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

TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Agent H said:
Ok but none of that explains why it “ isn’t for families with small children”.
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It's not the traditional Princess movie any more. It's become a Leadership Journey story, apparently.

A parent could easily take their 8 year old daughter to this PG rated movie, but few seem to be doing that.

The mass market of families with small children doesn't seem to exist for this new version of Snow White.
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Chi84 said:
Good lord if it's not for families with small children, who is it for?
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I imagine that's the question Burbank execs are asking themselves this weekend after it flopped.

Who did they make this movie for exactly? And at $250+ Million, no less! Because no one really showed up for it.
 
Casper Gutman

Casper Gutman

Well-Known Member
Where is the attempt to rehabilitate and champion Perlmutter coming from? It certainly isn’t coming from film or comic fans or historians. Is it just political? Is there some YouTube commentator pushing it?
 
WorldExplorer

WorldExplorer

Well-Known Member
The obvious logical response is that they made this to lure in all the people who have watched and loved the original over the last 88 years; the people who keep buying the merchandise they keep selling, keep standing in line for the meet and greets, kept buying the home video releases, kept going to rereleases, keep booking the character meal, etc...plus general Disney fans.

The actual problem with that is that they took the movie and stripped of its iconic elements, rewrote the main character, and wrote in a whole movie's worth of new characters that no one gives a crap about, while replacing whole songs that have been popular for generations already. So if you liked Snow White you probably won't actually like this because they removed most of the stuff that made it Snow White and went off on a tangent with irrelevant stuff.

The answer to "Who is the audience for a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs remake?" is obvious.

The answer to "Who the hell is the audience for the broken mess that is Snow White (2025)?" is a mystery.
 
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TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
brideck said:
I guess I missed the memo that stated that only traditional Princess movies were for "families with small children."
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That was generally the mass market these movies pulled in (and usually made tidy profits off of) for the first 80 years or so.

Who this movie is for exactly would appear to be part of its problem. In addition to the odious PR disaster that the starring actress created for herself and her employer, plus a healthy dose of idiotic HR-approved decisions by executives stuck in a Silver Lake brunch bubble. And Peter Dinklage being kind of a jerk.

There's not just one single reason this thing flopped globally. It's a laundry list really, a perfect storm of 2020's poor decision making by big companies and executives and stars who want to remake their core audience by sheer will.

Probably best to just stick with the usual Princess shtick from now on, and that includes involving a two dimensional Prince and 4th grade level romance in the story. Because I can't imagine that the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique is going to be able to sell a bunch of size XS corporate pantsuits for 6 year old girls who want to pretend they are on a leadership journey. ;)

Coming soon to Disneyland and Magic Kingdom... Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique, Presented by Ann Taylor!

group-women-standing-front-white-background_1034910-61815.jpg
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
WorldExplorer said:
The obvious logical response is that they made this to lure in all the people who have watched and loved the original over the last 88 years; the people who keep buying the merchandise they keep selling, keep standing in line for the meet and greets, kept buying the home video releases, kept going to rereleased, keep booking the character meal, etc...plus general Disney fans.

The actual problem with that is that they took the movie and stripped of its iconic elements, rewrote the main character, and wrote in a whole movie's worth of new characters that no one gives a crap about, while replacing while songs that have been popular for generations already. So if you liked Snow White you probably won't actually like this because they removed most of the stuff that made it Snow White and went off on a tangent with irrelevant stuff.

The answer to "Who is the audience for a Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs remake?" is obvious.

The answer to "Who the hell is the audience for the broken mess that is Snow White (2025)?" is a mystery.
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Thank you! You said it all much better than I apparently can this afternoon. :)
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Getting back to box office, here's two scenarios that would seem to be playing out for Snow White; a $300 Million global cumulative that seems likely, and a $400 Million global cumulative that would be the best case scenario after this weekend.

It's helpful that the domestic and overseas box office stats seem to be on a nearly identical path, so we'll just continue with that assumption for the totals two months from now.

$300 Million Snow White; Production $250, Marketing $100, Domestic $90, Overseas $60 = $200 Million Loss
$400 Million Snow White: Production $250, Marketing $100, Domestic $120, Overseas $80 = $150 Million Loss

How much is a new night parade again? 🤔
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
brideck said:
Well, I apparently got exactly what I asked for -- a reframing of the original question followed by a bunch of tired talking points. Are we sure that TP isn't some octogenarian Senator from somewhere?
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You got my opinion of why Snow White is not a movie for families with small children (girls specifically, in this Princess scenario).

If you disagree with me, and feel that families with small children are wrong to stay away in droves from this movie, that's fine. But the box office results this weekend show that this movie is a big flop and will cost Disney several hundred million dollars because... families with small children didn't show up for it. No one really showed up for it, actually.

In my opinion, Disney needs to go back to making Princess movies for families with small children. That used to be a very profitable business model for them, and they need to never do what they did to the well known Snow White story ever again.

Although, to be honest, they're running out of old Princess stories to turn into live action. Honestly, what's left? Tangled?
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Disney Rocks

Disney Rocks

Active Member
They tried to make a Snow White movie for the post-Frozen generation of girls. The target audience of the final product is very much still families with small children. Children have been watching "leadership stories" like Star Wars and The Lion King for generations. That aspect does not make them un-family friendly.

And little girls are not averse to seeing themselves in those plots. Moana was an enormous success.

The problem is that Snow White is a survival story, not really a Hero's Journey narrative. So you have to drastically re-write the plot to make Snow White want something other than to survive and find happiness. What does she self-actualize to?

And the writers of this movie did not have a compelling answer to that. The "brave and true" arch words were stolen verbatim from the (also poorly written) Mulan remake.

It's not any more woke or un-family friendly than Moana or Frozen. It's just hackneyed and so different from the original Snow White that you have to ask "Why not just write a new story?" But Disney can't because they're addicted to using nostalgia and brand recognition as a crutch.
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Disney Rocks said:
It's just hackneyed and so different from the original Snow White that you have to ask "Why not just write a new story?" But Disney can't because they're addicted to using nostalgia and brand recognition as a crutch.
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Exactly! If they wanted to do a live action Snow White & The Seven Dwarves, they could have done that. And should have.

Instead, they tried to turn it into something new and different and pinned to the Silver Lake brunch table zeitgeist of 2021, while still keeping the same dress and poison apple for merchandise sales. But the audience didn't show up for it.

If they want to do a girls Leadership Journey story, do that. But don't try and call it Snow White and then wonder why it flops.
 

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