Has Following the Box Office Lost Its Appeal and Luster?

[cannastop]

I'd say it's slowly getting back to "normal".

[MOVIEGUY]

Honestly stopped caring when BOM changed their design

[Dingdong]

It’s getting boring and stale ‘cause it’s the usual box office hits, nothing breaking out or surprise hits. Just the usual Marvel, Star Wars, Fast & Furious, DC, Despicable Me etc doing good in BO.

 

Where’s the Avatar, Frozen, Us, The Blind Side, Gravity of today? We need more breakout hits.

[cannastop]

2 minutes ago, Dingdong said:

Where’s the Avatar, Frozen, Us, The Blind Side, Gravity of today? We need more breakout hits.

Well...

As far as Frozen goes, we can pray that Strange World and Elemental make boffo bucks.

I mean they may or may not.

[Webslinger]

Honestly, Top Gun: Maverick and Everything Everywhere All at Once have been really fun runs to watch - especially the latter, since I was convinced that it would, at best, be a modest specialty hit that would spawn a much wider following on home video, not a solid little sleeper hit that stayed in the top ten for two months.

 

I still think we need more variety and more breakouts for the health of the box office, but hopefully long, highly successful runs like these can show studios that if they can make, market, and release a movie that audiences will get really excited about, it can break through. (And yes, I know that Top Gun is obviously IP, but there's a world of difference between a first sequel to a 36-year-old film and, say, a sequel to something that made a ton of money a few years ago.)

[cannastop]

3 minutes ago, Webslinger said:

Top Gun: Maverick

oh yeah duh there's your exciting breakout movie right there.

[CaptNathanBrittles]

The domination of Disney and comic book movies made me lose interest for years but TG:M has pulled me back in.

Edited July 15, 2022 by CaptNathanBrittles

[cannastop]

I really really want Strange world to make $120 m dom abouts. Like at least that much. I'm not a huge fan of its trailer, but I do love a lot of other animated movies. And lots of them have exciting box office runs, like Zootopia and Frozen.

[The Panda]

2 hours ago, MOVIEGUY said:

Honestly stopped caring when BOM changed their design

That’s when I stopped checking BO numbers. I only restarted thanks to TGM

[lab276]

Agree with above posts, Top Gun: Maverick and EEAAO and also the reasonably healthy takings this summer have brought back the interest. I am exceedingly pleased that the pandemic didn't kill off theatres. Hoping for big things in the coming years!

[ThePrinceIsOnFire]

I'm sorry, but how is TG:M a surprise hit? While its huge record- breaking gross was unexpected to a degree, it was always going to be a sure fire success from the get-go, given how popular the original IP is and how beloved/succesful Tom Cruise is when in action roles. 

 

And I feel like we're taking crazy pills if we are here to marvel at "Everything Everyhere..."'s box office performance.  It made just shy of 100 millions WW, which, sure, can be considered good given the tiny 25 millions budget, but a 4x multiplier is nothing to be in awe of... 

 

What I mean is that we're not witnessing breakthrough runs from smaller movies into mainstream success (100 millions WW at todays rate means that very few people have watched a certain movie at the cinemas around the globe) , nor are the original big budgeted properties gaining any significant results. 

 

Now, something like "The northman" making 700 millions instead of 70 would be a huge story; even 500 millions WW for "Elvis" would be extremely remarkable, yet nothing like that is happening.

The last real surprise box office run of an original property (regardless of its budget) has to be "Knives Out" and even that was more of a domestic hit than a WW hit, given that despite a China release OS only accounted for 45% of its total gross.

 

That being said, I wouldn't even consider a potential "Strange World" success to be groundbreaking, as it really is backed up by the "disney" label, which is a strong IP in itself. 

 

The one  "original" upcoming movie I can really see making an impact at the B.O. is "Babylon", but only if: 1- it is well received by the critics and becomes a BP frontrunner; 2- the promos somehow manage to target both the men with a "Wolf of Wall Street" comp, and the women with a "la la land" comp, which is very hard to achieve. 

 

[Ken]

I don't know how many people are going to notice this post. I was planning on putting this on The Flash weekend thread, hoping to spread just a little bit of sentimental positivity, but I knew it'd be completely buried, so I'll leave it up here instead. 

 

As someone who grew up fascinated by Hollywood movie culture: ever since the start of the 2010s, I regularly read movie blogs and discussion forums. I found out about this place probably around the beginning of 2013, and I'd routinely come back here time and time again, as I found this place to be the most entertaining way to find out about what movies were being made. I was reluctant to join myself, because I was only a high school freshman and I didn't feel like I'd fit in. 

From 2013-15, the name of the game was cinematic universes and even more franchise remakes/reboots than ever before. The Avengers would bide their time until the day came when they'd finally battle Thanos. Fox and Sony were trying to booster the Marvel properties they had the rights to (ensuring they'd never join the MCU). Man of Steel, despite the reception, would open the door to BVS:DOJ & JL & the whole DCEU being the epicest things ever that would put all of Marvel to shame. 
And it wasn't just comic book stuff. Star Wars was coming back with not only the sequel trilogy (that would certainly make everyone forget about the prequels) but a new movie every year. Harry Potter (everyone's favorite franchise) would have its own prequel trilogy following The Hobbit. Hunger Games was the face of a generation, and Jennifer Lawrence would be the world's biggest female star. There'd be the returns of Robocop, Godzilla, Jurassic Park, Terminator, Independence Day. Huge plans for GDT's Pacific Rim. Big universes for Star Trek, Universal monsters, Lego, Ghostbusters, Power Rangers, TMNT, Smurfs, Transformers and other Hasbro properties, maybe even a video game movie. There were even still comedies every month. And we would at least get one Avatar sequel before the decade was over.
 
