2019 Box Office Busts

[Kirby101]

I’ve heard the early reviews of Cats are almost universally negative. Case in point: the score on Rotten Tomatoes was at 20 percent as of this morning. It was a given Cats would be declawed and lose all nine lives to Star Wars, but bad press on top of that sure won’t help.

Down to 17%, just the reaction to the trailer looked like it would be a bust.

[jetengine]

Afaik its effectively the CGI thats making peoope uncomfortable. The Star Wars placement made sense since you'll effectively grab anyone not watching Star Wars or who wants to see an action movie, plus the theatre types. I'd hoped they'd ironed out a more coherent plot though considering the musicals plot is razor thin.

[Scott Taylor]

Down to 17%, just the reaction to the trailer looked like it would be a bust.

In the entire history of Cats, be it in film versions or theater versions, there is not one example that doesn't make me cringe. The music is ok, though.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Afaik its effectively the CGI thats making peoope uncomfortable.

Can’t argue that. I mean, who in hell wants to see a furry version of Judi Dench?

[titanfan]

Cats might be a bust, but I'm convinced it's going to be one of those "So Bad it's good" cult classics that people watch years later to make fun of and have drinking games with.

[Kirby101]

Cats might be a bust, but I'm convinced it's going to be one of those "So Bad it's good" cult classics that people watch years later to make fun of and have drinking games with.

That's how I will watch it.

[Beaddle]

Cats is over at the box office, there is no way it is going to become the greatest showman, the movie hardly even has any stand out song like I will always love you. Shallow or This is me, to get audiences hooked.

Poor Taylor Swift, she wanted to become the next Lady Gaga and Beyonce in movies. . She does look good as a cat though.

The bigger story here is Star Wars Rise of Skywalker is going to be a box office disappointment. It has bombed in China and made just 40m on midnight previews.

[jetengine]

It may not make as much Bank as greatest showman but the plan is solid. Pick up seniors and anyone who doesnt want to watch star wars, since Star Wars will be what everyone sees that leaves a dirge of new stuff and people will go to watch it.

[Kirby101]

Cats is over at the box office, there is no way it is going to become the greatest showman, the movie hardly even has any stand out song like I will always love you. Shallow or This is me, to get audiences hooked.

Poor Taylor Swift, she wanted to become the next Lady Gaga and Beyonce in movies. . She does look good as a cat though.

The bigger story here is Star Wars Rise of Skywalker is going to be a box office disappointment. It has bombed in China and made just 40m on midnight previews.

You're joking right? You do know it was one of the all time Broadway hits and that "Memories" is one of the most popular songs ever.

[Kirby101]

It may not make as much Bank as greatest showman but the plan is solid. Pick up seniors and anyone who doesnt want to watch star wars, since Star Wars will be what everyone sees that leaves a dirge of new stuff and people will go to watch it.

It wasn't a bad idea to make a Cats movie. Or to release it now. It appears the execution was the big misstep.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Since Cats and Richard Jewell won't be known til 2020 if they are bombs fully and its the final 2 weeks of the year. This is the list of the 2019 Box Office Busts.


1- Replicas
2- The Kid who Would Be King
3- Alita : Battle Angel *
4- Cold Pursuit
5- Captive State
6- Dumbo
7- Hellboy
8- Ugly Dolls
9- Longshot
10- Dark Phoenix
11- Godzilla : King of Monsters
12- Shaft
13- MIB : International
14- Brian Banks
15- The Kitchen
16- Ad Astra
17- The Goldfinch
18- Abominable
19- Gemini Man
20- The Current War
21- Terminator : Dark Fate
22- Dr. Sleep
23- Playmobil
24- Midway


Now several things here. Before people fuss over Battle Angel Alita and demand it be considered a success ; Forbes has cast doubt on it even making $400+ million worldwide. That the film will still cost Fox money for it. Others are claiming it broke even. But right now its gonna make the list til we finally learn exactly where it stands.

I was gonna list Rambo : Last Blood as a selection here. But Lionsgate has claimed the film performed good during its run and touted its worldwide box office. Its home video sales are unknown right now.

I also nearly listed 21 Bridges but realized it has 6-7 more markets left to open internationally in January and Feb. So it could do better.

[Kintor]

Now several things here. Before people fuss over Battle Angel Alita and demand it be considered a success ; Forbes has cast doubt on it even making $400+ million worldwide. That the film will still cost Fox money for it. Others are claiming it broke even. But right now its gonna make the list til we finally learn exactly where it stands.

For the sake of honesty I'm going to ask that you delete Alita from your list. We had this debate at the time and I'm suprised you would renege on those conclusions now, just to take another cheap shot at Alita. The film was a success, surpassing over 400 million world wide and that's even before taking into account the home media and streaming sales. So let's be reasonable here, unless you really want to reopen old arguments.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

For the sake of honesty I'm going to ask that you delete Alita from your list. We had this debate at the time and I'm suprised you would renege on those conclusions now, just to take another cheap shot at Alita. The film was a success, surpassing over 400 million world wide and that's even before taking into account the home media and streaming sales. So let's be reasonable here, unless you really want to reopen old arguments.

I think I fully explained it here. When Forbes itself is claiming the film even making $400+ million didn't mean the film didn't lose money as this link claims.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottme.../#2b337e2c14d6

Alita: Battle Angel earned a solid $130 million in China. Had it performed up-to-snuff in most of the world (including, critically, in North America), then yes it would have been a hit and yeah we’d probably be seriously speculating about a sequel. But now? The film won’t earn back 2.4x its budget in global theatrical. At a glance, Fox and friends are getting back $33m from China and (presuming a 50/50 split everywhere else) around $43m from North America and around $93m from everywhere else. That gives the $170m-budgeted flick a return of, well, $170m. That would be break-even if the movie didn’t have any marketing costs. But it did, so at best the movie may break even in post-theatrical down the line.

And I never removed the listing here or reneged on anything here. There are people as the article claims it could earn more money down the line after its release. But as of right now the film seems to be stuck in a spot where even Forbes is saying the film didn't do well enough.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Also again not just me or Forbes saying this. Cinemablend posted this as the film passed the $350+ million mark then...

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/246...fice-milestone

Although every box office milestone achieved is a step in the right direction, $350 million is not enough to call Alita a success or guarantee a sequel, at least not yet. Alita: Battle Angel’s reported budget is $170 million, and when you factor in the marketing costs, it has been suggested that the film would need to hit $500 million to be profitable.

The Battle Angel is more than halfway there, but it will really have to leg it out for that last $150 million to get into that $450-$500 million mark where it can minimize financial losses. That may not be especially realistic given its weekend-to-weekend drops, but the film definitely could have bombed harder. While it obviously won’t be considered a true hit given its budget, Alita may wind up in a murky territory where the losses aren’t as bad as they could have been ,but there isn’t a clear financial mandate for the franchise to continue.

Again its why its on the list til Disney possibly crunches numbers account wise and can claim it didn't lose money and gets the sequel possibly. But I'll update it in 2020 thread if it happens. Right now however its on the list.

[Kintor]

I think I fully explained it here. When Forbes itself is claiming the film even making $400+ million didn't mean the film didn't lose money as this link claims.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottme.../#2b337e2c14d6

I hope you realise that articles written by Scott Mendelson have been essentially black-listed in most box office circles. The man is biased to the extreme and is always pushing some agenda or another, usually in the service of Disney. He never liked Alita from the start and was always looking for ways to downplay it's success, you're not doing your list any favours by including such flawed analysis here.