Are comic book movies losing their box office power?

[inisideguy]

Exactly. CAWS and DOFP both excellent movies. Great reviews. Both can't crack 100 on the weekend. Turd movies like Spidey 3 and X-Men Last Stand done years ago with horrible reviews and smaller ticket prices blowing both of these fine movies. Domestic super-hero fatigue?

Thats my theory but some disagree. Granted it could be just a hicup. And I wasnt really paying attention till this x-men movie. This one kind of baffles me more than say cap which did open in april or spidey which well is just a mess. But this x-men movie has everything that a 100 million dollar opening should need. And it couldnt pull it off. When you have movies like MOS making 116 a full 26 million more than x-men something is up. When x-men last stand opens up on the exact same weekend 8 years ago and makes 12 million more without 3 d or IMAX and was a turd pile something is up. Even honestly Cap surprises me a bit. Cap was a movie that again was coming after a well regarded first movie, and of course Avengers, and got incredible reviews. No other movie was even around to mess with him. If you could go back in time and open it say 4 years ago I am positive Cap would have opened up to 100 million. So yes I think its fatigue. The movies might be better than ever but people are tuning out.

[HsssH]

Its important to note that at the time of third Spider-man or TLS there weren't many alternatives and most of them were crap. TLS competed only against Superman Returns while Spider-Man 3 against Ghost Rider and Fantastic Four: Silver Surfer. Its easy to see how most people preferred to see TLS/Spider-Man instead of other options.

While now in around two months window we got 3 super-hero films. I might have seen ASM 2 if TWS and DoFP weren't so close to it, but I skipped it since it looked weakest of the three and I had no desire to see a three superhero films.

[Carabas]

You think Batman and Robin affected darknight? WTF are you talking about? Batman and Robin affected Batman Begins not darknight.

My bad, you were originally comparing Batman & Robin to Batman Begins and I didn't notice your moving of the goal posts.

[Carabas]

Im comparing it with movies that opened 8 years ago because thats when comic book movies were making huge domestic money. Thats the point. If you dont get it I dont know what to tell you.

You seem to think that each and every superhero film is created equally. They are not. You can't compare them in much the same way that you can't compare Avatar to Ender's Game.

You cant seriously be blaming the economy. IM3 made made over 400 million domestic last year and the economy was worse. Three movies last year made over 400 million domestic so blaming the economy is a joke. 2012 was the year of the Darknight Rises and the Avengers. The economy wasnt good then either. Together they cleared over a billion in the states alone.

Do you have any kind of actual example of them doing less? Every Iron Man has done more than the last one. Amazing Spider-Man 2 did better than AMS 1. DoFP did better than First Class. They're perhaps (and that's a big perhaps) doing worse than they used to, but are doing better than they have in recent times. Or at least they do if you don't insist on comparing apples to oranges.

[Carabas]

On Boxofficemojo it's predicting that ASM 2 will finish with 200-203 million domestically. That's a huge drop from the 262 million ASM made. Will ASM 3 be able to bounce back and make more than ASM 2? Or will audiences get tired of another Spider-Man movie so soon? Not to mention a fourth one planned in 2018 with two spin-offs thrown in the mix.

I do think that mainstream audiences lack the fan mindset and do actually get tired of characters after 5 films if there's not enough time between those films.

[Carabas]

I really dont know. There are some big decisions that need to be made regarding the spidey franchise. But hell if the Batman franchise could recover from Batman and Robin anything is possible.

And if the X-Men do a clean, hard reboot like Batlman did, maybe the franchise can recover from X-Men 3?

[Carabas]

Exactly. CAWS and DOFP both excellent movies. Great reviews. Both can't crack 100 on the weekend. Turd movies like Spidey 3 and X-Men Last Stand done years ago with horrible reviews and smaller ticket prices blowing both of these fine movies. Domestic super-hero fatigue?

I don't think how good a film is has that big an influence on the opening weekend compared to how great the last one in the series was.
X-Men 3 and Spidey 3 both followed extremely well received second films.

[PretenderNX01]

And if the X-Men do a clean, hard reboot like Batlman did, maybe the franchise can recover from X-Men 3?

