I agree. Nocturnal Animals ,A Monster Calls, Edge of Seventeen specifically should have been released in September/October and maybe could have found an audience with their genre skewing titles; and capitalized of the huge buzz they had coming off fall festivals.
Fantastic Beasts
November 20
2:00 pm
about 20 people
Trailers
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets-No reactions
Beauty and the Beast-murmurs
Sing-no reaction
Passengers-murmurs
Hidden Figures-no reactions
King Arthur-no reactions
The Lego Batman Movie-laughs
Audience was engaged throughout.
I bet if DiCaprio was the lead this would make an easy 100m. Maybe oscar nominations can help it a little.
Neeson is sort of a big name and Driver is a rising star too.
I think Sony is botching the marketing for this as well. I used to think this was a 200m + domestic grosser but there is no real hype or awards buzz for this and Im expecting reviews to be mediocre to bad. I think 130-135m is a more reachable target and that's only because of the stars + holiday legs.
Overseas it should do better though, probably 200-300m.
Bad Santa wasn't that big of a hit still it's a seasonal adult comedy and there hasn't been a big one since Sausage Party. Joneses and Masterminds both flopped. Maybe it can get to 9m ow
Rules Don't Apply looks like a flop, little awards buzz and warren Beatty hasn't starred in a film in decades. Lily Collins/Alden Eirenrech aren't stars either. Probably 4m ow.
Allied looks like the most appealing title of the three but again it doesn't have huge awards buzz. Because of Brad Pitt I think it can open with at least 15m.
I mean if it hits 70m that would be in line with tracking; plus the holidays will give it a buffer. 150m is all but assured with as much as 200m. For a Harry Potter spin off thats pretty good, so I don't understand the meltdowns.