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

[Disney Irish]

“It’s no one’s fault,” says Robbins. “COVID and inflation took the $100 million movies and made them cost $200 million. But movie tickets didn’t go from $12 to $24.​

Hmm, CEO of major Hollywood studio just said what some of us have been saying for quite awhile now as why movie budgets are so much higher now....

And yet some around here claim that these costs increases to movie budgets were just Disney spending more on craft services and massages. Robbins just shot that whole argument out of the water.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Hmm, CEO of major Hollywood studio just said what some of us have been saying for quite awhile now as why movie budgets are so much higher now....

And yet some around here claim that these costs increases to movie budgets were just Disney spending more on craft services and massages. Robbins just shot that whole argument out of the water.

Well... it could be both.

Also, I don't get a good vibe about Robbins from that article.

But yeah. Any movie that had production or release delayed by the pandemic was bound to have an unusually large budget.

We'll see if Disney can reign it in.

If movies are ever made again!!!

 

[Disney Irish]

Well... it could be both.

Also, I don't get a good vibe about Robbins from that article.

But yeah. Any movie that had production or release delayed by the pandemic was bound to have an unusually large budget.

We'll see if Disney can reign it in.

If movies are ever made again!!!

I remember him when he was on Head of the Class, ironically an ABC show......

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

I'm sure they are looking at budgets relative to return.

Of course, we only see the theater box office. We don't see sales of physical and digital movie copies, streaming income, etc. Not to mention Disney pays itself via Industrial Light and Magic to do special effects, so budgets include the profit portion of a special effects tab.

Side note, apparently Disney is going to stop selling physical movies in Australia. Streaming/digital is the future. What impact does that have on revenue?

All of this is to say we don't know the true financial state of the movie industry.

Not to say they shouldn't reign in costs. The original Indiana Jones movies had simple endings for example - the opening of the grail, the choosing of the cup, etc. They no doubt spent a lot of money on this movie when they could have gone with a cheaper finale more akin to what came before.

 

[flynnibus]

Logically you think it would be better for the studios to hammer out a deal with SAG/AFTRA rather then push back releases...

Movies now is short-term pain with things you can substitue...
Union deal is a long term deal you live with for ages

Is it not hard to see why one can accept short-term pain for long term gain?

 

[MrPromey]

Paramount has an animation division?

Maybe that's who made Lower Decks?

 

[TP2000]

Tuesday Domestic Box Office Update;

Barbie keeps pulling in $25 Million-ish on weekdays. The little indie film with a production budget of only $14 Million that Disney refused to release is about to make more than Pixar's Elemental that had a production budget of $200 Million. It's entirely possible that the little indie film may even make more at the domestic box office than Indy 5 with its $300 Million production budget. How did that happen, and who is Disney firing for that mega million dollar mistake?

By Friday, Barbie will fly past Little Mermaid at both the domestic and overseas box office. In just one week.

Which all makes the issue of where Haunted Mansion will slot into this bizarro world box office even murkier, at least for me.

 

[TP2000]

Barbie Pop-Culture Anecdote:

Last night I picked up my little sister and her husband at Lindbergh field, and her two sons and their wives arrive tonight to begin our big Family Summer Pow-Wow at the beach house. While waiting for all their luggage at the baggage carousel, she didn't talk about her sons arrival or meal planning logistics or tennis court reservations for our hugely important Family Doubles Generational Smackdown Tournament. And she didn't even really ask how I was doing in my old age.

Instead, she first and foremost wanted to know that I had confirmed we still had reserved seats for Barbie, and wanted to see on my phone the exact time and seating arrangements in the theater.

Priorities, apparently.

 

[TsWade2]

Because of my mental health, I have to avoid the writers and actors strike until further notice.

 

[TP2000]

Because of my mental health, I have to avoid the writers and actors strike until further notice.

To be fair, the strikes are a big story this summer. So it seems like they should probably have their own thread, as I and others have been mentioning it in this box office thread fairly regularly. But the current slate of box office disasters from Disney don't really have much to do with the current strikes, as they were all successfully launched and publicized well before the strikes started.

I'll go make a new thread for the strikes, and we can probably keep much of that strike discussion over there. I hope that will help.

 

[TsWade2]

To be fair, the strikes are a big story this summer. So it seems like they should probably have their own thread, as I and others have been mentioning it in this box office thread fairly regularly. But the current slate of box office disasters from Disney don't really have much to do with the current strikes, as they were all successfully launched and publicized well before the strikes started.

I'll go make a new thread for the strikes, and we can probably keep much of that strike discussion over there. I hope that will help.

Okay. But I’m not going to be included until further notice like if the AMPTP finally makes a fair and better deal to end the double strike by hopefully next month or September. In the meantime, I’m staying out of it.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Side note, apparently Disney is going to stop selling physical movies in Australia. Streaming/digital is the future. What impact does that have on revenue?

