The Box Office

[useridgoeshere]

Oh they did promote the heck out of it on the right channels (pun intended)

Yeah, funny to read it having no marketing promotion. If you’re the target audience, you saw a lot of Sound of Freedom. Plus, it has the bulk buying and the whole ‘pay it forward’ effort where people get to see it for someone else’s dime.

[useridgoeshere]

This article is going viral.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/201...-film-industry

It's like Lucas and Spielberg were prophetic in some of their statements.

That's why when elders talk, folks should really listen.

Aren’t audiences the ones who are deciding that they’d rather see certain things on TV and only see big franchise movies in theaters? I get studios are creatively bankrupt and only about the bucks, but audiences decided not to go to The Fabelmans or Licorice Pizza or Amsterdam or whatever. They were out there and promoted, but people didn’t go. And from a theater perspective, can they even survive on a bunch of low budget and only modestly popular movies? Maybe in big cities but for most of the country, aren’t Super Mario Bros and Guardians keeping them open? A ‘flop’ like Indy is still better for AMC than a movie like Asteroid City.

[Ramsay Snow]

Yeah, funny to read it having no marketing promotion. If you’re the target audience, you saw a lot of Sound of Freedom. Plus, it has the bulk buying and the whole ‘pay it forward’ effort where people get to see it for someone else’s dime.

Sound of Freedom also has the phenomenon of the conservative fanbase hyping the film up to a laughable degree.....I've seen a few conservatives I know on social medial (I know them in real life) posting about it being the best film of the year.

I also had a coworker come back from lunch telling me a woman from another department told him Sound of Freedom is the best movie of the year and that Jim Caviezel is having a renaissance and will become huge again (I don't recall when he was huge in the first place, aside from the exposure he got from Passion of the Christ).....I laughed and told my co-worker that the chick he talked to is 99% guaranteed to be a Trumplican and I informed him that Caviezel has been relegated to being in crappy, low-budget conservative demographic movies and Sound of Freedom is pretty much the same ****. I then joked that Sound of Freedom 2 will have an ensemble cast featuring Kevin Sorbo, Dean Cain, Stephen Baldwin, and Scott Baio. He laughed and asked why I'm bringing Chachi into this, and I explained to him they're all conservative fanbase actors like Caviezel who are also relegated to low-budget conservative demographic films.

I probably should've thrown in James Woods, Randy Quaid, Jon Voight, Kirk Cameron, and Ricky Schroeder for the SoF 2 cast.

What's funny is Caviezel's actually a decent actor. So are Quaid & Voight, obviously, while Woods isn't that great but he has had a solid career. The others, not so much, lol (Stephen Baldwin's somewhat OK).

[inisideguy]

Aren’t audiences the ones who are deciding that they’d rather see certain things on TV and only see big franchise movies in theaters? I get studios are creatively bankrupt and only about the bucks, but audiences decided not to go to The Fabelmans or Licorice Pizza or Amsterdam or whatever. They were out there and promoted, but people didn’t go. And from a theater perspective, can they even survive on a bunch of low budget and only modestly popular movies? Maybe in big cities but for most of the country, aren’t Super Mario Bros and Guardians keeping them open? A ‘flop’ like Indy is still better for AMC than a movie like Asteroid City.

Exactly. I dont really get why people are like well the studios just need to spend less money on budgets. I mean if the biggest movies of the year turn out to be Creed 3 or John Wick numbers the theaters would die. I mean the way people talk is like well these studios could just put out movies with low budgets and boy that would solve the issues. The theaters dont want a bunch of No Hard Feelings or Asteroid cities or Evil Dead Rise man that would be a disaster for them. Sure you have something like Spider-verse , but that's one in a million. And even that didnt blow up worldwide.

[skyvolt2000]

Exactly. I dont really get why people are like well the studios just need to spend less money on budgets. I mean if the biggest movies of the year turn out to be Creed 3 or John Wick numbers the theaters would die. I mean the way people talk is like well these studios could just put out movies with low budgets and boy that would solve the issues. The theaters dont want a bunch of No Hard Feelings or Asteroid cities or Evil Dead Rise man that would be a disaster for them. Sure you have something like Spider-verse , but that's one in a million. And even that didnt blow up worldwide.

NO what folks want is quality control.

Just because you spend $500 million to make a movie does not mean folks will go see it.
And there are movie theaters that do live on movies like No Hard Feelings or Asteroid City,

What good did Strange World do for movie theaters? I was in an empty theater when I went to go see it and that was at 10:30 AM the first day it was out. I looked up other showings at my theater and others.
No showing had more than 7 folks.

