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

[Disney Analyst]

Even just talking about Facebook, something changed for me in the algorithm in the middle of January. First of all, they automatically switched everyone who followed the office of the president to following the new president. That apparently led to some right wing content in my feed. When I unfollowed the president, that changed.

However, my Facebook experience is still very different today than it was a month ago. I am inundated with little garbage pages that somehow have around 1 million followers, and the name of the page might be misleading as one of my interests, like music, but the articles are all click bait. Many, many of them are bashing the new Snow White and other Disney films, like at least 10 times a day. Many of these different pages keep showing me the same man wearing a dress, just to start fights. I block one of those pages, and another one pops up. It’s like getting spam calls or texts. (which I also get like crazy lol.)

People who are less Internet savvy will see these as “news articles.“ They are just drama. I wish I could get rid of them. I’m sure it’s because “Disney“ is one of my interests.

This is why I say there is a concerted effort to go after certain films, certain people, etc. It’s not just one site. It’s hundreds or more, all pushing the same false or exaggerated narratives. It’s a machine of disinformation, and people eat it up. They think it’s real. They think it’s journalism. They are just trolling for more, “That’s not my Snow White.“ “That’s not my Captain America.“ Then they have engagement because people get into fights back-and-forth.

Oh my god, I thought I was the only one. Facebook turned into such trash. I mean, I wasn’t going on that much these days, but when I did I could pop in, see my friends posts, or pages I follow… now it’s just a mess of weird fake things. Fake news. Pages that are suspicious…and people believe garbage stuff that circulates on there (like recently I saw someone sharing some new Disney movie coming out that does not exist…)

It’s just garbage.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

If I'm not mistaken (and unsurprisingly), it's doing better in countries where people are already familiar with the stage version of Wicked and/or The Wizard of Oz. Japan, I believe, is one of those countries, with its own production of the musical, so the film does indeed have decent prospects there.

Do we know why some films open with such disparity of time frames between countries?

Do we think it’s just simply there was no room in the schedule in Japan? Or is it strategic, somehow?

 

[LittleBuford]

Do we know why some films open with such disparity of time frames between countries?

Do we think it’s just simply there was no room in the schedule in Japan? Or is it strategic, somehow?

I’m afraid I have no idea!

 

[Disney Irish]

Do we know why some films open with such disparity of time frames between countries?

Do we think it’s just simply there was no room in the schedule in Japan? Or is it strategic, somehow?

Studios negotiate release dates with each overseas countries film bureau. Sometimes they are dated the same as other countries, sometimes they are staggered release dates. So sometimes its get the luck of the draw, sometimes its strategic. Japan also has a limited number of screens and too many movies to release onto those limited screens including Japanese films which get priority. So sometimes movies have to wait until months after its regular international release for other countries like Japan to release their film.

 

[AdventureHasAName]

Oh my god, I thought I was the only one. Facebook turned into such trash. I mean, I wasn’t going on that much these days, but when I did I could pop in, see my friends posts, or pages I follow… now it’s just a mess of weird fake things. Fake news. Pages that are suspicious…and people believe garbage stuff that circulates on there (like recently I saw someone sharing some new Disney movie coming out that does not exist…)

It’s just garbage.

If you are using a laptop or desktop, you can set your facebook bookmark to this link (below) and it will give you what facebook used to be about four years ago. Almost entirely your friends' posts with a handful of ads sprinkled in.

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

www.facebook.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

Even just talking about Facebook, something changed for me in the algorithm in the middle of January. First of all, they automatically switched everyone who followed the office of the president to following the new president. That apparently led to some right wing content in my feed. When I unfollowed the president, that changed.

However, my Facebook experience is still very different today than it was a month ago. I am inundated with little garbage pages that somehow have around 1 million followers, and the name of the page might be misleading as one of my interests, like music, but the articles are all click bait. Many, many of them are bashing the new Snow White and other Disney films, like at least 10 times a day. Many of these different pages keep showing me the same man wearing a dress, just to start fights. I block one of those pages, and another one pops up. It’s like getting spam calls or texts. (which I also get like crazy lol.)

