The Box Office

[Gaastra]

Wish isn't doing well for now.

Probably the worst year in Disney history?

70s and 80s as said. No one over 12 year olds would be caught dead in a disney movie than and only hits were releases of the classic movies and herbie films. Rest bombed left and right. Black Cauldon lost to care bears movie and was one of the most expensive animated films. Tron was a dud also. Return to oz was high cost and slammed by critics. Many saying disney lost its magic with dud after dud. Sound familiar? They were on the verge of killing their animation division when roger rabbit and little mermaid saved them!

Bad as they are now, they still had $800m gotg 3 and last year billion avatar 2 something 70s and 80s disney wishes it had! Mermaid did great on vod sales like vudu from reports also.

[Wildling]

You have a habit of going off on random weird tangents in response to questions I didn't direct to you.

You...you remind me of someone. Maybe a few someone's.

I'll take that as you not being knowledgeable enough about box office about the Expendables context and why it can be an analogy. In that sense I'll say you also remind me of someone, so I'll take you as a compliment overall.

Anyhow, did anyone have in their 2023 bingo card Wish's opening weekend being predicted to be neck to neck with a Ridley Scott historical live action movie decades removed from the Gladiator glory days? Trolls will be close enough just as animated competition. I heard Disney is these days desperate enough to be pushing forward a Simpsons movie sequel.

[mace11]

Not even close. The 70s and most of the 80s were brutal for Disney at least as far as movies. If you ever get the chance, look at the movies they made during that time, and how many actually were hits. It aint many. Little mermaid and Honey I shrunk the kids, along with various touchstone movies kept them alive.

Here is some recent news about disney stocks.
Disney Stock Leaps On Earnings, Dow Giant Lifts Cost-Cutting Goal To $7.5 Billion; Rival Dives On Results
https://www.investors.com/news/disne...eport-results/

Disney shares rise 7% after cutting streaming losses by $1 billion while gearing up for round two against Nelson Peltz
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disne...220910320.html

[inisideguy]

I don't own any stock in WB or Sony but Disney Stock is often very variable and like many big businesses it took a beating during covid but it is recovering and has a very low VAR so there is no reason to worry about it's value so it's hardly struggling.

Oddly it didnt take a huge beating during covid. It dropped like everything else. But then the streaming numbers came in and it went way up. It was after that first year of streaming and after the pandemic when it started to get pounded. But then so did every other movie company. They have been getting good news of late. Obviously their movies aint doing great, but thats just a small part of their business.

[inisideguy]

Here is some recent news about disney stocks.
Disney Stock Leaps On Earnings, Dow Giant Lifts Cost-Cutting Goal To $7.5 Billion; Rival Dives On Results
https://www.investors.com/news/disne...eport-results/

Disney shares rise 7% after cutting streaming losses by $1 billion while gearing up for round two against Nelson Peltz
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disne...220910320.html

I really think this Hulu Merger is going to help alot. They can offer packages of Hulu live and Disney plus all on the same app. Im not sure any competitor can offer such a thing.

[skyvolt2000]

So I guess you are one of those who is either black or white, there is no grey? Yes or no, no maybe?

So if a movie makes profit, but fails at the merchandise level, is that successful?

Depends.

Merchandise at least with toys comes out on a set date in relation to the movie. HOWEVER when you delay a movie guess what that stuff still comes out on the original date.

Into the Spiderverse 2 toys were in stores a on the original date of this year. The movie came out 3 months later. Most of the toys were gone from shelves.

Same thing happened with Wonder Woman 1984 and Blade-toys came out and in Blade's case helped promote the movie.

That did not help Green Lantern, WW 1984 or Black Widow.

And you have to look what merchandise has been made and if it is sold in your country.

2015 Fantastic Four had merchandise and it only came out in Mexico and maybe Europe.

There is ton of stuff that gets made that never gets sold in the USA.


I would suspect the studio would say the movie made a profit enough for a second movie but we pull back on merchandise.

Look at say Star Trek.

Star Trek Generations had figures of everyone.
First Contact did too.
Insurrection had some dolls versus figures.
Nemesis had none.
2009 had figures and sets.
Into Darkness and Beyond had NONE.

