WEEKEND THREAD: Lightyear implodes with 51M DOM, 85.6M WW. THE LAST PIXAR MOVIE EVER?????😱😱😱 | Dominion #1 with 58.66M, Top Gun 44M

[Jonwo]

1 minute ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

The current idea is "do families find value in buying 3-6 tickets for kid-skewing movies when they have to pay full price tickets for their kids"...

 

Right now, adults are back and willing to pay for 1-2 tickets for great movies, especially for the occasional movie...and subscribers are willing to buoy the rest of the adult-skewing movies.

 

But kids can't subscribe.  And they can't get cheaper tickets than their parent's subscriptions, except on Tuesdays.  And they will watch movies at home. A lot of them.

 

Kids had 2 years to never develop a movie-going habit.  Theaters should have used those two years to realize they need to get these kids in asap for anything at any cost b/c if you don't create the habit, you'll have an industry like Blockbuster - good for a time, and then never again...

 

 

 

It's a bit ridiculous to suggest kids will never go out to see films on the big screen. Being inside all the time isn't fun.  

[Brainbug]

Gotta be honest, the "Lightyear underperformed because audiences only watch animated movies on streaming now!" argument comes off as a very convenient excuse to me. Way easier to say that instead of "Well ... who actually asked for a movie about the person who inspired that toy from the Toy Story movies".

Im not saying streaming isnt having an effect, it clearly has. But imo, it shoudnt be used as the main argument why Lightyear is bombing. Most of the time movies bomb because people just werent really interested in seeing it.

 

And i personally think this argument will fall apart when Minions *surprises* us with a 70M+ debut.

[SchumacherFTW]

6 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

The current idea is "do families find value in buying 3-6 tickets for kid-skewing movies when they have to pay full price tickets for their kids"...

 

Right now, adults are back and willing to pay for 1-2 tickets for great movies, especially for the occasional movie...and subscribers are willing to buoy the rest of the adult-skewing movies.

 

But kids can't subscribe.  And they can't get cheaper tickets than their parent's subscriptions, except on Tuesdays.  And they will watch movies at home. A lot of them.

 

Kids had 2 years to never develop a movie-going habit.  Theaters should have used those two years to realize they need to get these kids in asap for anything at any cost b/c if you don't create the habit, you'll have an industry like Blockbuster - good for a time, and then never again...

 

 

Do they not do family tickets in US movie theaters? Here in the UK a family of 2 adults and 2 children would at most cost the same as 4 children or less.

Edited June 19, 2022 by SchumacherFTW

[wildphantom]

1 minute ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

The current idea is "do families find value in buying 3-6 tickets for kid-skewing movies when they have to pay full price tickets for their kids"...

 

Right now, adults are back and willing to pay for 1-2 tickets for great movies, especially for the occasional movie...and subscribers are willing to buoy the rest of the adult-skewing movies.

 

But kids can't subscribe.  And they can't get cheaper tickets than their parent's subscriptions, except on Tuesdays.  And they will watch movies at home. A lot of them.

 

Kids had 2 years to never develop a movie-going habit.  Theaters should have used those two years to realize they need to get these kids in asap for anything at any cost b/c if you don't create the habit, you'll have an industry like Blockbuster - good for a time, and then never again...

 

 

So why are there tons of families packing out Jurassic World then?  I’ve seen it twice and there’s been tons of families in there of all ages. 
 

Did no kids go to see MoM. Are no families going to see Maverick? 
 

Didn’t a kids movie make $800 plus million at Christmas? 
 

Families are going alright. It’s just the Disney animated stuff that has question marks around it because they were getting used to them debuting on streaming. They’ll get out of the habit soon enough when they’re not put on there so quickly. 

[TwoMisfits]

3 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

 

It's a bit ridiculous to suggest kids will never go out to see films on the big screen. Being inside all the time isn't fun.  

 

No, they'll go to bounce houses, trampoline parks, bowling, regular parks, laser tag, arcades, play gyms, I can keep going...

 

Kids have a LOT of options for kid-focused entertainment that is on par or cheaper than movies right now...and parents can tend to go for free and just watch (vs having to pay for their own ticket)...