I'd argue the soft reboot we get in DoFP seems to have helped it do better than both Wolverine movies and "First Class" so it's on it's way to be fine as a franchise again but that's apparently not what anyone is this thread wants to hear. LOL

[kalorama]

On a collective level, their box office power is probably greater than it's ever been, but on average the individual revenue may be falling compared to years past. The reason for both is the same: an increase in the number of big budget super-hero films being released every year. Going to the movies is an increasingly expensive and time-consuming endeavor and the average consumer has to make choices about how and where they spend their money and time. Back when only 2 or 3 of these big superhero movies came out every year, moviegoers who liked the genre were a lot more likely to see them all. But now that the number of them released each year has grown some portion of the audience is going to be more discriminating when it comes to which ones they see in theaters and which ones they wait for on home video.

[regnak]

I think you keep missing the point. I was talking about domestic. All films worldwide keep increasing.

Actually I think the real point you really, really, really like to argue.

[Colossus1980]

I don't think how good a film is has that big an influence on the opening weekend compared to how great the last one in the series was.
X-Men 3 and Spidey 3 both followed extremely well received second films.

Does this mean ASM 3 is in big trouble? ASM 2 poorly received, domestic BO took a huge big drop. In the next four years we are supposed to get two more with two spin offs. I don't think the regular audience will be that excited anymore for all these Spidey movies in such a short span.

[Colossus1980]

I'd argue the soft reboot we get in DoFP seems to have helped it do better than both Wolverine movies and "First Class" so it's on it's way to be fine as a franchise again but that's apparently not what anyone is this thread wants to hear. LOL

I just find it disappointing that this movie is the best in the series and it might not even reach 250M domestically. Not to ruin anything, but Singer threw almost everything in his effort(would have appreciated more screen time for various characters but then it would have been too long for most) and for an incredible movie like this not to destroy Last Stand with the inflated prices, 3D, and IMAX is horrible. Even First Class was a critical darling but had a lackluster boxoffice domestically.

[inisideguy]

You seem to think that each and every superhero film is created equally. They are not. You can't compare them in much the same way that you can't compare Avatar to Ender's Game.


Do you have any kind of actual example of them doing less? Every Iron Man has done more than the last one. Amazing Spider-Man 2 did better than AMS 1. DoFP did better than First Class. They're perhaps (and that's a big perhaps) doing worse than they used to, but are doing better than they have in recent times. Or at least they do if you don't insist on comparing apples to oranges.

ASM2 is not going to do anywhere near what ASM1 did domestic. It will be lucky to get to 200 million. ASM1 made 260 million. That fact alone is incredible. ASM1 made more than what cap is going to make in the domestic market. These are how things are trending. Yes this x-men is going to make more than first class. But considering what they put into it and its release date, and its reviews it should be making at least last stand money. Which isnt that crazy considering how ticket prices have exploded.

[YoungThanos]

I believe we have come at a point in time when we have flatout stopped caring about the domestic. Only the global really matters.

Then your belief system is flawed. Have we not all witnessed the US marketing push Fox has provided this film? Heck Sony's was said to be between $180M-$200M world wide.

Domestic will always be important because it's where studios get the biggest slice of the pizza. Overseas they'll be lucky if they get a 4th of that box office after expenses.

http://io9.com/5747305/how-much-mone...-be-profitable

[inisideguy]

On a collective level, their box office power is probably greater than it's ever been, but on average the individual revenue may be falling compared to years past. The reason for both is the same: an increase in the number of big budget super-hero films being released every year. Going to the movies is an increasingly expensive and time-consuming endeavor and the average consumer has to make choices about how and where they spend their money and time. Back when only 2 or 3 of these big superhero movies came out every year, moviegoers who liked the genre were a lot more likely to see them all. But now that the number of them released each year has grown some portion of the audience is going to be more discriminating when it comes to which ones they see in theaters and which ones they wait for on home video.

Maybe you are correct on this. I do think them pumping out 3 superhero movies over such a short period of time was kind of silly. I would think they could have spaced it out better. But just looking at last spring/summer for example

Iron man 3 comes out clears 409 million dollars domestic opens at 174, million
Fast and furious then comes out makes 238 million opens at 97 million higher than any cbm this year
Star trek comes out makes 228 million which is probably more than ASM2, X-men, and GOTG will make this year
Man of steel comes out makes 291 million with a 116 million dollar opening.

So people were willing to spend their money LAST year on 2 comic movies and star trek. But interesting x-men could still prove me wrong. Cause Trek opened up at 70 million. Looking back it had decent legs considering that opening. So if this x-men has decent legs it could pull in similar numbers.