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

[Disstevefan1]

Yes, but did you have gold fish in your heels? All the cool kids did....

Oh I see that now! Ha! No I did not.... I was never that groovy.

 

[Disney Irish]

Oh I see that now! Ha! No I did not.... I was never that groovy.

And here I thought you were one of the cool kids....

 

[Willmark]

From earlier up thread- in real life, hockey players are Canadian, if anything. As I recall at least the plurality are, something like 41% of all US based teams in the NHL are Canadian (off the top of my head that is. ETA: yep according to this at least: https://thehockeywriters.com/current-nhl-players-by-country) I’d have to look up the makeup of the 7 or so Canadian based teams...Point being its Canada's sport, or was until last week. We'll see what Thursday brings.

Who wins the U.S.-Canada rematch? Goalie confidence, X factors, keys to victory

Team USA won the first matchup 3-1. Will Canada get its revenge? Or will the hosts make it a clean sweep in Boston on Thursday?

www.espn.com

Go back to the late 1970s and it was almost all Canadians (or at least the majority ~75%), but since that time it has been gaining more and more US players. Not quite there yet but the US has been narrowing the gap since the Vancouver Olympics at the very least.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

As a Swedish-American myself, I wonder if he escaped the childhood of Lutefisk dinners?

I didn’t realize Lutefisk was a dish in other Scandinavian nations, I thought it was limited to us crazy Norwegians. My grandparents loved it but I’ve still never tried it as I could never get beyond the smell.

Before the introduction of AI Overview, the top result would be a featured snippet of an actual website. That snippet wasn't always correct, of course, but it tended to be more useful than whatever (mis)information is being spewed out now. But yes, I agree that it's never been enough just to rely on a quick search result without bothering to verify its accuracy.

This is good to know, I’ve always glanced over the first couple results and as long as they matched ran with them also, I’ve noticed a change in the look of the results but didn’t realize it had gone full AI and was less accurate now.

I was in high school in the 60's and we had gay kids, and who cared? We all treated each other the same. No one teased them, no comments were made. I guess times they have a changed!

Yes, it was a rural school near an air force base, so we had the base kids too. Really, it was like that and I'm glad I lived in a time when that was possible. I know not everyone did.

Sounds like you grew up in the same small town I did, except I was a state over in North Dakota, for all the talk of middle America being less accepting I never witnessed it, my big sister was really into acting and drama and had quite a few gay friends, her crew was hilarious so I always tagged along and hung out with them wherever they’d go and never saw anyone treat them differently than anyone else. I’m sure there were exceptions but I never witnessed it.

It wasn’t until I moved to Utah in the 90s I realized that wasn’t always the case. I worked as a server in my high school years and always worked Monday nights since I wasn’t LDS (that’s when the church has designated family time) and can still distinctly remember when the LGBT club started reserving our banquet hall every Monday night because most of them weren’t welcome at their own families family night, I don’t think I’ll ever forget serving them and the inner conflicts I’d have from feeling sorry about their situation while also also laughing along with them because they had so much fun at dinner.

I hope that’s become a far rarer thing now than it was then.

 

[Disney Irish]

Sounds like you grew up in the same small town I did, except I was a state over in North Dakota, for all the talk of middle America being less accepting I never witnessed it, my big sister was really into acting and drama and had quite a few gay friends, her crew was hilarious so I always tagged along and hung out with them wherever they’d go and never saw anyone treat them differently than anyone else. I’m sure there were exceptions but I never witnessed it.

It wasn’t until I moved to Utah in the 90s I realized that wasn’t always the case. I worked as a server in my high school years and always worked Monday nights since I wasn’t LDS (that’s when the church has designated family time) and can still distinctly remember when the LGBT club started reserving our banquet hall every Monday night because most of them weren’t welcome at their own families family night, I don’t think I’ll ever forget serving them and the inner conflicts I’d have from feeling sorry about their situation while also also laughing along with them because they had so much fun at dinner.

I hope that’s become a far rarer thing now than it was then.

I think this is an important point, many people often think that their experiences in life is how everyone else experiences their lives and this couldn't be further from the truth, and I think this goes both ways by the way both positive and negative. I think we need to be aware that our own experiences are unique to us and us alone and not universal to everyone else, this I would think lead to a lot more empathy around the world.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I think this is an important point, many people often think that their experiences in life is how everyone else experiences their lives and this couldn't be further from the truth, and I think this goes both ways by the way both positive and negative. I think we need to be aware that our own experiences are unique to us and us alone and not universal to everyone else, this I would think lead to a lot more empathy around the world.

Indeed…this if very true.

And back to movies:

Some are good and some just empirically suck.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

There is a WHOLE range between "good" and "suck" that you're missing.

They don’t add sarcasm to the water where you live, huh?

 

[Disney Irish]

They don’t add sarcasm to the water where you live, huh?

Always with the jabs, huh chief?

And we were doing so well too.

 

[brideck]

And we were doing so well too.

I'm sure large swaths of this are liable to be moved to the purple ocean of non-existence eventually, but I agree with this for what it's worth. It's been a largely open and worthwhile conversation all around today, even though (because?) it largely hasn't been about box office. Thanks to all who've participated.

 

[DKampy]

I'm not sure who Gina Caramo is, and now I'm suddenly leery of going to Google.

But the Rachel Zegler thing, spread over several different interviews and planned statements over several years, is a textbook way to damage not just your own brand, but the product you are being paid to shill for. It's a PR firms worst nightmare from Miss Zegler.

I'm going to be really interested to see how they market Snow White next month, and how they use Miss Zegler to do that.

