The Box Office

[Wildling]

That interesting mace as far as the cinema score for various genres and what it means. I mean once upon a time in Hollywood was a good movie. In my opinion. But it might not have clicked with people, or Taratino fans or whatever. Yet it still did well.

That movie was over 2 hours long and had little action in between the DiCaprio and Brad Pitt characters trying to stay afloat in Hollywood. I loved it enough to watch it at least twice in theaters, but I sure saw folks disgusted with the final act (apparently having no idea about who Tarantino was or what he can get up to in movies) and there was the controversy about Bruce Lee's portrayal, including from his daughter.

I think that movie was a perfect storm of all kinds of audiences wanting to check it out (fans of Tarantino, DiCaprio, Pitt and even Margot Robbie) in addition to adult audiences in general having zero pandemics to worry about.

Speaking of action, for the new Matrix that could be the most damning element for blockbuster audiences, it's low-key and the movie is more about how Neo and Trinity complete each other.

[chicago_bastard]

That movie was over 2 hours long and had little action in between the DiCaprio and Brad Pitt characters trying to stay afloat in Hollywood. I loved it enough to watch it at least twice in theaters, but I sure saw folks disgusted with the final act (apparently having no idea about who Tarantino was or what he can get up to in movies) and there was the controversy about Bruce Lee's portrayal, including from his daughter.

I think that movie was a perfect storm of all kinds of audiences wanting to check it out (fans of Tarantino, DiCaprio, Pitt and even Margot Robbie) in addition to adult audiences in general having zero pandemics to worry about.

Speaking of action, for the new Matrix that could be the most damning element for blockbuster audiences, it's low-key and the movie is more about how Neo and Trinity complete each other.

It's safe to say that DiCaprio did the heavy lifting. He is the biggest star right now and maybe the only one whose name really gets people into theaters. I don't think it's a coincidence that the two most successful Tarantino movies are the ones with him. Same goes for Scorsese, his five highest-grossing films all have DiCaprio in them. The highest-grossing non-ip movie of Nolan is also the one DiCaprio starred in.

[Jim Kelly]

CinemaScore is primarily useful for those movies that were made for commercial reasons above all. And it shows the studio how well their promotional machine worked in driving the right audience to the right movie. If an audience finds the movie that they wanted--they are going to be the biggest fans of the movie, so when they come out of the theatre they will say it was exactly what they wanted. If the studio fails to promote the movie to the target demographic, then a random selection of the public is going to show up for the movie and only a few of them will get exactly the movie that they want to see, so it's not going to get a big score.

Movies made for artistic reasons don't necessarily want to satisfy an audience--they might want to leave an audience feeling disturbed or confused or angry. Art can produce a lot of unwanted emotions, because it's trying to affect people on a deep level. Coming out of a theatre, people aren't going to say it was the movie they showed up to see.

The question is should studios promote art movies to people who aren't going to like it? If they want a big CinemaScore then they probably should just try to focus on people who love art movies and understand the reason why such movies exist. But artists don't just want to preach to the choir. If people with fixed views of the world mistakenly choose a movie that challenges their perception, that's a win for the artist. A bad CinemaScore shows that the art movie is doing its work.

[David Walton]

It was a bit of disaster ultimately for WB.

I believe the head of the studio actually stepped down because of it.

WB got screwed by the timing after locking into a year of day-and-date. They missed out on the summer box office post-vaccine, pre-Delta hitting hard. But those circumstances were outside their control. And I'm honestly not sure their films would have done that much better if they were only in theaters.

At any rate, I appreciate WB giving audiences an option at a time when they might want to limit their exposure to indoor crowds.

[Gaastra]

NWH passes $800m.

https://deadline.com/2021/12/spider-...ce-1234901157/

Matrix chugging along with ww $18m so far.

Sing 2 hits big in france.

Sing 2 bowed in France yesterday at No. 2. In previews, it grossed $2.1M — the biggest for an animated title ever in the market — and added $1.3M on Wednesday, taking its cume there to $3.4M. It had the biggest animated opening day of the pandemic and the best all-time December animated opening day. Including previews, the launch day is the best for an animated film since Incredibles 2 in July 2018, and the second biggest Illumination opening day after Minions.

