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

[Wendy Pleakley]

Correct.. they are all opinions… who are we to say the nominations are wrong… none of us are in the Academy

I do enjoy watching the Academy Awards…. As I watch a lot of films, so I am familiar with most…. But all I can say is whether I disagree or agree… all film is subjective…. I would never tell someone else’s opinion is wrong

I don't know why people get so hung up on those awards. The Academy Awards tends to award the type of movie that doesn't have a ton of mainstream popularity. It's usually a slower prestige drama type.

There's also a tendency to give an award that is really based on a lifetime of work. Return of the King was really an award for the trilogy.

It's pretty rare that I'm 100% adamantly in agreement with a given award. The notable one I can think of was Schindler's List. I would have been stunned at any other result.

I'll watch sometimes because the Oscars have some entertainment value and it's a chance to learn about movies I probably overlooked. I don't worry too much about how much it aligns with my own opinions.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

I would agree, but not for the reason you think. I just think that most of the older generations have moved on, and most of the younger generations aren't watching late night in general. So its not politics in my opinion, as I would think that is fairly even in terms of amount when compared to someone like Gutfeld, its just now a different era where late night is no longer in favor compared to other forms of entertainment. Maybe that changes and things swing back, who knows.

I agree with you!!! There's a first time for everything, LOL.
I am "older" and I used to love to stay up and watch Johnny Carson every night. Then as I got older I quit watching the late night shows, and now don't even think of them. It could be a generational thing.

 

[LittleBuford]

It was five years ago today that Onward was released. It’s the last film I saw at the cinema before the world shut down—it was just me at the screening. As horrible as that moment in history turned out to be, the film holds a very special place in my heart and is now bound up for me with all the intense emotions surrounding that time. I might rewatch it tonight to mark the occasion.

 

[Agent H]

It was five years ago today that Onward was released. It’s the last film I saw at the cinema before the world shut down—it was just me at the screening. As horrible as that moment in history turned out to be, the film holds a very special place in my heart and is now bound up for me with all the intense emotions surrounding that time. I might rewatch it tonight to mark the occasion.

It was the last film I saw before the pandemic too!

 

[WoundedDreamer]

It’s not really the linking to the marginally related articles that is the problem, but copy-pasting large segments from other articles that makes them almost unreadable. Took me 9 months for repetitive exposure to some of her articles to finally piece together what was occurring. My first reaction was AI rather than plagiarism.

I’ll link back to this one. That manages to spend 75% of its almost unending thesis off topic.

The $2.1 Billion Disney Theme Park Gamble

Judging by the huge crowds which have gathered at Tokyo Disney Resort since its new Fantasy Springs land opened last week you would have thought that it was guaranteed to have a happy ending. In fact it could become one of the most expensive mistakes ever made in a Disney park.

www.forbes.com

But now I know she’s just written many other articles on this topic and sews it together into a Frankenstein’s Monster. When you got the chance to interview Eisner once (more than a decade ago) and went Tokyo once (a decade ago), you start to run dry on the material and stop even rewording the same well, but just reposting it.

Now for a grievance, the original content in it is hilarious. Concerns about the presence of IP in TDS, when the park was built with a Jules Verne Land, an Indiana Jones Land, an Aladdin land (sort of) and a Little Mermaid land (that actually sheds pretense that it’s just an IP land). Then out the other side of her mouth questioning the longevity of Frozen and Tangled…

Gold Star to anyone who actually reads this whole article, but I want to bring this one forward because it’s the whole reason I decided I didn’t like this author, not the box office interpretation. But got there in the end.

Another fun fact is I guess the Box Office subreddit has banned her articles. Discovered that on my google rabbit hole.

I actually agree with some of her criticisms about land placement. There's no need to get into another argument about Fantasy Springs- it's been done to death and this is the wrong thread anyway. Still, you're right about the meandering writing style and questionable underlying argument. She needs an editor or someone to ask her whether the article deserves to exist in the first place. Her logic is tenuous at best. There are also dead links in an article that came out less than a year ago. It substantiates your point about reusing content from older pieces. And of course she doesn't present counter examples of people who actually like Fantasy Springs. Someone reading the article would think everyone hates the land. Not so!

