Weekend Thread (12/10-12) | WSS 800K Previews

[Pinacolada]

9 hours ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

 

People complained like this before the pandemic, though, they acted like comic book movies and animation were literally the only things getting into 3,000 theaters. The New York Times was even trying it...

 

 

Which didn't tell the whole story...

 

 

Box office patterns were changing but 2019 had Ford v Ferrari, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, 1917, Little Women making healthy sums (and also getting into Best Picture, but people still complained nothing popular get nominated). I saw Parasite in a multiplex that was playing Frozen 2 on 5-6 screens and counted all the little Elsa and Anna and Olaf costumes on the way. Different types of movies could coexist in theaters.

 

Too many people seem to feel that if comic book movies/Pixar/etc.  disappeared from theaters, then everything would be like it was when Kramer vs Kramer could win the year (of course, when American Sniper was huge, Film Twitter wasn't really exactly thrilled).

 

It's obvious now that if it weren't for tentpoles and franchises, the domestic movie theaters would likely be out of business. The domestic market can clearly support movies over the century mark at this point, theaters haven't been flagged as a superspreader source at all, but a third to half the audience is just not interested in coming back. Of course the studios are going to read into the numbers and will adjust what they release into theaters as a result.

 

 

 

 

I 100% agree

[lorddemaxus]

3 hours ago, Cap said:

I mean name a better romcom in the last like 10 years than Ted Lasso’s episode “Rainbow”?

Licorice Pizza

 

 

[BestPicturePlutoNash]

4 hours ago, Cap said:

I mean name a better romcom in the last like 10 years than Ted Lasso’s episode “Rainbow”?

Worst Person in the World. Happiest Season. Phantom Thread. Little Women. Mamma Mia 2. Crazy Rich Asians. Set It Up. Love Simon. The Big Sick. Trainwreck. Fault In Our Stars. Obvious Child. Laggies. Silver Linings Playbook. Midnight in Paris. Crazy Stupid Love

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

4 hours ago, Cap said:

Anyway,
 

I don’t know if I want to open this can of worms, but I just finished the Succession season finale, and I am so hype right now. 
 

Another thought I had about the market drying up for adult drama/adult film, is that we’re really living in the golden age of prestige television. It’s not just HBO anymore. And if you look back at a lot of the cultural milestones of the past decade or so most of them feel like TV series. Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, etc. I mean name a better romcom in the last like 10 years than Ted Lasso’s episode “Rainbow”?

 

TV or streaming isn’t the second rate kid to film anymore. And so I think a lot of content that might’ve been a movie, has gotten re-purposed into television shows because it might just fit the format better.  
 

THAT SAID OMG SUCCESSION FINALE!!!

 

DEAD. WE DEAD. 

Definitely, add in that the production values are great now and that Americans are more willing to give content not in English a try, and it seems obvious that people are getting their grown-up drama fix from television. Even a shortened series has more minutes than the longest movie, and you don't have to leave home to see it.

 

With the way recognizable names can still move the needle on streaming, the adult drama audience overwhelmingly shunning theatrical and streaming metrics rewarding minutes watched...a lot of projects that would’ve been movies in past decades are going to be converted into limited series. It won't be the best creative decision for all of them by any stretch but it's show business, and studios are getting a loud and clear message about what audiences will and won't bother to see, and when...

 

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by BoxOfficeFangrl

[filmscholar]

https://screenrant.com/george-lucas-steven-spielberg-predicted-wb-streaming-theatrical/

(I guess Steven and George's prediction is coming to life)

 

The original "WSS" adjust to over 400 Million today.  The Soundtrack still holds the record for most weeks at #1 on the Charts (53 Weeks) which was a calendar year.   Only "Thriller" by Michael Jackson is close to it.   Of course it won 10 Oscars.    So yes it's a popular musical.   But maybe 60 years is a little long for a remake.   Steven and George both said the writing was on the wall for anything that wasn't a "Blockbuster" per say years ago. Because of the Pandemic, Some Older audiences are still laying low from going to the Theater.   I'm torn about this year results overall.   Yes we had way more success than 2020.  More people went to the Theater this year than last year for sure. 

