PNF2187

Given that both Frozen films have had a nearly identical release calendar, it makes it easy to compare release timing of certain things. Frozen II came out on Blu-Ray before the first film came out on digital, and on Disney+ before the first one released on Blu-Ray. Granted, the movie landscape is quite a bit different compared to where it was in early 2014, but its still interesting to see.

Heh, might as well put out my updated one as well. Inside Out WALL-E Coco Ratatouille Toy Story 3 The Incredibles Up Toy Story Monsters, Inc. Toy Story 4 Finding Nemo Onward Toy Story 2 A Bug’s Life Cars Incredibles 2 Finding Dory Brave Monsters University Cars 3 The Good Dinosaur Cars 2

Looking at it again, I don't find 2018 to be that amazing for Disney. They had 3 of the biggest bombs of the year, and of the other films, none of their non-superhero films (except maybe Ralph, but even that was pretty front-loaded) really did much for their bottom line. You could make the same argument for 2016, but at least it wasn't just superheros carrying the year (and most of their $100M+ budget films actually paid off in spades). 2017, while smaller, likely had a better return, seeing how Cars 3 was probably the only red spot that year theatrically, while everything else pulled in $750M+, and we all know how 2019 went for them. Maybe the year as a whole won't be too bad for Disney, but this is a really bad start.

I wonder if this has something to do with it... From the Deadline article: So far, it’s a great response to the Dan Scanlon-directed animated feature, with general audiences giving Onward 4 1/2 stars, parents a fantastic 5 stars, and kids under 12 (largely boys at 61%), an OK 3 1/2 stars. Overall guys under 25 lead at 29% followed by guys over 25 at 28%, then females over 25 at 23% and females under 25 at 20%. Diversity demos showed 52% Caucasian, 22% Hispanic, 12% Asian, and 8% African American.

Interesting that a comparison to HTTYD is being made here, but like... Yikes. This is the third widest opening for Pixar movie yet it's going to wind up with the third/fourth lowest opening. $37-40M here results in a sub-$10k PTA, which is absolutely normal for Pixar movie when it's not in it's opening weekend. Even The Good Dinosaur managed a $10,444 PTA during its OW. Now, HOPEFULLY the film is able to leg it out and wind up with a somewhat decent domestic total, but I'm not holding my breath for this. Quite unfortunate too, I really did like this one. And reviews (if you're not looking at Metacritic) were still quite good.

Probably $175M, solid possibility of it losing money too (especially if it opens at the lower end of tracking, or worse) sadly. Generally speaking with animation... if a budget isn’t given yet I assume: $75-80M for Illumination and Warner Animation Group <$100M for Sony Pictures Animation $100M for Blue Sky $125M for DreamWorks $150M for Disney Animation $175M for Pixar originals $200M for Pixar sequels and for the most part it’s a pretty good guess, with a few exceptions.

Just got back from this one. Not one of Pixar's absolute best, but it still has a lot going for it (and far better than most of their sequels in the last decade IMO). Great moments throughout, and while I do have some issues with it, it's still a plenty enjoyable film and I hope people see this (because a) it's good, and b) I don't want Pixar going back to sequels anytime soon). Edit: also, what trailers did people get in front of this? I was in a 3D showing (why do I do this to myself I already wear glasses) and got Jungle Cruise and Mulan (the one that played Reflection though, not the one released around Super Bowl)

So Onward's audience score is already showing... looking pretty good at 100%, 5/5 rating there Edit: ...and now it's not showing Edit 2: That said, it's nice to see the score going up, even if it doesn't really move much from here on out. I wonder if this is going to become a new trend for Pixar originals, because Coco started in the 80% range and moved it's way up to a 97% over the course of a month.

The thing is though, most Pixar originals do not open to $45-55M on their 3-day openings. Only Coco and Ratatouille have. The median for a Pixar original opening is $62.6M and the average is $57.8M. Majority of Pixar originals have opened to $60-70M in their opening weekends. Onward opening to $45-55M would be fine, though still below average for Pixar originals, and it wouldn’t guarantee $200M DOM. It doesn’t need $1-1.2B to be a success, but even $500M is up in the air right now.