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules of Zuckerberg's game
Too late for My Spacing
Too late for Mastodon
It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes and leap
It's time to try Blueskying society
I think I'll try Blueskying piety
And you can't troll me down

 

[TP2000]

I just don’t care. You do, or claim to, which is your right, but an actor’s inoffensive personal opinions are so far down my list of priorities that I really do not and cannot understand the apparent fuss.

I have no desire to see Snow White, it's just not my scene, so I'm not in the demographic. But there are a lot of people in that core Disney Princess movie demographic; parents with daughters aged 5 to 11.

The issue here is that a lot of the people buying tickets in that core demographic (parents) do not find Rachel Zegler's recent comments inoffensive. In fact, many consider her comments downright offensive. Thus, the controversy.

Until reading this, I actually didn’t know that it had just this weekend become the highest-grossing 2024 release in the UK and Ireland. That’s a massive achievement, and absolutely deserved! In North America, by contrast, it remains a distant third behind Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine.

That's an interesting statistic! I had said a few weeks ago that I thought Wicked was getting a good run in the UK thanks to the London West End theater scene and the obvious familiarity with the Wicked product. Let's separate the UK/Ireland box office from the Overseas box office for Wicked and see what happens...

Current Wicked Box Office
USA, Population 330 Million = $469 Million, or 66% of Global Box Office
UK/Ireland, Population 72 Million = $76 Million, or 10% of Global Box Office
Rest Of Planet With Access To First Run Movies, Population 4 Billion = $172 Million, or 24% of Global Box Office

That's a huge number comparatively for the UK/Ireland! The total population of the UK/Ireland is 72 Million people, or roughly the population of California, New York and Pennsylvania combined. Wicked is clearly a huge hit there, while being a rather weak box office performer in the rest of the world.

Again, I can't help but think London's West End theater scene and all its UK fans play a big part in that success for Wicked.

Wicked (2024) - Financial Information

Financial analysis of Wicked (2024) including budget, domestic and international box office gross, DVD and Blu-ray sales reports, total earnings and profitability.

thenumbers.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

Anthony Mackie Clarifies Captain America Comment Amid Backlash: “I’m A Proud American”

Captain America: Brave New World star Anthony Mackie caught backlash for a comment he made about the Marvel superhero while promoting the film in Italy.

deadline.com

 

[TP2000]

Anthony Mackie Clarifies Captain America Comment Amid Backlash: “I’m A Proud American”

Captain America: Brave New World star Anthony Mackie caught backlash for a comment he made about the Marvel superhero while promoting the film in Italy.

deadline.com

View attachment 840724​

Hmm....

This one was obviously Wordsmithed by a Disney Comms rep and approved by at least two mid-level Burbank execs while Xanaxing N' Chardonaying themselves through a mild panic, and yet it's only about 80% of the way there.

 

[LittleBuford]

The issue here is that a lot of the people buying tickets in that core demographic (parents) do not find Rachel Zegler's recent comments inoffensive. In fact, many consider her comments downright offensive. Thus, the controversy.

Perhaps you missed this:

The answer as I see it is not for actors to be reined in or censured (unless their statements cross a line, as Zegler's post-election outburst did), but for the public to keep things in perspective.

But the controversy surrounding Zegler predated her inappropriate political statement by many months, going back to her comments about the original animated film. By no reasonable measure can those comments be considered offensive, even if one personally disagrees with them. The same applies to yesterday’s Mackie “controversy”.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

If you are using a laptop or desktop, you can set your facebook bookmark to this link (below) and it will give you what facebook used to be about four years ago. Almost entirely your friends' posts with a handful of ads sprinkled in.

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

www.facebook.com

Facebook was great in its prime. Everyone I knew was on there and most posted regularly, so it really was a great way to keep up with people.

Unfortunately, I think the damage is done. That link you shared seems to work, but most people have left.

