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

[Cmasterclay]

Just now, EmpireCity said:

 

What incredible nonsense.  Complete and total nonsense that will proven out hilariously wrong.  

Yes, I'm sure more snarky posts from EmpireCity will overwhelm the fears of public health experts and the awful situation our box office and economy faces. How many times have you said something was about to be a "huge hit" and told people to stop worrying and gotten proven wrong in the last three months again?

[filmlover]

2 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

Funny thing is, the big narrative before COVID was "star power is dead", and now based on House of Gucci's success it appears star power is going to be what saves mid-sized movies.

Starpower isn't dead, but it clearly only works when the movie is appealing. Right before COVID we had Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Ford v. Ferrari as big hits that earned rave reviews/Oscar buzz that were sold exclusively as star vehicles for their A-listers.

[Legion Again]

1 minute ago, 4815162342 said:

 

Matrix doesn't come out on the 17th.

 

 

And Berg unleashing his powers on a musical that's getting raves is far more a cinematic event than spider movie #15 that has messy marketing with kinda ugly visuals.

WSS+M4 combined total will be like NWH 2day. By all means, like what you like. But money talks as far what normal people consider a cinematic event and what they do not, and we are on box office theory rather than artistic quality theory or whatever.

[Eric Duncan]

Just now, Product Driven Legion said:

WSS+M4 combined total will be like NWH 2day. By all means, like what you like. But money talks as far what normal people consider a cinematic event and what they do not, and we are on box office theory rather than artistic quality theory or whatever.

Then maybe we should change the forum’s name to Artistic Quality Theory. Sounds way cooler to me

[EmpireCity]

17 minutes ago, Eric Feels Pretty said:

And honestly for what it’s worth, despite my big ol’ rant, I do think dramas, awards hopefuls, indies, and kids movies will still survive. The big difference is that they will probably be hybrid releases. See it in theaters or on PVOD the same day. There is a streaming market for these kinds of movies, and while this does have its own negative repercussions, at least these kinds of movies are getting made somehow

 

You're completely wrong on this, and hybrid releases are gone until at least 2023.  The industry is going to continue to recover in 2022 and beyond.  The hysteria is incredible here.  

[titanic2187]

1 hour ago, Product Driven Legion said:

I actually do think they’re fun 👀   
 

Anyway no need to meltdown about this adult singy movie with low numbers when we have a real cinematic event lined up in 7 days.   
 

Showerthought — NWH probably sold more $$ on Th than WSS, right?

It is funny to see people think that China theater can't survive with just one or two megahit but theater in USA can survive only with Marvel. 

 

Both Hi Mom and Changjin lake combined actually make more money in China than CM+EG+FFH  combined in USA and Hi Mom alone is bigger than domestic total box office in october.    

 

Diversity matters

[Cmasterclay]

3 minutes ago, Product Driven Legion said:

WSS+M4 combined total will be like NWH 2day. By all means, like what you like. But money talks as far what normal people consider a cinematic event and what they do not, and we are on box office theory rather than artistic quality theory or whatever.

Then we might as well stop thinking of movies as art and start thinking of them as pure product. Might as well blow up the Mono Lisa and replace it with a meme.

[Legion Again]

1 minute ago, Eric Feels Pretty said:

Then maybe we should change the forum’s name to Artistic Quality Theory. Sounds way cooler to me

It seems like a lot of people want to be posting on Artistic Quality Theory instead! I think there are actually a lot of places to do that, but it’s certainly not why I’m in this particular place.

[EmpireCity]

I'm also happy to report that people in the actual industry and studios don't hold this chicken little view that so many on here hold right now.  

 

If anything, they are positively encouraged by 2022 and beyond.  

 

Get vaccinated, get your booster and get back out into the real world again.  Unless you have some horrible comorbidities or circumstances, the world is a safe place to go as it was before.  Enjoy your lives again.  

[kingofcretins]

If this does become an ongoing trend where the only movies that gain any sort of traction in the theatres are Marvel movies, then it's a terrific sadness. It's also a really worrying precedent to set. All movies, regardless of how well they're doing, need that sense of competition. When you'e on top for so long, and nothing else touches you, you start to stagnate and get complacent.

 

It's all anecdotal of course, but I can personally feel how lazy Marvel has become of late. Compare any Phase 1 movie to any Phase 4 and it's night and day. They just churn these out, knowing the audience will be there regardless and it all feels like it's on autopilot. And that's sad to me, because I love the MCU stuff pre-Civil War. I wish I could feel that effort on screen today.

[titanic2187]

1 minute ago, Product Driven Legion said:

It seems like a lot of people want to be posting on Artistic Quality Theory instead! I think there are actually a lot of places to do that, but it’s certainly not why I’m in this particular place.