I was not necessarily calling you out…just something.I have noticed from others… and this point brought it up to forefront of my mind

That you brought up several years for Zegler is correct…. As the first comment she made went unnoticed for over a year… the rage-tubers went digging for a narrative spin on Snow White because Zegler did not have right pigmentation.,., which rallied their base

 

[DKampy]

Indeed…this if very true.

And back to movies:

Some are good and some just empirically suck.

And also realize that what “sucks”for one person might be “good” for another and vice versa

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

And also realize that what “sucks”for one person might be “good” for another and vice versa

The Fast and Furious franchise is a great example of this, these movies suck so bad (to me) I’ve never been able to finish one of them, I think even the ride at Uni sucks, yet they’ve made over $7 Billion… apparently a boatload of people disagree with my opinion of what sucks.

 

[DisneyWarrior27]

Don’t be so sure Brave New World legs out well.

Usually when comic book movies have a CinemaScore of a B or lower, they tend to drop 65-75% in weekend 2.

So we need to keep an eye out for that.

 

[brideck]

The Fast and Furious franchise is a great example of this, these movies suck so bad (to me) I’ve never been able to finish one of them, I think even the ride at Uni sucks, yet they’ve made over $7 Billion… apparently a boatload of people disagree with my opinion of what sucks.

I was totally in that boat until we decided to sit down and watch them all before... F9(?) came out. Remember that I'm the art-house guy who watches all the Oscar movies, and I think F&F are a hilarious good time with a lot of heart and absolutely ridiculous action set pieces. I'd be a moron if I took my same critical analysis to these that I do to most other movies because that's not what they're asking me to do. The plots never hint at any larger significance, there's not much in the way of subtext, they're just fun.

[I will freely admit that the first few street racing-focused movies are not as much fun. The series really hits its stride with the 4th & 5th installments, where the cast really starts to balloon, and the action gets outlandish.]

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I was totally in that boat until we decided to sit down and watch them all before... F9(?) came out. Remember that I'm the art-house guy who watches all the Oscar movies, and I think F&F are a hilarious good time with a lot of heart and absolutely ridiculous action set pieces. I'd be a moron if I took my same critical analysis to these that I do to most other movies because that's not what they're asking me to do. The plots never hint at any larger significance, there's not much in the way of subtext, they're just fun.

[I will freely admit that the first few street racing-focused movies are not as much fun. The series really hits its stride with the 4th & 5th installments, where the cast really starts to balloon, and the action gets outlandish.]

…I’m pretty sure they suck.

Saw the first one at pleasure island and spilled out laughing…

But there are anomalies…sometimes “suck” hits the right nerve

For instance: the two greatest movies ever are The Delta Force and Roadhouse…

And I’ll be outside to have words with anyone who says otherwise

 

[brideck]

…I’m pretty sure they suck.

So... you've seen the first one (which I lumped into the part of the franchise that's not as fun) and what... you think the other ten movies in the franchise are exactly the same and/or the same quality? I mean, if you like Road House methinks you're missing out here.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

The plots never hint at any larger significance, there's not much in the way of subtext, they're just fun.

The weird thing is I usually love this type of “grab some popcorn, turn your brain off, and just enjoy the ride” movie… the Jurassic Park movies (after the amazing original) have all been fairly bad but I love them, same with the first several Transformers movies, they aren’t good but they are super fun.

For whatever reason I’ve just never found the FF series fun, I’ve seen bits and pieces of most of them on TV, streaming, airplanes, etc but never seem to make it beyond 10-20 minutes before I’m bored and looking for something else to watch, just not my cup of tea.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

So... you've seen the first one (which I lumped into the part of the franchise that's not as fun) and what... you think the other ten movies in the franchise are exactly the same and/or the same quality? I mean, if you like Road House methinks you're missing out here.

All of this is a bit tongue in cheek…

It’s not for me. Doesn’t mean it can’t strike a nerve for the public

Cars and really bad false bravado/diss dialogue. I’m just not in the demo.

But they aren’t “quality cinema” by anyone’s account. Popcorn? Sure. And we all gobble popcorn at times

I tend to default to judging movies by the results. It’s the only way to keep a consistent ratings scale.

People obviously wanted that…they obviously reject many others.

 

[DKampy]

The Fast and Furious franchise is a great example of this, these movies suck so bad (to me) I’ve never been able to finish one of them, I think even the ride at Uni sucks, yet they’ve made over $7 Billion… apparently a boatload of people disagree with my opinion of what sucks.

I am with you on F&F

Another one is Transformers…I saw the first one which was rough to get through….I am all for popcorn escapism but I just did not connect to any of the characters and the action just looked like a bunch of nonsense to me… when people who even loved the first did not like the sequels… I knew I was done with the franchise

On the other side of the coin… I know it’s stupid and outlandish…. But I had fun with Argylle despite it being among the worst of the year for most

 

[brideck]

Another one is Transformers…I saw the first one which was rough to get through….I am all for popcorn escapism but I just did not connect to any of the characters and the action just looked like a bunch of nonsense to me… when people who even loved the first did not like the sequels… I knew I was done with the franchise

I think I've only seen the first Transformers and yeah... they are aggressively ugly movies to me, and I really dislike Michael Bay's sensibilities in general. The Bad Boys movies (of which I've seen the first 3) are all completely terrible from a craft perspective, too.

On the other side of the coin… I know it’s stupid and outlandish…. But I had fun with Argylle despite it being among the worst of the year for most

I think we both talked about Argylle being a lot of fun when it came out last year. F&F movies are definitely in the same category as that for me -- at least from Fast Five on.