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

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Turning Red seems to have left theaters after its USA re-release. Assuming a 60% box office take from it's $1.4 Million in ticket sales, it brought in $840,000 in revenue for Disney/Pixar.

I have no idea how much they had to spend to get this movie in theaters for this odd 1,560 theater nationwide re-release run. I hope they didn't spend more than $840,000 on it. 🤔

Next up later this month, Luca!

In The Red.jpg
 

Miss Rori

Well-Known Member
Turning Red seems to have left theaters after its USA re-release. Assuming a 60% box office take from it's $1.4 Million in ticket sales, it brought in $840,000 in revenue for Disney/Pixar.
Is Disney even advertising these theatrical releases? I haven't seen a single ad for them anywhere (cable, YouTube, etc.). It seems like such a weird and pointless exercise (especially if it were, as I've supposed, a sop to theater chains after it became clear Wish wasn't going to chug along through spring like Frozen did but they needed something to offer theaters until Inside Out 2).
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Is Disney even advertising these theatrical releases? I haven't seen a single ad for them anywhere (cable, YouTube, etc.). It seems like such a weird and pointless exercise (especially if it were, as I've supposed, a sop to theater chains after it became clear Wish wasn't going to chug along through spring like Frozen did but they needed something to offer theaters until Inside Out 2).

Agreed! I haven't seen a single ad or mention of it anywhere, and yet they seem to be plopping them into 1,560 theaters nationwide where they just sit there quietly for 3 or 4 weeks. For Turning Red a few weeks ago, my local theaters had matinee and evening showings to offer, all of which appeared to be empty in the seating charts.

It's very, very weird. It almost makes me think there's some tax scheme going on here to claim losses or something. At the very least, it was an expensive morale boost for the Pixar employees who apparently felt it was very important that their work be shown on movie theater screens to empty auditoriums instead of just on Disney+.

The whole thing is a head scratcher. Next up, Luca!
 

BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
Agreed! I haven't seen a single ad or mention of it anywhere, and yet they seem to be plopping them into 1,560 theaters nationwide where they just sit there quietly for 3 or 4 weeks. For Turning Red a few weeks ago, my local theaters had matinee and evening showings to offer, all of which appeared to be empty in the seating charts.

It's very, very weird. It almost makes me think there's some tax scheme going on here to claim losses or something. At the very least, it was an expensive morale boost for the Pixar employees who apparently felt it was very important that their work be shown on movie theater screens to empty auditoriums instead of just on Disney+.

The whole thing is a head scratcher. Next up, Luca!
For your information, these films are only playing a few times a day. Rereleases are nothing new. NY theatres had a rerelease of Amelie recently. There are tons of others.
 

Miss Rori

Well-Known Member
For your information, these films are only playing a few times a day. Rereleases are nothing new. NY theatres had a rerelease of Amelie recently. There are tons of others.
Oh, I've noticed this of late - it's fairly common practice in cities with "arthouse scenes" like NYC, but it's spread to the flyover states and megaplexes too. There were a ton of those over Christmas, but the big AMC in my area's been running movies like the 2004 Phantom of the Opera and the 2018 A Star Is Born on weekends this month, and all of these are hardly advertised (at least in venues I'm familiar with, anyway). That's not even counting Fathom Events' usually anniversary-related one-to-two night reissues. I suppose the main difference is that the Pixar movies are a lot newer, and it's not like a Fathom Events release where they're there because of popular demand. It seems so halfhearted on Disney's part.
 

BrianLo

Well-Known Member
It’s also a timing advantage. Disney had nothing to release, the box office quarter was extremely quiet and they were sitting on three non theatrically released Pixar films.

I don’t think it was ultimately as successful as they hoped however. But it was being driven mostly by thinking they could make a quick buck and theatres being happy to oblige with screens.

As an aside, it looks like Kung Fu Panda 4 should do reasonably well.
 
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DKampy

Well-Known Member
I finally saw All of Us Strangers on Hulu as it never played at a theater near me… what a powerful movie…If people don’t take a chance on it because they feel it is a film geared toward the gay community it’s a shame… It hit me hard… it is too bad the studio never mounted a award campaign… I believe it could of been in serious contention at the Oscars
 

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
I don’t think it was ultimately as successful as they hoped however. But it was being driven mostly by thinking they could make a quick buck
It's an interesting choice in my opinion. Like you said, there wasn't anything to release and they figured they could make a few bucks. I also think it was throwing a bone to pixar to give these films an actual release. But Disney has an image problem when it comes to their box-office. So again it comes down to a not so great marketing choice. Why fuel the "see, no one cares about Disney films!" narrative. I know people here argue different, but I just don't get a sense of people really caring about those films. At least not enough at this point to make a trek to the theater to see them.
 