Welcome to theme park!

[Legion Again]

Just now, Cmasterclay said:

Then we might as well stop thinking of movies as art and start thinking of them as pure product. Might as well blow up the Mono Lisa and replace it with a meme.

Way ahead of you buddy. Vast vast majority of movies that are interesting to me as a vector of daily gross I will never see, and certainly not pay for a trip to see.

[grim22]

[AJG]

2 hours ago, Product Driven Legion said:

We’re gonna need more than 6 marvels per year to save this industry. Maybe 8.

I’ve said this for years; it’s time for studios to flat out lie

 

[Torontofan]

1 hour ago, Cmasterclay said:

You're probably correct on this, but cautious people will certainly go back to limiting their activities. In large part because infection numbers and vaccine immunity are very scary concepts, even though the data we currently have suggests that boosted people only get quite mild cases of Omicron, less than a normal cold.

People who are still cautious and such are people who were not going to bars or restaurants and movie cinemas anyways.  

 

That is why movies that appeal to younger people will do well as most young people are past covid. 

[EmpireCity]

1 hour ago, Cmasterclay said:

Yes, I'm sure more snarky posts from EmpireCity will overwhelm the fears of public health experts and the awful situation our box office and economy faces. How many times have you said something was about to be a "huge hit" and told people to stop worrying and gotten proven wrong in the last three months again?

 

I count zero times that has happened.  If anything, the movies I have said were going to be hits turned out to be.  

 

See as an example, Ghostbusters: Afterlife.  A movie that most thought was going to bomb, but there it is kicking along towards $200m domestic.  

[Porthos]

Man, I get being upset about this preview number.  But did folks really need to crash BOT into oblivion for an hour or so?

[Cmasterclay]

8 minutes ago, EmpireCity said:

 

I count zero times that has happened.  If anything, the movies I have said were going to be hits turned out to be.  

 

See as an example, Ghostbusters: Afterlife.  A movie that most thought was going to bomb, but there it is kicking along towards $200m domestic.  

On what planet is Ghostbusters: Afterlife headed to 200m domestic? It probably won't even top the 2016 edition!

[EmpireCity]

Just now, Cmasterclay said:

On what planet is Ghostbusters: Afterlife headed to 200m domestic? It probably won't even top the 2016 edition!

 

On what planet does it fit your criteria of what you said earlier.  The movie is a hit, exactly as I said it would be.  

 

You made the claim, so what other movies did I say that were going to be a hit that didn't?  

 

I said Shang-Chi would.  Free Guy.  Venom 2.  Bond.  Dune.  

 

Shall I go on?

[ThomasNicole]

1 hour ago, Cmasterclay said:

Yeah, I'm fairly sure an outstandingly reviewed Spielberg directed musical around Christmas time of one of the most popular shows ever would have made money. Into the Woods made money, and this is 100x bigger of a show. I saw my aunt and all her old friends talking on Facebook just two days ago about how they won't go to theaters because COVID. And that's not even counting the fact we are back to square zero with a variant that has immune evasiveness even in those with booster shots. Get ready for a Super Bowl without fans and lockdowns starting after NYE.

We're not going back to square zero.

 

All the concerning variants (Delta included) have immune evasiveness, so there's nothing really new here. Omicron have a bigger and worrisome immune evasiveness indeed, but that is considering 2 shots. Early results with 3 shots are showing similar results of effectiveness compared with 2 shots for Delta, which is pretty high.

 

And that is about protection against infection, when it comes to protection for severe disease and death, even 2 shots are showing very robust results for Omicron so far and not very far of Delta results (even better with 3 shots too).

 

So when it comes to the vaccines the results are early and need more tests but they're very promising so far, at worse we'll need a third booster. Still a new wave is definitely coming, but that's because of dumb people that still refuse to take their shots and prefer to take and spread the virus freely while governments don't do anything serious to stop them, they just need to vaccinate themselves to avoid a bigger problem, but seems like some people like this russian roulette for some reason.

 

About WSS opening, it's definitely bad. Maybe legs will be great since the movie is so good, we'll see, but the OW is definitely another bad result this year. Still i find hard to believe this is because of COVID only, these movies are opening pretty bad the whole year no matter how good or bad the environment is, so there's definitely a bigger problem hitting them. The fact that SH movies are opening very well the whole year only proof that there's something way worse going on for another titles, and it's a problem showing itself even before the pandemic, COVID probably only accelerate the whole process and studios need to find out a solution to make all types of movies relevant for theatrical experience again, we can't depend on huge brands like it's happening for some time and specially now, this is absurd and sad.