TServo2049

With holdovers dropping that little against the Brazil/Argentina game, and with TF4 not going into full release until NEXT weekend, what will happen this coming weekend? Will we see single-digit drops?

Wow, I guess everything IS upside down in Australia! HTTYD2 a big hit even with another animated film in direct competition with it, Transformers doing WORSE...Me and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Domestic Box Office: "I think I'll move to Australia..."

Judging by the reactions here, this is going to become the most mocked movie announcement since Battleship.

Dumbo better not fucking talk in THIS movie....

Operation Dumbo Drop wasn't actually about Dumbo, so no.

Question: Before everyone loses their shit, what are the chances this actually gets MADE? That's not a rhetorical device to say "this isn't really going to happen", but announcements like these happen all the time, and they don't all actually get made...so this isn't guaranteed to happen.

Question: How likely is it that this Dumbo movie actually gets MADE?

It could be another Babe...or it could be the live-action Charlotte's Web...

The idea of this gives me a Babe vibe. Or at the very least, that live-action Charlotte's Web.

It's probably more because they feel they don't want/need to overplay their hand since the franchises are firmly established. Or it could be that they didn't have enough finished footage for a trailer - this is why Return of the King didn't get a trailer until three months before.

Hey, I didn't say HTTYD2's underperformance vs. Maleficent made any SENSE. The two movies are just as "dark", at least on the surface - maybe it's the old "animation age ghetto," and both parents and kids are more forgiving of dark content in a live-action movie vs. an animated one?Maybe it's that HTTYD2 has actual emotional weight, and Maleficent is only SUPERFICIALLY "dark"? Beats the hell out of me...Another thing: Any complaints come from parents of families who actually SAW the movie to begin with. We don't know the reasons why many other families chose not to see it in the first place, all the way back to OW before any WOM effects.

My points exactly. I accidentally hit Post before I finished, read the revised version.

I know the story about Katzenberg. In fact, I'm convinced that the ONLY reason he said he wanted HTTYD2 to make a billion dollars is because Frozen did and he still holds a grudge against Disney all these years later.But I wasn't talking about Katzenberg. I was talking about Roy E. Disney. He's the one who started the "Save Disney"campaign to oust Eisner about 10 years ago. He's the one who got Eisner, Katzenberg and Frank Wells in at Disney 20 years earlier, and he was PO'ed at the state of the company with Eisner in full control.What I was saying was, there's nobody who would have that clout to push for Katzenberg's replacement (except maybe Spielberg, the largest individual shareholder, who still owns less stock than several management funds, and who I already said I think is still too buddy-buddy with Katz to do something like that). Roy E. had the family connection, and Disney had a 75+ year legacy he could hold up to illustrate how Eisner had messed things up. There's nothing like that for DWA, they never had as high a reputation as Disney and they haven't driven said reputation as low as Disney's got in the early 00s, so Katz is most likely going nowhere.

Spielberg is still a shareholder in DWA. But as I said, I believe he's still pals with Katz, contrasted with Roy E. who had fallen COMPLETELY out with Eisner by the 2000s. So he wouldn't be spearheading a "Save DreamWorks" campaign any time soon.Things would have to get a LOT worse for something like this to happen at DWA. Remember, at the time that the Disney shareholders and board turned on Eisner, he was ready to sever ties with Pixar when they were the king of the hill in feature animation, AND the company was fighting off a takeover bid from Comcast. DWA is nowhere near the entertainment giant Disney is, that takeover attempt 10 years ago was legitimately SHOCKING.So I don't think Katzenberg is in trouble. But he needs to make more good decisions - he has made some in the past, after all. Like his pushing to have HTTYD retooled from the little-kid project it started as (or at least throwing his full support behind what Sanders and DeBlois were coming up with), and letting the Dragon and Panda franchises be more mature and subtle compared to the Shrek/Madagascar type stuff. Those were good decisions, ones I'm legitimately surprised Katzenberg had in him. He needs to make more decisions like that, and less decisions like "This racing snails concept is genius, here's $135 million!"

I keep saying this, but my HTTYD2 audience laughed more at the Home trailer than the Penguins trailer. Since HTTYD2's audience clearly doesn't represent a healthy cross-section of the "family" demographic, I have no idea HOW much it speaks to Home's potential, but it is certainly intriguing to me...

The shareholders would have to force Katzenberg out, like how Disney shareholders revolted against Eisner a decade ago. It hasn't come to that yet - but if things get worse, there is a risk.But there doesn't seem to be a Roy E. Disney who would lead such a charge, and DreamWorks doesn't have enough of a legacy for something along the lines of Roy's "a legacy betrayed" platform to really work.I think the only person who would have enough clout to lead a shareholder rebellion in the way Roy led the Disney one, would be Steven Spielberg. And I somehow doubt he cares enough at this point (and I think the two are still personal friends?)

HTTYD2 isn't connecting with kids. It's too serious, too heavy, too sad, too dark, too violent, too scary.It's a little too grown up for most younger kids, and the 4-year gap means that the kids who saw HTTYD1 are at just that age where they are most likely to shun animation because they think they're too old for it.

The Fifth Element is fun. I can even put up with Chris Tucker's overacting and shrieking.

Yes, HTTYD2 is good. See it, it needs your money.I've been worrying about HTTYD3 on and off since it opened. It's been gnawing at me for the past 4 weeks. Delaying it would be one thing. But it DW were to cancel it, a sequel that they announced and set a release date for long ago, it would probably cause their stock price to drop even worse. And even though HTTYD2 might be a disappointment, it will still make a profit, even if not a huge one. On the other hand, DWA had to take writedowns on three of their last 4 movies, all originals.When their originals are risky and they've been having bad luck with them, I'd think that they'd consider another sequel, even one to an underperforming sequel, a safer bet. After all, from 2015-17 they only have three sequels scheduled, versus six originals. I'd think that they would want to keep all the sequels on the schedule.

Well, this went off on a tangent which maybe should have been in the Finding Dory thread.

Not likely.No animated film has ever crossed $150m OW adjusted, let alone unadjusted. In fact, aside from Shrek 2-3 and Toy Story 3, nothing has opened over 100 (unadjusted or adjusted). Shrek 3 still has the biggest Fri-Sun opening either way, and it was coming off of Shrek 2.I think both Dory and DM3 could open to $100m (I believe DM3 is opening on a Friday this time), but we shall see...

Dang, that sucks. But as far as countries whose weekend totals were reported, Australia and Brazil held from the earlier estimates, and France INCREASED a little bit, so other than Mexico dropping from estimates, I wonder what territories lost it $3.5m.(Or did someone at Fox put UK preview grosses into the original reported total, then change their mind and take them out so they could be held over to beef up next weekend's wide UK opening number? Eh, probably not...)

We'll see. I would love to see it pull that off, but it's nowhere near a given at this point. A year ago, there were people who thought HTTYD2 had a shot at 300 but that Frozen would have a tough time getting very far above 200. And look what actually happened. Nemo is much more popular than Dragon, so Dory could have a shot at 400 (especially if Dragon 3 moves), but nothing seems to be certain anymore with animation.

Hey, don't underestimate the Minions. Kids love the Minions. While DM3 will probably drop from DM2 (at least domestically) it's still going to make bank.And I'm optimistic about Dory, but even I don't think it's going to get THAT high. Toy Story 3 and Frozen came closest and THEY couldn't pull it off.

Ending change that hurt a film: The "happy" ending to Blade Runner.Ending change that helped a film: Terminator 2 was improved immensely by removing the syrupy "good future 2029" epilogue.