Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom | December 22, 2023 | David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (co-writer of first film) returns

[HummingLemon496]

 

[dudalb]

It ended up making 450 Million on a 200 Milllion dollar budget. Which meand it probably barelty broke even or, best case scenario, made a minor profit.

Studios do not spend 200 Million to just break even or make a minor profit.

[dallas]

Aquaman 2 was the biggest movie debut on Max since I believe Fantastic Beasts 3. It was higher than even Barbie. Crazy stuff. 

[Arlborn]

1 hour ago, dudalb said:

It ended up making 450 Million on a 200 Milllion dollar budget. Which meand it probably barelty broke even or, best case scenario, made a minor profit.

Studios do not spend 200 Million to just break even or make a minor profit.

Expectations etc etc rehash of the last few pages etc etc

 

Ask 3 years ago if this making 435M would please them and WB executives would be really disappointed with it.

 

Ask these same executives 6 months ago and they'd probably be quite pleased with this figure all things considered. it is what it is.

10 minutes ago, dallas said:

Aquaman 2 was the biggest movie debut on Max since I believe Fantastic Beasts 3. It was higher than even Barbie. Crazy stuff. 

It actually feels like this was always going to be big on streaming. It's the type of big silly stuff that some people would decide to skip on theaters but catch on streaming I guess.

[HummingLemon496]

57 minutes ago, dallas said:

Aquaman 2 was the biggest movie debut on Max since I believe Fantastic Beasts 3. It was higher than even Barbie. Crazy stuff. 

Wait that means Fantastic Beasts 3 debuted higher than Barbie? 

[HummingLemon496]

47 minutes ago, Arlborn said:

Expectations etc etc rehash of the last few pages etc etc

 

Ask 3 years ago if this making 435M would please them and WB executives would be really disappointed with it.

 

Ask these same executives 6 months ago and they'd probably be quite pleased with this figure all things considered. it is what it is.

It actually feels like this was always going to be big on streaming. It's the type of big silly stuff that some people would decide to skip on theaters but catch on streaming I guess.

Agreed. Definitely can be viewed as "glass half full" or "glass half empty." 

[dudalb]

42 minutes ago, HummingLemon496 said:

Agreed. Definitely can be viewed as "glass half full" or "glass half empty." 

I guess WB is happy in a way they got their money back on it; but disspaonted it was not the huge cash cow they signed on for when they greenlit it.

You do not spend 200 Million\in expectaion of  just breakin g even or make a small profit, believe me.

I think both Marvel and DC got burned by the collapse of GA interest in comic book films. Yes, a few of the huge charecters like Spidey and Batman can still bring in the big bucks, but everything else is very,very, iffy.

Of course that is the problem with making films as far as the business end goes,...the public's taste might change on you. Good example if how back in the 1960's, after "Mary Poppins, Sound of Music and My Fair Lady were all huge, massive hits, every studio spent millions of dollars making big budget musicals, only to be hit by a sudden change in public taste in the late 60's, and almost all of the bib budget musicals bombed badly.

[efialtes76]

https://twitter.com/THR/status/1773438876360806864

[ZeroHour]

If you follow streaming numbers for movies long enough you see a particular pattern. Longer theatrical and PVOD windows appear to have a negative impact on SVOD numbers. Barbie took a long time to come to Max. They prioritized longer theatrical and PVOD windows for that movie which likely ate into SVOD numbers. Aquaman 2 came to Max quicker so it likely had less demand burned off by the theatrical and PVOD releases compared to Barbie.

[PlatnumRoyce]

2 hours ago, ZeroHour said:

If you follow streaming numbers for movies long enough you see a particular pattern. Longer theatrical and PVOD windows appear to have a negative impact on SVOD numbers. Barbie took a long time to come to Max. They prioritized longer theatrical and PVOD windows for that movie which likely ate into SVOD numbers. Aquaman 2 came to Max quicker so it likely had less demand burned off by the theatrical and PVOD releases compared to Barbie.

That big "Comcast loves PVOD" piece in the NYT from mid-2023 included an explicit acknowledgement of a PVOD/SVOD value tradeoff (while arguing PVOD doesn't steal from other revenue streams)