Edited June 19, 2022 by TwoMisfits

[Jonwo]

3 minutes ago, The Dark Alfred said:

I just don't undestand why people here are unhappy about a crap rip off cash cow movie flopping. If anything LY's underperformance is good news. Hopefully it will stop Disney/Pixar doing another Cars/Forky/Woody film and focus on doing another Inside Out/Coco instead. Personally I'd like to see Minions underperform as well, but I know it won't. This summer is frikkin' awesome. Theatres are recovering well, Strange hit 400m, JWD could have walked 400m as well had not been garbage, A24 just had their biggest hit ever, Elvis/Thor/Nope could still perform well and we're having the greatest summer runs of all time thanks to Maverick. You would have taken any of this after the past two years we had.

 

People are acting as if Lightyear will kill off Pixar which is a bit ridiculous. 

[PDC1987]

18 minutes ago, Eric Lightyear said:

Well people are seeing Top Gun in theaters because that’s the only way you can watch it right now. If there was a home option, I feel confident saying people would want to see it at home. And yeah, the movie being a nostalgic toy commercial is a big reason why people are watching it. It’s based off a super popular movie people loved back in the day and it has a wide variety of merchandise. Not as much as others granted, but do you seriously think Top Gun 2 would have made the money it did or have the same amount of hype if it was just a totally original feature not based on anything? Considering the most popular movies of the past few years are based off nostalgic properties, I doubt that’s the case.

 

I will give you EEAAO, but that is more an exception to the rule IMO. There’s always those, but one movie does not change everything.

Scream, Jackass Forever, Dog, The Lost City, The Bad Guys, Uncharted etc.

[TwoMisfits]

1 minute ago, SchumacherFTW said:

Do they not do family tickets in US movie theaters? Here in the UK a family of 2 adults and 4 children would at most cost the same as 4 children or less.

 

There are no family tickets in the US and no family-based theater subscriptions.

 

[CloneWars]

Just now, Jonwo said:

 

People are acting as if Lightyear will kill off Pixar which is a bit ridiculous. 

But, it pushes more and more of their films to go to D+ which also affects the budgets of said films.

[wildphantom]

2 minutes ago, Brainbug the Dinosaur said:

Gotta be honest, the "Lightyear underperformed because audiences only watch animated movies on streaming now!" argument comes off as a very convenient excuse to me. Way easier to say that instead of "Well ... who actually asked for a movie about the person who inspired that toy from the Toy Story movies".

Im not saying streaming isnt having an effect, it clearly has. But imo, it shoudnt be used as the main argument why Lightyear is bombing. Most of the time movies bomb because people just werent really interested in seeing it.

 

And i personally think this argument will fall apart when Minions *surprises* us with a 70M+ debut.

Lightyear would have made $75 million plus if it wasn’t for the way Disney have distributed their in-house and Pixar animated films these past two years.  People will come around soon enough when they sort this stupid free window out. 

[TwoMisfits]

2 minutes ago, wildphantom said:

So why are there tons of families packing out Jurassic World then?  I’ve seen it twice and there’s been tons of families in there of all ages. 
 

Did no kids go to see MoM. Are no families going to see Maverick? 
 

Didn’t a kids movie make $800 plus million at Christmas? 
 

Families are going alright. It’s just the Disney animated stuff that has question marks around it because they were getting used to them debuting on streaming. They’ll get out of the habit soon enough when they’re not put on there so quickly. 

 

B/c it's a movie the parent wants to see...

 

None of the movies you quoted are kid-focused movies - they are just movies you can take kids to...

Edited June 19, 2022 by TwoMisfits

[Alex SciChannel]

14 minutes ago, ringedmortality said:

What if Minions gets an Animated Feature nomination over Lightyear? Do we just cancel cinema altogether?

What if The Bad Guys wins? That would be awesome 

[Eric Prime]

Look, I’m not saying theaters are dead forever. I’m not saying kids aren’t interested in theaters. Im not saying any of this stuff.

