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

[TP2000]

Off Topic Late Nite Memory...

One of the best World's Fairs I've been to was Expo 86 in Vancouver, BC. The Swiss pavilion was a GIANT Swatch Watch, which was so '80's it hurt! The General Motors pavilion featured the Mystery Lodge show that got moved to Knott's Berry Farm a few years later, and still plays there. And I spent about an hour in the dour and dowdy Soviet Union pavilion with a big bust of Lenin sitting in a pool of water, and I'm so glad I did. I kept the guide book and all their brochures from their exhibits covering the best of Soviet transportation developments and the triumphs of Communist transportation break throughs. (Transportation was the theme of the 1986 World's Fair).

That turned out to be the very last World's Fair that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ever had a pavilion for. By the next World's Fair in Seville, Spain in 1992, the Soviet Union had collapsed and turned into a vaguely Capitalist "Russian Federation".

Without the snooty Slavic hostesses proclaiming Communist cars and trucks to be far superior to Capitalist cars and trucks, any future Russian pavilion just wasn't the same

I still have the 1986 guidebook to Communist excellence in Soviet transportation!

 

[TP2000]

@BrianLo
Did I miss something? Destination d23 isn’t till August. What event are you attending?

He's at the 2025 Osaka World's Fair happening now through October in Japan.

It's a thing.

Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan Official Website

World Expo 2025 will be held in Osaka, Kansai, Japan! Designing Future Society for Our Lives.

www.expo2025.or.jp

 

[Agent H]

He's at the 2025 Osaka World's Fair happening now through October in Japan.

It's a thing.

Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan Official Website

World Expo 2025 will be held in Osaka, Kansai, Japan! Designing Future Society for Our Lives.

www.expo2025.or.jp

Ah okay. Sorry @BrianLo I got a little confused by some of the wording.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

If you are content waiting 20-30 minutes to be able to then experience Cosmic Rewinds queue. But only 1/4 of the pavilions, many are reservation only and a few others were hours long.

Like I said I swung from I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone, to finding some weird joy and amusement by just going with the flow and hopping in the lines that were fine. 70% of the problem was the caustic concrete heat, there was like a 15 degree Celsius swing between leaving the cover of the giant wooden circle and the concrete.

I’m very glad I have been to an expo and there was more to it than I expected. To really properly do it I would go for three days and actually had some foresight to have reservations. I’m sure I didn’t do the very best pavilions, but some of the ones I did do seemed quite strong like Singapore, Indonesia, Saudi, Australia, Spain.

It'd be a one day visit for me at most. I wouldn't expect to see much but I might regret passing on the opportunity.

 

[BrianLo]

That's perfect. I enjoy that you remember my years of D23 Expo Sunday strolls, those were such fun!

As an American with a distinct Canadian (Penticton!) side of the family from the mid 20th century, I'm planning to visit the Canada pavilion by any means necessary. Even if that's via some clunky Osaka World's Fair reservation app.

Fall is a definite. Even though late September will still be swampy in Osaka, I'll make do as I commute down from Kyoto. That said, I think I'll forgo the parasol. I mean, the Japanese gays can spot me a mile kilometer away in my tailored American touristwear, but a parasol is just too much. As a very wise woman once said, before you leave the house take one thing off.

So I'll leave the parasol.

I’m gonna still run us off topic because who cares, we’re 20k posts deep now.

First I don’t think I knew about Penticton. One of the many places I’ve worked!

Bring an extendable umbrella in your bag and then bow to the social pressure. It was in my backpack for rain… Seriously I never thought I’d turn into that person, but when in Osaka. Or heat stroke versus fashion.

I’m also not at the neck fan portion of my life yet… but I might have been yesterday. I was surprised how many came with them.

 

[TsWade2]

Well well, we finally have official word on what the ACTUAL budget for Disney/Pixar’s #Elio is thanks to actual reliable trades.

According to Deadline, the film cost $150M to make, not $300M like that lying grifting snake Mr. Jordan Ruimy claimed on World of Reel, and I doubt we should be surprised given Ruimy lied about Captain America: Brave New World had a budget of $380M, when the ACTUAL budget, according to the trades, was $180 million.

Let this be a lesson to all you people who post clickbait and lies from grifters like Jordan Ruimy here on this social media platform again.

Never, and I mean, NEVER post anything like what Jordan Ruimy said here on this platform again unless it’s confirmed by reliable trades like The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, DEADLINE, or The Wrap.

That means you too, @TsWade2.

It’s high time platforms like this went back to a vetting process for when people share info over movies, film budgets, and the truth about them.

Okay, no need to be hasty! Geez!

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

As you genuinely seem to be angered that the topic of Halloween costumes is used as part of a pop culture impact discussion, I should probably explain where that came from. It didn't start here in this thread.

It started over in a Disneyland forum thread 15 years ago, when discussing the Avatar land rumors for the parks and it's lack of pop culture impact a year after the first movie came out in 2009. It continued through the 2010's on the Disneyland forums as a fun and wacky side topic, with changing tastes as Star Wars and various Marvel and Princessy characters came and went over the years on the annual costume parade. Back then I lived in a neighborhood that was flooded with a hundred or more kids every Halloween. And I was famous in my neighborhood for giving out Best Costume gift baskets that I had made up every year at See's Candy. It was always a fun thing. Fun! Happy! Laugh! Candy!

