STRANGE MAGIC | 01.23.15 | Disney | final domestic gross: $12,429,583

[Mojoguy]

Ironically, Disney CEO Bob Iger genuinely seemed to like Frozen before it was released, and his chief animation henchman John Lasseter certainly adored it. It was Disney's marketers who didn't know what to do with it (given the level of responsibility that an expensive tentpole release entails and the lack of a male lead), aside from doing anything they could think of in order to trick people into seeing it on OW, and then letting the movie sink or swim on its own (well, they did make one spectacularly good trailer for it that didn't hide what the movie is about, but it was only released online instead of in theaters). Now, in some other countries (e.g. Japan) I've heard that Frozen was hyped like crazy everywhere, but I didn't see this in the DOM market (from Disney) before its release.

All those awful Frozen trailers probably cost the movie 10m on OW.

[BK007]

It's more like an anticipatory fart, really.

 

 

Most of us have no difficulty with telling "Disney" the media conglomerate apart from Walt Disney Animation Studios and other actual things "Disney" based on context. As far as the box office is concerned, whichever entity owns these production studios is what counts.

 

 

Just now?

 

 

So, then, based on the result here Rydstrom must instead be surrounded by yes-men.

 

Maybe this is partly because it's a new release during a relatively quiet period for movies, while Into the Woods was released during a crowded period.

 

You'd be surprised. Some on here do so. Continually rely on the fallback "it's Disney because Disney owns so and so subsidiary", ignoring that Disney, besides WDAS, makes movies more like Maleficent and Alexander and the Shit Day. All about convenience for those hypocrites.

 

Not in every way, probably, but I assure you that what I said earlier is literally true, at least based on my personal experience. It could be that I happened, purely by chance, to miss every Frozen TV commercial besides the two that I saw, but that would be unlikely to the extreme (especially given how many Strange Magic commercials I've seen--I doubt that I would have ignored the former while noticing the latter).

 

Ironically, Disney CEO Bob Iger genuinely seemed to like Frozen before it was released, and his chief animation henchman John Lasseter certainly adored it. It was Disney's marketers who didn't know what to do with it (given the level of responsibility that an expensive tentpole release entails and the lack of a male lead), aside from doing anything they could think of in order to trick people into seeing it on OW, and then letting the movie sink or swim on its own (well, they did make one spectacularly good trailer for it that didn't hide what the movie is about, but it was only released online instead of in theaters). Now, in some other countries (e.g. Japan) I've heard that Frozen was hyped like crazy everywhere, but I didn't see this in the DOM market (from Disney) before its release.

I was actually quite surprised at how much advertising I saw for Strange Magic in comparison (mostly without looking for it), despite the extremely late start it got--Disney executives might have washed their hands of this movie, keeping the Disney brand away from it, but since the late announcement they haven't exactly been trying to hide its existence, either. In my opinion, the movie had its chance for a decent OW in terms of exposure, but the ads apparently didn't connect with enough people. Now let's see what its WOM is like--I'm not expecting much.

 

Well, as much as I, and apparently some of the Internet hated how Frozen was marketed making it look stupid and immature, you cannot deny it worked. It exploded OW and then, only when people were surprised by how good it was, did WOM spread. Luckily it was a pleasant surprise and that the dumb audience turning up to see Olaf jokes could make the bridge to liking a quality movie too. That is not always the case with misadvertising. 

[Melvin Frohike]

All those awful Frozen trailers probably cost the movie 10m on OW.

I don't know, it seems that those who would have been the most turned off by the trailers (aside from the online-only "For the First Time in Forever"/Elsa trailer) were the ones who would show up anyway because they knew better, while the general audience, at the risk of me being condescending here, would largely be attracted by the cheesy ads.

 

Well, as much as I, and apparently some of the Internet hated how Frozen was marketed making it look stupid and immature, you cannot deny it worked.