Certified Fresh at 83%, 7.2 average from 87 reviews. Top Critics isn’t looking good at 56%, 6.44 average from 18 reviews. Metacritic is sorta just there at 63 from 27 reviews, Critics Choice is at 79 (same as Monsters University)

Nice to see this going up in the score (not the first time for a Pixar film, and hopefully not the last), probably gonna end up the range of the mid-high 80s, which is surprising how long it took for Pixar consider it's basically been the norm for WDAS for a while now. There's still a chance this could hit 90% and keep the mid-high 80% range 0-22 for Pixar, but the average score hasn't exactly changed as much as the tomatometer has, so it'll likely stay in the 80s.

Looking back, I do find it a bit surprising that Dory scored as high as it did (with both its tomatometer and its average score), but with Pixar, even their lesser films have their share of devotees, and it's always interesting to see which films people have as their favourites. Theoretically, there are FAR more ways to rank Pixar films than there are people in the world, so it's very unlikely that two people are gonna have the exact same list, even if favourites or least favourites may be constants. I know that I've yet to find a list that matches mine one-to-one, so it always makes for an interesting discussion anytime rankings are brought up in forums. TS3 is my favourite Pixar sequel, while Inside Out is my favourite original. But even stuff that goes under the radar for me sometimes gets rediscovered as a bit of a gem later on. Case in point: I recently rewatched Ratatouille for the first time in over a decade and loved it even more than I had remembered as a kid. And this scene will never not be amazing:

Quick Update on Scores: 79%, 7.33/10 on RT with 42 reviews (for recent animated films from Disney, that tomatometer is fairly middling, but the average score is actually identical to Ralph Breaks the Internet) - Top Critics is 67%, 7.07/10 62 on MC with 24 reviews (that's only better than the Cars sequels - let's hope it doesn't end up in the yellow) Nothing on Critics Choice 8.5/10 on IMDb (not that this really matters)

I'm actually a bit surprised it's not lower. Onward currently has the lowest delta between its Tomatometer and it's average score (when multiplied by 10) out of all Pixar movies besides Cars.

It may suffer in comparison to Pixar's classics, but Onward makes effective use of the studio's formula -- and stands on its own merits as a funny, heartwarming, dazzlingly animated adventure. 78% TOMATOMETER Total Count: 32 This just reads as a paraphrased version of Frozen II's critics consensus. Then again, they're both hovering in the mid-to-low 60s on Metacritic right now. Frozen II can't quite recapture the showstopping feel of its predecessor, but it remains a dazzling adventure into the unknown. 77% TOMATOMETER Total Count: 312

up to 81% now

The Good Dinosaur, Coco and Ralph Breaks the Internet were also tracking for $40-45M 3-day as well, so I'm not really concerned at the moment. If critical and audience reception winds up closer to say... The Good Dinosaur and Brave, then I'd probably sound the alarm. Either way, we'll probably have a much better idea come next week.

I'd imagine we're getting at least one more in February for when tickets go on sale.

Just got back from seeing this (and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood). I enjoyed it quite a bit. I find the music to be even better as a whole (it's in no way balanced evenly throughout the film though, it felt like the first act barely had any speaking scenes), but there's nothing quite like Let It Go this time around, which is fine. The film is also gorgeous, and it's absolutely breathtaking at some points. Olaf is hilarious and brought out plenty of laughs. For the most part, the story is captivating enough, but there are quite a few cracks that pop up near the end, but I won't say what they are. Also, the new characters introduced here are underwhelming, to say the least. That said, I'm happy this film doesn't feel like a retread of the first film, which is more than what I can say about most Pixar sequels that don't have "Toy Story" in their name. As a whole, I don't think it's quite as good as the first film, but there are a lot of moments where the sequel matches or surpasses the original.

Right now it's at 94%, same as Aladdin and Toy Story 4, so I'd say things are looking pretty good.

Not particularily relevant now given the reactions on the thread, but a review score update: RT All Critics: 77% (6.88) RT Top Critics: 67% (6.33) Metacritic: 65 Critics Choice: 78

Frozen 2 has a theatre count of 4,300+. Taking that lower bound, Frozen 2 would require a PTA of approximately $36,761 to get the November OW record.

There is one A, but yeah, I'm not even expecting reviews to go up to Ralph Breaks the Internet level - that film was still hovering at around 92% at this point.

Critics Consensus is up: Even though at times Frozen II doesn't quite nail the showstopping feel of the first film, it is still a dazzling adventure into the unknown. These reviews are definitely quite good, but they are a fair bit lower than almost everything else WDAS put out this decade.