It's mentioned here on occasion because a few of the posters here were on the Disneyland forums in the past 15 years and know it as a point of reference. It's obviously not scientific or quantifiable in any meaningful way. It's nothing more than a fun anecdote to see what the kids are into each year.

It's nothing to be angry about or annoyed by, but I can understand the confusion if you don't know the 15 year long backstory to how it came about as an occasional discussion point in regards to movie popularity and pop culture.

All that said, I wonder if I'm going to get any boys wearing eye patches on my door this Halloween? I'm not sensing it.

LOL, I do the same thing at Halloween. I have been seeing a lot of witches and Mario costumes the last few years.
It's just a fun observation, not an announcement of things to come. I was surprised to not see many Disney costumes at all.

 

[Miss Rori]

Halloween was interesting last year because while I did see a fair deal of Disney costumes on kids, they were ones like Stitch, Moana, and Red from Descendants, and the last might have been the most popular of that subset! There were also a surprising number of girls already dressing as Glinda or Elphaba from Wicked, weeks before the movie opened. These days Universal is probably the best studio going at marketing/merchandising; they go as hard as Disney used to, and it seems to work more often than not, most recently with the How to Train Your Dragon remake.

 

[Nevermore525]

Comparing the last 3 Pixar films as far as critics are concerned:

Elemental 73% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 58 Metacritic

Inside Out 2 91% on RT, and 73 on metacritic

Elio at 87% on RT and 66 on Metacritic

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Superman tracking 3-weeks out is between $90 million and $125 million

(I don't know why they give such broad ranges for these predications besides covering themselves)

 

[Disney Irish]

Superman tracking 3-weeks out is between $90 million and $125 million

(I don't know why they give such broad ranges for these predications besides covering themselves)

The ranges I would guess is to account for walk up business, as that is really hard to predict versus presales.

 

[TP2000]

I'm loving the Osaka World's Fair sidetrack as we await Elio's debut! @BrianLo, I'd love a fuller TR over on the Disneyland Miscellaneous thread sometime later this summer, when you have the chance.

Penticton: A side of the family had a British flank, that ended up in Canada and BC in the 1800's. Growing up I had great aunts and uncles in Penticton that were in logging, and had run a general store in town. We drove up to visit every summer; which was one time I didn't mind that Dad would never let me drive his Lincoln, as the highway in those days was narrow and perilous. After Covid I finally did my car/train trip through BC and Alberta, stayed in Banff, and sent some "Hello, I Remember You!" prayers upstairs to the relatives while I was in beautiful Penticton.

I'm also confident you've been a great brand Ambassador for Canada during your trip, and that you impressed the hosts/hostesses at the Canada pavilion who probably aren't seeing many familiar faces at the Expo this summer.

 

[TP2000]

Back OT, it seems that "last month's news" about Elio's production budget was wrong?!?

The Numbers site has labeled its production budget at a mere $150 Million, or half the cost "last month's news" proclaimed.

That's fabulous news for Pixar! It gives Elio a fighting chance to break even at around $500-ish Million globally. But why such a huge discrepancy in reporting on this budget? $150 Million seems like a bargain basement price for Pixar in 2025, but it's certainly a heckuva lot better than a bizarrely bloated $300 Million. Why such a huge spread there I wonder?

Here's how Elio looks at the starting gates against some other recent SciFi Animation stuff from Burbank....

 

[Nevermore525]

Disney Leads U.S. Box Office With $1.1B Year To Date, But Warner Bros Is Billion-Bound Too

Disney is leading all majors at the U.S./Canada box office with $1.1 billion, however, Warner Bros isn't far behind with $1 billion.

deadline.com

Disney Leads U.S. Box Office With $1.1B Year To Date, But Warner Bros Is Billion-Bound Too​

As we near the half year point of 2025 for the domestic box office, which is currently running at $3.7 billion(+23% over 2024) for Jan. 1-June 15 frame, DisneyStudios is leading all majors with $1.1 billion.

That’s not a surprise with a string of mass-appealing movies, i.e. Lilo & Stitch ($371.7M) and Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World ($200.5M). Even the ones that didn’t work to the top of their potential are providing a lot of cushion, read Marvel’s Thunderbolts* ($188.9M) and Snow White ($87.2M).

 

[Tony the Tigger]

OK, why are they hiding stitch’s numbers for Wednesday?

 

[Disney Irish]

OK, why are they hiding stitch’s numbers for Wednesday?

Yesterday (June 19th) was a holiday in the US, so many studios (Disney in this case) are slower to release results to the trades on holidays, so I expect an update later today for both days.

 

[TP2000]

Preview numbers from yesterday are out for Elio, and it looks to be settling in to 3rd place at its box office debut weekend.

That's not good box office obviously, but with the news that "last month's news" was wrong and its budget is only $150 Million, it might be able to pull an Elemental and break $500 Million globally? With a $150 Million production budget for Elio, a burden is suddenly lifted. I'm feeling unburdened. Are you feeling unburdened?

 

[Disney Analyst]

My co-workers sees every new movie, and caught Elio yesterday. Said it was actually quite good, him and his wife both liked it.

This really could have an Elemental type run, if word of mouth continues to be good.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

ShopDisney.com only has one plastic figure playset and three T-shirts on offer for Elio. Either Disney Corporate knew they had a stinker that wasn't worth merchandising with this movie, or they are still smarting over the disastrous performance of the Lightyear and Wish merchandise. What a shame.

Probably a little of both

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

As far as how Snow White will be “remembered”?

Since nobody saw it…not at all.