Weekend Thread - Mortal Kombat 22.5, Demon Slayer 19.5

[Eric Atreides]

Guys, CJohn's been doing these dumb bits for how many years now? Just ignore him and he'll realize nobody finds his schtick is funny anymore

[El Squibbonator]

2 hours ago, frog said:

Highest-grossing animated films^[3]

Rank	Peak	Title	Worldwide gross	Year	Reference(s)
1	1	The Lion King (2019 remake)[nb 2]	$1,657,713,459	2019	[# 1][6][7]
2	2	Frozen II	$1,450,026,933	2019	[# 2][# 3]
3[nb 3]	1	Frozen	$1,290,000,000	2013	[# 4]
4	2	Incredibles 2	$1,242,805,359	2018	[# 5]
5	2	Minions	$1,159,398,397	2015	[# 6]
6	5	Toy Story 4	$1,073,394,593	2019	[# 7]
7	1	Toy Story 3	$1,066,969,703	2010	[# 8][# 9]
8	4	Despicable Me 3	$1,034,799,409	2017	[# 10]
9	4	Finding Dory	$1,028,570,889	2016	[# 11]
10	4	Zootopia	$1,023,784,195	2016	[# 12]
11	2[nb 4]	Despicable Me 2	$970,766,005	2013	[# 13][# 14]
12	1	The Lion King (1994 original)	$968,483,777	1994	[# 15][# 16]
13	1	Finding Nemo	$940,350,086	2003	[# 17][# 18]
14	1	Shrek 2	$919,838,758	2004	[# 19][# 20]
15	2	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	$886,686,817	2009	[# 21][# 22]
16	6	Ice Age: Continental Drift	$877,244,782	2012	[# 23][# 24]
17	12	The Secret Life of Pets	$875,457,937	2016	[# 25]
18	10	Inside Out	$857,611,174	2015	[# 26]
19	3	Shrek the Third	$813,367,380	2007	[# 27][# 28]
20	16	Coco	$807,817,888	2017	[# 29]
21	7	Shrek Forever After	$752,600,867	2010	[# 30][# 31]
22	9	Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted	$746,921,274	2012	[# 32][# 33]
23	11	Monsters University	$743,559,607	2013	[# 34][# 35]
24	6	Up	$735,099,082	2009	[# 36][# 37]
25	24	Ne Zha	$742,514,069	2019	[a][10]
26	9	Kung Fu Panda 2	$665,692,281	2011	[# 38][# 39]
27	4	Ice Age: The Meltdown	$660,998,756	2006	[# 40][# 41]
28	16	Big Hero 6	$657,827,828	2014	[# 42][# 43]
29	22	Moana	$643,000,000	2016	[# 44]
30	23	Sing	$634,151,679	2016	[# 45]
31	6	Kung Fu Panda	$631,744,560	2008	[# 46][# 47]
32	4	The Incredibles	$631,442,092	2004	[# 48][# 49]
33	7	Ratatouille	$623,726,085	2007	[# 50][# 51]
34	19	How to Train Your Dragon 2	$621,537,519	2014	[# 52][# 53]
35	9	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	$603,900,354	2008	[# 54][# 55]
36	14	Tangled	$592,461,732	2010	[# 56][# 57]
37	18	The Croods	$587,204,668	2013	[# 58][# 59]
38	2	Monsters, Inc.	$577,000,000	2001	[# 60][# 61]
39	16	Cars 2	$559,852,396	2011	[# 62][# 63]
40	17	Puss in Boots	$554,987,477	2011	[# 64][# 65]
41	14	Despicable Me	$543,113,985	2010	[# 66][# 57]
42	5	Madagascar	$542,063,846	2005	[# 67][# 49]
43	22	Brave	$538,983,207	2012	[# 68][# 69]
44	8	The Simpsons Movie	$536,414,270	2007	[# 70][# 71]
45	41	Ralph Breaks the Internet	$529,323,962	2018	[# 72]
46	41	Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation	$528,583,774	2018	[# 73]
47	38	The Boss Baby	$527,965,936	2017	[# 74]
48	44	How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World	$521,799,505	2019	[# 75]
49	12	WALL-E	$521,300,000	2008	[# 76][# 77]
50	35	Kung Fu Panda 3	$521,170,825	2016	[# 78]

 

 

 

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train

$457,000,000

2020

 

 

 

That doesn't really tell the complete story. If you just look at the top 50, devoid of context, you'll see that some movies that were very successful in their own time aren't on the list at all.  In fact, the only movie on the list from before 2000 is the original The Lion King. More to the point, if we restrict ourselves to only traditional animation, then Demon Slayer is the fourth-highest-grossing traditionally animated movie of all time. 

 

As for Demon Slayer itself, I can't really overstate how remarkable its performance is. The only foreign animated movie to have a higher US opening weekend is the first Pokemon movie-- and that was a highly marketable kids' movie that was distributed by a major studio. Demon Slayer is aimed at adults, and distributed by a company that isn't one of the major studios, yet over $19 million worth of Americans watched it in theaters. That means it has the highest US opening weekend of any animated movie this year. Previously, theatrical releases of anime in the united states have been of child-friendly works (i.e. Pokemon) or have been very limited releases. 

 

And that brings me back to my original question. Now that Demon Slayer has proven that the market for such movies does, in fact, exist, will American animators step up to the task of making them? 

[Legion Again]

31 minutes ago, El Squibbonator said:

if we restrict ourselves to only traditional animation

 

The domestic OW of Demon Slayer is hugely impressive for what it is, but as frog correctly points out it’s not even close to the success of G and PG rated animation. There isn’t much being proved here except the already well-learned (to the chagrin of many) lesson — franchise IP is king.

