Surprise, surprise! The Nutcracker movie stinks.

[MisterPenguin]

The film looks too Tim Burton-ish to me. Why is his style of fantasy so popular in Hollywood? And why did Disney make the heroine Clara a grown woman? In the ballet she's a little kid.

Many ballet adaptations, quite famous and common ones, make Clara old enough to dance the final dance with the Nutcracker in a romantic fashion instead of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier. This leads to slap fights amongst ballet fans over whether it's appropriate.

So, this isn't the first time for this rodeo.

 

[Mmoore29]

Oz was actually really good, and it was quite profitable. But none of those other films really matched it, and it shows. Will Disney ever give up coming up with new stories and new takes on stories that aren't associated with them? Of course not, but they certainly are having a far more difficult gestation process than they used to. Someone should be able to show them the way again.

 

[RobbinsDad]

As seen with the upcoming Timmy Failure adaptation (originally a theatrical release directed by the director of best picture winner Spotlight), I think the strategy is going to be launch new live action material on the streaming service, and stick to existing material at the box office.

 

[King Racoon 77]

So @RobbinsDad what did YOU think of the film

 

[CJR]

The issue isn't that people won't see original works, but that the works Disney keeps putting out don't appeal to audiences enough to get them into theaters. They can have a successful original concept, they just need to make the right movie IMO.

Other studios have put out original films without failing. A key is having a lower budget, The House with a Clock in its Walls has made well over $100 million, and growing, on a $42 million budget. So they can find success, they need to get the right concept and do it for a reasonable amount of money. If Universal can do it, so can Disney.

 

[Princess Leia]

I wish the movie got the Sleeping Beauty treatment- Animated with songs adapted from the original ballet score.

The film looks too Tim Burton-ish to me. Why is his style of fantasy so popular in Hollywood? And why did Disney make the heroine Clara a grown woman? In the ballet she's a little kid.

I was going to disagree with you, but then looked up Mackenzie Foy’s age and somehow she’s 18 now. I could have sworn she was younger.

The issue isn't that people won't see original works, but that the works Disney keeps putting out don't appeal to audiences enough to get them into theaters. They can have a successful original concept, they just need to make the right movie IMO.

Other studios have put out original films without failing. A key is having a lower budget, The House with a Clock in its Walls has made well over $100 million, and growing, on a $42 million budget. So they can find success, they need to get the right concept and do it for a reasonable amount of money. If Universal can do it, so can Disney.

Clock looked really good!! That’s one I definitely plan on renting on DVD when it comes out in a couple months.

 

[RobbinsDad]

View attachment 323828

My post has nothing to do with this particular movie and whether or not I will enjoy it (probably not), it's another example in a long line of expensive mistakes by WDS in adapting new material into live action movies. Basically, they suck at it now. This is the studio that has brought us countless live action classics - from storybook adaptations like Mary Poppins and SFR, true stories like Davy Crockett or Remember the Titans, or original stories like Herbie and Tron. Now they can't even get a story as timeless as The Nutcracker right. How many big budget flops will they go through before original live action content is nixed? Answer: No more. Timmy Failure - their next live action movie based on new adapted material is going straight to the new streaming service - no theatrical release.

You received the response. Just not the one you were looking for.

 

[King Racoon 77]

You received the response. Just not the one you were looking for.

Didn't answer my question. So i am still waiting .

 

[MisterPenguin]

Oz was actually really good, and it was quite profitable.

Oz,tGaP only got a 60% thumbs up from critics and a score of 60%. From users of IMDB and RT, a score of 66%. So, a lot of luke-warmishness.

As for profit, the Box Office of $493 gets split between theaters and production company, so, Disney only got half of that. Disney spent $200 to make it and about another $100 million to advertise it. So, after it's theatrical run, it was a net loss for Disney of about $53 million. Perhaps they made up part or all of it in the after-market.

There's a whole series of Oz books now in the public domain. It's understandable why Disney hasn't gone back to this well, though.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Apparently the Nutcracker film is a bomb. Made like 20 million total this weekend. Jeez...

 

[Magenta Panther]

Oz,tGaP only got a 60% thumbs up from critics and a score of 60%. From users of IMDB and RT, a score of 66%. So, a lot of luke-warmishness.

