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

[TwoMisfits]

4 hours ago, MovieMan89 said:

I am wondering if that $5 discount thing will actually make box office even worse for this? I guess the incentive for Disney would be a hope that more kids seeing it moves some of the merch. I have to imagine they’re in panic mode if they’re not selling the merch for a movie like this. At least with SW, it was never really a “merch” type of movie anyways. 

 

$5 discount is still "in" the revenue b/c it's through Atom, so Atom pays theaters for it (after probably being paid by Disney).

 

It's the same thing as a TMobile $5 ticket deal or $5 discount on Atom - theaters get full price for the tickets and Atom and TMobile (and probably the movie studio) all cover portions of those deals...

[MovieMan89]

4 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

$5 discount is still "in" the revenue b/c it's through Atom, so Atom pays theaters for it (after probably being paid by Disney).

 

It's the same thing as a TMobile $5 ticket deal or $5 discount on Atom - theaters get full price for the tickets and Atom and TMobile (and probably the movie studio) all cover portions of those deals...

Oh wow, this weekend drop was beyond brutal then… 

[Kon]

9 hours ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

$5 discount is still "in" the revenue b/c it's through Atom, so Atom pays theaters for it (after probably being paid by Disney).

 

It's the same thing as a TMobile $5 ticket deal or $5 discount on Atom - theaters get full price for the tickets and Atom and TMobile (and probably the movie studio) all cover portions of those deals...

 

Oh. So, the discount isn't reflected on the box office, because Atom/Disney pays for the discount.

 

That means only the increase of tickets due to the discount would be reflected on the box office. That's pretty bad for Wish.

[TwoMisfits]

23 minutes ago, Kon said:

 

Oh. So, the discount isn't reflected on the box office, because Atom/Disney pays for the discount.

 

That means only the increase of tickets due to the discount would be reflected on the box office. That's pretty bad for Wish.

 

Yeah - now to be fair for Wish, it's only 1 ticket per D+ account, so that's still a hard sell vs, say, a BOGO deal or a true $5/ticket deal.  It's like the bare minimum price push that usually gets used.

[dudalb]

On 12/4/2023 at 7:24 PM, MovieMan89 said:

Oh wow, this weekend drop was beyond brutal then… 

I can't think when a discount gimmick ever really helped a film bigtime.

[AniNate]

Looks like it fared somewhat better at the start in Europe, opened to $4mil in France and $3.5mil in Germany. Likely not gonna save it though. Migration opens this week in France and Wonka the next week and both seem to have much better word-of-mouth.

[dudalb]

Seems to be a case of not if "Wish" loses money, but how much.

[DAJK]

On 4/27/2023 at 7:20 AM, DAJK said:

This is going to be the highest grossing Disney Animation since Moana by a long shot. Looks great, classic Disney, families will eat this up over the holidays.

Hahahahahaha oops

[cannastop]

1 hour ago, DAJK said:

Hahahahahaha oops

yeah I need to eat crow too I have a really dumb club I made.

[MovieMan89]

Even though I hate their sidelining animation to D+ they have made a thing out of, they would be smart to put this on the platform in NA for Christmas. It will have next to no gas left in the tank at the DOM box office after next weekend, so what would they lose? Only gain potential viewers for it as the “free” holiday family movie option for those who have D+. 

[cannastop]

2 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

Even though I hate their sidelining animation to D+ they have made a thing out of, they would be smart to put this on the platform in NA for Christmas. It will have next to no gas left in the tank at the DOM box office after next weekend, so what would they lose? Only gain potential viewers for it as the “free” holiday family movie option for those who have D+. 

sure it would get viewers but viewers alone aren't money

[MovieMan89]

Just now, cannastop said:

sure it would get viewers but viewers alone aren't money

It has maybe 6m left at most after next weekend based on its trajectory and comparison with Strange World. And way more direct comp starting next weekend than that had. Again, what would there be to lose?   

[ZeroHour]

12 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

It has maybe 6m left at most after next weekend based on its trajectory and comparison with Strange World. And way more direct comp starting next weekend than that had. Again, what would there be to lose?   

It might benefit this specific movie but it would only further cement that the WDAS November movie will arrive at Christmas so no need to see it in the theater. They’d risk kneecapping future movies. What if they actually have the goods next year?

 

Plus isn’t this getting a slower international rollout (I’m not following this one that closely)? All that’s done once it hits Disney+.

Edited December 11, 2023 by ZeroHour

[AniNate]

I see the logic but would rather not encourage the idea. It does seem to be finding a more receptive audience abroad. Think dropping it on streaming in a dead period when there are minimal other movies to draw attention away would still be a better move to get more people to give it a chance.

