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

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Oh yeah this is fine…
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Interestingly enough, this theater is a Disney Focus Group location where they continually do audience surveys.

I looked at my closest theater and there are 3 seats sold at the 2pm premier, 0 at the 2:40 show, 0 at 4:15, 1 at 4:50, 0 at 5:30, 2 at 7, 1 at 7:40, 0 at 8:20, 0 at 9:45, and 1 at 10:30… for a grand total of 8 seats sold between 10 showings with advance bookings.

To be fair if I pulled up that seat map I probably wouldn’t book early either, with no risk of the good seats selling out I’d prefer to just play it by ear rather than locking in a specific time a week early.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

From what I have been reading this take on the classic Snow White is not going over to well looks to be another Disney flop

That’s 2 straight for the ole empire

And it might take stitch to break the slide

God help us all

 

[Agent H]

Sounds Kinky…I’m in!

This got weird quick!

 

[monothingie]

I looked at my closest theater and there are 3 seats sold at the 2pm premier, 0 at the 2:40 show, 0 at 4:15, 1 at 4:50, 0 at 5:30, 2 at 7, 1 at 7:40, 0 at 8:20, 0 at 9:45, and 1 at 10:30… for a grand total of 8 seats sold between 10 showings with advance bookings.

To be fair if I pulled up that seat map I probably wouldn’t book early either, with no risk of the good seats selling out I’d prefer to just play it by ear rather than locking in a specific time a week early.

It shows that despite the controversy and added attention, there is no excitement behind this $300M+ tentpole production turd.

People inside Disney Studios should be cleaning out their cubicles because of this completely avoidable disaster.

 

[monothingie]

This got weird quick!

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

There is this old, worn-out saying: "Get Woke, go broke".

This notion has been peddled for several years now we have thoroughly debunked it on these forums over and over again. Disney does NOT need to be concerned with this phrase and it's idea because it has been 100% proven wrong. Disney should not and will not be altered by any fear of this silly idea.

The new thing now is: "Snow White is going to flop because it's Woke". I'm certain this is FAR from the case. "Snow White" was the character that started the Disney studios and is very much an evergreen IP. The movie is going to be a huge success. Even if it slips a little bit, it won't be because it's "Woke". It will more likely be because of where they placed it in the spring movie season. This should have been marketed in the summer "blockbuster" months with a higher marketing budget. Even still, this movie is going to be an excellent box office performer.

We really need to end this "Get Woke, go broke" trope that somehow just won't dei. It's insulting and just not factually true in 2025.

You'll never get rid of this concept because it has always been around, it's just the name that changes.

How long did we constantly hear complaints about "political correctness"?

It's just another in a long line of phrases or code words used to complain about something without explicitly stating the underlying reason for the complaints.

 

[Cliff]

The important thing is with a WHOLE theater to choose from why did this person pick this seat?
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Why can't Burbank's marketing department just buy up 100 million in box office tickets? The theaters get half and the other half comes back to Burbank. It's worth it because it buys them "respectfull" first week box office numbers to brag about.

There is a rumor that this trick was done on "Captain Marvel". Y'know, it might be worth it to protect the band image with Wall Street??

If you can't organically get good box office numbers...then just "buy" yourself good box office numbers.

 

[Disney Irish]

Conditions in Hollywood have changed Constantly for 100 years…
At one time they drank 18 hours a day…under lifetime contract for Pennies…and had to get garage abortions if it interfered with their shooting schedule…

Now social media and its drawbacks are part of the deal.

They still want fame and fortune because it’s what life tells you to want.

You’re building an elaborate construct of actors that are not getting the right work after movies with stink on them.

Maybe it’s not this hard?

Do you really think Kelly Marie Tran was thinking that being bullied ferociously online (so much so that she had to delete all her social media profiles) was part of the deal when joining SW? No, I don't think so. So no its not part of the deal, and it shouldn't be.

It should also be noted that there are many ways to make "fame and fortune" in Hollywood without having to join a large blockbuster franchise and having to deal with the social media drawback that comes with it. All you have to do is look at the many working actors starring in many many many movies that comes out all the time, for example Adrien Brody. He has yet to join a large franchise and continues to work consistently and has the fame and fortune that goes with it.

So this idea that any young actor that isn't joining/re-joining a large franchise somehow has a dead career is wrong.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Why can't Burbank's marketing department just buy up 100 million in box office tickets? The theaters get half and the other half comes back to Burbank. It's worth it because it buys them "respectfull" first week box office numbers to brag about.

