Wish | Walt Disney Animation Studios | November 22, 2023 | Chris Pine plays a baddie DILF, new trailer has dropped, reactions are reactions

[ThomasNicole]

This is a sequel, in some way. 

 

I have to watch it of course to confirm my suspects, but everything that i saw about it + what i read about it just framed this as some sort of amalgam project, it´s new while it´s simultaneously old. It´s original, but it´s also a sequel to the memory of many different movies, just disguised in new models of characters with fresher songs. 

 

Sure, some variation of this idea is true for pretty much every franchise or big studio since the Hollywood big movies does have similar constructions. But on this one this seems like it´s presented clearly, it exists by design to remind people of other movies, trying to reach the magic of the other movies to create some emotional response in this one. I can name direct sequels that feels more original than this. 

 

@Eric Gray Baird is right, people want the familiar comfort that sequels brings, and Wish seems like it´ll perform decent after a bunch of huge failures exactly because the marketing is already presenting this as some spiritual sequel to dozens of Disney classics.

 

[Grand Cine]

Yeah i just saw the critics and yeah in general they are mixed , so the terrible year for Disney continue , we will see the embargo but i think yes maybe low 70's if the mixed reviews are finally fresh . In this movie , clearly the story and the animation ( not surprised) are the weak points and songs overall just like the casting are the strong points.

 

We will see the general reception but i'm a little disappointed because i was a little exciting for this movie because of the hope of a return of a Disney Animation Classic

[tdangie]

Very interested to see the Cinemascore on this one as well. If it scores an A or A+, then perhaps critical reception won't really impact the box office and maybe it can get to $400M or even more. Overseas reception will also matter a lot too ofc

[Eric S'ennui]

Though I will agree with @ThomasNicole here and, barring disastrous reviews or some odd creative hiccups, that this will still do okay enough box office wise on the back that it is copying all the tropes and concepts that are in the most successful Disney films. I’d argue a big reason why Elemental resonated despite largely being lesser Pixar was how it felt so spiritually and tonally similar to Pixar’s most successful movies, and reminded people of the stuff they already like. A lot of the reactions point to “it’s flawed, but also the characters and songs are fun.” That’s enough for a lot of families, especially over the holidays, and it’s different enough from Wonka audience wise to not have the direct competition be that intense.

 

Whether that is good or not for the studios creatively is a whole other thing, but it’ll likely be fine financially.

[lab276]

I'm not sure I'm on the same wavelength as critics when it comes to recent Disney and Pixar movies, when decidedly mediocre movies like Raya and Encanto get in the 90s, but Elemental only gets to 74%.

 

[Bob Train]

7 hours ago, AniNate said:

It just makes the "less sequels, more originals!" refrain popular in film social circles ring hollow to me. It's not so much the IO2 excitement that annoys me as the interpreting of original concepts in the most uncharitable way possible based on marketing (ie stuff like the Pine character actually being the "good guy" for not granting every wish). Hard for me to blame studios for relying on franchises when the social sphere collectively craps on them when they try something new.

 

 

Making something new isn’t enough. It needs to be new *and* good. Otherwise what’s the point.

[TwoMisfits]

It is amazing to me, that like The Marvels, it's the story and script getting torched by early social media reactions for this movie.  Disney made its mark by being the teller of stories, and apparently in 2023, in it's 100th year, it decided to punt on that aspect of its movie making.  

 

This is like the 1st principle of movie-making - have a compelling story.  Everything else flows from it - the directing, the acting, the animation, the effects, the songs, etc...

[Bob Train]

There's no way it gets bad reviews. It's a Disney animated movie. Critics will like it just like Strange World and Lightyear got >70% RT. The blogger influx on RT makes it a nigh impossibility for it to end up rotten.

[Jonwo]

Worst WDAS film is a bit hyperbolic, the reviewer clearly hasn't seen Chicken Little. 

[keysersoze123]

I was concerned when they kept the reviews out until day before early screenings. This makes perfect sense. Another middling reviewed movie from WDAS/Pixar. Let us see how WOM goes. 

 

Its early shows sales are way weaker than Trolls early shows. Big difference was Trolls had early shows planned from beginning and it was 12 days before previews while Wish added the early shows later and only 3 days before previews on Tuesday. Plus discount tuesday tickets make it more attractive to families anyway. 