 

[Agent H]

Facebook? I thought we were talking about twitter sorry everyone I was really tired last night

 

[erasure fan1]

So since your stance is that what he said could have been improved. Then can you please provide an example of what you would consider improved while still getting across what he meant based on his own personal feelings and background.

"Captain America represents a lot of different things for many different people. It’s about a man who keeps his word, who has honor, dignity and integrity. Someone who is trustworthy and dependable. He's someone who can be looked up to by everyone."

I don't think it's really that hard. My expertise isn't in PR management. But anyone paying any bit of attention to the world could tell you that the "America shouldn't be" line was going to make headlines for the worse.

I think what I changed gets his point across. If you don't think that gets the point across, that would mean there's truth to the assumption he has a problem with America. And I personally don't believe that is the case.

 

[MisterPenguin]

But the controversy surrounding Zegler predated her inappropriate political statement by many months, going back to her comments about the original animated film.

And suffered under the movie studios strikes which prevented actors from making public statements.

While the hate-o-sphere were in a moral panic over something an actor said and kept hounding it, she couldn't do a correction or follow-up like Mackie just did.

 

[LittleBuford]

And suffered under the movie studios strikes which prevented actors from making public statements.

While the hate-o-sphere were in a moral panic over something an actor said and kept hounding it, she couldn't do a correction or follow-up like Mackie just did.

I’m glad she didn’t. Nothing she said about the original film warranted a correction.

 

[Stripes]

"Captain America represents a lot of different things for many different people. It’s about a man who keeps his word, who has honor, dignity and integrity. Someone who is trustworthy and dependable. He's someone who can be looked up to by everyone."

I don't think it's really that hard. My expertise isn't in PR management. But anyone paying any bit of attention to the world could tell you that the "America shouldn't be" line was going to make headlines for the worse.

I think what I changed gets his point across. If you don't think that gets the point across, that would mean there's truth to the assumption he has a problem with America. And I personally don't believe that is the case.

Does anybody know what exactly the question was?

And I personally don't believe that is the case.

It’s not just you. Any person that actually understands the character knows what he meant. But some people need to virtue signal and thus a manufactured controversy was born.

 

[brideck]

Does anybody know what exactly the question was?

I've only seen it translated in the Newsweek piece, where it was rendered as "What does Captain America represent to you today, as a superhero?" [ETA: With the caveat that we have no idea how the question was specifically translated in his earpiece. It's not as if he speaks Italian.]

So that reworded answer of "represents a lot of different things for many different people" is mealy-mouthed at best as a response to a personal question.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

And suffered under the movie studios strikes which prevented actors from making public statements.

While the hate-o-sphere were in a moral panic over something an actor said and kept hounding it, she couldn't do a correction or follow-up like Mackie just did.

I’m glad she didn’t. Nothing she said about the original film warranted a correction.

Maybe she will get a chance when she is promoting SW. She actually should have a well-rehearsed answer by now. And one for the other thing, which was fine to say IMO, just stupid to say at that moment. Wait until after the film comes out.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Whoever was going to see the movie will still see it and whoever didn’t want to see it still won’t. The interview won’t move the needle either way.

What will move the needle is how folks like the movie once it’s out. If it’s a good movie word will quickly get around.

And as we saw with Mufasa, the longer a movie is able to stay in theaters, the better chance it has to break even at the box office.

A quick google search says the budget for Captain America is 180M, therefore using the 2.5x all the experts on these boards say to use, that’s 450M and it seems to me it could easily hit that if it stays in the theaters long enough.

 

[erasure fan1]

But do I myself believe that actors should be taught to avoid expressing inoffensive opinions that others may not agree with? No, I don't. Not that I follow what any of them say, but if I did, I'd rather hear their own unvarnished words than some corporate boilerplate.

I guess my question would be, then why do you care when things like this blow up? If you support actors just saying what pops in their head with no coaching, then you should be expecting that certain comments are going to go south. That's just the reality of it.

I'm not sure why we still have this all or nothing mentality. Why does helping someone tweak what they are trying to say turn into "some corporate boilerplate"? Never did I suggest that's what should happen.