 

The problem is it's mostly been comic book/superhero films (F9 and Bond were exceptions though Action heavy).  Sure there were a few others that did well like "Free Guy" and "QP II" but overall it's a comic superhero world.   A Healthy box office is one where multiple genres can basically breakout.    What we are seeing is a Top Heavy box office where Superhero Blockbusters suck all the oxygen only leaving some air for everything else.   Even Animated films aren't really breaking out because Parents/families aren't going as much as before.  We still have a ways to go before we can say the box office is truly back.    Even with Spidey opening huge, it doesn't change the dynamics because that's still a superhero film.  As Legendary as "WSS" is, it was a hard sell at the moment and the Pandemic didn't help matters.    

Edited December 13, 2021 by filmscholar

[anti-Pedantic]

https://www.indiewire.com/2021/12/paul-thomas-anderson-superhero-movies-have-not-ruined-cinema-1234685162/

 

 “Obviously it’s gotten even more complicated with streaming and the sort of overabundance of superhero movies. Most of the stuff I don’t take too seriously. I mean, it seems that there is a bit of a preoccupation with superhero films. I like them. It seems to be something that’s popular these days to sort of wonder if they’ve ruined movies and all this kind of stuff. I just don’t feel that way.”

 

Anderson noted that the pandemic is a sure contributor to the decline of box office, but noted that a certain Marvel entry opening on December 17 is reason for hope. “I mean, look, we’re all nervous about people getting back to the theater, but you know what’s going to get them back in movie theaters? ‘Spider-Man.’ So let’s be happy about that.”

 

“There’s a lot of money out there right now for people to make movies. When I started making films, there was a lot of money out there for a window of time, and it was home-video money. If you could make a movie for, let’s say, a million and a half, two million dollars, keep it under three, and you had a couple of genre elements, there was the home-video component to making a film that needed to be fed. Which is essentially the same as streaming — call it home video, VHS, whatever you want to call it. It’s something that gets into your house and gives you entertainment, right? So the playing field hasn’t changed that drastically, you know? There’s some money out there,” he said.

 

But, he added, “Now it’s hard to find what you’re looking for. Because there’s so much stuff. I am one of those people who spends an hour looking at the menu and then I’m exhausted."

 

PTA’s “Licorice Pizza” is now in limited release before expanding nationwide on Christmas Day.

Edited December 13, 2021 by anti-Pedantic

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

3 hours ago, filmscholar said:

The problem is it's mostly been comic book/superhero films (F9 and Bond were exceptions though Action heavy).  Sure there were a few others that did well like "Free Guy" and "QP II" but overall it's a comic superhero world.   A Healthy box office is one where multiple genres can basically breakout.    What we are seeing is a Top Heavy box office where Superhero Blockbusters suck all the oxygen only leaving some air for everything else.   Even Animated films aren't really breaking out because Parents/families aren't going as much as before.  We still have a ways to go before we can say the box office is truly back.    Even with Spidey opening huge, it doesn't change the dynamics because that's still a superhero film.  As Legendary as "WSS" is, it was a hard sell at the moment and the Pandemic didn't help matters.    

The box office is top heavy, but not because superhero movies are crowding out other titles. Some locations have closed, others have reduced hours, but most weeks there are simply a lot more empty seats than before the pandemic. Social distancing is pretty easy to manage in theaters, most weeks.

 

People complain about certain movies having "no advertsing", but for the prestige titles that have bombed this year it's simply not true. Ads run during live events, online and the stars do morning show/late night promo, premieres, etc. The latest awards hopeful still ends up opening in the $4-8m range, maybe a little more if it's lucky, but nothing like before.

 

I saw In the Heights and West Side Story in theaters opening weekend. The issue isn't that they start out on tiny screens with limited capacity, and that's why the box office is so low. Vaccines for kids have been available for maybe six weeks total and already Encanto is the biggest animation since the pandemic; Sing 2 will probably do even better. Nothing like that's happened for the awards bait circuit-that audience has been vaccinated for months/nearly a year but they've largely written off the moviegoing habit. Maybe for now, maybe forever, but I can't see how superhero movies have much to do with it. 

[filmlover]

Worth mentioning the other day it was confirmed that Licorice Pizza will be opening in 800 or less theaters on Christmas Day as opposed to the original plan for 2,000. Probably a wise choice since not only is there a battle for screen space for the holidays but going from 4 theaters to 2,000 seems too much for a movie that will obviously play much better on the coasts (and doesn't carry blockbuster aspirations on some level ala West Side Story) to begin with.

