical is covering additional spend beyond production, they are generally getting ahead of an outright write off. It's a pretty bad business move unless you can stop a production a lot earlier.

I won't outright lie and say this movie has blockbuster potential, but it could recoup costs if the public likes it. We also have to acknowledge this is a global movie and most of the reason people really think it is going to fail (controversial statements from its lead) are going to be completely missed by the broader audience, let alone the International one.

I'm not trying to frame this as a total defence. More that I just think 500M on this production seems a lot more likely than 75-100M. Which is a benchmark it would need to undershoot to have been better written off.

Most of the controversy happened over a year ago, so the question now is… how will these factors impact the film’s reception and success in March? Honestly… I have no idea, have to wait and see.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

In another example of Universal's aggressive PVOD strategy, Nosferatu is now available to buy/rent 4 weeks after its theatrical release. People who buy the digital copy can watch the extended cut not in theaters.

 

[BrianLo]

I imagine there was at least a few weeks in 2023 when they considered that; write it off, send it to Disney+ with a whimper, and pretend it all never happened.

A true write off means the film never sees the light of day, including streaming. It’s essentially just thrown out. Obviously very hard to make that math work once it’s made.

Very good point on the overseas market. Is Snow White a widely anticipated movie in Europe and Asia? I won't pretend to know that

Me neither. The only thing I’ll add is apparently Disney felt Snow White was known enough in China to dedicate several SDL attractions to it, which probably speaks to some awareness going on in the broader Asia market.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Honestly while I don't believe there were major rewrites and reshoots that changed the whole concept of the film, in the end who cares? As long as the end result is a watchable film I don't care if they had to rewrite every line from the script or throw out the script completely and reshoot every minute of film. Everything else is just commentary for those that haven't liked the project for one reason or another anyways.

The funny thing is my comment was meant to say basically the same thing, if they can overcome all the negativity surrounding this, make a good movie in the end, and break even they deserve a massive bonus. People just ignored that message to get upset at the language I used to suggest they’d changed the film, which all movies do with reshoots and in editing.

If this thing breaks even, or better yet makes money, it’ll be a massive Cinderella story (forgive the Disney pun).

 

[erasure fan1]

Honestly while I don't believe there were major rewrites and reshoots that changed the whole concept of the film, in the end who cares? As long as the end result is a watchable film I don't care if they had to rewrite every line from the script or throw out the script completely and reshoot every minute of film. Everything else is just commentary for those that haven't liked the project for one reason or another anyways.

I completely agree with the who cares aspect as well. Rogue one was 80 some percent re-done and it turned out great in my opinion. In the end if it's good, I'm on board.

I will say that when someone says the film did go through major reshoots, the same thing applies. Who cares? Either way neither side knows for sure what actually happened. The reason it's talked about is because it's a discussion forum. I know you don't like the term red flag. But these things we're talking about could be relevant to how the film does. So from that aspect it's worth discussing. Otherwise what are any of us really doing?

 

[DKampy]

Snow White was delayed in the midst of the dual strikes….for all we know it was due to reshoots(which nearly all big budget movies have figured from the beginning)….perhaps after that they needed to find the availability to promote the film….That’s what I always figured anyway…. Elio was also announced on the same. Date that it was delayed a year as well

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Honestly while I don't believe there were major rewrites and reshoots that changed the whole concept of the film, in the end who cares? As long as the end result is a watchable film I don't care if they had to rewrite every line from the script or throw out the script completely and reshoot every minute of film. Everything else is just commentary for those that haven't liked the project for one reason or another anyways.

Exactly. People have no business even knowing the creative process nor the mechanics of things. They guess and assume, clearly having no idea how projects in general always start with certain ideas that morph along the way. Acting like that’s some kind of scandal is silly.

 

[Disney Irish]

I completely agree with the who cares aspect as well. Rogue one was 80 some percent re-done and it turned out great in my opinion. In the end if it's good, I'm on board.

I will say that when someone says the film did go through major reshoots, the same thing applies. Who cares? Either way neither side knows for sure what actually happened. The reason it's talked about is because it's a discussion forum. I know you don't like the term red flag. But these things we're talking about could be relevant to how the film does. So from that aspect it's worth discussing. Otherwise what are any of us really doing?

In reality none of this is even that discussion worthy in my opinion, its a footnote at best. I had a longer reply but thought better of it as it would only add more unworthy discussion to a topic that has already gotten the main Snow White thread shutdown.

If the movie is bad it'll be known right away and I'm sure there will be endless discussions about it with every poster coming out of the woodwork to make comments. If its good however then as usual I don't expect much discussion since it'll just be the few usual folks talking about the box office.

 

[erasure fan1]

In reality none of this is even that discussion worthy in my opinion, its a footnote at best.

