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

DKampy

Well-Known Member
Yeah, we were just caught off guard by this yesterday. We'd been thinking that Anora would be safe since it's a legitimate Best Picture contender and is still doing good money per screen, but the whole landscape was obliterated this week by those blockbusters, so we had to run out to the art theater last night to catch it before it disappears.

A Real Pain, Conclave, and Heretic are sticking around near us in much more limited showings (and really weird times) compared to a week ago. For Disney/Searchlight, it'll be interesting to see if A Real Pain and/or Nightbench are able to make an impression at awards season. Things feel pretty wide open this year.
Yes… just a week ago… I mentioned to my wife…look at alll the variety of films… there seems to be something for everyone…. And the theater seemed busier than normal…then what a difference a week makes…. Nothing but tentpoles…. It perplexes me…. Because why wouldn't you want to attract the largest selection of people

It was my understanding that Nightdog was an awards contender…. But I looked it up on Rotten tomatoes recently and it only had a 65 % with many of the critics saying it was too conventional especially when compared to the book.. I am still curious to check it out for myself
 

TsWade2

Well-Known Member
You know what? I don't care if Moana 2 reached the $1 billion or not, if Moana 2 just past the $500 million or something at the box office, then WDAS will be officially saved. I hope. 🥺
 
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Tha Realest

Well-Known Member
Maybe Disney and Uni can have competing Oz based lands as Disney I believe still owns some rights to their version of the Oz stories.
The original film was produced by MGM, and I believe its rights were acquired by WB. MGM’s license to permit Disney to use certain imagery was famously limited by MGM as the Imagineers learned the hard way while developing the Great Movie Ride. That agreement has likely lapsed by now, and WB has a much better theme park relationship with Universal.

Disney can use certain public domain stuff, and can use its Oz The Great and Powerful iconography. But stuff like the Ruby Slippers are likely hands off.
 

brideck

Well-Known Member
It was my understanding that Nightdog was an awards contender…. But I looked it up on Rotten tomatoes recently and it only had a 65 % with many of the critics saying it was too conventional especially when compared to the book.. I am still curious to check it out for myself

Totally forgot (until catching the trailer again last night) that A Complete Unknown is also a Searchlight release. With Chalamet's popularity and the recent success of musician biopics that could end up doing pretty well for Disney, though it's carrying an R rating.
 

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
Original Poster


Moanapocalypse has arrived.

Moana 2 amassed a record-shattering $13.8 million in Tuesday previews, the biggest preview number ever for a Walt Disney Animation title and the second-biggest for any animated film behind sister Pixar’s Incredibles 2 ($18.5 million). That’s quite a feat, considering that the Incredibles sequel opened in the summer. On Tuesday, only 48 percent of schools were out and 20 percent of colleges, per Disney”
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
The original film was produced by MGM, and I believe its rights were acquired by WB. MGM’s license to permit Disney to use certain imagery was famously limited by MGM as the Imagineers learned the hard way while developing the Great Movie Ride. That agreement has likely lapsed by now, and WB has a much better theme park relationship with Universal.

Disney can use certain public domain stuff, and can use its Oz The Great and Powerful iconography. But stuff like the Ruby Slippers are likely hands off.
I never mentioned the original movie for a reason. As any land Disney would build in this scenario would be based off their Oz movies.

When Disney was doing their Oz movie they didn't need to license anything beyond the original iconography of the original film from WB, (such as they licensed the Ruby slippers from WB, as the original movie rights already had moved to WB by that point, ie it was only 11 year ago time flies I know), as they already have the film rights to all the other Baum books. This is why Disney was able to do Return to Oz on the 80s. So any land they build would be based off their own movies and the rest of the Baum books, not the original film or the new Wicked film.

Just an FYI, there were rumors at the time the movie came out in 2013 of Disney looking to build an Oz land in Disneyland. So it was something they were already considering just a decade ago.
 

Miss Rori

Well-Known Member
Disney has the film rights to all other Baum books, something they picked up in 50s and maintained. Its the reason why no one has ever done a follow-up to the original but Disney when they did Return to Oz in the 80s.
This isn't really relevant anymore, as all 14 Baum-penned Oz novels are now public domain, as are some of the successor novels by Ruth Plumly Thompson. (In fact, there are a surprising number of low-budget Oz-inspired movies, miniseries, and TV shows out there that just don't get talked up.) So the main issue Disney would have is that it wouldn't be able to use copyrighted material from the MGM film due to current rights holder WB's tight hold on the property, and for a lot of people if not most, that's their idea of Oz. Universal has the upper hand here if they want to incorporate Wicked material, which is copyrighted, into their parks. (Actually, they already did for a while at the Japanese park, which featured a stage show featuring highlights from the first act about a decade ago!)
 

Disney Irish

Premium Member
This isn't really relevant anymore, as all 14 Baum-penned Oz novels are now public domain, as are some of the successor novels by Ruth Plumly Thompson. (In fact, there are a surprising number of low-budget Oz-inspired movies, miniseries, and TV shows out there that just don't get talked up.) So the main issue Disney would have is that it wouldn't be able to use copyrighted material from the MGM film due to current rights holder WB's tight hold on the property, and for a lot of people if not most, that's their idea of Oz. Universal has the upper hand here if they want to incorporate Wicked material, which is copyrighted, into their parks. (Actually, they already did for a while at the Japanese park, which featured a stage show featuring highlights from the first act about a decade ago!)
Be that as it may regarding the books being in public domain, once again Disney would not need ANYTHING from the original movie as their Oz movies have very little to do with it outside of a couple iconic props which wouldn't be needed in this case. Disney built their own version of Oz in both Return to Oz from the 80s and in Oz Great and Powerful from 2013. So there is enough from those two movies that they could build their own land without ever needing anything from the original movie. Again there was a rumor of them considering it back in 2013 for Disneyland.

And speaking of public domain, the original movie makes its way to public domain in 10 years so all of that concern that people have is moot after that point anyways.
 

DKampy

Well-Known Member
Totally forgot (until catching the trailer again last night) that A Complete Unknown is also a Searchlight release. With Chalamet's popularity and the recent success of musician biopics that could end up doing pretty well for Disney, though it's carrying an R rating.
It will be interesting to see how A complete Unknown does as it won’t have all the holiday tentpoles to compete with…. I could see Chalamet getting a best actor nod if he nails Dylan(with the little we have seen in the trailer it seems he might)… especially since apparently it is his singing they are using rather than a voice track
 

BrianLo

Well-Known Member

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