I for one never have, although for the sake of curiosity it is another revealing example of just how boy-focused/femininity-averse Disney's DOM marketing of WDAS' movies is. There is also an appealing irony in how a movie that ended up selling itself so well wasn't deemed worthy, in a way, by Disney's marketers to be sold for what it really is. Some have supposed that this was a brilliantly calculated marketing strategy, but I seriously doubt it--the marketers were, as usual, simply afraid of scaring away little boys, and were therefore motivated, using their logic, to hide the type of movie Frozen is. Fortunately it all worked out anyway, albeit it's hard to screw up a movie that generates its own viral hype like this.

Anyway, my point was that even though Strange Magic is being dumped because Disney execs don't like it, it was given a pretty good amount of pre-release advertising--very likely enough to succeed more than it has so far, if that were ever in the cards. Putting aside my own opinion of its ads, I've seen and heard about interest in the movie being expressed by children, including those in my own extended family. However, it seems that their parents aren't that keen on this movie, and they are ultimately the ones who decide. In retrospect, maybe the marketers should have tried harder to hide the true nature of the movie, but then again I wouldn't be surprised one bit if they thought the ads were wonderful--just the kind of thing that they like to sell.

[TServo2049]

The 90s Disney had no such worries about whether their marketing would play to boys. Good grief, I was a little boy and I still went to see all of them. (Well, actually, reading DisneyWar, I think there was a bit of worry with The Little Mermaid? But it was put to rest when that did well.)

It does seem like DreamWorks' period of being more popular than WDAS, plus WDAS's stumble in the early 2000s, plus the underperformance of The Princess and the Frog, all contributed to the marketing tactics leading up to Frozen's release. I would hope they've learned their lesson, and when they get to Moana, they will go all-out in marketing a female-led Broadway-musical fairy-tale spectacular as exactly what it really is. If every other studio is marketing their films the same way to the same demographic, wouldn't your film stand out more by not adopting the same marketing strategies as everyone else? If you're making a "DISNEY" movie, shouldn't you go all out marketing it as a "DISNEY" movie the way you did in the 90s? Yes, I know about The Princess and the Frog, but Frozen blew up so much that it can't hurt anymore to market your princess musicals as being princess musicals. Show the female lead singing, say "from the people who brought you Frozen" and I'd say you're set.

Guess I'm just too naive and idealistic (not to mention going way, way, WAAAAY off topic...)

Edited January 28, 2015 by TServo2049

[kowhite]

They put more effort in promoting Strange Magic than Frozen before those movies came out out. Unfucking believable!

This is nuts. They spent an enormously larger amount of money promoting Frozen than Strange Magic.

My only response to your assertion here is...no...

[DAR]

I heard the song in the grocery store today and thought, this song will be playing for years, the movie will be a footnote by now.

[kowhite]

I heard the song in the grocery store today and thought, this song will be playing for years, the movie will be a footnote by now.

This movie was a footnote before it came out.

[Mojoguy]

I heard the song in the grocery store today and thought, this song will be playing for years, the movie will be a footnote by now.

What song?

[TServo2049]

Strange Magic by ELO, I assume. This movie will not tarnish it, it will still be remembered long after this is forgotten.

[Melvin Frohike]

This is nuts. They spent an enormously larger amount of money promoting Frozen than Strange Magic.

This may well be so, and would make sense, but this was certainly not reflected in my personal experience at all. There were some of the usual things like theatrical trailers and posters, of course, but with a couple of tiny exceptions on late-night TV, I never saw any TV commercials like I do all the time for most every major release. In fact, as I pointed out earlier, I saw several full-length commercials for Strange Magic each day, leading up to its release (not lately, though). I also saw a large number of commercials for Big Hero 6, for that matter, but virtually none for Frozen (note that as I also pointed out earlier, I only watch over-the-air TV).

