Agent H
Well-Known Member
That’s a good one I’m gonna start using that if it’s okay with you
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Disney (and others) at the Box Office - Current State of Affairs
- Thread starter Disney Analyst
- Start date
Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
I mostly agree with the exception of Elio, Freakier Friday, and Tron, I haven’t heard or seen much about any of them so it’s hard to predict what they’ll do. I think these will all live or die based on word of mouth.
I think Disney movies will have a profitable year though, my guess is 4 should make a huge profit, 3 should make decent profit, 2 may make or lose money, and I think 1 is destined to lose money. I would not be surprised if they make a billion in profit combined though. That’s a pretty solid year, especially after 2023.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
I've been on record as saying that I think Disney's 2025 will have some hits and some misses, and it'll be anyone's guess on which ones will fall in either column. But overall I agree Disney will likely have a solid year, and in my opinion will likely be the overall box office winner again for the year.
Agent H
Well-Known Member
My opinions on what will do well and what will not do well hits: fantastic 4 ( I think this one will make the most money overall besides avatar ) lilo and stitch hope this is a success the more stitch stuff the better imo. thunderbolts this is gonna be the fun Mcu movie this year out of all 4 of this set it’s the one I have the least confidence in. Zootopia 2 Avatar fire and ash easy billion, middle of the road: elio this could be very hit or miss it’s kinda the test for weather or not Pixar prioritizes sequels or original movies. Tron: ares Captain America: brave new world Stands a decent chance of flopping: Snow White and the 7 dwarfs. Freakier Friday relatively niche appeals to my nostalgia but probably not the general public.
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TalkingHead
Well-Known Member
Man nobody knows what Phase 5 (6? 7? whatever, normies lost track a long time ago) is building toward. There’s no single villain to
coalesce around and the multiverse stuff undercuts all the stakes even more than typical Marvel anything-is-possible nonsense. And throwing together a bunch of C and D list no-names isn’t going to move the dial. The best hope they have is Downey catching fire and pulling some of the old casual fans back in. I’m skeptical.
These movies have become tv episodes in a never ending series that general audiences have largely tuned out.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
It depends on what you mean C and D list here.
If you're talking about the characters I'd like to remind you that Phases 1-3 was built around many of those B, C, D listers that you seem to think didn't move the dial. They didn't get an A list character in the bunch until Spidey was added in, and now again with F4.
If you're talking about the actors, the MCU made most if not all into A listers to begin with, none were A listers prior to the MCU. And in the case of RDJ revived his career which was basically on life support.
But either way you slice it the MCU has the ability to turn both the characters and the actors into "A List". So we'll see what becomes of the current crop of characters and actors.
As for the "what is it building towards" conversation. As has been discussed in various threads over the last couple years it all building towards Secret Wars/Battle World where a reset will happen and then move into the age of Mutants. The MCU has already hinted at Mutants already in Phase 4, and did again here in Brave New World in Phase 5, along with the hints of Battle World. So that is what they are building toward, and have been during the entire Multiverse Saga.
Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
I had pretty low expectations for the box office of Stitch (despite loving the character myself) until after the Super Bowl ad, I saw so many positive posts about it on social media I’ve raised my box office expectations quite a bit.
The Thunderbolts Super Bowl ad also had similar, although smaller in my social circle, results. I saw a lot of posts from people excited about both.
The first Ne Zha film was a massive hit, not unlike Moana - so it's not surprising that a sequel would do even better with its fans financially at least!
Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
I agree with both your comment and Irishes response, it currently feels like they’re using relatively unknown characters (with the exception of F4, X, etc) but prior to the MCU I didn’t know most of those characters either.
Marvel needs to take a year or 2 off, figure out the next overarching storyline, and figure out how to tie a half dozen movies (or more) into the sole goal of fighting the next singular baddie. It’s been a jumbled mess with no clear direction since EndGame. The multiverse story may have eventually made sense but it was far too confusing and didn’t seem to tie together well at all.
Agent H
Well-Known Member
What is this?
Chinese Blockbuster 'Ne Zha 2' Overtakes 'Black Panther' and 'Deadpool & Wolverine' at the Box Office
Ne Zha 2 continues bringing in incredible box office results ahead of its international rollout. See how much the Chinese blockbuster has made so far.collider.com
Edit: The reception around the movie is very strangely suspicious. All the reviews are 10/10 and there’s something about them that feels very fake- like 99% on RT and 8.3 on iMDB, really? Box Office looks crazily high but it might just be Chinese hype
Agent H
Well-Known Member
No offense but I’ve been hearing “they need to take a year or two off” for a very long time it’s never going to happen and leaves marvel with no income for too long
Disney Irish
Premium Member
I agree they don’t need to take time off, but if you don’t think Marvel doesn’t have income outside of the MCU then you’re not aware of all the things they do. The MCU movies are not the only thing they produce.
