The Whitney Houston Movie: I Wanna Dance With Somebody | Tristar | December 23, 2022 | Kasi Lemmons directs

[Krissykins]

 

Oh I love the styling of this poster. 

[Chaz]

That's the cover of her 1988 "So Emotional" single.

[Krissykins]

This cute but also worrying that they’re going so big to make clear people can get tickets for Thursday, usually they just leave it. 
 

Hoping for an opening at least in the teens. Mid to high preferably. 

[wboxoffice]

2 hours ago, Krissykins said:

This cute but also worrying that they’re going so big to make clear people can get tickets for Thursday, usually they just leave it. 
 

Hoping for an opening at least in the teens. Mid to high preferably. 

 

Yeah I'm hoping at last 15+ million opening.  20+million in the 4-day.  With a debut like that I feel that it will have a solid total due to the holidays period!  It's hard to predict, personally I have seen tons of TV Spots for Puss in Boots 2 and Babylon, and nothing yet for I Wanna Dance.  Kind of disappointing.  However whatever happens for sure it doesn't need a load of box office to be profitable.  For example the latest word is that Babylon cost 110 million in production, and I don't know how much more with P&A, so at the end of the day I feel more pressure is on that film to open big.  

 

I'm glad that Sony are promoting Thursday too because that's an extra day and most theaters already are playing it, why not.  Maybe they are doing it because it's the week of Christmas and it could make a bigger impact compared to no need to do it in other regular Thursdays... Let's not forget that the initial release date was 21st december instead of the 23rd, and that's what most of the trailers still show, so this could be another reason.  The embargo on reviews will be lifted this Wednesday and I expect them to be super positive, I feel that their strategy is to create hype and positive word at the last minute making the movie trend on social media!

Edited December 19, 2022 by wboxoffice

[interiorgatordecorator]

I cant imagine this being that bad, why are they still holding onto reactions?

[wboxoffice]

3 minutes ago, interiorgatordecorator said:

I cant imagine this being that bad, why are they still holding onto reactions?

 

Early word is excellent, so I don't know what their strategy is, to make a bigger impact with positive reviews right before release?  Like how it happened with "Wonder Woman"?

[Krissykins]

Yeh the very late embargo (day before previews) is strange. 
 

Can’t find any budget for it. 

Budgets:

Bohemian Rhapsody $55m

Rocketman $40m

Elvis $85m

Walk The Line $28m

[wboxoffice]

Rolling Stone gave the movie a rave review but their review was immediately taken down. lol  I don't know what Sony's goal is with the embargo but so far everything seems positive, including from people on social media who saw early screenings.  I guess the embargo will be lifted tomorrow and we will find out what impact it does.

[filmlover]

Begins at 55% on RT with 11 reviews so far. 

[Hatebox]

Another crappy music biopic. What a shock.

[wboxoffice]

4 out of 6 positive so far from top critics, so I will wait to see how it all unfolds… 

[Krissykins]

Early consensus is a great lead performance but not much of a story. 
 

Tracking seems to point to sub $1m previews now. I’m guessing a sub $10m 3 day is on the cards unfortunately. 

Have my tickets booked for the 26th when it opens here. 

[DAJK]

Seeing this on Xmas day I think. Fully prepared to be the only guy in the theatre, but I will be bopping to Whitney just as hard as all the 50+ moms in there with me.

[wboxoffice]

"The Bodyguard" that all Whitney fans and audiences loved and was a gigantic success is at 38% rottentomatoes...

The documentary "Whitney" that many of us complained about and under performed at the box office is at 88% rottentomatoes...

So whatever... lol

[movies!movies!]

On 12/19/2022 at 6:30 PM, Krissykins said:

Yeh the very late embargo (day before previews) is strange. 
 

Can’t find any budget for it. 

Budgets:

Bohemian Rhapsody $55m

Rocketman $40m

Elvis $85m

Walk The Line $28m

 According to Variety, the budget is $45 million

 

Quote

“I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” which sees Naomi Ackie embody the late pop icon Whitney Houston, is targeting older females, another demographic that’s been mostly reluctant to go to the movies. Reviews have been under embargo as of Tuesday afternoon, so it’s unclear how critical sentiment will impact turnout. It cost $45 million to produce. Recent musical biopics, like “Elvis,” “Rocketman” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” have resonated at the box office, though the Aretha Franklin story “Respect” struggled to connect in theaters in pandemic times.

 

Box Office: 'Avatar 2' to Dominate Over 'Babylon,' 'Puss in Boots 2' - Variety

Edited December 21, 2022 by movies!movies!

[Krissykins]

46 minutes ago, movies!movies! said:

 According to Variety, the budget is $45 million

 

 

Box Office: 'Avatar 2' to Dominate Over 'Babylon,' 'Puss in Boots 2' - Variety

Thanks for that! 
 

So they kept it reasonable. Hopefully it can go over $100m worldwide at least, to save face. 
 

Down to 40% on RT now. 

Edited December 21, 2022 by Krissykins

[Verrows]

58 minutes ago, movies!movies! said:

 According to Variety, the budget is $45 million

 

 

Box Office: 'Avatar 2' to Dominate Over 'Babylon,' 'Puss in Boots 2' - Variety

That shouldn't be a problem at all. If it is, that says more about the movie than the budget.

[Krissykins]

Critics up to 46% and the very early RT audience score is 94%. 

[wboxoffice]

28 minutes ago, Krissykins said:

Critics up to 46% and the very early RT audience score is 94%. 

 

That's great news as it looks as if word of mouth will be good...

[wboxoffice]

Does anyone know what they mean by the part that I highlighted in red (from Deadline)?

 

I Wanna Dance With Somebody from Tri-Star/Compelling Pictures/Black Label is looking at $2.2M today (including last night’s previews), $6.3M for the weekend and $9M over 4 days at 3,625 theaters. Sony is getting a distribution free for handling with financiers recouping the P&A spend. Rotten Tomatoes critics don’t like it at 46%, but audiences love it at 94%.