 

I am simply stating how the GA feels, how the studio feels, separate from my thoughts, and how streaming will hurt Disney’s animated movies and their box office forever. Minions will do fine. Theaters will be fine. But even if Chapek is gone and Elemental or whatever was playing exclusively for months, it would still do poorly and worse than a few years ago because people will wait for Disney+. That’s not stuff I like or prefer, but I think will happen. It’s so frustrating words are being put into my mouth. Is nuance not allowed? Do I have to explain theaters are doing amazing and kids like movie theaters and everything will largely be fine every other sentence?

[SchumacherFTW]

2 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

There are no family tickets in the US and no family-based theater subscriptions.

 

Dunb ass theaters. Would get way more bums on seats doing that. Plus about 3 months after a movie releases, they get added to a weekly kids stand at every chain where tickets are £2.50 each and you can only go if you are accompanied by a child

[Yandereprime101189]

Just now, wildphantom said:

Personally I think Encanto would have done great had they not said it was coming to Disney+ before it even opened. 
Not Frozen big because covid was still fairly prevalent, but it would have made a significant amount more. 
 

Then the D+ mania would still have happened when it eventually went on there. 

 

To be fair though, Encanto was barely marketed for theaters and unless someone was savvy enough or visited entertianment sites a lot, many didn't know it was heading to Disney+ on Christmas Day until they announced it about a week or two from Christmas.

 

Pixar's having problems after Coco, and it's not just because of Disney+. It's something behind the scenes. They just lack magic. Turning Red was fine, but Soul is actually kinda boring (and I was really looking forward to that because its concept is irresitable) and Luca, big hit on D+ it may be, was so low stakes that it was hard for me to get invested in anything going on. They're making solid films, but they're not making the big hitters they used to.

 

Outside of their sequels, the last original-concept Pixar movie I out and out loved and adored was Brave

[excel1]

LIGHTYEAR is one of the most stunning, eye-opening grosses in years. EVERYONE was sure this would be a huge hit when it was announced. This is a huge underperformance. 

[CloneWars]

On the bright side, TGM is doing well which I think shows that moviegoing isn't dead, but perhaps for family movies, families will wait it out. Could be that movies that are an experience to see in a theater are what do well such as TGM and MCU movies.

[YM!]

Tbh while I do think the plus had a factor in the underperformance, Lightyear seemed like a cashgrab and blew up on the Internet primarily just out of interest in that “wow, this exists” rather than genuine excitement, like Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. It also didn’t help the pulse died for it a month before opening
 

Strange World also seems like a flop but benefits from a barren Q4. The question is do they bother to market it. As it currently stands spending 150m-200m on animation just to go on the plus isn’t financially substantial and I think Chapek knows it. If they push stuff direct to plus it probably won’t be until like 2024-25 films where they could do a budget cut to best handle it. It’s not hard to gain it back though, if Elemental is good, has great marketing and a 45 day window at least, I think it’ll do over Lightyear at least.

[Jonwo]

5 minutes ago, CloneWars said:

But, it pushes more and more of their films to go to D+ which also affects the budgets of said films.

Realistically, unless Pixar's budgets are dramatically slashed, they're not going to become a Disney+ only studio. 

 

I get Lightyear hasn't done well but Pixar will bounce back. 

[Eric Prime]

10 minutes ago, PDC1987 said:

Scream, Jackass Forever, Dog, The Lost City, The Bad Guys, Uncharted etc.

Scream: Nostalgic property to get horror fans to buy the other movies and Ghostface Funko Pops

 

Jackass Forever: Performed worse than the other movies and is a nostalgic property

 

Dog: 60M isn’t something to be super excited about IMO. Plus the movie would have made more 10 years ago. It is successful, but it won’t change anything.

 

Lost City: would have made tons more 10 years ago. Not that impressed by it IMO

 

Bad Guys: would have also made tons more even just 5 years ago.

 

Uncharted: fits the nostalgic toy commercial. Uncharted has been around for a long time and it was made as a vessel to promote the video games.

 

Yes these are all commendable success stories, but not these mind blowing hits IMO. I know that is something people disagree with, but that is just how I feel. Sorry!