Agent H
Well-Known Member
Right sorry not my brightest moment don’t know what I was thinking there
AdventureHasAName
Well-Known Member
I agree, the Thing is ultra-important. I think he's Marvel Top 10-level important (at least in terms of being publicly recognizable). But Doctor Doom is Darth Vader; he's the Joker. He's the center of every story he's involved in.
Agent H
Well-Known Member
I mean there’s comic books merchandise theme parks I mean really! What was I thinking?
Ghost93
Well-Known Member
While I agree that the use of C/D-list characters from the characters isn't helping the box office, the biggest problem with Marvel's recent financial failures is the quality of the movies themselves. Thor: Love and Thunder, Quantumania, The Marvels and Captain America: Brave New World are just lazily made movies with bad scripts. I didn't HATE Brave new world, but it is a completely disposable movie that will leave your mind minutes after leaving the theater.
The cinematography and special effects have also gone downhill for most MCU properties lately. I rewatched Titanic on Valentine's Day and it's downright absurd that a nearly 30-year-old movie has much better visual effects than a brand new movie like Brave New World. I guess that's the difference between a filmmaker like James Cameron who knows what he's doing and plans his movies well in advance versus Marvel Studios hastily rushing a movie into production and then having to reshoot the movie multiple times to try to salvage a disaster. I believe Cameron is going to have to save Disney at the box office once again this year with Avatar: Fire and Ash.
I'm optimistic that Thunderbolts and Fantastic 4 will be better movies, but I think the brand has been damaged so much, that their box office chances have been greatly diminished from what they would have been even two years ago.
The cinematography and special effects have also gone downhill for most MCU properties lately. I rewatched Titanic on Valentine's Day and it's downright absurd that a nearly 30-year-old movie has much better visual effects than a brand new movie like Brave New World. I guess that's the difference between a filmmaker like James Cameron who knows what he's doing and plans his movies well in advance versus Marvel Studios hastily rushing a movie into production and then having to reshoot the movie multiple times to try to salvage a disaster. I believe Cameron is going to have to save Disney at the box office once again this year with Avatar: Fire and Ash.
I'm optimistic that Thunderbolts and Fantastic 4 will be better movies, but I think the brand has been damaged so much, that their box office chances have been greatly diminished from what they would have been even two years ago.
Architectural Guinea Pig
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
A Chinese film that reportedly has surpassed Frozen and D&W in two weeks. Also with thirteen other films in the $1.5 billion club
To paraphrase a famous MCU line, you think we're the only country with blockbuster animated features and sequels?
(Also, it opened over Chinese New Year, THE big moviegoing time of year in the region.)easyrowrdw
Well-Known Member
Who were considered the A listers? I’m just curious. I knew of the four main Avengers (and Spiderman) before the MCU. Iron Man the least, but the others were pretty familiar to me. I don’t think I can say the same for any of the other MCU characters (Antman, Dr Strange, Guardians, etc). I could certainly be an outlier though.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
For the generic public that doesn't follow comics, prior to 2008 -
Iron Man was a song by Black Sabbath
Thor was just some Norse god from myths
Black Widow was the name of a spider (or a B movie from the 80s depending on your age)
Hawkeye was a character from the TV show MASH from the 70s
Prior to the MCU the general public didn't know the names Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, or Hawkeye, all of which were B, C, or D list characters in the comics. They knew Spider-Man and to a minor extent Hulk, of the 2 only Spider-Man was considered the A list of the comic world. And now with the introduction of the Fantastic Four, another A lister in the comics, they'll be adding another. For example who knew the Guardians of the Galaxy prior to 2014 outside of some comic nerds, they were C list characters.
So the MCU was built on the backs of minor league characters for its entirety that most if not all of the general public knew nothing about before 2008. Meaning that the MCU while going back to the minor leagues in Phases 4-6 can bring those same characters along and make them A listers just like they did with the others. We'll see how it all shakes out when we end Phase 6 in a couple years. But don't ever mistake that somehow the MCU is different now in Phase 4-6 with their characters being unknown as they've always been mostly unknown.
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