The Box Office Buzz and Tracking Thread (December 2021 - July 2023)

[GOGODanca]

bro there isn't some conspiracy here, its a massive movie, could be a church/school event or maybe some rich person bought a bunch of tickets and will give them out to kids/families

[Porthos]

Just now, VENOM said:

Have you been to one yourself or just heard of them?

 

I've seen news stories about them (mostly about Star Wars, but other movies as well) and I've seen them happen as I track movies locally.

 

So, me, personally?  No.  But I'm a bit on the anti-social side, so that would follow.  But, no really, it isn't that unusual. 

 

Easiest way to put it is:  Rare?  Yes.  Unheard of? No.

 

=====

 

It must be said it also could be a ticketing error on the part of the theater in question.  That happens as well and it'll become apparent in due time.  But Occam's Razor applies here, I think. 

[Eric is Quiet]

Moderation

 

@VENOM That's enough. You've already been told again and again that these group sales are common and you are derailing this thread big time. Please take off your tinfoil hat, because at this point, this looks like an attempt to troll Black Panther and the MCU yet again, a practice, for the latter, you have been doing for a long time now. If you continue to derail this thread, you will see two warning points. And since you are currently at 8, that means you will be at 10 and deal with another suspension. It's your choice.

[filmlover]

8 minutes ago, VENOM said:

Have you been to one yourself or just heard of them?

I've seen them all the time when I'm at the movies, especially if it's the opening of a big movie and they have a designated area for the group to check in at the entrance.

 

Edit: just saw @Eric Carey's post sorry. Love your new name Eric!

Edited November 2, 2022 by filmlover

[VENOM]

1 minute ago, Porthos said:

 

I've seen news stories about them (mostly about Star Wars, but other movies as well) and I've seen them happen as I track movies locally.

 

So, me, personally?  No.  But I'm a bit on the anti-social side, so that would follow.  But, no really, it isn't that unusual. 

 

Easiest way to put it is:  Rare?  Yes.  Unheard of? No.

 

=====

 

It must be said it also could be a ticketing error on the part of the theater in question.  That happens as well and it'll become apparent in due time.  But Occam's Razor applies here, I think. 

 

That’s a shame you haven’t been to one because I wanted to ask how you go about booking 50 seats for a popular movie on opening weekend without running into the issue that everyone booking there seats at the same time as you.
 

Not directed at you but the people getting defensive about me just asking need to chill. 

[VENOM]

@Cap read your DM’s! 

Edited November 2, 2022 by VENOM

[Porthos]

10 minutes ago, VENOM said:

 

That’s a shame you haven’t been to one because I wanted to ask how you go about booking 50 seats for a popular movie on opening weekend without running into the issue that everyone booking there seats at the same time as you.
 

Not directed at you but the people getting defensive about me just asking need to chill. 

 

I don't think @Eric Carey would mind me commenting about this aspect since it could be a bit informative on the general subject.  But tagging him just in case. 

 

The coordination aspect would be better directed at someone like @Deep Wang or @DAJK any other number of our board members who have worked at theaters, but in this particular case it was booked at a theater which doesn't see much traffic and had plenty of open seats available.

 

An Endgame/The Force Awakens situation this wasn't where tickets were in scare supply. As of last night, about 80% of tickets were still available in the region, with it skewing toward the better theaters/prime viewing hours.  But even in the case of a mega opener, someone can call a theater, inquire about showtimes that haven't seen many sales and then either get a bunch of tickets at once or pay (through the nose) to rent an entire auditorium.

 

And with a 3pm start of previews, coupled with showtimes running all the way to midnight, well, plenty of showtimes available for groups who want to do something like this.  I mean, 301 showtimes is a lot.  

 

Isn't really that hard to do.

[Cap]

This article is from yesterday. It talks about Little Miss Flint raising money to buy tickets for school kids, and how they did the #BlackPantherChallenge for the first movie.

 

So bulking buying shouldn’t send up red flags for this.

[Shawn Robbins]

52 minutes ago, VENOM said:

What kind of community group has a nice round number of 50 that happen to all be fans of marvel and have similar schedules in there daily lives? Just seems like hogwash to me.

This is quite common for large event movies. I've been tracking these things for close to 20 years and can confirm what others have said in here. There isn't anything suspicious about it. Let's everyone move on.

[Cap]

Sad news:

 

my theater is not open for matinees anymore during the weekdays. I went over to buy tickets for Wakanda forever, because I was trying to get them for Saturday for my nephew. And I kept running into errors online. So I couldn’t figure out if they were already sold out, or if it was just an issue with their website and then, when I got to the theater, they were closed. And they said they didn’t open until 3 PM anymore. 

 

also, their Tuesdays are now buy one get one free. That’s their discount Tuesday.

[VENOM]

8 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

I don't think @Eric Carey would mind me commenting about this aspect since it could be a bit informative on the general subject.  But tagging him just in case. 

