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

[Ghost93]

It was a packed room. It opened with Hyden thanking everyone for coming to see the re-release. There were a couple of guys in jedi robes mostly to smuggle in candy for their group. The movie ended with thunderous applause. I think they had a great time. It would be interesting to see how much this re-release makes this weekend.

I saw Revenge of the Sith in theaters for the first time Thursday night as I never got the chance to see it in theaters back in 2005. While objectively not the best Star Wars movie, it's my personal favorite. Mostly because of Ian McDiarmad's wonderfully over-the-top evil performance as Palpatine. While everyone else is under-acting and being quite stiff and stilted in the prequels, he goes waaaaay in the other direction into full camp. His cackling reminds me of the Evil Queen in Snow White (in her hag form).

I think ROTS should have been put into theaters in February or March, when it was quite dead at the box office. I'm sure Disney wasn't anticipating Brave New World or Snow White to bomb as much as they did, but still. They should have at least known a ROTS re-release would appeal to guys who would never be caught dead watching a Disney Princess film, and it could have been good counter-programming.

 

[Phroobar]

I saw Revenge of the Sith in theaters for the first time Thursday night as I never got the chance to see it in theaters back in 2005. While objectively not the best Star Wars movie, it's my personal favorite. Mostly because of Ian McDiarmad's wonderfully over-the-top evil performance as Palpatine. While everyone else is under-acting and being quite stiff and stilted in the prequels, he goes waaaaay in the other direction into full camp. His cackling reminds me of the Evil Queen in Snow White (in her hag form).

I think ROTS should have been put into theaters in February or March, when it was quite dead at the box office. I'm sure Disney wasn't anticipating Brave New World or Snow White to bomb as much as they did, but still. They should have at least known a ROTS re-release would appeal to guys who would never be caught dead watching a Disney Princess film, and it could have been good counter-programming.

McDiarmad is totally the star of the movie. For a twenty year old movie the CG is really good. The picture looked great and the sound was incredible. ROTS is the best of the prequels and in my opinion better than most of what Disney has produced (except the Gilroy stuff and animation). It's a long movie and does drag a times. I did notice how wimpy Padme was in this movie compared to episode 2 where she's running around shooting battle droids and escaping from that cat creature.

 

[Phroobar]

How come there is no 10th Anniversary re-release of The Force Awakens?

 

[Agent H]

How come there is no 10th Anniversary re-release of The Force Awakens?

My guess. The nostalgia factor isn’t there yet. Give it another 10 years or so.

 

[Phroobar]

My guess. The nostalgia factor isn’t there yet. Give it another 10 years or so.

I don't think there was a 20th anniversary re-release of Attack of the Clones. The original trilogy all had anniversary releases as well as The Phantom Menace.

I guess there will never be a re-release of Rise of Skywalker, The Last Jedi and Solo.

 

[Agent H]

I don't think there was a 20th anniversary re-release of Attack of the Clones. The original trilogy all had anniversary releases as well as The Phantom Menace.

I guess there will never be a re-release of Rise of Skywalker, The Last Jedi and Solo.

Well when attack of the clones turned 20 years old we were still in a pandemic and Disney was still focused 100 percent on streaming. I could see a hypothetical discussion at Disney about re-releasing it ending with them deciding it wouldn’t be worth it to to release it to theaters when they could make a instagram post telling people it was the 20th anniversary and to watch it on Disney+

 

[Baloo124]

How come there is no 10th Anniversary re-release of The Force Awakens?

10 years already? Ok now this discussion is starting to make me feel old.

And guess which Disney animated feature turns 30 this summer?

Spoiler

Not bad but not my favorite. Drags quite a bit in areas story wise, but still though, great animation and some BEAUTIFUL songs.
But 30 yrs since its release?? Yeah, I'm definitely feeling old.

 

[Phroobar]

Well when attack of the clones turned 20 years old we were still in a pandemic and Disney was still focused 100 percent on streaming. I could see a hypothetical discussion at Disney about re-releasing it ending with them deciding it wouldn’t be worth it to to release it to theaters when they could make a instagram post telling people it was the 20th anniversary and to watch it on Disney+

Well, during 2020 they did re-release the Empire Strikes Back for it's 40th anniversary right in the middle of covid. There where a few theaters still open. (one guy at the snack bar treating us like we were zombies or something. He temperature checked us and scanned our phone ticket from arm's length! ) We got a private screening of it back then.

 

[Phroobar]

10 years already? Ok now this discussion is starting to make me feel old.