What good are all these box office bombs do for theaters?

FYI Theaters choose what movies they want. They do that way in advance. That is why Flash is getting tossed out of theaters. Those slots to other movies no matter the budget making money.

[useridgoeshere]

I agree with the idea of quality and budget control. That’s crucial for the long-term survival of the industry, but big movies are why there are big theaters. That’s why blockbusters like the MCU, Top Gun, and Avatar get credited for keeping theaters open.

If I owned a theater, I’d rather have the movie that grossed more and sold more tickets, right? I don’t care how much it cost. I care how many people it brings in for tickets, food, and drink. So, if I had one screen last winter, Strange World was better for me than The Fabelmans, for example. Indy should be better for theaters than Creed III was. Quantumania should be better for theaters than John Wick.

Yes, there are theater chains that specialize in niche movies, but the result of the top movies being under say $200 million would be a massive contraction, which would be even fewer screens and some places having no theaters at all.

[80sbaby]

One thing about Mission impossible movies as far as a franchise for me. Its a weird on in that I have liked almost all the movies. But the movies themselves as far as what scenes happened in each one or even the actual plots all blur together. The one I remember the most was the Phillip Hoffman one. And I couldn't tell you which one that is. As far as franchise movies, I have never really had a problem with that with other ones. Just an odd thing.

It's not off at all. The reason is because the last 3 (4-7) films have all been basically the same thing. MI 1-3 we're all different types of plots/films and are memorable. That's why I like one the best. It was the best one with actual spycraft. They're now all just pretty generic action movies with little to distinguish them from each other.

[thwhtGuardian]

It's not off at all. The reason is because the last 3 (4-7) films have all been basically the same thing. MI 1-3 we're all different types of plots/films and are memorable. That's why I like one the best. It was the best one with actual spycraft. They're now all just pretty generic action movies with little to distinguish them from each other.

I'll definitely second that the plots are on the generic side but add that they are exceptionally well shot and put together. I may not have the urge to rewatch any of them but I've never regretted seeing a single one of them.

[inisideguy]

I agree with the idea of quality and budget control. That’s crucial for the long-term survival of the industry, but big movies are why there are big theaters. That’s why blockbusters like the MCU, Top Gun, and Avatar get credited for keeping theaters open.

If I owned a theater, I’d rather have the movie that grossed more and sold more tickets, right? I don’t care how much it cost. I care how many people it brings in for tickets, food, and drink. So, if I had one screen last winter, Strange World was better for me than The Fabelmans, for example. Indy should be better for theaters than Creed III was. Quantumania should be better for theaters than John Wick.

Yes, there are theater chains that specialize in niche movies, but the result of the top movies being under say $200 million would be a massive contraction, which would be even fewer screens and some places having no theaters at all.

Right I mean a theater owner doesn't care, if a movie doesn't make back its budget. They would take A little Mermaid over a Creed 3 any day of the week.

[choptop]

Right I mean a theater owner doesn't care, if a movie doesn't make back its budget. They would take A little Mermaid over a Creed 3 any day of the week.

Also a theater owner makes money no matter what.

[Gaastra]

Smile, invisible man, megan and evil dead are lower budget and did great. Overseas they have a cheap animated series of films brawly bears or some strange name like that that has had over 15 movies. They look like they cost $5 and direct to video to make but make money in theatres overseas anyways. Fathom events releasing anime and older films and things like concert films had one of their best years these last three years with spirited away last two years in a roll said to have done incredible for them and it's an older film. You just pay for ads.

Cheap can still do great in theatres. How much did ticket in paradise and that romancing the stone rip-off cost to make? They did ok and everywhere at once did great at a lower budget as did violent night.

There is room for both big summer films and smaller but they need to cut out the vod after two weeks crap. Asteroid city is on vudu already! Way too early. Your telling people "why go to the movies? Just wait two weeks" for these smaller films.

[achilles]

Smile, invisible man, megan and evil dead are lower budget and did great. Overseas they have a cheap animated series of films brawly bears or some strange name like that that has had over 15 movies. They look like they cost $5 and direct to video to make but make money in theatres overseas anyways. Fathom events releasing anime and older films and things like concert films had one of their best years these last three years with spirited away last two years in a roll said to have done incredible for them and it's an older film. You just pay for ads.

Cheap can still do great in theatres. How much did ticket in paradise and that romancing the stone rip-off cost to make? They did ok and everywhere at once did great at a lower budget as did violent night.