Miss Rori

Well-Known Member
Why fuel the "see, no one cares about Disney films!" narrative. I know people here argue different, but I just don't get a sense of people really caring about those films. At least not enough at this point to make a trek to the theater to see them.
There's been some discussion of this in the Wish-specific thread: In the streaming, all content all the time age, it's harder for something to succeed at all if it's not a blockbuster or at least develops a fervent cult following straightaway. I'm sure that the three straight-to-streaming Pixar films got plenty of eyeballs when they were new on Disney+ but they weren't Encanto-esque sized hits there, and people quickly moved on from them.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
It seems so halfhearted on Disney's part.

It's more than halfhearted now. It's weird.

Why are they doing this? In 1,500+ theaters nationwide? Without any marketing? It has to have cost more than the miniscule $840,000 in revenue they just pulled in for Turning Red.

Last month's re-release of Soul took in $620,000 in revenue.

How much will Luca make for them?
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
It's more than halfhearted now. It's weird.

Why are they doing this? In 1,500+ theaters nationwide? Without any marketing? It has to have cost more than the miniscule $840,000 in revenue they just pulled in for Turning Red.

Last month's re-release of Soul took in $620,000 in revenue.

How much will Luca make for them?
I still don't understand why you think its weird, or are even questioning it. Every studio re-releases films at various times during the year for various reasons. Its not meant to make huge box office returns. And it doesn't really cost them a whole lot since marketing is minimal.

For example the Henson classic Labyrinth got re-released this week. I'm sure its not going to make huge box office either, same as Soul, Turning Red, or likely Luca, even though Labyrinth is a beloved classic movie.
 

erasure fan1

Well-Known Member
I still don't understand why you think its weird, or are even questioning it. Every studio re-releases films at various times during the year for various reasons. Its not meant to make huge box office returns. And it doesn't really cost them a whole lot since marketing is minimal.
For me it's strictly an optics thing. Yes, it wasn't going to make a bunch of money. And it was probably never meant to. As I said earlier it was more of a bone being thrown to pixar. A movie like Labyrinth isn't under the microscope. Disneys box office is. So all this really accomplished was a bunch of, Disney tanks at the box office again!!! Headlines.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
I still don't understand why you think its weird, or are even questioning it. Every studio re-releases films at various times during the year for various reasons. Its not meant to make huge box office returns. And it doesn't really cost them a whole lot since marketing is minimal.

For example the Henson classic Labyrinth got re-released this week. I'm sure its not going to make huge box office either, same as Soul, Turning Red, or likely Luca, even though Labyrinth is a beloved classic movie.

I had to Google, but Labyrinth is re-released for two days only; March 6th and March 10th.

I can't find any record of its box office on March 6th, even though sites like The Numbers and Box Office Mojo track movies down to appearances of 4 or 5 theaters nationwide.

How many theaters did Labyrinth play in for its re-release on March 6th? Was it 1,560 theaters like Turning Red?

 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
For me it's strictly an optics thing. Yes, it wasn't going to make a bunch of money. And it was probably never meant to. As I said earlier it was more of a bone being thrown to pixar. A movie like Labyrinth isn't under the microscope. Disneys box office is. So all this really accomplished was a bunch of, Disney tanks at the box office again!!! Headlines.
None of those Pixar movies are getting any major headlines for their box office performance. So Disney's box office really isn't under as huge a microscope as you make it seem, other than by certain posters here.
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
I had to Google, but Labyrinth is re-released for two days only; March 6th and March 10th.

I can't find any record of its box office on March 6th, even though sites like The Numbers and Box Office Mojo track movies down to appearances of 4 or 5 theaters nationwide.

How many theaters did Labyrinth play in for its re-release on March 6th? Was it 1,560 theaters like Turning Red?

Its a Fathom Events re-release, it doesn't get tracking usually. But their events play across 1100 theaters nationwide. So if its just a single showing each day, that is 2200 screens for the two days.
 

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