 

So, no, DS’s DOM performance hasn’t proved that a lucrative market for R action animation exists and I don’t think we’ll see an appreciable increase in them from Hollywood.    
 

DS’s Japan performance does guarantee a large new wave of canon  (rather than non canon side story) anime movies, however. Some will likely do well, Broly/MHA level numbers. There’s no second Demon slayer though, it’s franchise strength is a league of its own.

Edited April 26, 2021 by WandaLegion

[El Squibbonator]

If you don't mind me asking this question here (if you want me to make a separate thread for it, I'll gladly do so), what might it take to generate an interest in such movies from Hollywood? 

[Reddroast]

1 hour ago, El Squibbonator said:

That doesn't really tell the complete story. If you just look at the top 50, devoid of context, you'll see that some movies that were very successful in their own time aren't on the list at all.  In fact, the only movie on the list from before 2000 is the original The Lion King. More to the point, if we restrict ourselves to only traditional animation, then Demon Slayer is the fourth-highest-grossing traditionally animated movie of all time. 

 

As for Demon Slayer itself, I can't really overstate how remarkable its performance is. The only foreign animated movie to have a higher US opening weekend is the first Pokemon movie-- and that was a highly marketable kids' movie that was distributed by a major studio. Demon Slayer is aimed at adults, and distributed by a company that isn't one of the major studios, yet over $19 million worth of Americans watched it in theaters. That means it has the highest US opening weekend of any animated movie this year. Previously, theatrical releases of anime in the united states have been of child-friendly works (i.e. Pokemon) or have been very limited releases. 

 

And that brings me back to my original question. Now that Demon Slayer has proven that the market for such movies does, in fact, exist, will American animators step up to the task of making them? 

No. The thing is... in Japan the series is aimed at middle schoolers and teenagers. I think this will lead to 2 things: the first is more live action anime adaptions and more anime inspired animated films and series

[CJohn]

4 hours ago, Eric Bombay said:

Guys, CJohn's been doing these dumb bits for how many years now? Just ignore him and he'll realize nobody finds his schtick is funny anymore

I am being quite serious when it comes to GvK because I said a few times the OW wasn't big enough for it to reach 100M and people were dead certain it was gonna beat KOTM.

[filmlover]

Almost half of Demon Slayer's (impressive) first weekend came from its opening day, so clearly it was a very fan-driven affair with little outside appeal. A drop below 60% next weekend would be impressive. Mortal Kombat is likely headed for a similar drop too.

[charlie Jatinder]

Unlike GVK this weekend properties were very fan loaded, especially DS. DS in normalcy would have done this much only. It didn't rely much on general audience.

 

GvK on other hand could have used that normalcy general audience.

 

DS opening $21M means nothing in large scheme of things. Its just one big niche film that opened to its optimum of 1.75M people.

[Borobudur]

just realised unholy have been holding good especially for a horror film, at this rate unholy can challenge 20m?

[Borobudur]

2 hours ago, filmlover said:

Almost half of Demon Slayer's (impressive) first weekend came from its opening day, so clearly it was a very fan-driven affair with little outside appeal. A drop below 60% next weekend would be impressive. Mortal Kombat is likely headed for a similar drop too.

That is because the 3.8m skewed the result. if you compare it to MK, DS actually grew from true Friday but have much softer drop than MK on sunday. DS is still possible to reach 45m even it start to free-falling now, meaning DS isn't really that far off from T&J and Raya.

[Mango]

Demon Slayer's opening is huge. The film was released in both a dubbed English format and subbed; I'm not sure what the breakdown was but most showtimes I've pulled up seem to be for the subbed version. Outside of Pokemon I'm pretty confident is this the highest opening for an anime film even adjusted. Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie in 2004, at the peak of the series' popularity, didn't even make that much as a lifetime gross. Comparing this to Pokemon: The First Movie isn't even an apt comparison because that was a multimedia cultural phenomenon experiencing huge surges of interest and curiosity.  Also, R-rating.

 

The two films combined opened to $40 million, and Mortal Kombat is a lot more mainstream than Demon Slayer but still not exactly a top tier earner. If Disney hadn't continued to fuck exhibitors in the ass caved, Black Widow probably would have done at least $50 million opening. 

[frog]

Why they do that!!!!????

[marveldcfox]

1 hour ago, frog said:

Why they do that!!!!????

I smell a conspiracy.

[frog]

29 minutes ago, marveldcfox said:

I smell a conspiracy.

Released at midnight, no promotion, PS4 only. Someone at Sony is getting fired😂

[Borobudur]

2 hours ago, frog said:

Why they do that!!!!????

This probably won't hurt much, DS has been out since last Oct and now half a year gone, DS still make 21m opening

[frog]

6 minutes ago, Borobudur said:

This probably won't hurt much, DS has been out since last Oct and now half a year gone, DS still make 21m opening

But no hd source was leaked until now

[frog]

9 minutes ago, Borobudur said:

This probably won't hurt much, DS has been out since last Oct and now half a year gone, DS still make 21m opening

Now people are more willing to stay at home and watch on TV, it's much safer than going to a crowed closed space.

[frog]

 

[Borobudur]

2 hours ago, frog said:

 

So back to business as usual

[frog]

2 minutes ago, Borobudur said:

So back to business as usual

Well, I believe it's a human mistake, it won't do much to North America's BO, but as soon as the hd version can be found in any illegal site, it's going to be a box office disaster for countries lack of copyright protection.