By 2016, I was completely out of high school and navigating my way through adulthood/community college, but the forum never lost its spirit. It was a little fun to see the lamer blockbusters fail, the more unique titles that rose to the top, 3D being less relevant, and most surprising of all: the Netflix effect.     
By 2019, it already felt like a change was in the air. And of course, that change came when the new decade kicked off with the worst year Hollywood had to endure. I was thankfully finishing up college when that happened, but now there wasn't a lot to talk about at the moment. Once 2021 started, I made a big choice: I didn't visit the forums once for an entire year. I still looked at movie news, but I didn't read any of your reactions. It was a good move then, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it all.

For 2022, I went back once The Batman opened, and I kept coming here from time to time to entertain myself while having lots of down time at my job. But now that we were entering a brand new, less certain territory: it felt less exciting and now a lot more moody...like the posters all hated themselves now. It was enough to make me want to walk away from the forum for good: but before I did, I decided I would do the thing I probably should have done long ago: leave a post or two. Just to show some support and levity.

I ended up posting way more than I thought I ever would. Sure, I've often failed to open up a new conversation, or I've made a joke that didn't land, or I've felt like I've tried too embarrassingly hard to fit in (I'm not really proud of using Blackhat as my profile pic but I couldn't think of anything better). And yeah, I'm not sure how much longer I want to keep doing this, but you know what? Anytime I get any kind of reaction, it always feels thrilling and makes my day just a little bit better. 

 

To anyone who still feels discouraged about the current state of things: Don't feel too bad, and don't stir up conflicts and drama, because your opinions and jokes and concerns and support can mean a lot to somebody out there. 

[ChipDerby]

I still enjoy following the box office. But I wish there was less tracking tbh lol. I much preferred waking up on Saturday morning and logging on and finding out what happened.

[excel1]

People will continue watching films and going to the cinema. 

[excel1]

2 hours ago, Ken said:

I don't know how many people are going to notice this post. I was planning on putting this on The Flash weekend thread, hoping to spread just a little bit of sentimental positivity, but I knew it'd be completely buried, so I'll leave it up here instead. 

 

As someone who grew up fascinated by Hollywood movie culture: ever since the start of the 2010s, I regularly read movie blogs and discussion forums. I found out about this place probably around the beginning of 2013, and I'd routinely come back here time and time again, as I found this place to be the most entertaining way to find out about what movies were being made. I was reluctant to join myself, because I was only a high school freshman and I didn't feel like I'd fit in. 

From 2013-15, the name of the game was cinematic universes and even more franchise remakes/reboots than ever before. The Avengers would bide their time until the day came when they'd finally battle Thanos. Fox and Sony were trying to booster the Marvel properties they had the rights to (ensuring they'd never join the MCU). Man of Steel, despite the reception, would open the door to BVS:DOJ & JL & the whole DCEU being the epicest things ever that would put all of Marvel to shame. 
And it wasn't just comic book stuff. Star Wars was coming back with not only the sequel trilogy (that would certainly make everyone forget about the prequels) but a new movie every year. Harry Potter (everyone's favorite franchise) would have its own prequel trilogy following The Hobbit. Hunger Games was the face of a generation, and Jennifer Lawrence would be the world's biggest female star. There'd be the returns of Robocop, Godzilla, Jurassic Park, Terminator, Independence Day. Huge plans for GDT's Pacific Rim. Big universes for Star Trek, Universal monsters, Lego, Ghostbusters, Power Rangers, TMNT, Smurfs, Transformers and other Hasbro properties, maybe even a video game movie. There were even still comedies every month. And we would at least get one Avatar sequel before the decade was over.
 
By 2016, I was completely out of high school and navigating my way through adulthood/community college, but the forum never lost its spirit. It was a little fun to see the lamer blockbusters fail, the more unique titles that rose to the top, 3D being less relevant, and most surprising of all: the Netflix effect.     
By 2019, it already felt like a change was in the air. And of course, that change came when the new decade kicked off with the worst year Hollywood had to endure. I was thankfully finishing up college when that happened, but now there wasn't a lot to talk about at the moment. Once 2021 started, I made a big choice: I didn't visit the forums once for an entire year. I still looked at movie news, but I didn't read any of your reactions. It was a good move then, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it all.

For 2022, I went back once The Batman opened, and I kept coming here from time to time to entertain myself while having lots of down time at my job. But now that we were entering a brand new, less certain territory: it felt less exciting and now a lot more moody...like the posters all hated themselves now. It was enough to make me want to walk away from the forum for good: but before I did, I decided I would do the thing I probably should have done long ago: leave a post or two. Just to show some support and levity.

I ended up posting way more than I thought I ever would. Sure, I've often failed to open up a new conversation, or I've made a joke that didn't land, or I've felt like I've tried too embarrassingly hard to fit in (I'm not really proud of using Blackhat as my profile pic but I couldn't think of anything better). And yeah, I'm not sure how much longer I want to keep doing this, but you know what? Anytime I get any kind of reaction, it always feels thrilling and makes my day just a little bit better. 

 

To anyone who still feels discouraged about the current state of things: Don't feel too bad, and don't stir up conflicts and drama, because your opinions and jokes and concerns and support can mean a lot to somebody out there. 

 

 

Well done.