And guess which Disney animated feature turns 30 this summer?

Spoiler

View attachment 855576

Not bad but not my favorite. Drags quite a bit in areas story wise, but still though, great animation and some BEAUTIFUL songs.
But 30 yrs since its release?? Yeah, I'm definitely feeling old.

I thought Disney disowned that movie.

 

[Baloo124]

I thought Disney disowned that movie.

I didn't hear that, but wouldn't be surprised anymore.

Though according to SNL, some of the movie characters are pretty forgettable, and not drawing the M&G popularity.

 

[BrianLo]

I thought Disney disowned that movie.

I don’t think so. They still are adding her to entertainment and she’s still part of the princess line. I think its representation just matches the level of popularity (which is to say a third tier princess). It contrasts poorly with what comes before, but is represented about as well as the immediate films after (Hunchback, Hercules, Tarzan and Mulan).

 

[Animaniac93-98]

His cackling reminds me of the Evil Queen in Snow White (in her hag form).

"Now I'll be fairest in the land!"

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Deadline estimates Sinners dropping just 13% in its second weekend to end up with about $120 million total by Sunday

Last time an original, R-rated horror movie did this kind of business was Us back in 2019 which made $127.8 million after 10 days of release

"At this point in time, Sinners owns the second-best second weekend for an R-rated horror movie after It‘s $60.1M 3-day back in September 2017. It’s the third best second weekend for Ryan Coogler after Black Panther ($111.6M) and Wakanda Forever ($66.4M). Sinners also has the second-best hold for a R-rated horror movie at -13% after Heart Eyes (+19%) and ahead of Get Out (-15%)."

‘Sinners’ Heaven-Sent $45M Second Weekend, ‘Revenge Of The Sith’ Powerful $25M, ‘Accountant 2’ $24M+, ‘Minecraft’ $22M+ As Moviegoing Bounces Back

Sinners grossed $45 million in its second box office frame, leading the industry to a strong $146 million weekend overall.

deadline.com

 

[Ghost93]

Deadline estimates Sinners dropping just 13% in its second weekend to end up with about $120 million total by Sunday

Last time an original, R-rated horror movie did this kind of business was Us back in 2019 which made $127.8 million after 10 days of release

"At this point in time, Sinners owns the second-best second weekend for an R-rated horror movie after It‘s $60.1M 3-day back in September 2017. It’s the third best second weekend for Ryan Coogler after Black Panther ($111.6M) and Wakanda Forever ($66.4M). Sinners also has the second-best hold for a R-rated horror movie at -13% after Heart Eyes (+19%) and ahead of Get Out (-15%)."

‘Sinners’ Heaven-Sent $45M Second Weekend, ‘Revenge Of The Sith’ Powerful $25M, ‘Accountant 2’ $24M+, ‘Minecraft’ $22M+ As Moviegoing Bounces Back

Sinners grossed $45 million in its second box office frame, leading the industry to a strong $146 million weekend overall.

deadline.com

It's a great movie, so I think word of mouth is carrying it. The audience I was with definitely responded to it, cheering and yelling at the screen (when characters were about to be killed) multiple times, haha.

 

[TalkingHead]

Sinners losing PLF to Thunderbolts next weekend is lame but it’ll also ramp up some repeat business between now and then.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Except theaters aren't in the movie business they are in the concession business. So the actual ticket sales are secondary to the people buying popcorn, soda, and candy. So they don't care what movie is playing.

So the point is that all studios have ended up pushing out movies that don't draw an audience over the years. We just happen to track one particular studio, but all have had their issues over the last couple years, but especially so far in 2025. We'll see what happens next week.

Good point. The theaters do make their money on concessions but they still can’t survive selling concessions to empty or near empty screenings.

 

[Disney Irish]

Good point. The theaters do make their money on concessions but they still can’t survive selling concessions to empty or near empty screenings.

One Disney movie, or even a string of Disney movies, not doing well isn't going to break the theaters. So lets get that out of the way right off the bat.

The larger issue is there isn't enough content compelling enough to bring audiences out. That isn't a Disney problem that is an industry problem. We're about to hit May and outside of Minecraft there hasn't been a real breakout movie the first 4 months of 2025. Prior years that would have never happened. That isn't on Disney, that is a whole industry problem. Why didn't other Studios counter program any movie released so far in 2025? Its clear there was space for more releases but they didn't release any. That isn't a Disney problem, that is an industry problem.

