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

[Tha Realest]

We totally know, because family movies and others around that time of Light-year outperformed it and later Encanto.

It's not a mystery. This was not a sudden thing
They have been producing less and less quality stuff for awhile.

This is why Kung Fu Panda just rocked so much more than Wish in opening weekends to be yet another animated people pleaser.

Just checked. KFP4 opened much higher than KFP3. I also suspect it’ll have pretty decent legs. And it’s budget was only $85M.

I thought none of these things (making more money on sequels post-Covid, animation budgets under $200M) were possible anymore.

 

[Miss Rori]

Just checked. KFP4 opened much higher than KFP3. I also suspect it’ll have pretty decent legs. And it’s budget was only $85M.

KFP4 is the only (new) PG title in the marketplace, and there won't be another one until The Garfield Movie on Memorial Day weekend, so it's probably going to stick around the way Wonka and Migration managed to. Not to mention that it gets the Easter/spring break family outings all to itself in a few weeks. (The only potential competition for families might be Ghostbusters - Frozen Empire and/or Godzilla X Kong, and more the former than the latter.)

Given that a rising tide lifts all boats, I wonder if KFP4's trailer appearing before movies like Wonka and Migration gave it an extra boost? But it's great news for Dreamworks in any case; they're probably the most hit-and-miss of the U.S. animation studios right now, but they just keep plugging away and it pays off. (Their next film The Wild Robot looks extremely promising.)

Meanwhile, speaking of overperforming sequels, Dune Part Two's second weekend looks to come in stronger than the first weekend of the first movie. A trade article suggests it's going to be legging out because some people are still waiting to see it in a premium format like IMAX.

 

[pigglewiggle]

Just on the topic of popular movies. We watched Wonka today.

What a gem. Fantastic.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Just on the topic of popular movies. We watched Wonka today.

What a gem. Fantastic.

Saw it for the third time tonight, and it’s now on my DVR for good.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

You're not taking into account the D+ effect. Had the pandemic not occurred then Pixar theatrical wouldn't have been pushed to D+, which wouldn't have caused families to be trained to wait for Pixar releases until they come out on D+ (

How stupid are people who get “trained” by something happening 3 times? People are not dogs. They’re supposed to be able to reason and understand that something happening as an exception while movie theaters are closed(!) is not going to happen forever.

 

[Disney Irish]

How stupid are people who get “trained” by something happening 3 times? People are not dogs. They’re supposed to be able to reason and understand that something happening as an exception while movie theaters are closed(!) is not going to happen forever.

It wasn’t just Pixar, most Disney movies from 2020-2022 were quickly available on D+ after 45 days of being released in theaters. So it’s part of why Disney’s box office has been depressed, along with what some consider a quality issue even if I don’t agree with it overall.

 

[celluloid]

I would also like to point out before someone claims that Universal has Peacock… that I would gather that Disney plus has a much greater presence with families over Peacock and People expect Disney plus to get the Disney movies…. So I think it is quite likely that when families choose to spend their discerning dollars they opt for the movie that may not be coming to a streaming service they have

Even funnier. DreamWorks Animation and Illumination films come to both Peacock and Netflix after. So subscriber opportunity is farther teaching than Disney Plus and Universal makes lisce sing through Netflix for profit from previous deals as well.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Just finished Poor Things - what a weird, striking, beautiful, odd, and wonderful film.

 

[LittleBuford]

Just finished Poor Things - what a weird, striking, beautiful, odd, and wonderful film.

Copycat!

 

[Disney Irish]

Even funnier. DreamWorks Animation and Illumination films come to both Peacock and Netflix after. So subscriber opportunity is farther teaching than Disney Plus and Universal makes lisce sing through Netflix for profit from previous deals as well.

Except those movies coming to Netflix don’t reach the service until long after they’ve been out of theaters and after it’s been on Peacock, something like almost a year. And that licensing deal was only a recent thing, something Disney is also doing with a lot of their content that isn’t core to Disney, a deal that was done around the same time as Comcast and WBD did theirs.