Mexico had a final day of previews on Wednesday with $700K at No. 2 in the market, bringing the cume to $1.1M so far. The Wednesday result is 12% above the same day of previews for Sing and delivered the best opening day for an animated movie during the pandemic.

Belgium, which is entering lockdown beginning Sunday, saw Sing 2 get folks out to the cinemas on Wednesday with $100K. Including previews, this is the biggest animated opening day in 2021 and more than double the first film.

Sweden had an excellent opening preview day with $114K, the best start for a family film in 2021. Tougher Covid restrictions will be implemented from today.

Neo may get crushed by a singing pig!

[Gaastra]

NWH expected to hit a billion on christmas day.

Sing 2 doing great with ww $41m so far. Matrix struggling. Kingsman bombs.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottme...h=312e07ba3236

[tarbabe]

WB got screwed by the timing after locking into a year of day-and-date. They missed out on the summer box office post-vaccine, pre-Delta hitting hard. But those circumstances were outside their control. And I'm honestly not sure their films would have done that much better if they were only in theaters.

At any rate, I appreciate WB giving audiences an option at a time when they might want to limit their exposure to indoor crowds.

Half of Warner Brothers 2022 movie slate will be exclusive theater only releases and the other will be HBOMAX releases including two Steve Soderbergh movies. Warner will scrap its 2021 day and date releases, but will do a half and half strategy instead. One movie already announced for HBOMax is Magic Mike 3, even though the first two movie did well at the box office.
The theaters only releases will be mainly be DC and big budget movies over 50 million, with a 45 day window. The lower budget movies will premiere exclusively on HBOMax.
Although the 50 million is just an arbitrary figure, because some big budget movies are more suited for HBOMax and some small budget movies are more suited for exclusive theatrical release.
I don’t think WB has fully decided what movies will be theater only or HBOMax only.

[Gaastra]

Welcome to the billion club spidey.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottme...h=55dc88c746d9

[inisideguy]

Welcome to the billion club spidey.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottme...h=55dc88c746d9

Thats really remarkable. What would this have done with China and no covid?

[Username taken]

Thats really remarkable. What would this have done with China and no covid?

The movie would have likely done around Avatar and Endgame business with China.

[Kirby101]

I question if it would make the $600 million in China that Endgame did. But would have at least made the $200 million Far From Home did.

[Username taken]

I question if it would make the $600 million in China that Endgame did. But would have at least made the $200 million Far From Home did.

Wow, I actually didn't know Endgame made that much in China.

That was massive.

[The Kid]

Yea China doesn’t have much history with the old Spidey movies so I’d assume it’d do a bit better than FFH (maybe 250-300 million). Nowhere near the monstrous take Endgame had in the country

[Gaastra]

Sing 2 expected to hit $42m in america. That's great for sing 2.

Buoyed by strong audience sentiments (it landed a coveted “A+ CinemaScore), “Sing 2” collected $5.2 million from 3,892 venues on Friday. Over the extended five-day frame, the cartoon sequel is expected to reach $42.8 million, on par with projections. It’s a solid result for a family friendly film at a time when parents with young kids have been more wary about going to the movies.

Matrix 4 on the other hand gets a shot in the arm and shoots up to around 5 day total $40m also. So neo and the singing pig are at war for second place and third.

In third place, the fourth “Matrix” installment brought in $2.7 million on Friday, boosting its tally to $13.2 million. The film — directed by Lana Wachowski and starring Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss — is targeting a five-day total around $41 million from 3,550 venues while debuting simultaneously on HBO Max. Right now, it’s neck-and-neck with “Dune” ($41 million) as the biggest debut of the year for Warner Bros.

Kingsmen crashed and burned.

Heading for a fourth-place finish, Disney and 20th Century’s “The King’s Man” nabbed $1.2 million on Friday from 3,180 screens and hopes to generate at least $10 million through Sunday. That haul would be slightly below expectations the film would make $15 million to $20 million in its debut over the five-day frame.

https://variety.com/2021/film/box-of...-2-1235142679/

[chicago_bastard]

Don't know if that is a typing error or the Variety writer was drunk when she wrote that but her projection for Matrix is totally off. It won't come near to 40 million, it won't even reach 30 million.