[Liiviig 1998]

10 hours ago, lab276 said:

I'm not sure I'm on the same wavelength as critics when it comes to recent Disney and Pixar movies, when decidedly mediocre movies like Raya and Encanto get in the 90s, but Elemental only gets to 74%.

 

I agree with you on Raya and encanto but elemental was pretty generic by Pixar standards too. 

 

Post pandemic ,the only Disney  animation I really loved  was turning red.

 

 

[MovieMan89]

13 hours ago, Eric Gray Baird said:

That refrain never held water. Audiences are repulsed at anything that isn’t a nostalgic toy commercial and will gladly see and hype up anything that has a 2 on it. Their brains only crave comfort and familiarity. It is what it is. 🤷‍♂️ 

Right, that’s why the Revival was wildly successful for 7/8 non IP films… 

 

Quality is currently the issue (and WDAS having a track record of poor marketing to a lesser extent). 

Edited November 16, 2023 by MovieMan89

[YM!]

Do think Bad Guys and Elemental chalk up as successes for original animation. But the problem for the both were bad scheduling (atrocious marketing for Elemental too) but legs saved them. Budget moreso for Bad Guys.

Edited November 16, 2023 by YM!

[YM!]

5 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

Right, that’s why the Revival was wildly successful for 7/8 non IP films… 

 

Quality is the issue. 

Yeah. To be honest if something like Soul/Encanto were the 2023 releases or even TR/Raya or Luca/Raya, they would’ve done much better. Like if Elemental can do almost 500m, think Soul, Luca and Turning Red would’ve also been able to breeze by that. Encanto seemed like a Moana sized hit if it was a year later and not at the start of Covid with a 30 day window.

 

Lightyear and Strange World died not because of homophobia or mad rural Americans (though I think SW B CinemaScore is suspect) but both were fundamentally flawed movies that didn’t click with the target audience.

 

Out of all the problems Disney theatrical arms are, animations are the easiest to fix because you just need to deprogram the window of the Plus.

[dudalb]

9 hours ago, TwoMisfits said:

It is amazing to me, that like The Marvels, it's the story and script getting torched by early social media reactions for this movie.  Disney made its mark by being the teller of stories, and apparently in 2023, in it's 100th year, it decided to punt on that aspect of its movie making.  

 

This is like the 1st principle of movie-making - have a compelling story.  Everything else flows from it - the directing, the acting, the animation, the effects, the songs, etc...

Someone said quality is the problem. Quality is always a problem. there is no way of absolutley guaranteeing it. You can hire the best people, but even the most talented, writers, directors, etc mess up on occasion. 

Thing is there is thin line between a film that can appeal to audiences by hitting all the right classic stuff..which Wish is obviously trying to do...and turning off audences by coming off as just more of the same; a bunch of cliches.

We won't know untll we see the RT rating, but from the reviews i have read Wish is getting a roughter critical reception then Elementals did.

[MovieMan89]

10 hours ago, Bob Train said:

There's no way it gets bad reviews. It's a Disney animated movie. Critics will like it just like Strange World and Lightyear got >70% RT. The blogger influx on RT makes it a nigh impossibility for it to end up rotten.

That’s why I said if this went rotten it would be a disaster. WDAS doesnt make rotten films, except that brief stretch in the mid 00s where they were completely  in the toilet. But that’s like 3 years out of 90. Rotten would mean this is bombing hard. But I would imagine it’s headed to Strange World critical reception. Which would still be really bad if audience reception isn’t better than that. 

[Youngstar]

This feels a bit low. (SW last year had ~4100 locations) Maybe some theaters are not sure after last year.

[YM!]

24 minutes ago, Youngstar said:

This feels a bit low. (SW last year had ~4100 locations) Maybe some theaters are not sure after last year.

In fairness, Coco, Moana and Encanto was around 3950.

[keysersoze123]

I will reiterate something i have done many times before. Theater counts are mostly irrelevant. Show count matters. Most of the box office is smaller % of theaters. it follows 80/20 rule. If Wish disappoints it wont be due to theater count. 

[dudalb]

21 minutes ago, keysersoze123 said:

I will reiterate something i have done many times before. Theater counts are mostly irrelevant. Show count matters. Most of the box office is smaller % of theaters. it follows 80/20 rule. If Wish disappoints it wont be due to theater count. 

And a big theater count does not help you if those  theaters don't sell many tickets.

 

Edited November 17, 2023 by dudalb