True, but couldn't we say that about this whole site? I mean how does talking about Disney getting rid of an ice cream sandwich really matter? We do it because we like talking about Disney, not because it really matters.

If its good however then as usual I don't expect much discussion since it'll just be the few usual folks talking about the box office.

If snow white is good, it wouldn't surprise me if gets decent engagement here. Because no one is expecting that. Not even from most of the people who usually stick up for Disney. If it's actually a good movie and does well, I have no problem eating some crow. From what I've noticed, when the box office people leave a thread, the movie discussion usually dies off pretty quickly. So it's really up to the supporters to keep the discussion on the film itself going.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

In reality none of this is even that discussion worthy in my opinion, its a footnote at best. I had a longer reply but thought better of it as it would only add more unworthy discussion to a topic that has already gotten the main Snow White thread shutdown.

If the movie is bad it'll be known right away and I'm sure there will be endless discussions about it with every poster coming out of the woodwork to make comments. If its good however then as usual I don't expect much discussion since it'll just be the few usual folks talking about the box office.

It might be good with bad CGI. That wouldn’t be a first.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

True, but couldn't we say that about this whole site? I mean how does talking about Disney getting rid of an ice cream sandwich really matter? We do it because we like talking about Disney, not because it really matters.

If snow white is good, it wouldn't surprise me if gets decent engagement here. Because no one is expecting that. Not even from most of the people who usually stick up for Disney. If it's actually a good movie and does well, I have no problem eating some crow. From what I've noticed, when the box office people leave a thread, the movie discussion usually dies off pretty quickly. So it's really up to the supporters to keep the discussion on the film itself going.

I think the conversation surrounding “why” something failed also creates more discussion.

If a movie or show is good we typically post a couple times about what we liked about it, if it’s bad we dissect it and talk about what they should have done. Agatha, Skeleton Crew, etc are good recent examples of this, it’s the same people in those threads as this one, much fewer posts though because most of us liked them.

We do this with movies, tv shows, rides, shops, etc.

 

[Prince-1]

Exactly. People have no business even knowing the creative process nor the mechanics of things. They guess and assume, clearly having no idea how projects in general always start with certain ideas that morph along the way. Acting like that’s some kind of scandal is silly.

Let's be honest, hardly anyone, besides a small sub group of movie fans, knows about any controversy with Snow White. If it doesn't do well at the box office it's because people chose to spend their money elsewhere and not because of anything that Zegler said.

 

[erasure fan1]

I think the conversation surrounding “why” something failed also creates more discussion.

Exactly. There is a natural curiosity to find out/figure out, why something didn't work. Yea it doesn't mean squat, as none of us will be making the next whatever it is we're talking about. Not all of us are critical because we're just out to get Disney. Some of us just want to see Disney be better.

 

[Disney Irish]

True, but couldn't we say that about this whole site? I mean how does talking about Disney getting rid of an ice cream sandwich really matter? We do it because we like talking about Disney, not because it really matters.

Except in this context it matters even less. Disney getting rid of an ice cream sandwich affects someone on this site directly which is why its discussed, Snow White affects no one directly which is why all of this is even less worthy of discussion.

If snow white is good, it wouldn't surprise me if gets decent engagement here. Because no one is expecting that. Not even from most of the people who usually stick up for Disney. If it's actually a good movie and does well, I have no problem eating some crow. From what I've noticed, when the box office people leave a thread, the movie discussion usually dies off pretty quickly. So it's really up to the supporters to keep the discussion on the film itself going.

I doubt it, if its good like most other movies I expect after the initial discussion which usually only lasts a couple day it'll die down, even the box office talk.

 

[Disney Irish]

BTW, for what is worth Disney's (via Searchlight) The Complete Unknown was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Along with noms for Chalamet, Norton, and Barbaro for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress respectively.

 

[Disney Irish]

Inside Out 2 was nominated for Best Animated Feature.

 

[brideck]

A Real Pain also got a writing nomination, along with Kieran Culkin for Best Supporting Actor. Missed out on Best Picture, though.

Alien: Romulus and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes both got VFX nods.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

A Real Pain also got a writing nomination, along with Kieran Culkin for Best Supporting Actor. Missed out on Best Picture, though.

Alien: Romulus and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes both got VFX nods.

I still haven’t finished Alien: Romulus on D+. I loved the Alien movies when I was a kid and really looked forward to this but apparently I’m becoming a bit of a chicken as I get older.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Tracking for Promising $90M-Plus U.S. Box Office Debut

The Marvel sequel sees Anthony Mackie take over duties as the marquee superhero, which opens over Presidents Day weekend.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Captain America with a reported $180 million budget. Anti-doomers, are we back?