Interesting that you say that because Disney Movie Club will no longer operate in Canada after September.

It's probably to save money on shipping, distributing and storing physical media, but much like the decision to close ALL Disney stores, and not just the lower performing ones, I don't see that as the best revenue solution.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Tuesday Domestic Box Office Update;

Barbie keeps pulling in $25 Million-ish on weekdays. The little indie film with a production budget of only $14 Million that Disney refused to release is about to make more than Pixar's Elemental that had a production budget of $200 Million. It's entirely possible that the little indie film may even make more at the domestic box office than Indy 5 with its $300 Million production budget. How did that happen, and who is Disney firing for that mega million dollar mistake?

By Friday, Barbie will fly past Little Mermaid at both the domestic and overseas box office. In just one week.

Which all makes the issue of where Haunted Mansion will slot into this bizarro world box office even murkier, at least for me.

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Why aren't you popping into every thread to let us know how Transformers or Fast and Furious is doing?@2@@!1!

 

[TP2000]

Why aren't you popping into every thread to let us know how Transformers or Fast and Furious is doing?@2@@!1!

Because the title of this thread is "Disney At The Box Office".

And those two films weren't released by a Disney owned studio, never had the distribution rights to them owned by Disney, and they don't have any real comparison to the demographic draw of a Disney owned movie this summer.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Because the title of this thread is "Disney At The Box Office".

And those two films weren't released by a Disney owned studio, never had the distribution rights to them owned by Disney, and they don't have any real comparison to the demographic draw of a Disney owned movie this summer.

You know the topic of this thread and yet...

This is just one of four threads in which you're talking about Barbie.

 

[TP2000]

This is just one of four threads in which you're talking about Barbie.

I think the whole country is talking about Barbie. But just wait until I see, then I probably won't shut up about it.

 

[celluloid]

You know the topic of this thread and yet...


View attachment 733333

This is just one of four threads in which you're talking about Barbie.

A box office will naturally be compared to other films being released.

We were always told "Hollywood problem" not a Disney problem.

Yet WB, Universal, Sony and even Paramount have all surpassed the summer Disney movies.

The company has to be eternally grateful for their avatar Aquisition, which also cost them a lot as a part of fox but it really saved their recent efforts(it was a 2022 film) from being breaking even when at best.

Did anyone ever think that the Mission Impossible 7 installment would crush the Indy 5 installment?
Both underperformed but one definitely narrowed the box office loss and has some momentum to hang around.
Disney supposedly turned down Sound of Freedom, which makes the discussion relevant to the topic.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I think the whole country is talking about Barbie. But just wait until I see, then I probably won't shut up about it.

Too late for that!

 

[TP2000]

A box office will naturally be compared to other films being released.

We were always told "Hollywood problem" not a Disney problem.

Exactly. This is a perfect thread to discuss that issue more broadly.

And the facts and data of the box office are hard to argue against. They tell the story very clearly.

Disney supposedly turned down Sound of Freedom, which makes the discussion relevant to the topic.

We'll likely never know why Disney refused to release it, but it is a fact that Disney owned Sound of Freedom after its 2019 purchase of 20th Century Fox. If Disney had released it themselves, they would have made an extra $60 Million in profit and counting as of yesterday's box office receipts. In a summer where Disney is losing hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office, that would have helped.

Or is $60 Million not worth it any longer to Disney because they are just so successful at everything else they do?

 

[MisterPenguin]

A box office will naturally be compared to other films being released.

We were always told "Hollywood problem" not a Disney problem.

Yet WB, Universal and even Paramount have all surpassed the summer Disney movies.

The company has to be eternally grateful for their avatar Aquisition, which also cost them a lot as a part of fox but it really saved their summer from being breaking even when at best.

Did anyone ever think that the Mission Impossible 7nth installment would crush the Indy 5 installment?
Both underperformed but one definitely slowed the loss and has some momentum to hang around.
Disney supposedly turned down Sound of Freedom, which makes the discussion relevant to the topic.

When you handpick the few very successful movies and then compare them to all the subpar ones then:

1. You're describing the way the Box Office has always been.​

​

2. You're cherry-picking data... usually to make a pointed point.​

If you're going to do head-to-head comparisons, you have to look at all the movies released in the relatively same time period.

I could constantly post about how TLM is doing so much better than Teenage Kraken, or how Elemental is doing so much better than Teenage Kraken, or how Haunted Mansion is doing so much better than Teenage Kraken, or how Indy 5 is doing so much better than Teenage Kraken. Get the picture?

Sure, there are Disney movies not making a profit in the theatrical window. Why is each one being compared only to some other studio's block-busters, and not their bombs?