The Wild Eric

I should clarify that Mickey's Law does not mean Disney always lands. That's why they get a Nutcracker or Solo every once in a while. It just means everything that can go wrong for non-Disney studios will go wrong. So Mal ain't out of the woods just yet...I don't make the rules here.

The Lion King Greater Philadelphia Area Seat Report T-11 Days and Counting*** (Adjusted for Theater Mix-Up. Includes New PA Theater) Sellouts Showings Seats Sold Total Seats Perct Sold TOTALS 0 102 1,818 18,457 9.85% It's a good thing I added this theater into the mix. Not just because of my Michigan Mishap, but also because the new theater I added has sold a lot of tickets. 305 in fact. It at least shows there's still a lot of demand being met here, and skews things a bit more positively...at least, I think so? I dunno, the more theaters to sample, the better.

The Lion King Greater Philadelphia Area Seat Report T-11 Days and Counting*** (Adjusted for Theater Mix-Up. Excludes PA Theater) Sellouts Showings Seats Sold Total Seats Perct Sold TOTALS 0 90 1,513 17,371 8.71% Total Seats Sold Today: 119 Ignoring that theater confusion for a moment, this was a fantastic day for the theaters I'm tracking. It's above even Tuesday, which was a huge promo day for TLK. Obviously part of that jump was also due to the fact that the 4th of July weekend is over, but that's still really dang good. Hopefully that momentum continues, and this isn't some crazy overperformance.

So I was starting out my comps, and I just realized that one of the theaters I was tracking was not in PA, but all the way in Michigan. It wasn't my fault, because both theaters share the exact same name (don't ask me why), but it still sucks. And wouldn't you know it, it completely screws up all the work I've done so far. To quote the star of Show Dogs, I made a huge mistake. So basically I'll have one adjusted comp that excludes the messed up theater, and then I'll add in the new theater into the mix.

I know this is a couple days ago, but I wanted to talk about this. I feel like the mid-credits scene was kind of a foreshadowing for Miles. Peter's on the run, but there's no friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to take the reins. Miles knows Peter is a good guy for helping his uncle or whatever, so he becomes a new Spider-Man, teams up with Peter or whatever, bam ya got a movie. Also, is the whole Multiverse concept just non-existent, or at least not happening any time soon, since Mysterio was lying and whatever? With all that build-up in the trailers, it really sucks if Marvel won't do anything with that.

I watched Jessie, the show he was featured in, a lot with my sisters. Shame to see him pass away so young.

The Lion King Greater Philadelphia Area Seat Report T-13 Days and Counting Sellouts Showings Seats Sold Total Seats Perct Sold TOTALS 0 100 1,421 18,477 7.69% Total Seats Sold Today: 66 So this is an interesting pattern. Wednesday sold 52 tickets, Thursday 65. Then yesterday had 56 tickets sold, and today was 66. I don't know what this means, but it's an interesting little detail I noticed.

Obviously that's not the main factor, but it's certainly a big one. If people can't afford, or can only go to the movies so many times, they want something they know, or at least something they can trust to have a good time. This is anecdotal of course, but both of my parents got laid off during the Recession, which hurt my family crazy hard. They had to do a bunch of odd jobs to make ends meet, my brother and I had to take care of my sisters more often, we barely got to travel or do anything fun. When it comes to movies, not only did my parents barely go during that time, but it was pretty much either movies they heard were really good from friends (The Dark Knight), or based on brands and names they already like or have a lot of trust in (Pixar, Dreamworks, Sex and the City, Harry Potter, Langdon. As you can see, they really only went whenever my sibilngs and I pestered them, with a couple exceptions). Obviously things aren't anywhere near as bad as the Recession era, but tickets are still a wee bit costly compared to plenty of other entertainment options that it just feels better to go for what's safe. @captainwondyful also brings up a good point about MoviePass. When you take away a service that basically gave you free tickets, even if you did just fine without it, there's a weird thing in your brain where things cost way more money without it, even if it isn't all that much in the grand scheme of things. It's why streaming is so popular. And even with A-List or the upcoming Regal ticket service, only having it available for one chain still isn't the most ideal, especially if you live nearby a mom-and-pop or non-profit theater.

Literally how can you forget?

Matt Zoller Seitz made a gigantic Twitter thread about this months ago, and he mentioned the biggest issue comes down to ticket prices. This can also apply to what's selling at the moment. People are way more choosy, and want something that will give them their money's worth, both in quality and in the theatrical experience. So remakes and franchises reign supreme in that regard. It's familiar, so for many, it's not worth the risk. And that also applies to the non-franchise films that are currently hitting. Looking at last year, Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born benefit from surround sound playing awesome music full blast. Bohemian also benefits from songs people are familiar with. The Grinch is an iconic IP that's loved by all ages. A Quiet Place's concept basically forces people to stay quiet as a mouse throughout the movie ("I get to see a movie without annoying patrons? Ticket for me!"). Crazy Rich Asians not only was the first major representation for Asian-Americans in decades, but it also had gorgeous scenic shots of Singapore plastered on the big screen. The Meg and Rampage had giant monsters, whose impact can't be recreated on a TV or laptop. Ready Player One had spectacle for days (I know some people think that movie's ugly, but it certainly appealed to some people). And even A Wrinkle in Time had spectacle and minority representation that is still not that common. The only two movies from last year that didn't fall into any categories that make something "worthy of seeing in a theater' were Peter Rabbit and The Mule. And even then, those movies got help from the time they released (Peter Rabbit was literally the only thing that appealed to little kids, while The Mule was out on Christmas, when people didn't have work or school, and had literally nothing else to do).

The Lion King Greater Philadelphia Area Seat Report T-14 Days and Counting  Sellouts Showings Seats Sold Total Seats Perct Sold TOTALS 0 100 1,355 18,477 7.33% Total Seats Sold Today: 56

I'm only okay with this if they bring back the true Rodrick #NotMyRodrick

So for the last scene with the Skrulls, was that supposed to set up the next Spider-Man movie would have Captain Marvel or something?

I looked back to 2013, and interestingly, Monsters University had a 38% jump from Thursday. That's obviously good, but stuff like World War Z and This Is The End held way better compared to their Thursday. Of course, Despicable Me 2 was on its first Friday, so that probably led to a more muted jump.

https://www.boxofficepro.com/long-range-forecast-playmobil-the-movie/ Playmobil: 3-9 range (4-Day). 4/10 Crawl: 15/39 (-17%) Stuber: 17/63 (-3%)

Runtimes w/out credits and attachments for next week's releases: Stuber: 1:27. Attachments unknown (Ad Astra and Ford v Ferrari?) Crawl: 1:23. Attachments are Gemini Man and Terminator: Dark Fate.

Can you say delicioso?

Conversely, I think 8.5x would be the high end for TLK, especially if it does reach 20M. Even if it's a family film, 20M+ is still a lot of demand taken care of. We're also still in the heat of no-school season.

Between this and his attempt at a music career, Renner's post-Endgame career is on a really bad foot