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

Casper Gutman

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
Ghost93 said:
Agreed. While I think the leaked Snow White pics don't look good, they might work out just fine in the context of the actual movie.

As for why Barbie is a success and not Disney movies, I do think marketing is part of it. But I also think — despite being based on a profitable toy and being signed off on by Mattel — the movie actually feels like a work of art. It's director Greta Gerwig's vision through and through. And that is refreshing to audiences.

Most Disney blockbuster movies are franchises, and I think audiences are getting "franchise fatigue." We previously thought it was just "superhero fatigue," but the box office failures of Faxt X, Indy 5 and Mission Impossible 7 seem to show audience resentment/exhaustion toward franchises. Probably because they can feel like factory-made products rather than works of art. Top Gun Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water don't apply, as they were first-time sequels to movies that came out so long ago that audiences hadn't gotten sick of the IP yet.

Also, people on this site have attributed "wokeness" to harming Disney, but I don't think that can be a sole factor as the Barbie movie is MUCH more "woke" than anything Disney has made in the past four years, yet is doing phenomenal at the box office and getting critical acclaim. Maybe most audiences don't mind movies being "woke" if the movie is actually good?
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All of the advertisements for Barbie very carefully obscured the strong feminist angle, so I'm not sure how much Gerwig's artistic voice was a pull (how many general filmgoers know who Gerwig is?). At the same time, I'm wildly skeptical that general audiences care very much about auteurist visions - and quite frankly, if they do, both M:I and Indy have rather strong directorial voices (consider Indy in light of Mangold's earlier works like Logan, The Wolverine, 3:10 to Yuma, Cop Land and there are clear thematic throughlines).

The marketing - and the focus on Disney - also meant that the culture warriors didn't turn their attention on the film until after its release. Now, I'm loathe to grant them much power, but the warriors clearly hold some sway - but in a more general sense, I think Disney has been dragged into a political arena of which people are just generally tired. The Culture War has made Disney escapism too real, loaded on too much baggage.

I'd also point out again that Doctor Strange and Wakanda Forever had much larger openings then Barbie and Thor was slightly lower but comparable.

Overall, Barbie benefitted from an excellent marketing campaign and from becoming a widespread meme. It will be interesting to see how it does moving forward - did the Barbenheimer phenomenon frontload crowds? How much room remains for word-of-mouth? - quite a lot, I suspect.
 
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drizgirl

Well-Known Member
dreday3 said:
Tom Cruise makes movies for fans as well as himself. That guy genuinely loves what he does and it shows. I am an unabashed Tom Cruise fan and will watch anything he does! I hope makes movies as long as he can. He's one of the last movie stars that can draw box office just with his name. Even if this latest isn't the greatest box office wise.

Knight and Day is such an underrated film. It was really funny. Edge of Tomorrow was also fantastic.

Tom Cruise will save us all. 😄
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I'm not excited about Tom Cruise as a person. But I do love his movies. Big fan here. But while he continues to bring you and me out to theaters, I just don't know if he can continue to get the audiences to the same degree. I guess we'll see.

Or it could be as simple as the packaging of this particular film. My friend was very excited to go, but bailed when she found out it's part 1 of 2. That does turn some people off. They assume they'll be left with a cliffhanger. I'm still going, but I see the point.
 
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GimpYancIent

Well-Known Member
So called influencers are viewed because they are hilarious and entertaining with all the nonsense they spew out, but, influence? NO just a very limited (small) group basement dwellers that perpetuate the nonsense. Generally, people gather information from multiple sources and then develop their own decisions. A good one is the push saying, "you cannot say anything if you don' see the movie", people either are interested or not based on teasers, trailers and word of mouth and will state so. If the general audience is not stimulated to see the movie, Oh Well, they won't and will so state, saving their time and money for something that interests. To say the movie was not liked after seeing it is now understood by most as dumb, the movie producers etc, have what they want. MONEY, and will the declare the movie a success regardless even though the audience would not agree. Now audiences are wise to the game and are declaring what is a success or not on their terms. Power to the audience.
 
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GimpYancIent

Well-Known Member
Casper Gutman said:
All of the advertisements for Barbie very carefully obscured the strong feminist angle, so I'm not sure how much Gerwig's artistic voice was a pull (how many general filmgoers know who Gerwig is?). At the same time, I'm wildly skeptical that general audiences care very much about auteurist visions - and quite frankly, if they do, both M:I and Indy have rather strong directorial voices (consider Indy in light of Mangold's earlier works like Logan, The Wolverine, 3:10 to Yuma, Cop Land and there are clear thematic throughlines).