As for profit, the Box Office of $493 gets split between theaters and production company, so, Disney only got half of that. Disney spent $200 to make it and about another $100 million to advertise it. So, after it's theatrical run, it was a net loss for Disney of about $53 million. Perhaps they made up part or all of it in the after-market.

There's a whole series of Oz books now in the public domain. It's understandable why Disney hasn't gone back to this well, though.

Indeed. There's an episode of the original Mickey Mouse Club that revolves about a possible Disney Oz film, as you may know. Uncle Walt himself was in the episode. In it, some of the Mousketeers try to convince him to make an Oz movie, and two of them do a scene as the Scarecrow and the Patchwork Girl and sing a song. It was kinda cute. But thank god Walt didn't go through with an actual Oz movie. The MGM version is unbeatable, so why try? As for Oz the Great and Powerful, I saw it and found it lukewarmish, all right. Meh effects, bland script with zero wit and charm. Too bad.

 

[Princess Leia]

Apparently the Nutcracker film is a bomb. Made like 20 million total this weekend. Jeez...

It’s not how much it made this weekend, it’s what was spent on it and how much it will make in the coming weeks. If it loses 50% next weekend, it’s down to $30M domestic (I’m not sure how the film is doing internationally). It cost $130M to make. I know that $20 Million sounds like a lot of money for one weekend, but in this case, it’s not.

 

[Princess Leia]

Also, look at the competition over the next few weeks-
Family market: The Grinch (November 9)
Fantasy market: Fantastic Beasts 2 (November 16)
Disney market: Wreck-It Ralph 2 (November 21)

Let’s face it, the movie’s going to crash.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

They should have switched the release dates for Nutcracker and Mary Poppins. Poppins sells itself. People would go to see it no matter when its released. Nutcracker is a Christmas movie, not something you put out 2 days after Halloween.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

How long before that $200 Clara dress (+ accessories!) go on sale at Shop Disney?

 

[CJR]

We went and saw this yesterday, my family all seemed to like it. It was not perfect by any means, but after seeing it myself, people are being overly negative. To compare, not a single member of my family liked A Wrinkle in Time, and my wife was really excited for that one before it came out.

Disney did make some big mistakes though including the lack of musical focus and putting it too early in the season. The cast was good though and we liked the plot.

 

[Princess Leia]

We went and saw this yesterday, my family all seemed to like it. It was not perfect by any means, but after seeing it myself, people are being overly negative. To compare, not a single member of my family liked A Wrinkle in Time, and my wife was really excited for that one before it came out.

Disney did make some big mistakes though including the lack of musical focus and putting it too early in the season. The cast was good though and we liked the plot.

‘Lack of musical focus’- can you explain more?

 

[erasure fan1]

Other studios have put out original films without failing. A key is having a lower budget, The House with a Clock in its Walls has made well over $100 million, and growing, on a $42 million budget. So they can find success, they need to get the right concept and do it for a reasonable amount of money. If Universal can do it, so can Disney.

You really would think that Disney would be better at doing this. Especially now that they own ILM. It's not like Disney hasn't taken that approach before. Look at the muppets, 90mil domestic, 165mil world wide might seem meh, but on a 45mil budget, success. I personally think the problem is that Disney is no longer the innovator and is now just ok with following a trend and playing safe. Even Pixar is drifting from the innovator path. I haven't looked to Disney as a gold standard for a long time. The only studio from Disney that holds that honor is Marvel, and I don't give the credit to Disney with them, so as long as Disney continues to leave them alone, they will be fine.

 

[CJR]

‘Lack of musical focus’- can you explain more?

The classic nutcracker music is in the movie, but executed poorly and is more "tossed in". They could have had no music playing and the effect on screen would have been mostly the same, unfortunately.

They could have taken it further, IMO, and went full Disney musical. If they did the right stuff, it could have been a real fresh musical adventure.

 

[LSLS]

So as someone that doesn't know much on movies, how would a movie being bad impact the opening? I get the next weekend since the word of mouth would have spread, but I'm not sure on the opening. I would think other factors could have a much larger impact on it. I guess I'm wondering did opening night do decent numbers, or was it a flop from the first theater showing?

I will say my 6 year old and wife liked it. I skipped it. Saw a couple trailers and they did nothing to make it look interesting in the least to me (which gets to my question in the paragraph above). I will also say the opening date is big for me. As someone who yells every time I enter Home Depot in October and see Christmas decorations, anything that is trying to bring Christmas before Thanksgiving gets on my bad list immediately.