 

[celluloid]

Except those movies coming to Netflix don’t reach the service until long after they’ve been out of theaters and after it’s been on Peacock, something like almost a year. And that licensing deal was only a recent thing, something Disney is also doing with a lot of their content that isn’t core to Disney, a deal that was done around the same time as Comcast and WBD did theirs.

Wrong on almost every account here.

The deal was struck between Universal and Netflix back in early 2021. Less than a year after Peacock launched as Netflix was already licensing Universal Illumination and Dreamworks films. This is why you have Camp Cretaceous, Trolls, Kung Fu Panda and others raising kids the modern way Saturday morning cartoons and Disney Afternoon extensions of properties used to.

The difference is, most of Universal's movies are performing very well in theaters and profiting long before their Peacock and Netflix Reach, which combined is comparable and more profitable than just Disney Plus' as Universal collects the licensing fees as other platforms show them with ads. Which in turns makes those platforms want to show those films too as they were already hits. The Universal films tend to be on Netflix's Most watched ratings list after they move to Netflix from Peacock. Which by the way, is at most four months for the massive hits like Mario from Peacock to Netflix, but there are plenty who go only about 40 days from one service to the other.

The last part of your post points how how things are changing to this. It is something Disney is now trying to do because their movies are not doing well in theaters, and they like making as much more more money than their competition.

 

[Disney Irish]

Wrong on almost every account here.

The deal was struck between Universal and Netflix back in early 2021. Less than a year after Peacock launched as Netflix was already licensing Universal Illumination and Dreamworks films. This is why you have Camp Cretaceous, Trolls, Kung Fu Panda and others raising kids the modern way Saturday morning cartoons and Disney Afternoon extensions of properties used to.

The difference is, most of Universal's movies are performing very well in theaters and profiting long before their Peacock and Netflix Reach, which combined is comparable and more profitable than just Disney Plus' as Universal collects the licensing fees as other platforms show them with ads. Which in turns makes those platforms want to show those films too as they were already hits. The Universal films tend to be on Netflix's Most watched ratings list after they move to Netflix from Peacock. Which by the way, is at most four months for the massive hits like Mario from Peacock to Netflix, but there are plenty who go only about 40 days from one service to the other.

The last part of your post points how how things are changing to this. It is something Disney is now trying to do because their movies are not doing well in theaters, and they like making as much more more money than their competition.

It was July 2021 to be exact, not early 2021. But thanks for correcting me on the timing of the deal.

And it would be for movies after they've already streamed on Peacock for at least 4 months, which would be typically after 3 months already in theaters. So that means Netflix isn't getting most of Uni's films until 7-9 month after they've released in theaters. For example Mario came out in April 5th 2023 and didn't land on Netflix until December 3rd 2023, that's 8 months not 4 months. So yeah I rounded up to say "about a year", but its not as short as 4 months.

 

[celluloid]

It was July 2021 to be exact, not early 2021. But thanks for correcting me on the timing of the deal.

And it would be for movies after they've already streamed on Peacock for at least 4 months, which would be typically after 3 months already in theaters. So that means Netflix isn't getting most of Uni's films until 7-9 month after they've released in theaters. For example Mario came out in April 5th 2023 and didn't land on Netflix until December 3rd 2023, that's 8 months not 4 months. So yeah I rounded up to say "about a year", but its not as short as 4 months.

Mario was the longest example for sure. Plenty others are as soon as four months. Why on earth would the longest example be so long? Because it is a smash hit Universal made plenty of money off of theatrically, home video, streaming on their own platform with and without ads and then Netflix's as well.

Rounding up four more months is quite a bit, when it is the rare example for it being that long as being out of theaters for a year. It is not limited to animation. Universals other money makers have struck these release deals as well. And is often only 40 to 60 day windows before theater to streaming on platforms other than peacock.