[YM!]

https://medium.com/@Toon4Thought/disney-s-wish-for-a-brighter-future-b9daece3d273

 

“By the time the first workprint was screened around early 2022, “the film was at an impasse”, with head of story Fawn Veerasunthorn feeling it needed to focus more on the personal journey as opposed to just the wishing. This motivated Lee to put her on as co-director, enabling her to touch up the story closer to that direction. But even that had its own share of struggles, one listed example being the ending being toned down “to be less traumatic” following test screenings, without detailing what it originally consisted of.

 

Reading all these stories, there’s a sense that — even though these visions all came from a genuine place — they never really got to settle into a single cohesive whole, and that the creative heads were maybe too pleased with the work being done early on to really step back and see how well it holds as a film on its own, detached from the centenary tribute. That, along with the head-scratching mix of traditional visual stylings and storytelling techniques with more contemporary music direction; minimizes the fairy tale charm it was going for. It’s hard to tell exactly how much was put in for brand promotion’s sake, but the creative talents that undoubtedly brought all the passion and energy they could were clearly held back one way or another, even when it does shine through sometimes.”

 

So this did get Frozen II’d. Starting to think the brain trust concept only really works for Pixar because that's just how they operate from the get-go and it does seem the brain trust not only has more new members but seems much less pronounced than before. Every other brain trust this year has kind of backfired from Marvel to DC to many others, mainly because I think the GA is just tired of them (mostly, Illumination for sure has a brain trust too but they only truly aim to make money) and want more of what the storytellers have to say vs the trust.

[YM!]

13 hours ago, MovieMan89 said:

It has maybe 6m left at most after next weekend based on its trajectory and comparison with Strange World. And way more direct comp starting next weekend than that had. Again, what would there be to lose?   

Because it'll will only come back to bite them for further films. If anything the windows must be longer even if it's a gigabomb. That mindset can fuck over IO2 even its great.

[MovieMan89]

I see the logic in being worried it sends the GA that message of animation being a streaming thing from them, though I do think this movie made enough headlines along with Marvels that a lot of the GA probably know it’s a huge box office dud. Id argue that creates a bit different of a perception with the GA than if they were sending something that was doing well to streaming so soon.

 

Anyways, color me the most unsurprised ever that execs meddled here, and it had a way more troubled production than they ever wanted us to think. WDAS is in a very bad place and their recent sequel mania announcements make me more convinced the same practices that led to this movie likely being a failure are continuing to be in play. 

Edited December 11, 2023 by MovieMan89

[AniNate]

7 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

I see the logic in being worried it sends the GA that message of animation being a streaming thing from them, though I do think this movie made enough headlines along with Marvels that a lot of the GA probably know it’s a huge box office dud. Id argue that creates a bit different of a perception with the GA than if they were sending something that was doing well to streaming so soon.

 

If that is true, that's all the more reason I think it'd be better served with some distance from the discourse before putting it on streaming. Better that people don't go into it with the mindset of "gonna hatewatch the new Disney flop" so much. I definitely doubt it would be much of a subscription bump if that's the main thing still driving awareness. 

[MovieMan89]

14 minutes ago, AniNate said:

 

If that is true, that's all the more reason I think it'd be better served with some distance from the discourse before putting it on streaming. Better that people don't go into it with the mindset of "gonna hatewatch the new Disney flop" so much. I definitely doubt it would be much of a subscription bump if that's the main thing still driving awareness. 

Lol, what does that even mean? The casual GA definitely don’t think that way, especially not families with kids looking for something to stream. The movie was unappealing to most people as far as paying money to go out and see it, but watching it as part of their D+ sub could be a totally different story for appeal.

 

Idk, I see it getting rather buried if they drop it early next year since there’s no holiday or anything to boost it. But it is animation on D+ which is pretty much guaranteed some streams, so it should do at least as well as whatever strange world did.  

[AniNate]

35 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

Lol, what does that even mean? The casual GA definitely don’t think that way, especially not families with kids looking for something to stream. The movie was unappealing to most people as far as paying money to go out and see it, but watching it as part of their D+ sub could be a totally different story for appeal.

 

Idk, I see it getting rather buried if they drop it early next year since there’s no holiday or anything to boost it. But it is animation on D+ which is pretty much guaranteed some streams, so it should do at least as well as whatever strange world did.  

 

You posited the theory of people being aware enough of the movie bombing to color their perception of it. Probably would make them less inclined to watch it at all if they're not the hatewatching type. I see a much better chance of a streaming reappraisal if it's given time to fade from people's memory a bit before ramping up promotion again.

 

There isn't much for kids in theaters early next year save for Disney's own Pixar rereleases (which are also on D+). I think they'd be able to run a more distinct campaign for it around say Valentine's/President's Day than now, when there's just way too much other stuff going on. They already moved Pixar's Win or Lose series release out of this frame for presumably that same reason (granted December never really made sense for a baseball/softball-themed work anyway, but still)

 

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by AniNate