Migration | Universal/Illumination | December 22, 2023

[AniNate]

Fortunately this doesn't have a huge bar to clear for profitability assuming the budget is the same as Mario's, and it's definitely better off coming after Wonka than before, especially since Wonka probably has a lot more upfront demand. They both probably can manage good legs through the next couple months if reception is there for both. There's like nothing to compete with them in the dead of winter.

[MovieMan89]

I would just be genuinely curious to see what an Illumination movie with a high quality bar would do (assuming this gets that kind of reception). They are already box office mammoths of the medium by just making “good enough” movies most of the time.  The brand name is there. Phenomenal WOM over the holiday stretch could be huge for them. 

Edited December 5, 2023 by MovieMan89

[AniNate]

Apparently the budget is only $70mil, surprisingly low, but I did read Renner wanted to approximate his more spare 2D work with fog and smoke effects to obscure background imagery he didn't deem necessary (noticeable in that scene when they're about to take off)

 

 

[MovieMan89]

70mil, what kind of sorcery??? Unless it’s going to look far uglier than any other Illumination, I don’t see how that’s possible. It’s guaranteed  to be another huge hit for them if so though, even if it did like a worst case 250 ww. 

[AniNate]

So far on Allocine (essentially French Metacritic), 3.7/5 aggregate from critics and 4/5 from viewers

 

Migration - film 2023 - AlloCiné (allocine.fr)

[Flip]

2 minutes ago, AniNate said:

So far on Allocine (essentially French Metacritic), 3.7/5 aggregate from critics and 4/5 from viewers

 

Migration - film 2023 - AlloCiné (allocine.fr)

elemental has 3.9, the last wish has 4.2. So based off this it's pretty good, but nothing special.

[AniNate]

I mean if viewer reception is on par with two big word of mouth hits that seems like it might be "special" to me. Kinda surprising that French critics weren't real high on Puss 2 though.

 

 

Edited December 7, 2023 by AniNate

[elhassane31]

Saw Migration. It's good but not great. Definitely a better effort than usual from Illumination (actually well-structured main theme/main character arc). I think there's no licensed stuff bare maybe the penultimate scene (none in the credits too). They also don't split up the cast for the vast majority of the movie which makes it easier to keep/shift focus organically.

 

I definitely think it's going to be their best reviewed movie since the first Despicable Me, and probably Certified Fresh at the very least, which hasn't happened in over a decade at this point.

Edited December 8, 2023 by elhassane31

[elhassane31]

On 12/7/2023 at 12:17 AM, MovieMan89 said:

70mil, what kind of sorcery??? Unless it’s going to look far uglier than any other Illumination, I don’t see how that’s possible. It’s guaranteed  to be another huge hit for them if so though, even if it did like a worst case 250 ww. 

Trust me, it looks very beautiful. There's a very pleasant art direction going on.

Edited December 8, 2023 by elhassane31

[AniNate]

Looks like it was good thing they did keep it low since Europe openings aren't very good and it's completely tanking in China. A Bad Guys type global run seems like the thing to hope for here, and US will really need to pick up the slack.
.

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by AniNate

[elhassane31]

1 hour ago, AniNate said:

Looks like it was good thing they did keep it low since Europe openings aren't very good and it's completely tanking in China. A Bad Guys type global run seems like the thing to hope for here, and US will really need to pick up the slack.
.

 

Care to expand a bit on that, sir?

[AniNate]

If you insist, $121,000 opening day in China, roughly $300,000 true opening day in France, and $100,000 true opening day in Italy

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.cinetel.it/pages/boxoffice.php?edperiodo=aWVyaQ==

 

 

 

 

[Brainbug]

This movie has one of the most aggressive and therefore off-putting marketing campaigns here in Germany. Basically, before the main movie starts, the theater chain logo comes up and then gets interrupted by loud ducks and am equally loud, deep voice who literally says "Vergessen Sie nicht, Tickets für "Raus aus dem Teich" zu kaufen und im Kino zu sehen!"

 

Translated: "Dont forget to buy tickets for Migration and see it in a theater!", but like i said, imagine that sentence with quite an aggressive tone, sounding like an order.

 

Its so ... weird.

[filmlover]

Tracking for this has been pretty bad and the advance sales are nonexistent as well. Illumination about to find out even their brand has its limits too since this is shaping up to be more of a Ferdinand or Spies in Disguise than a Sing or Puss in Boots 2.

[AniNate]

It does seem that Illumination's usually reliable marketing department is just hitting a false note with this. They apparently don't know how to sell a more character-driven movie the way they do their more gag-driven ones, and I'd be lying if I said the premise would have interested me at all if Benjamin Renner weren't at the helm.

 

Now that I think about it, they really are committing a lot of the sins I thought Elemental's campaign did; overemphasis on physical gags and one-liners and downplaying the interpersonal relationships that are the main hook, and not promoting their seemingly excellent musical score.

 

They can perhaps take some solace in the fact that the NA opening is now tracking slightly ahead of Puss 2's, and if English language reviews are similarly respectable, word of mouth should hopefully draw families in the way it did Puss 2 with a Jan/Feb devoid of new competition.

 

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by AniNate

[elhassane31]

1 hour ago, AniNate said:

It does seem that Illumination's usually reliable marketing department is just hitting a false note with this. They apparently don't know how to sell a more character-driven movie the way they do their more gag-driven ones, and I'd be lying if I said the premise would have interested me at all if Benjamin Renner weren't at the helm.

 

You know that makes sense. It's been a long while since they've done a character-driven movie (if we even consider the first Despicable Me like one).

Edited December 8, 2023 by elhassane31

[AniNate]

It's fair to say DM1 was relatively character-driven, although it still had Minion hijinks as insurance for the marketing campaign. I do think they did a decent job selling the Gru/girls arc as well though.

 

Appears they're relying on the Awkwafina pigeon character here to be a comedic hook, but that l'Orange one-liner was only mildly amusing the first time and just gets progressively less funny the more it's repeated. Despite the Jersey Mike's crossover and a Thanksgiving parade balloon, they haven't shown off the DeVito character in-movie much, and the kids also haven't gotten a lot of lines in trailer promotion despite how much they're seemingly relying on them as mascots.

 

 

Edited December 8, 2023 by AniNate

[MovieMan89]

If it does become basically the first Illumination box office failure, what I will say is that the marketing has reminded me of Pets 2 in the sense of being uncharacteristically low key and kinda bad by Illumination’s marketing standards. And no coincidence perhaps that Pets 2 is the closest they’ve ever come to box office failure. 

[elhassane31]

got to see Migration a second time. Well, I got even more good out of it than on the first viewing, interestingly enough.

what I noticed however, is that it seems there's actually three licensed titles in this (one in the penultimate scene and the other two are pretty much background noise)

Edited December 8, 2023 by elhassane31

[MovieMan89]

We will have to see what the GA think here. If it’s loved, it’s a holiday animated film… multi will be insane and low OW won’t matter too much. Though I do still think Wonka is a problem for it since I’m nearly certain now WOM will be huge on that one.