[Legion Again]

Marry me to hybrid, deep water to pure streaming

[cannastop]

 

[Porthos]

Actuals:

 

← Previous Chart

Chart Index

		Movie	Distr	Gross	%LW	Thr	Thr Chng	Per Thr	Total Gross	W
1	N	West Side Story	20th Cent…	$10,574,618		2,820		$3,750	$10,574,618	1
2	(1)	Encanto	Walt Disney	$9,985,099	-24%	3,750	-230	$2,663	$71,905,154	3
3	(2)	Ghostbusters: Afterlife	Sony Pict…	$7,102,173	-31%	3,815	-244	$1,862	$112,006,454	4
4	(3)	House of Gucci	United Ar…	$4,112,028	-41%	3,407	-70	$1,207	$41,083,400	3
5	(5)	Eternals	Walt Disney	$3,149,849	-23%	3,030	-200	$1,040	$161,266,892	6
6	(6)	Resident Evil: Welcom…	Sony Pict…	$1,661,194	-38%	2,572	-231	$646	$15,863,138	3
7	(7)	Clifford the Big Red Dog	Paramount…	$1,302,231	-31%	2,840	-421	$459	$47,686,042	5
8	(4)	Christmas with the Ch…	Fathom Ev…	$1,240,000	-71%	1,450	-250	$855	$13,388,000	2
9	(8)	Dune	Warner Bros.	$870,093	-53%	948	-269	$918	$106,223,253	8
10	(-)	Venom: Let There be C…	Sony Pict…	$768,163	-23%	1,003	-231	$766	$211,971,131	11
11	(-)	No Time to Die	United Ar…	$579,672	-36%	777	-400	$746	$160,530,850	10
12	(-)	King Richard	Warner Bros.	$510,306	-58%	1,402	-1,252	$364	$14,426,682	4
-	N	National Champions	STX Enter…	$301,028		1,197		$251	$301,028	1
-	(-)	Belfast	Focus Fea…	$280,605	-47%	819	-436	$343	$6,494,980	5
-	(-)	The French Dispatch	Searchlig…	$247,142	-34%	310	-115	$797	$15,564,909	8
-	(-)	C’mon C’mon	A24	$177,322	-62%	569	+4	$312	$1,604,582	4
-	(-)	Licorice Pizza	MGM	$172,495	-29%	4	n/c	$43,124	$1,101,683	3
-	N	Red Rocket	A24	$96,593		6		$16,099	$96,593	1
-	(-)	Spencer	Neon	$71,245	-44%	228	-75	$312	$7,018,508	6
-	(-)	Benedetta	IFC Films	$51,608	-62%	123	-78	$420	$270,491	2
-	(-)	Ron’s Gone Wrong	20th Cent…	$42,935	-59%	210	-100	$204	$22,962,204	8
-	(-)	Tadap	20th Cent…	$29,159	-48%	50	-13	$583	$115,332	2
-	(-)	For the Love of Money	Freestyle…	$25,645	-60%	79	-167	$325	$465,975	3
-	(-)	Antlers	Searchlig…	$20,538	-53%	145	-35	$142	$10,612,386	7
-	(-)	Wolf	Focus Fea…	$15,160	-82%	206	-102	$74	$137,730	2
-	(-)	The Addams Family 2	United Ar…	$14,965	-43%	46	-29	$325	$56,486,856	11
-	N	France	Kino Lorber	$13,936		2		$6,968	$13,936	1
-	(-)	Julia	Sony Pict…	$9,655	-70%	45	-71	$215	$343,110	5
-	(-)	Flee	Neon	$6,306	-75%	4	n/c	$1,577	$38,106	2
-	(-)	Halloween Kills	Universal	$6,230	-47%	120	-30	$52	$91,999,455	9
-	(-)	Bad Luck Banging or L…	Magnolia …	$4,998	+3%	10	+3	$500	$41,185	4
-	N	Agnes	Magnet Re…	$1,433		5		$287	$1,433	1
-	(-)	India Sweets and Spices	Bleecker …	$1,115	-84%	5	-25	$223	$287,814	4
-	(-)	Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuc…	IFC Films	$402	-91%	4	-10	$101	$60,038	4
-	(-)	Writing With Fire	Music Box…	$249	-93%	2	-6	$125	$12,151	3
		35		$43,446,190