Paws vs. Porcelain: Sgt. Stubby over Sherlock Gnomes (domestic totals)

[SLAM!]

Just thought I'd make a last minute club that predicts the animated film coming out this weekend, Sgt. Stubby, pulling a miraculous victory over Sherlock Gnomes at the domestic box office.

 

Pros

- Reviews, at a 80% RT (as of 4/11/18) from 5 critics (4 of which are top critics), are good.

- With the exception of Duck Duck Goose, a film with low buzz and an inevitably small amount of theaters, Sgt. Stubby will be the only traditionally-3D-animated feature to receive a wide release until The Incredibles 2.

- This is an inspiring true story set during World War I; there are certainly parents and grandparents who would want to take their children to see a film such as this.

- I know for a fact that some audience members found the trailer to be cute; when I saw I Can Only Imagine, the trailer was shown, and I heard a young girl in the back say '"awww'" very loudly. This audience engagement never happened with recent animated flops that the film is being prematurely compared to, such as Ratchet & Clank.

 

Cons

- There's no denying it: this film has low buzz; either that, or their is nothing that would prove otherwise. The film may have played in front of family-friendly films, and the commercials might be shown on the kids TV channels, but because I'm not the demographic they're aiming for, I haven't seen any evidence of a legitimate marketing push.

- Isle of Dogs, another animated film that deals with a story pertaining dogs, is releasing wide this week. There may very well be a section of the potential Sgt. Stubby audience that chooses to think of the relatively high-buzz Isle of Dogs as something the family might be able to enjoy.

- Society as a whole is becoming more cynical... can a story such as this still appeal to audiences? I'd like to the think so, especially after the sleeper success of I Can Only Imagine, which undoubtedly was able to advertise Sgt. Stubby to the demographic that would realistically be one of the most likely to embrace it.

 

So can Sgt. Stubby pull a surprise victory over Sherlock Gnomes and validate the efforts of new distributor and production company Fun Academy? I think there's a chance.

 

 

The Sergeants (IN)

slambros

 

The Gnomes (OUT)

WrathOfHan

Edited April 11, 2018 by slambros

[EmpireCity]

Fuck no.  

[SLAM!]

11 hours ago, EmpireCity said:

Fuck no.  

 

I think I might be the only one who sees potential in this film...

[WrathOfHan]

Out. Sgt. Stubby will be lucky to make total what Gnomes did in its first two days  

[SLAM!]

Reviews are in: the current RT is 80% from five critics.

 

This tale of canine courage is just appealing enough that many civilians with a soft spot for a stray will not hesitate to enlist.

April 11, 2018 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…

Pat Padua

Washington Post

 Top Critic

 

The well-assembled period piece could...appeal to children old enough to grasp its themes, while serving as a valuable educational tool to teach them about a war that ended nearly a century ago.

April 11, 2018 | Full Review…

Jordan Mintzer

Hollywood Reporter

 Top Critic

 

An education-focused and age-appropriate true story of the official mascot of the 102nd infantry regiment, who participated in seventeen battles on the Western Front during World War I, returning home as a hero.

April 10, 2018 | Full Review…

Chris Packham

Village Voice

 Top Critic

 

Sgt. Stubby is an odd lesson in how some stories, even stories about world-changing conflicts, are just formless anecdotes stitched together by labored narration.

April 10, 2018 | Rating: C- | Full Review…

Jesse Hassenger

AV Club

 Top Critic

 

In this centenary year of the end of World War I, this story of a real-life dog who served in the trenches is a gentle, engaging way to introduce kids to an essential piece of history.

April 9, 2018 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review…

MaryAnn Johanson

Flick Filosopher

[MrGamer]

[aabattery]

I guess Stubby is the real underdog here.

[aabattery]

Quote

There is also Fun Academy Motion Pictures’ animated film Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero which is scheduled to go wide and which tracking has a $2M start. The Richard Lanni-directed pic follows a stray dog who is adopted by a solider during WWI. Helena Bonham Carter, Logan Lerman and Gerard Depardieu lent their voices.

 

Woof.

[Porthos]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Sgt. Stubby is barely getting a wide release.  Set to open at 1,685 theaters this weekend.

[Sal]

Despite the fact that it has such a low budget, Sgt Stubby isn't going to make anything.  If the studio really wanted to make money, they would have used a real dog and saved themselves about 40 grand of the cost.

[SLAM!]

SGT. STUBBY: AN AMERICAN HERO Fun Academy 1,685

$350,000 -- / $208 $350,000 / 1

 

*bangs head against table*

 

Edit: to anyone who might be worried, I'm not actually banging my head against the table; that's just a joke. I just think that the gross is extremely sad, especially for a film with a 90% RT.

Edited April 14, 2018 by slambros

[Sal]

On 4/14/2018 at 12:24 PM, slambros said:

SGT. STUBBY: AN AMERICAN HERO Fun Academy 1,685

$350,000 -- / $208 $350,000 / 1

 

*bangs head against table*

 

Edit: to anyone who might be worried, I'm not actually banging my head against the table; that's just a joke. I just think that the gross is extremely sad, especially for a film with a 90% RT.

 

A 90% RT is not that impressive when so few critics even bothered to review it.  The only people who reviewed it were probably already interested enough in either the story or the fact that it's a movie in this particular vein that they were likely to give a favourable review anyway.  I'm still amazed this movie was released in theaters at all, especially given that the studio has produced virtually nothing before.

 

I do still stand behind my statement that there's not a lot in this movie they couldn't have done far cheaper with a real dog though.  Even horrible dog movies tend to make money as long as they don't cost a ton.  Beverly Hills Chihuahua grossed 94 million on a 20 million budget and that movie's budget was insanely high for an animal film.  It also was very firmly into rotten territory on RT.  A better comparison might be Air Bud.  It made only 27m, but its budget was 3m.

 

A live action Sergeant Stubby could have had a modest budget of between 5-10 m and probably made back its production and a little bit more.  With a 25m budget, I'm not sure it'll even recover what it cost to make.

 

Also on a side note, it looks well reviewed but its average rating is only a 6.6 on RT and a 56% on Metacritic.  I think this is kind of a case of a studio that didn't make the wisest choices.  They shot themselves in the foot by not having Stubby talk, because talking animals appeal more to kids.  I personally am not fond of historical event based movies using talking animals, but it makes for much better funny trailer material for the kiddos than a more straightfoward war-movie type look...

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Sal

[norbar]

On 4/14/2018 at 6:24 PM, slambros said:

SGT. STUBBY: AN AMERICAN HERO Fun Academy 1,685

$350,000 -- / $208 $350,000 / 1

 

*bangs head against table*

 

Edit: to anyone who might be worried, I'm not actually banging my head against the table; that's just a joke. I just think that the gross is extremely sad, especially for a film with a 90% RT.

90% on so few reviews is not that good. I've seen it and the story is good but it's clear the distribitors and the producers don't have the money. They should have marketed to middle american and christian whites but pushed the story a bit so the religious movies died down. It's a perfect movies for conservatives (not saying it's bad for liberals but it's inoffensive and it works well with traditional conservative values)

[The Panda]

These bars keep getting lower and lower