Star Trek Beyond and Ghostbusters box office: What Went Wrong

[ProtoMan]

38 minutes ago, junkshop36 said:

STBs marketing makes no sence to me. 

 

How do you not play up the 50th anniversary? 

 

And somebody had to realize that using Sabatoge was a really bad idea for that first teaser lol

 

I'm not a huge Trekkie or anything like that but did enjoy ST '09 and ST:ID.

 

When STB teaser had Sabotage in it, I was immediately turned off.  It just came off as desperate. After that, I had no real desire to watch the movie. 

 

I'll catch it on Blu-ray in a few months.

 

Edited August 8, 2016 by ProtoMan

[Thegun]

ST had a bad release date.  They are famous for being front loaded, being in between JB, GB, and SS was a killer.  Ghostbusters same thing thing. Though it did better than I thought, both are disappointing OS however.  ST should honestly be clearing 300.

[YM!]

Marketing killed both of them, but the controversy made it worse for the Ghostbusters. Also, I think if STB opened in either mid May, it may have grossed some more and if Ghostbusters had a smaller budget, along with a October release date could have been BIG.

[grim22]

4 minutes ago, YourMother said:

Marketing killed both of them, but the controversy made it worse for the Ghostbusters. Also, I think if STB opened in either mid May, it may have grossed some more and if Ghostbusters had a smaller budget, along with a October release date could have been BIG.

 

I agree about release dates. I always felt (since the time Beyond was announced), that they should have gone for a September release date. The 50th anniversary is September 8th, perfect release date for the movie as well. However, Paramount just ignored the anniversary, so that point is moot.

 

We should have known that neither movie was vacating summer though, Ghostbusters is Sony's biggest and most high profile release this year, and the same with Trek and Paramount. They want their big movies to release in Summer.

[wildphantom]

Agree with what some have said here. Too many movies appealing to the same audience just cannibalising each other. 

That's certainly the case for what happened to STB imo. 

 

This summer has had at least one mega budget blockbuster wannabe opening every weekend. It's too much. We all know it is. 

 

Star Trek, Bourne, Suicide Squad - one after the other. After predominantly the same core audience.  

Imagine what would have happened if Zootopia, Dory and Pets all came out in the same way. 

 

This has been perhaps the definitive summer for proving what we've all speculated for the past few years. There's just too many event movies packed into the summer. 

 

Next summer looks just as jammed with them. Maybe the year after we'll start to see some dialling back. It's too late to halt what's planned for next year. 

You can be sure the studios will be very concerned with what's happened these past couple of months. The holds have been largely terrible. 

[Ray G]

1 hour ago, Krissykins said:

With all the hate Ghostbusters was getting (from people who hadn't seen the film in cinemas), it's doing well. 

 

This could easily have performed like Fantastic Four in the US. 

 

I'm so glad it went over $100m, despite everything it was up against. 

 

Are you familiar with the term "black swan"? A unique, rare event that is impossible to predict. That's what Fan4stick was. Word of mouth was so bad that people were returning their tickets for Friday after hearing Thursday reports.

 

There was NO way Ghostbusters was ever doing those numbers, barring apocalyptic critical response.

 

Their biggest mistake was doubling down on making this a Paul Feig movie as opposed to a reboot/sequel to a beloved franchise. Thus, it performed like a Paul Feig movie, instead of the blockbuster it needed to be given the budget.

[MrPink]

Fuck everyone who allowed STB to fail! ALL OF YOU 

[ddddeeee]

3 minutes ago, MrPink said:

Fuck everyone who allowed STB to fail! ALL OF YOU 

[Jessie]

Neither film went wrong, they are performing as expected. Star trek hit it's peak with the first film where the stories stakes were at its highest and had a lot of curiosity surrounded it amongst casual movie goers. STID despite being good couldn't even out open it. 

 

Now we have this movie which is a sign of this franchise slowly morphing it's way back more aching to the older series so it's no wonder it's still declining. The budget even looked lower and it lost abrams.

 

Ghostbusters actually did alright all things considered, it looked fucking horrendous.

[MrPink]

4 minutes ago, ddddeeee said:

 

This is more or less my resting bitch face

[junkshop36]

39 minutes ago, MrPink said:

Fuck everyone who allowed STB to fail! ALL OF YOU 

 

"I have failed you Mr.Pink. I have failed you."

 

 

 

[MrPink]

4 minutes ago, junkshop36 said:

 

"I have failed you Mr.Pink. I have failed you."

 

 

 

 

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BOXOFFICETHEORY WAS EVIL

[filmlover]

Star Trek is looking at a really miserable overseas gross it must be said. Goes to show that foreigners won't take to your big sci-fi movie if the appeal isn't there (or if the brand name is probably primarily associated with "nerds" no matter where you are in the world).

[Frozen]

The problem with ghostbusters was the budget was too high. It sat in development too long. The budget should have more like 70-80 million. 

 

It it also faced a lot of sexism and nastiness from creepy fanboys. I know everyone likes to pretend that was all in Sony's head and their responses were just playing it up, but when your movie trailer get over a million dislikes you have no choice to respond to this attempting to sabotage it. 

 

Star Trek simply offered nothing new. I know the release date and marketing were bad, but that doesn't explain the drops. I think they need to stop recycling the same storyline of Kirk struggles to be captain, Spock struggles with his feelings, the crew is captured or crashes somewhere. They need something new and exciting. 

[baumer]

5 hours ago, GiantCALBears said:

WWW should be for genuine flops not movies that did what was expected lol. Ghostbusters had unprecedented negative hype coming in. Studio will be fine with the return, not like it bombed.

 

How is 250 WW (if it hits that) anything but horrible? They spent about 250 or more making it. Strange film for u to defend.

[filmlover]

We'll have to see how Ghostbusters does on the home market and see if it finds a new audience away from the ugliness that permeated the pre-release.

[somebody85]

I still remember the WWW Into Darkness thread....

[somebody85]

5 hours ago, nilephelan said:

The first trailer sold it as a way too goofy Fast and Furious in space with the motorcycle and editing.  

One thing both of these movies have in common: A character riding a motorcycle in the marketing

Note to Hollywood, ban all appearances of motorcycles in upcoming trailers now!

 

[AniNate]

People who saw the third movie may have enjoyed it more than ID, but the franchise is pretty much falling back into its niche. What Trekkies think is "real" Star Trek just isn't as appealing to everyone else

[GiantCALBears]

21 minutes ago, Baumer said:

 

How is 250 WW (if it hits that) anything but horrible? They spent about 250 or more making it. Strange film for u to defend.

 

The reasons for WWW for Ghostbusters have been repeated throughout the entire project, agree or not?

Edited August 9, 2016 by GiantCALBears