EmpireCity

It shouldn't have had to be clarified in the first place, but glad you finally got it.

Stop putting words in my mouth. I never said they were dying to go see a Minions movie, and it's obviously a joke and people being goofy having fun. The larger point is that this is an example of people (kids and young adults in this case) wanting to get out and live life and have a good time in large groups. One of the ways that people have ALWAYS done that since the early 1900's is go to the movies. It's hard evidence that sitting at home by yourself streaming is not the future of the human race.

They aren't all jaded and negative, Eric.

It must be overseas, because I checked about 10 places online for the US and there is no listed release date.

Black Panther and Shazam! 2 Other than that, just a bunch of garbge in blue paint that nobody cares about!

Barbie might almost double that.

You're going to be hilariously wrong.

For about a billion reasons. Because it starred a nobody. Had a director that was pretty much not known. A hired gun writer taking a check. Had a mediocre budget. Mediocre release date. Barbie is the exact opposite of this. Red hot director. Red hot writer couple. Huge A list stars. Big budget. Prime release date.

I've been following the box office a looooong time. I'm getting older. I've seen a lot. When you get to my age and decades of marketing/hype/studio/director combinations, you realize there are just certain films or concepts that stand out. Barbie is one of them. They cracked the code after trying for a long time. Here we are talking about it more than a year from release. That alone is an indication.

I'm just telling everyone and anyone that will listen, Barbie is going to be a massive hit. This isn't Cats or Dora or whatever comparison you want to make. They have Lego movie'd this thing. They didn't hire 2 what seems to be off the wall director/writer to go in some way off direction. WB got a full treatment and script before they were signed. They know exactly what the movie is going to be. I know people that have read the script and say it is flat out brilliant. This will not fail.

Come on dude.

Nope. Sorry my man Charlie, you are dead wrong on this one. I'll bet anyone here that Barbie (pending decent reviews) is a massive hit. It isn't an ironic joke trying to take itself ultra serious like the shit CATS was. They aren't in the same universe.

I rage against Disney as much as anyone, but this is likely a bit over the top. Disney isn't dying, they are just going into the natural cyclical dip that a lot of companies go through. They went through it multiple times before and this won't be the last time. I hate me some Bob Chapek and think he is incompetent, but the board and shareholders rule. Even though they extended him, he and Kareem know that they aren't exactly beloved. While they tried to go 1000% streaming, others have figured out that it simply isn't the way other than if you want to watch a few billion dollars burn. There is room for everything. Room for theatrical, room for PVOD, room for streaming. If you do it right, they actually end up enhancing each other, not taking away. Warner Bros. has figured it out. Universal is figuring it out. Paramount figured it out. Disney will figure it out as well

Riann Johnson even re-tweeted this tonight.

As someone pointed out, the meme trend has already bled over to Barbie. We might be sitting here next year looking at a $100m opening for a fucking Barbie movie. I think Nolan and Universal might have to blink and move a week or work something out, because that movie is going to just blast off into space if the reviews are good.

For sure. These are middle school to college aged kids. They grew up on Dispicable Me and Minions.

My kid let me know a bunch of her friends are joining a group of FIFTY other boys in suits tomorrow night to see Minions: Rise of Gru.

This is also the perfect response by Universal (so far). Acknowledge it, but don't get in the way. I bet it brings them millions more in box office this weekend.

Legit. Huge groups of kids from middle school to college age. Mostly boys in suits and sunglasses, but now girls are getting in on the trend and showing up dressed up with dates. My guess is the girls will choose a movie in the near future they can dress up and go to. Maybe it will be Where the Crawdads Sing. Also, it is GUARANTEED that some corporate marketing department is going to jump on this way too late, try to recreate a viral trend and ruin it.

Honestly, it's fucking fantastic and shows that kids and people in general don't want to sit in their living rooms and watch streaming movies for the rest of their lives. People want to get out in groups, they want to have shared experiences, they want to do something that makes them feel alive. They even want the chance at getting laid and doing something fun. This is why theatrical will not only survive, but thrive. Streaming will always be there as well, but it will be for shows and series, not movies.

Also, saw multiple groups of 30-40 boys just roll up in suits and buy out all the tickets at Minions tonight. Tons more jumping on this TikTok / Meme trend tomorrow as well. Crazy shit.

I'm going to back TG2 down to $7.3m. It was a bit more front loaded than usual, likely due to Canada's holiday.