I can see why she's not your (or anyone's) favorite author, even if I agree with her sentiments about Tokyo Disney Sea.

 

[DKampy]

It was five years ago today that Onward was released. It’s the last film I saw at the cinema before the world shut down—it was just me at the screening. As horrible as that moment in history turned out to be, the film holds a very special place in my heart and is now bound up for me with all the intense emotions surrounding that time. I might rewatch it tonight to mark the occasion.

Yes… I completely get that…. My last film I saw in theaters before the shut Down was a very different film…, The Invisible Man… as such that movie will always be link to that event as well…. It actually became my favorite film that year for me…!probably for similar reasons

 

[brideck]

It was the last film I saw before the pandemic too!

We actually managed to see Onward in theaters twice before they all closed. We pretty much never do that, but enjoyed it enough that we wanted to bring a different group of friends to see it.

I say that and according to my viewing history, we apparently saw Parasite for the second time on Mar 15th. [We had just been to a Q&A with Bong Joon Ho at our local art museum that February, so that probably motivated that decision.] I'm pretty sure that's the last day any theaters were open here. First show for us after theaters reopened? The original Ghostbusters on Aug 20th. Most releases were catalog titles that summer.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Oh boy Cap is losing theaters! Down to 3800 theaters.... I think its the beginning of the end here.

 

[brideck]

Oh boy Cap is losing theaters! Down to 3800 theaters.... I think its the beginning of the end here.

Last week it had 2 screens per theater around me. This coming weekend, it'll be at 1.5 per, which is more than Quantumania had in week 4 near me, for what that's worth.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Last week it had 2 screens per theater around me. This coming weekend, it'll be at 1.5 per, which is more than Quantumania had in week 4 near me, for what that's worth.

I sincerely thought Disney was going to keep it in the 4105 theaters till the end if its run and allow the money to continue to trickle in..

 

[brideck]

I sincerely thought Disney was going to keep it in the 4105 theaters till the end if its run and allow the money to continue to trickle in..

I think the only screen guarantees that are locked in are for the first couple weeks of release, but I've never been in the theater business so I don't know for sure.

It'll definitely still keep a good amount for awhile and the trickling will continue, but my ceiling projection at this point would be something like $215m/$440m. It is slowly gaining ground on Quantumania, but I'm not sure there will be enough runway to pass it in the end. That one basically broke even, so that would put this one in about the same ballpark.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I think the only screen guarantees that are locked in are for the first couple weeks of release, but I've never been in the theater business so I don't know for sure.

It'll definitely still keep a good amount for awhile and the trickling will continue, but my ceiling projection at this point would be something like $215m/$440m. It is slowly gaining ground on Quantumania, but I'm not sure there will be enough runway to pass it in the end. That one basically broke even, so that would put this one in about the same ballpark.

Well, the access media tells us Disney's budget was 180M. The access media also tells us total cost to make and market is (budget * 2.5), therefore, 180 * 2.5 = 450 , so there is still a chance of a break even at the box office.

 

[WoundedDreamer]

Well, the access media tells us Disney's budget was 180M. The access media also tells us total cost to make and market is (budget * 2.5), therefore, 180 * 2.5 = 450 , so there is still a chance of a break even at the box office.

That's exactly right. We should be solidly in breakeven territory assuming the budget is correct. I know some people have expressed skepticism about the budget because other Marvel projects have been revised upwards. The Multiverse of Madness production budget incident stands out as quite egregious... Still, using any other number is pure speculation at this point. The $180 million number is all that we have to go on. So, breakeven seems totally doable.

Converting March 2023 dollars to January 2025 dollars gets Quantamania's gross to ~$500 million. Captain America 4 probably won't reach either the inflation adjusted or unadjusted gross of ~$476 million. Fortunately, Captain America 4's production teams were frugal compared to the $276 million net spend on Quantamania. That ~$100 million gap between the production budgets makes a big difference.