 

The coordination aspect would be better directed at someone like @Deep Wang or @DAJK any other number of our board members who have worked at theaters, but in this particular case it was booked at a theater which doesn't see much traffic and had plenty of open seats available.

 

An Endgame/The Force Awakens situation this wasn't where tickets were in scare supply. As of last night, about 80% of tickets were still available in the region, with it skewing toward the better theaters/prime viewing hours.  But even in the case of a mega opener, someone can call a theater, inquire about showtimes that haven't seen many sales and then either get a bunch of tickets at once or pay (through the nose) to rent an entire auditorium.

 

And with a 3pm start of previews, coupled with showtimes running all the way to midnight, well, plenty of showtimes available for groups who want to do something like this.  I mean, 301 showtimes is a lot.  

 

Isn't really that hard to do.

Perfect! Thanks for the kind informative reply and not biting my head off for asking lol.

[cookie]

Any word on when Strange World tickets go on sale? Can't find anything in this thread or elsewhere.

[filmlover]

2 minutes ago, Cap said:

Sad news:

 

my theater is not open for matinees anymore during the weekdays. I went over to buy tickets for Wakanda forever, because I was trying to get them for Saturday for my nephew. And I kept running into errors online. So I couldn’t figure out if they were already sold out, or if it was just an issue with their website and then, when I got to the theater, they were closed. And they said they didn’t open until 3 PM anymore. 

 

also, their Tuesdays are now buy one get one free. That’s their discount Tuesday.

They won't even be open before 3 on the 11th when a lot of people will have the day off and freakin' Marvel movie opens? Haters of business confirmed.

[Eric is Quiet]

2 minutes ago, cookie said:

Any word on when Strange World tickets go on sale? Can't find anything in this thread or elsewhere.

Likely a week before release a la Encanto, Bob's Burgers, Lightyear, etc. Just seems to be Disney's MO for their animated movies for whatever reason.

[Factcheck]

11 minutes ago, Eric Carey said:

Likely a week before release a la Encanto, Bob's Burgers, Lightyear, etc. Just seems to be Disney's MO for their animated movies for whatever reason.

Reason is quite clear, Disney want people to watch its animated movies on D+ not in theatres.

[filmlover]

Is anyone even remotely surprised that Strange World is looking more and more like a dud each day (apparently there's barely even any promotion for it in the parks and it comes out in a few weeks)? I'll see it but it felt like an obvious flop in the Atlantis/Treasure Planet mold from the moment they began promoting it.

[Cap]

29 minutes ago, filmlover said:

They won't even be open before 3 on the 11th when a lot of people will have the day off and freakin' Marvel movie opens? Haters of business confirmed.

ATOM is saying it is open on Friday for Wakanda Forever at 11:30AM. 
 

what throws me is that it’s all weekdays. I live in a very very old state. I’m shocked they’re not doing at least like a matinee on a Tuesday or Thursday for the old folk.

[Maggie]

Guys, how is The Fabelmans doing?

[filmlover]

Just now, Maggie said:

Guys, how is The Fabelmans doing?

It's an adult drama three weeks away from opening (in wide release) so I wouldn't expect anything even remotely exciting, especially looking how it's sold so far near me. Worth mentioning though that it won't be doing previews for when it goes wide and will be starting its first shows on the morning/afternoon of the 23rd.

[el sid]

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, counted today at 11am EST for Thursday, November 10 (8 days to go):

NY (AMC Fresh Meadows 7): 731 (12 showtimes)
Miami (AMC Sunset Place 24): 987 (38 showtimes)
Grand Rapids (AMC Grand Rapids 18): 177 (12 showtimes)
Austin (AMC Lakeline 9): 88 (7 showtimes)
Tempe/Phoenix (AMC Centerpoint 11): 265 (16 showtimes)
San Francisco (AMC Metreon 16): 1.367 (23 showtimes)
LA (AMC Universal): 2.160 (36 showtimes)

Total tickets sold in 7 theaters: 5.775.

Up 17% since last Wednesday. To be honest, I expected a way better jump.

Comps: TSS (4.1M from previews) had 1.041 sold tickets with 8 days left. Means Wakanda Forever has at the moment 5.5x the presales of TSS (=22.3M) and 1 day left to increase the margin (and no HBO Max competition of course).
 

SC (8.8M) had on Monday of its release week 2.561 sold tickets. So Black Panther 2 has at the moment x2.25 (=19.8M) and 5 days left to increase the margin.

And Thor 4 (29M) had on Tuesday of the release week 7.843 sold tickets = 73.5% at the moment for Wakanda Forever with 6 days left to overtake. I was so convinced last week that Wakanda Forever will overtake with ease...but I still think it will happen.

Of course I still don't rule out 30M+ from previews. Especially because the sales in other theaters seem to be good and stable. I'm just a bit concerned how small the jump was in my theaters. But maybe it's a film with bigger increases in its last week.