In any case, the relevant point to this thread is that at least from my experience there has been a fair amount of exposure for Strange Magic despite its late announcement, and the comically mistaken rumor of this being a Frozen sequel gave it a fair amount of exposure on the Web. It was dumped, to be sure, but not merely into theaters to die--it opened in 3000+ theaters and was advertised, complete with the filmmakers (including George Lucas) and cast making the rounds. Disney, despite apparently disavowing the movie in some ways, actually gave it a decent chance to succeed.

[fastclock]

In any case, the relevant point to this thread is that at least from my experience there has been a fair amount of exposure for Strange Magic despite its late announcement, and the comically mistaken rumor of this being a Frozen sequel gave it a fair amount of exposure on the Web. It was dumped, to be sure, but not merely into theaters to die--it opened in 3000+ theaters and was advertised, complete with the filmmakers (including George Lucas) and cast making the rounds. Disney, despite apparently disavowing the movie in some ways, actually gave it a decent chance to succeed.

 

Disney gave this decent chance probably because it's one of the stipulation in Disney's purchasing contract when they bought LucasFilm. They got the big moneymaker on the SW series, but they need to spend something for this little film.

[Ezen Baklattan]

This isn't even getting a Blu-Ray release.

 

Disney is just releasing it on DVD and Digital HD. Nothing else.

[Avatree]

This isn't even getting a Blu-Ray release.

 

Disney is just releasing it on DVD and Digital HD. Nothing else.

this is really disappointing. I know I'm the only person in the world who was interested in this movie, but I would love to see it in squeaky-clean, shiny blu ray quality. some ultra-compressed 720p download ain't gonna cut it for me.

[kayumanggi]

Date (click to view chart)	Rank	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theaters	Change / Avg.		Gross-to-Date	Week #
Jan 23–25	7	$5,504,441	-	3,020	-	$1,823	$5,504,441	1
Jan 30–Feb 1	9	$3,361,664	-38.9%	3,020	-	$1,113	$9,819,784	2
Feb 6–8	17	$883,531	-73.7%	1,322	-1,698	$668	$11,467,444	3
Feb 13–15	36	$130,154	-85.3%	175	-1,147	$744	$11,839,108	4
Feb 13–16	35	$186,869	-78.8%	175	-1,147	$1,068	$11,895,823	4
Feb 20–22	46	$49,250	-62.2%	80	-95	$616	$11,986,766	5
Feb 27–Mar 1	54	$36,265	-26.4%	67	-13	$541	$12,051,319	6
Mar 6–8	40	$75,029	+107%	116	+49	$647	$12,134,417	7
Mar 13–15	45	$59,483	-20.7%	98	-18	$607	$12,234,890	8
Mar 20–22	46	$53,609	-9.9%	81	-17	$662	$12,329,325	9
Mar 27–29	56	$24,206	-54.8%	62	-19	$390	$12,377,284	10
Apr 3–5	57	$15,793	-34.8%	46	-16	$343	$12,406,093	11
Apr 10–12	66	$8,209	-48.0%	23	-23	$357	$12,427,046	12

 

[CJohn]

This was released here straight to VOD this week. They didn't even gave it a DVD release. Just VOD

[Kvikk Lunsj]

This movie was an epic bomb.

[AJG]

Has this movie come out on Home Video yet? It was released in January and its not even on pirate sites.

 

Was there seriously that little interest in this movie?

 

EDIT well its online, but my point still stands.

Edited August 21, 2015 by AJG

[BadAtGender]

Has this movie come out on Home Video yet? It was released in January and its not even on pirate sites.

 

Yes. I checked it out from the library last month.

[kowhite]

This movie was an epic bomb.

It is.

But it honestly did even worse than it could've, simply cause Disney said "fuck this movie" and totally sandbagged it. A lot of the reason it did THAT bad was cause Dosney dumped it. But...given it would've cost more for a normal run...I don't think that was a bad idea.

[TServo2049]

The movie was an obligation. It was "We have to release it but we don't give a shit how it does."

Warner Bros. gave more of a shit about Cats Don't Dance (which was also an obligation - it was inherited from Ted Turner) than Disney did about this.

Edited August 22, 2015 by TServo2049