Interestingly, it could be argued that the Ant Man and the Wasp franchise is as strong (or even stronger) as the Captain America franchise. While we don't have the final gross yet, Captain America 4 will probably land just above $400 million. That's well below the ~$500 million inflation adjusted Quantamania gross.

Maybe Paul Rudd didn't do so bad after all!

 

[Disney Irish]

Oh boy Cap is losing theaters! Down to 3800 theaters.... I think its the beginning of the end here.

Its normal for a movie to start losing theaters after the first couple weeks, Cap4 has been in theaters for 3 weeks so its expected to lose theaters as new movies open up. Its only losing 320 theaters, so really not much anyways.

This weekend will be the first week that Cap 4 has any competition with Mickey 17 opening up. Though I don't expect it to be much competition, it'll still have a wide release with over 3800 theaters as well.

On an interesting note, MCU alum Mark Ruffalo also stars in Mickey 17.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Its normal for a movie to start losing theaters after the first couple weeks, Cap4 has been in theaters for 3 weeks so its expected to lose theaters as new movies open up. Its only losing 320 theaters, so really not much anyways.

This weekend will be the first week that Cap 4 has any competition with Mickey 17 opening up. Though I don't expect it to be much competition, it'll still have a wide release with over 3800 theaters as well.

On an interesting note, MCU alum Mark Ruffalo also stars in Mickey 17.

I need to re check but I seem to remember Mufasa holding on to a lot of theaters throughout its run.

 

[Disney Irish]

I need to re check but I seem to remember Mufasa holding on to a lot of theaters throughout its run.

Mufasa started to lose its theater count after the 3rd week also, dropping from 4100 to 3925.

And its not like Cap4 is losing a lot of theaters, its still in what is considered a wide release with 3800 theaters. So lets not make this out to be something its not.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

MSN

Disney cancels UK Snow White premiere…

This popped up on my MSN feed, I googled it and other sites are reporting it also, no big name sites though so I don’t know if it’s true or just circular reporting based on one source.

 

[Disney Irish]

MSN

Disney cancels UK Snow White premiere…

This popped up on my MSN feed, I googled it and other sites are reporting it also, no big name sites though so I don’t know if it’s true or just circular reporting based on one source.

Its funny because they just had the Japan premiere last night, which from what I saw was a success as it went off without any drama. So it would be very interesting if they cancelled the UK premiere completely and not rescheduled it.

 

[BrianLo]

I actually agree with some of her criticisms about land placement. There's no need to get into another argument about Fantasy Springs- it's been done to death and this is the wrong thread anyway. Still, you're right about the meandering writing style and questionable underlying argument. She needs an editor or someone to ask her whether the article deserves to exist in the first place. Her logic is tenuous at best. There are also dead links in an article that came out less than a year ago. It substantiates your point about reusing content from older pieces. And of course she doesn't present counter examples of people who actually like Fantasy Springs. Someone reading the article would think everyone hates the land. Not so!

I can see why she's not your (or anyone's) favorite author, even if I agree with her sentiments about Tokyo Disney Sea.

I had actually written a response that Fantasy Springs is by no means that solid of a land, but didn't want to run the thread off topic too much. It's more of a culdesac of facades if anything. Some great attractions and little else substantive. But her thesis was premised on some sort of financial crisis of confidence, which is kind of hilarious. Even more in hindsight.

Of course, I, unlike her, have actually been. Which you think would be sort of relevant if you wanted to pump out a never ending essay of some quality. It is clear there wasn't editorial oversight of her content. An editor would also start to pick out the redundancy pretty quickly.

 

[Tha Realest]

No it proves exactly what I was trying to say, on a percentage basis Gutfeld (and Fox News in general) skews older than younger compared to other late night shows. From a raw number stand point yes it slightly gets more, but that really doesn't matter to me as I really wasn't looking at ratings from an advertisers point of view anyways that is something that others brought up.

You were responding to an comment that explicitly mentioned the importance of advertising - “Tell that to the network salesmen trying to sell airtime on shows that are losing their audience share” - and then used terms conventionally used in the advertisement and marketing space

Key demographic - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I have to ask - what is your point in all of this, other than being dishonestly and unpleasantly argumentative?