They cutback on the merchandise they made.

Same with the Simpsons who still had waves of figures set to be released when they stopped.

If Buzz Lightyear gets another movie-I DO NOT expect to see toys because they are still rotting on shelves. It had to be more than a gay character to cause that to happen. Was the movie that bad?

[Wildling]

It's funny how the current Hunger Games movie from a lesser studio like Lionsgate, led by Rachel Zegler, with a reasonable budget, is solidly positioned to be at the top of the box office for two weekends in a row, yet the both-sidering articles about box office, and fandoms discussing movies down to this thread, spend more time talking about more costly movies, possibly not that great, from bigger studios, meaning Wish (which includes Disney's entire current baggage) and Napoleon, none of which are expected to win the weekend. At least I'm glad Napoleon will earn a lot more than The Last Duel, to keep Scott motivated to stay in the biz.

https://www.thewrap.com/hunger-games...n-5-day-total/

[Gaastra]

Hunger games gets it's wish as disneys wish falls. Bill and teds buddy overperforms also. Wish awful made trailers didn't help the movie any.

Wish hits third place!

“Wish,” the studio’s newest animated adventure, was projected to land on top of box office charts over the Thanksgiving holiday. Instead, ticket sales fell short of expectations with a weak $19.5 million over the traditional weekend and $31.7 million over the five days, and the film tumbled to third place behind Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games” prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” and Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon.”

Heading into the weekend, the musical fable “Wish” was projected to earn $35 million over the traditional weekend and $45 million to $50 million in its first five days of release. Ticket sales weren’t as catastrophic as the studio’s 2022 flop “Strange World” ($12 million over the traditional weekend and $18 million through the five days), but it didn’t come anywhere close to 2021’s “Encanto,” which opened to $40.3 over its first five days when COVID was keeping families at home. And it’s a far, far cry from Disney’s pre-pandemic Thanksgiving releases, like 2019’s “Frozen II” ($123.7 million), 2018’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet” ($84.6 million) and 2017’s “Coco” ($71 million).

“Wish” also added $17.3 million at the international box office, opening in just 27 markets (about 40% of its eventual overseas footprint), bringing its global tally to $49 million. The film’s anemic initial turnout further illuminates that magic has been in short supply at Disney, a once untouchable force at the box office. Most of the studio’s 2023 slate, excluding “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” has dramatically underperformed in their theatrical runs. It’s a problem because Disney movies are expensive, usually costing around $200 million (and that’s before accounting for global marketing expenses).

In the case of “Wish,” Disney is hoping the family flick will have staying power during the busy holiday season, much like this summer’s “Elemental,” which finished much stronger than its disappointing opening weekend would have suggested. “Wish” carries a hefty $200 million production budget and needs to show the same kind of endurance to justify its price tag. It helps that audiences, unlike critics, seem to enjoy “Wish,” which landed an “A-” CinemaScore. The story, featuring original music and the voices of Ariana DeBose and Chris Pine, follows a young girl named Asha who attempts to save the fantastical Kingdom of Rosas from darkness.

Bill and teds buddy makes second.

“Napoleon,” a $200 million war epic starring Joaquin Phoenix as the infamous French ruler, opened in second place with a better-than-expected $21 million over the traditional weekend and $32.5 million in its first five days of release. Globally, “Napoleon” generated $78.8 million.

Although “Napoleon” barely eked out ahead of “Wish” on domestic box office charts, analysts haven’t been as harsh on the initial performance. That’s partially because “Napoleon” is a tougher ask of moviegoers. It’s an R-rated period piece (about a long-dead military leader) that’s aimed at adult audiences and is nearly two hours and 40 minutes in length. It does not exactly scream fun for the whole family.

To be sure, a traditional studio would not be thrilled with the economics of “Napoleon” (to say the least). The same goes for Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which also cost Apple $200 million and has grossed $151 million globally.

“While the box office start is good for the genre, the production cost is enormous for this type of film,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research.