All this to say, Uni(and in some cases other studios) are making more money off of box office hits and their home releases than Disney is just on their shortcomings and Disney Plus streaming their own content.

 

[Disney Irish]

Mario was the longest example for sure. Plenty others are as soon as four months. Why on earth would the longest example be so long? Because it is a smash hit Universal made plenty of money off of theatrically, home video l, streaming on their own platform with and without ads and then Netflix's licensing as well.

Rounding up four more months is quite a bit, when it is the rare example for it being that long as being out of theaters for a year. It is not limited to animation. Universals other money makers have struck these release deals as well. And is often only 40 to 60 day windows before theater to streaming on platforms other than peacock.


All this to say, Uni(and in some cases other studios) are making more money off of box office hits and their home releases than Disney is just on their shortcomings and Disney Plus streaming their own content.

I don't think I've seen any that were announced to be less than 6 months after theatrical on Netflix.

Where I think you might be getting confused on the 4 months from is that Netflix will get Uni's movies 4 months after Peacock, which is 120 days after theatrical release, as noted in this article about the deal -

"The Netflix window will begin after the initial four-month Peacock window. This new deal builds upon Netflix’s pre-existing Illumination output deal with Universal to now include DreamWorks Animation."

Universal Animation Movies Hammer Post Peacock Multi-Year Pay Window With Netflix

As we told you last week, Universal‘s Animation titles will continue to stream on Netflix. In a new multi-year deal made official by both studios today, Uni’s animation movies will stream on Netflix during the middle 10-month portion of an 18-month pay-one partner window. As previously reported...

deadline.com

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Not the point, but technically she thanked Nichols for championing her to other directors after she was in his Central Park production of The Seagull in 2001. And yes, Star Wars has damaged a lot of actors' careers over the years because it's non-serious work that it's nearly impossible to showcase any real acting ability in.

Ridley didn't have many pre-Star Wars credits to fall back on, so she's essentially still in the process of establishing a career, kind of like Mark Hamill, and he was in nothing particularly useful for years after that. By comparison, I think she's doing just fine.

He became Luke Skywalker…

…but…you know?…people liked/recognized Luke Skywalker

Just like Leonard nimoy became Spock

 

[celluloid]

I don't think I've seen any that were announced to be less than 6 months after theatrical on Netflix.

Where I think you might be getting confused on the 4 months from is that Netflix will get Uni's movies 4 months after Peacock, which is 120 days after theatrical release, as noted in this article about the deal -

I am not confused. You are still hung up on only Illumination and DreamWorks.
Universal has other films that performed well to great at the box office in profits that were then licensed to other platforms and made money off them there as well. For far less than four months after Peacock.

 

[DKampy]

Even funnier. DreamWorks Animation and Illumination films come to both Peacock and Netflix after. So subscriber opportunity is farther teaching than Disney Plus and Universal makes lisce sing through Netflix for profit from previous deals as well.

Most people know what the Disney movies are, but I would guess most of your average movie goers have no idea about the Universal/Netflix deal and will just be surprise when they see such films pop up on Netflix

 

[Disney Irish]

I am not confused. You are still hung up on only Illumination and DreamWorks.
Universal has other films that performed well to great at the box office in profits that were then licensed to other platforms and made money off them there as well. For far less than four months after Peacock.

We were talking about the Uni animation films and its Netflix deal, so yeah I was still on that conversation.

Anyways I'm moving on from this.

 

[celluloid]

We were talking about the Uni animation films and its Netflix deal, so yeah I was still on that conversation.

Anyways I'm moving on from this.

That's too bad, as the box office world and show business is larger than just animation, as much as I would love for Disney to get successful with animated releases, I enjoy their live action offerings of the past too.

Sony's non animated films are turning healthy profits again. Interested to see how Ghostbusters performs. It's marketing is everywhere.

 

[Disney Irish]

Poor Things is starting to rack up the Oscar wins, 3 so far.