There is a rumor that this trick was done on "Captain Marvel". Y'know, it might be worth it to protect the band image with Wall Street??

If you can't organically get good box office numbers...then just "buy" yourself good box office numbers.

There were rumors several years ago, pre pandemic, that Disney was buying up theaters.

TBH, its marketing money well spent

 

[Cliff]

There were rumors several years ago, pre pandemic, that Disney was buying up theaters.

TBH, its marketing money well spent

I have just been told that Disney doesn't do 50/50 with theaters on opening week. Their contracts stat that Disney gets 65% on week one and then drops to 50/50 with theaters every week after that.

So, if true,...Burbank could dump a lot of money to buy tickets for week one specifically and get a BIG chunk of that cost right back. It's tricky, though, because theaters that look full on the seating charts wind up looking empty when a few people go in there and photograph it. How realistic is it to have a sold-out theater with 80% no-show "buyers" with empty seats?

It's hard to cover that up the hawks on social media.

 

[Phroobar]

I have just been told that Disney doesn't do 50/50 with theaters on opening week. Their contracts stat that Disney gets 65% on week one and then drops to 50/50 with theaters every week after that.

So, if true,...Burbank could dump a lot of money to buy tickets for week one specifically and get a BIG chunk of that cost right back. It's tricky, though, because theaters that look full on the seating charts wind up looking empty when a few people go in there and photograph it. How realistic is it to have a sold-out theater with 80% no-show "buyers" with empty seats?

It's hard to cover that up the hawks on social media.

I've seen that quite often. I would be sitting in the theater before the movie starts and look at the seating chart. There is aways a large number of boughten seats that are empty when the movie starts. Where are these people? Are church groups buying up tickets for their youth groups and not showing up? Do people get refunds on unused movie tickets?

 

[BrianLo]

I see the bat signal got turned on again.

 

[John park hopper]

You'll never get rid of this concept because it has always been around, it's just the name that changes.

How long did we constantly hear complaints about "political correctness"?

It's just another in a long line of phrases or code words used to complain about something without explicitly stating the underlying reason for the complaints.

elucidating the complaint would be against forum rules

 

[monothingie]

I see the bat signal got turned on again.

 

[erasure fan1]

That’s a completely different topic than saying we don’t like Disney though, most of us still love the parks, DCL, the resorts, and even many of the movies, we just dislike many of the individual decisions the company is making.

100%. It's a tale as old as time on the forums. Disney has been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember. I don't want to be negative but at the same time I won't be positive for the sake of some sort of allegiance to Disney. When there's a reason to be positive, I am. It's not our faults that Disney has had a quality issue for a while now. The problem that I see is when there's negativity it's more often met with, then why are you here? Or, maybe Disney isn't for you anymore.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Why can't Burbank's marketing department just buy up 100 million in box office tickets? The theaters get half and the other half comes back to Burbank. It's worth it because it buys them "respectfull" first week box office numbers to brag about.

There is a rumor that this trick was done on "Captain Marvel". Y'know, it might be worth it to protect the band image with Wall Street??

If you can't organically get good box office numbers...then just "buy" yourself good box office numbers.

I don't know if this was exactly the same thing but during the physical media heyday studios included movie tickets with physical media purchases.

When a movie came out, particularly a sequel, you could buy the original on DVD and it came with a voucher towards the new movie.

 

[DKampy]

I find it ick…. People talking about someone who decided not to partake in these forumsanymore… while he is not around

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Sounds Kinky…I’m in!

Notice I didn’t ask you the rhetorical question?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Why can't Burbank's marketing department just buy up 100 million in box office tickets? The theaters get half and the other half comes back to Burbank. It's worth it because it buys them "respectfull" first week box office numbers to brag about.

There is a rumor that this trick was done on "Captain Marvel". Y'know, it might be worth it to protect the band image with Wall Street??

If you can't organically get good box office numbers...then just "buy" yourself good box office numbers.

You know…it would mitigate losses

The problem I see is that they’d be exposed to their failure more by doing this…whereas flops are usually just forgotten without too much fanfare

 

[DKampy]

Someone get that man a Bud Light!

.

While you’re buying a round I’ll take a Bud Light….. Much prefer that then to a Miller Light…. Which seems to be a religion here in Wisconsin