But Apple, one of the deepest-pocketed companies in the world, isn’t overly concerned with the profits and losses of its movies (for now). It’s releasing these big-budget films in theaters (Sony Pictures is handling distribution of “Napoleon”) to generate buzz for their eventual launches on Apple TV+, the company’s challenger to Netflix and Disney+. This isn’t to say Apple, which is opening Matthew Vaughn’s “Argylle” on the big screen in 2024 via Universal Pictures, won’t eventually change its tune about box office dollars.

Hunger games wins the thanksgiving weekend. Guess kids killing each other is what people want on thanksgiving!

With the lackluster starts of “Wish” and “Napoleon,” last weekend’s champion “The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” landed on top, again. The prequel, starring Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth in an action-adventure that’s set decades before the arrival of Katniss Everdeen, added $28.8 million over the weekend and $42 million since Wednesday. It has generated $98.3 million in North America and nearly $200 million globally.

Lionsgate’s return to Panem hasn’t been as lucrative as the original series, but the prequel cost $100 million so it’s is well positioned in its theatrical run. Although “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” based on Suzanne Collins’ 2020 book, has been marketed as a standalone film in the “Hunger Games” universe, it’s fair to assume the studio hopes to revisit the dystopian world in future sequels and spinoffs.

“The film opened an endless series of possibilities that Suzanne can go, and that [Lionsgate] can go with her,” said Adam Fogelson, vice chairman of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, following the movie’s release.

Trolls 3 sings to 4th. Thanksgiving still bombs at 5th.

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/b...ns-1235808957/

So big win for hunger games and bill and teds buddy but big loss for wish and thanksgiving.

Next week godzilla, beyonce, silent night and the grinch rerelease battles for the box office!

[Angilasman]

Although streaming disruption has had a ton of negative effects on the industry I gotta say; Apple giving huge budgets to legendary directors to make their passion projects and putting them out in theaters to make a respectable amount of money before their streaming release is a practice I can get behind.

I don't know how long it'll last, but I hope they keep it up for a while. Maybe we can get GDT's At the Mountains of Madness?

[Nods]

Although streaming disruption has had a ton of negative effects on the industry I gotta say; Apple giving huge budgets to legendary directors to make their passion projects and putting them out in theaters to make a respectable amount of money before their streaming release is a practice I can get behind.

I don't know how long it'll last, but I hope they keep it up for a while. Maybe we can get GDT's At the Mountains of Madness?

My hope is that Apple releases these passion projects on Criterion because the quality of it's work has been "chef's kiss. I think The Holdovers is going to word of mouth take over The Marvels next weekend. I think it's starting to get good word of mouth the theater was full when I went to see it.

[The Kid]

Terrible year for Disney. GotG3 is looking like their only win and its gonna be offset by huge bombs in IJ5, The Marvels, and now possibly Wish. Glad that Elemental was able to break even with good WoM or **** would have been bad

They need to get their budgets under control. TLM and Ant-Man probably could have made a profit if they didn't have gigantic budgets. Hunger Games is going to gross a modest amount but still make profit because the budget was only 100 million

[inisideguy]

Last year we had 8 movies go over 300 million domestic. This year there are 5. In 2019 there were 10.

[Slowpokeking]

Terrible year for Disney. GotG3 is looking like their only win and its gonna be offset by huge bombs in IJ5, The Marvels, and now possibly Wish. Glad that Elemental was able to break even with good WoM or **** would have been bad

They need to get their budgets under control. TLM and Ant-Man probably could have made a profit if they didn't have gigantic budgets. Hunger Games is going to gross a modest amount but still make profit because the budget was only 100 million

Also Haunted Mansion was a big flop.

[Angilasman]

My hope is that Apple releases these passion projects on Criterion because the quality of it's work has been "chef's kiss. I think The Holdovers is going to word of mouth take over The Marvels next weekend. I think it's starting to get good word of mouth the theater was full when I went to see it.

Yes, I need to see this. With holiday stuff plus Godzilla and Miyazaki in the next few weeks I wonder if I'll find the time? I also really want to see Poor Things, but I think it's gonna be a gradual rollout, so who knows when it'll get here.

[Aahz]

Hunger Games is going to gross a modest amount but still make profit because the budget was only 100 million

I mean it has domestically already surpassed the marvels by 20+ Million.