There is room for both big summer films and smaller but they need to cut out the vod after two weeks crap. Asteroid city is on vudu already! Way too early. Your telling people "why go to the movies? Just wait two weeks" for these smaller films.

The point that both Coppola and Spielberg were famously trying to make was that access to more money has a tendency to make you solve problems by throwing more money at them, rather than applying thought and creativity. And those were points made about two movies that are among the greatest movies ever made, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Apocalypse Now. Imagine how they'd apply to movies that are far more ordinary, or indeed bad. More money doesn't equal better movie, as this summer has proven, as well as many past years.

[mburns]

I agree with the idea of quality and budget control. That’s crucial for the long-term survival of the industry, but big movies are why there are big theaters. That’s why blockbusters like the MCU, Top Gun, and Avatar get credited for keeping theaters open.

There is no reason any movie needs to cost $300 million to produce unless it is something like Avengers End Game or Fast X where you are paying a ton of stars who have been with the franchise for a while. How Indy 5 and MI 7 ended up with $300 million production budgets is beyond me. I saw a article that said Dr. Strange 2 cost nearly $300 million as well since it had cost overruns of nearly $100 million. That is just bad management though some of it may have been due to the COVID shut downs.

[Wildling]

My problems with Denzel as the Equalizer begin and end with the fact that they changed literally everything about the character while trying to trade on whatever goodwill remained for the original series. He's supposed to be older, but he's also supposed to be a fat white guy who everyone underestimates precisely because he isn't tall and strong and already like and action star as Denzel was. He's supposed to look like a senior accountant at some firm, not a guy who can be seriously scary. Maybe it required a guy like Woodward or perhaps Robert Mitchum or Johnny from Cobra Kai to work like the original series. It does sadden me that most people who even have heard about The Equalizer will think he's Denzel, or perhaps Queen Latifah or something, who at least has that unexpected threat vibe going which Denzel didn't. How many people today will even know a guy like Mitchum did that series, (filling in for Edward Woodward when he had a heart attack until he got better)? Sad that the answer is probably not many.

Only knowing/liking the Washington films, I hope it's not as bad as trying to replace Death Wish's Charles Bronson with Bruce Willis, if anything the Willis remake could only make one movie, which might go to show the whole quality/modern audiences desirability angle really matters.

Smile, invisible man, megan and evil dead are lower budget and did great. Overseas they have a cheap animated series of films brawly bears or some strange name like that that has had over 15 movies. They look like they cost $5 and direct to video to make but make money in theatres overseas anyways. Fathom events releasing anime and older films and things like concert films had one of their best years these last three years with spirited away last two years in a roll said to have done incredible for them and it's an older film. You just pay for ads.

Cheap can still do great in theatres. How much did ticket in paradise and that romancing the stone rip-off cost to make? They did ok and everywhere at once did great at a lower budget as did violent night.

There is room for both big summer films and smaller but they need to cut out the vod after two weeks crap. Asteroid city is on vudu already! Way too early. Your telling people "why go to the movies? Just wait two weeks" for these smaller films.

And theaters also release concert events for big current bands/concerts whenever they can, and whenever I look they sell out with the kids.

And once again bringing up Sony and talking about the fabled blockbusters that are supposed to keep theaters open forever no matter what they are or how they report money back to their studios, Sony spent no more than $110 million (reported) each on the 2 Venom movies, and they each made more than 4 times their budget in theaters, and that's with Venom 2 opening in the middle of the pandemic and banned in China no less (Venom 1 was huge there). No real big love from critics for either of them. There's a reason a Venom character had a cameo on Spider-Verse 2, that train isn't stopping. And yes the fact Sony movies aren't streamed on Netflix right away is also a bonus.

[inisideguy]

Smile, invisible man, megan and evil dead are lower budget and did great. Overseas they have a cheap animated series of films brawly bears or some strange name like that that has had over 15 movies. They look like they cost $5 and direct to video to make but make money in theatres overseas anyways. Fathom events releasing anime and older films and things like concert films had one of their best years these last three years with spirited away last two years in a roll said to have done incredible for them and it's an older film. You just pay for ads.

Cheap can still do great in theatres. How much did ticket in paradise and that romancing the stone rip-off cost to make? They did ok and everywhere at once did great at a lower budget as did violent night.

There is room for both big summer films and smaller but they need to cut out the vod after two weeks crap. Asteroid city is on vudu already! Way too early. Your telling people "why go to the movies? Just wait two weeks" for these smaller films.

Oh I agree there is room for both. But theaters cant survive on just one type. Like I said John Wick did very well for what it was. But if it was the biggest box office movie of a year well, the theater business would be in really bad shape.