The marketing - and the focus on Disney - also meant that the culture warriors didn't turn their attention on the film until after its release. Now, I'm loathe to grant them much power, but the warriors clearly hold some sway - but in a more general sense, I think Disney has been dragged into a political arena of which people are just generally tired. The Culture War has made Disney escapism too real, loaded on too much baggage.

I'd also point out again that Doctor Strange and Wakanda Forever had much larger openings then Barbie and Thor was slightly lower but comparable.

Overall, Barbie benefitted from an excellent marketing campaign and from becoming a widespread meme. It will be interesting to see how it does moving forward - did the Barbenheimer phenomenon frontload crowds? How much room remains for word-of-mouth? - quite a lot, I suspect.
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A point. Disney Marketing has steadily developed a poor marketing strategy over the last decade. Putting out what a select few with limited creativity and imagination want the audience to see rather than feed the audience what it wants.
 
Prince-1

Prince-1

Well-Known Member
GimpYancIent said:
Per Business Insider:
""Barbie" looks like it's blowing "Oppenheimer" out of the water this weekend as movie fans flock to see Margot Robbie play Mattel's plastic doll, although it seems both films are doing even better than their studios had hoped.
According to studio projections seen by The Hollywood Reporter, Greta Gerwig's film is heading for a $155 million domestic opening weekend, while Christopher Nolan's atomic bomb epic is set to take $77 million.
Internationally, "Barbie" is eyeing an additional $120 million to bring the total to $275 million, while "Oppenheimer" is expected to take in $89 million for a $166 million tally.
That means the first outing in the "Mattel Cinematic Universe" will outstrip Nolan by more than $100 million."

The competition for these films is each other. Other productions like "The Little Mermaid" are now off the radar.
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I think the expectations were high for both movies but no one actually thought that Oppenheimer had a chance to beat Barbie.
 
Casper Gutman

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
drizgirl said:
You're wrong. Lots of everyday people discussing this stuff and making their own decisions.
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"Everyday people" were not upset about a brief same sex kiss between tertiary characters in the back of a shot well before Lightyear opened. This garbage moves through an efficient network of culture war sources to people eager to be outraged, as we've JUST seen with that idiotic "$900 million loss" youtube video.
 
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DKampy

Well-Known Member
LittleBuford said:
The leaked photos don’t look good to me either, but it’s worth noting that the film’s costume designer is Sandy Powell, the same as for Cinderella. Perhaps, as you say, these otherwise proven and talented individuals have produced a dud on this occasion, but I think people are putting an awful lot of emphasis on a few (admittedly bad) pictures when it would be better to wait for more information before forming a reasonable judgement (which I know is what you’re saying to do anyway).
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If the photos are leaked and where not meant to be for public consumption I think it is best to wait for some official promotion from Disney to make assumption about the final product
 
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DKampy

Well-Known Member
celluloid said:
No one said they were judging the final product. They are judging it as it looks now.
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But people are judging…they are saying this movie is going to be awful and flop…I have not even looked at the photos…I am sure any film set could have a random photo leaked to cause people to think WTH
 
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dreday3

Well-Known Member
Epcot81Fan said:
It is Disney’s new curious strategy - to openly dare their audience not to like something and then blaming them for its failure.

The character of Snow White gets her name, literally, because her skin is white as snow, but Disney is intentionally casting a Hispanic actress in the role.

You can already hear their cries about “racism” and “internet trolls” while the company continues to hemorrhage hundreds of millions of shareholder dollars in film losses.

Curious strategy indeed….

Meanwhile, Barbie with a perfectly cast (and she’s hilarious in the film) Margot Robbie is having a $300M opening.

You keep doing you, Disney!
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Please don't attach that to me, that's not my feeling. I think the casting of Snow White is perfect.

The group in the photo looks like some ragtag group of hobos. 😄 It looks like they were going for a Monty Python feel, which I don't think they are.
 
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GimpYancIent

Well-Known Member
dreday3 said:
Please don't attach that to me, that's not my feeling. I think the casting of Snow White is perfect.

The group in the photo looks like some ragtag group of hobos. 😄 It looks like they were going for a Monty Python feel, which I don't think they are.
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If a Monty Pithon vibe is what was or was not being sought, Oh Well, they got it! Now to get away from it.
 

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