We focus so much on Disney because we're on a Disney fan site, but too many here like to ignore the fact that other Studios are having the same problems as Disney. There is no Studio that is doing it right, all have the same issues to varying degrees. But yet too many here want to make it seem like its just a Disney problem.

As has been discussed here a bunch of time but gets glossed over by many. We are in middle of a industry wide shift across the entire media landscape, from theatrical to broadcast media is being transformed right now. And while I'll be sad if it happens, I will not be surprised if by the end of this shift if theatrical goes to being a niche distribution method or even goes away completely (as I've mentioned before over the years). Studios were beginning to make this shift with day-and-date and other smaller theatrical windows, but started to get cold feet when streaming started to falter a bit so went back to pure theatrical but with varying theatrical windows. But in the next couple years I'm fairly certain they will try again and move back to a day-and-date model as it only makes sense long term given that the box office continues to go down year-over-year, and doesn't look to be stopping. So far 2025 looks to be coming in under 2022, and that isn't good if you're worried about theatrical long term.

Bottom line, if you're worried about theaters then go to the movies. Show Studios that theatrical is still alive and viable. I do my part and go almost every week. Now you don't have to do that, but try going once a month. Otherwise don't be surprised when theatrical goes away.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I see a lot of twatter fodder saying the reception of sith in the theaters this weekend is “validation” of the prequel series…

It’s quite the opposite…it’s an indictment

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Good point. The theaters do make their money on concessions but they still can’t survive selling concessions to empty or near empty screenings.

Yeah…flops help no one. It’s amazing that this comes up daily around here

One Disney movie, or even a string of Disney movies, not doing well isn't going to break the theaters. So lets get that out of the way right off the bat.

The larger issue is there isn't enough content compelling enough to bring audiences out. That isn't a Disney problem that is an industry problem. We're about to hit May and outside of Minecraft there hasn't been a real breakout movie the first 4 months of 2025. Prior years that would have never happened. That isn't on Disney, that is a whole industry problem. Why didn't other Studios counter program any movie released so far in 2025? Its clear there was space for more releases but they didn't release any. That isn't a Disney problem, that is an industry problem.

We focus so much on Disney because we're on a Disney fan site, but too many here like to ignore the fact that other Studios are having the same problems as Disney. There is no Studio that is doing it right, all have the same issues to varying degrees. But yet too many here want to make it seem like its just a Disney problem.

As has been discussed here a bunch of time but gets glossed over by many. We are in middle of a industry wide shift across the entire media landscape, from theatrical to broadcast media is being transformed right now. And while I'll be sad if it happens, I will not be surprised if by the end of this shift if theatrical goes to being a niche distribution method or even goes away completely (as I've mentioned before over the years). Studios were beginning to make this shift with day-and-date and other smaller theatrical windows, but started to get cold feet when streaming started to falter a bit so went back to pure theatrical but with varying theatrical windows. But in the next couple years I'm fairly certain they will try again and move back to a day-and-date model as it only makes sense long term given that the box office continues to go down year-over-year, and doesn't look to be stopping. So far 2025 looks to be coming in under 2022, and that isn't good if you're worried about theatrical long term.

Bottom line, if you're worried about theaters then go to the movies. Show Studios that theatrical is still alive and viable. I do my part and go almost every week. Now you don't have to do that, but try going once a month. Otherwise don't be surprised when theatrical goes away.

I’m trying to understand you better…is it possible that in attempting to be “neutral” about the different studios…you end up ignoring the benchmarks for success and failure completely?

Because nothing has changed since jaws ate people and they sold about 100 billion in licensed Star Wars merch. The standards are still the standard to about a 80% certainty.

 

[Disney Irish]

Yeah…flops help no one. It’s amazing that this comes up daily around here

Who claimed flops help anyone? No one made such a claim.

I’m trying to understand you better…is it possible that in attempting to be “neutral” about the different studios…you end up ignoring the benchmarks for success and failure completely?

Because nothing has changed since jaws ate people and they sold about 100 billion in licensed Star Wars merch. The standards are still the standard to about a 80% certainty.

I'm not ignoring anything, quite the contrary. I'm actually looking at the entire landscape and seeing this isn't affecting just one studio with a mouse mascot. I've tried to have this conversation with you in years past but you're so focus only on the mouse's failures and your grievances that you ignore everything else.

The standards for you might be the same, but for the rest of the industry it has changed. Which is why they have been transitioning and trying everything to squeeze more blood from stone. Ticket sales are down overall, and continue to be on a downward trend year-over-year and will likely never get back to prepandemic levels, and you keep ignoring that.