A Very Queer Thanksgiving Weekend Thread | We Here. We Queer. Move On. | 3-Day/5-Day: Black Panther 45.9/64, Strange World 11.9/18.6, Glass Onion 9.2/13.3, Devotion 6/9, The Menu 5.2/7.3 | Daddy Cameron, please save us!

[PenguinHyphy]

Universal actually tried to put its money where its mouth is by putting out mid budget projects for adults, but they see now that you observe what people do, not what they say:    

 

Redeeming Love - $9,000,000

Ambulance - $22,000,000

Easter Sunday - $13,000,000

Bros - $11,600,000

She Said - $3,600,000 and barely counting 

Fabelmans - $3,000,000 opening over five day Thanksgiving holiday

 

It is apparent that audiences just are not going to see such content in theaters anymore because those are from a huge studio with a sizable promotional campaign, but they are putting up grosses similar to independent studio productions          

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by PenguinHyphy

[Eric the Ape]

We’re still acting as if PVOD impacts box office legs? Lol okay

[Borobudur]

Just now, Eric Clade said:

We’re still acting as if PVOD impacts box office legs? Lol okay

They don't impact legs, they attack box office total directly 

[John2015]

20 minutes ago, PenguinHyphy said:

Universal actually tried to put its money where its mouth is by putting out mid budget projects for adults, but they see now that you observe what people do, not what they say:    

 

Redeeming Love - $9,000,000

Ambulance - $22,000,000

Easter Sunday - $13,000,000

Bros - $11,600,000

She Said - $3,600,000 and barely counting 

Fabelmans - $3,000,000 opening over five day Thanksgiving holiday

 

It is apparent that audiences just are not going to see such content in theaters anymore because those are from a huge studio with a sizable promotional campaign, but they are putting up grosses similar to independent studio productions          

 

 

"Ambulance" seems to be another film that was saved by VOD.

 

Two months after the film's VOD release, Universal signed a first-look deal with Michael Bay.

[LonePirate]

Unless there is a turn around in the next few months in the volume or quality of movies released, we’re going to see a contraction within the exhibition business. Theaters simply cannot operate if most screens are only a quarter full on a holiday weekend.

[Joel M]

Let's keep explaining why a perfectly fine performing Ticket to Paradise is on VOD so soon by listing all the bombs that were saved by VOD.

 

No one would argue if early VOD was just for the bombs, but it's for everything. Even legit mainstream hits like Smile and Elvis got like a month a half in theatres. That's not normal.

[AJG]

Do we know if Fablemans is on 17 day window?

 

[ThomasNicole]

3 minutes ago, Joel M said:

Let's keep explaining why a perfectly fine performing Ticket to Paradise is on VOD so soon by listing all the bombs that were saved by VOD.

 

No one would argue if early VOD was just for the bombs, but it's for everything. Even legit mainstream hits like Smile and Elvis got like a month a half in theatres. That's not normal.

It is normal for 2 years now and it's clearly not gonna change.

 

The reason is just that it doesn't have a significative impact, there's tons of examples on that. Elvis and Smile have exceptional legs. 

 

The only thing VOD can make a negative impact is in milestones. Yes, Ticket To Paradise could finish with 70-72M if it have a full 3 month theatrical window, it will finish with 67-68M instead. 

 

That's not a significative impact, 5M extra millions won't change anything about it's performance, so there's no reason to not just drop the VOD and get way more money on this while the movie is super fresh. 

 

I feel people are angry with the VOD releases way more because it can hurt some milestones than anything else, because other than that, it doesn't matter.

[filmlover]

tbh a lot of Universal's "riskier" gambles this year this didn't necessarily sound so when they were given the green light when you look at them.

 

Ambulance: old school type of action movie from a filmmaker who has delivered some pretty big hits in his career with some highly notable (and affordable) names in the cast. It wasn't until after the movie came out that there were articles about the state of the action movie at the multiplex in 2022 (fellow 90s action director Roland Emmerich also producing a massive bomb not too long before that also highlighted even further how times have changed).

Easter Sunday: a comedy aimed at an underserved and underrepresented audience. Too bad the movie ended up with mediocre reviews and was moved away from its timely original early April release date to a dumpy late summer spot because of that.

Bros: another comedy aimed at an underserved and underrepresented audience, this time from a once-major comedy powerhouse (Apatow) at a time when brand power is considered more important than ever and was positioned by the studio as something special (moving it from a mid-August release date where many R-rated comedies have been hits to a late September launch following a TIFF premiere). It wasn't until it came out that it became clear that romcoms usually flourish depending on star power, and as positive as a cast of exclusively LGBTQ members was, it also meant it faced an uphill battle selling tickets (more a systemic issue than anything else). A bad marketing campaign (that seemed to go out of its way to alienate non-LGBTQ audiences and rightfully came under scrutiny after the fact) didn't help matters either.

She Said: the cynical and popular take is that a major Hollywood studio made a movie about Weinstein to exonerate themselves of him or whatever but the truth is that a major studio was drawn to it because it was based on a critically-acclaimed bestselling book from 2019 (with the same not-marquee-friendly title, by the reporters depicted in the film) and if the movie industry loves anything more than superheroes, it's arguably bringing a bestselling book to the big screen and the rule of thumb is that you have to strike while the iron is hot (looking at a list of the most famous movie adaptations of books will reveal that the average one arrived within less than 5 years of the book being published). Of course, as Broadway can tell you, success in one medium doesn't guarantee you success in another (especially when dealing with an uncomfortable topic).

The Fabelmans: a semi-autobiographical drama from arguably the most famous director alive (with a cast of accomplished actors in front of the camera) responsible for some of the biggest and most influential movies ever. How does one say "no" to that? If any director would have no problem getting a studio to bankroll a subject like that, it's Spielberg, even if this might be the least commercial friendly concept for one of his movies in a very long time. Honestly, the soft box office numbers just confirm that this particular genre of film (semi-autobiographies from directors) will always remain a niche subject in terms of box office interest no matter who makes it. Oh well. At least it exists.

 

They didn't see much financial rewards for these movies, but one can't blame them for making these when they sounded like not especially risky ideas at the time.

[narniadis]

As always @filmlover being an old guard voice of reason. 

[filmlover]

Meanwhile I just saw DreamWorks has debuted a new logo that's premiering before Puss in Boots (the new Disney 100 logo is so pretty on the big screen btw). Gotta chuckle that they only acknowledge some of the characters from the pre-Universal acquisition (The Bad Guys but no Madagascar or Croods?).

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by filmlover

[Flopped]

It's a shame TTP got a bum deal by leaking in HD before its US release and getting a 17-day window because it's such a unicorn in the current landscape. You want those unicorns to stand out and do as well as they can so that other movies like them (hopefully better in quality than TTP) are made. 

[Flopped]

As we wait for King Cameron to save us, let's not forget True Lies in his filmography. Feels like it gets sideline because it's not part of the Alien or Terminator universes and it's not Titanic. 

 

The movie's a little problematic in hindsight but damn is it fun. Arnold is everything The Rock wishes he could be and Jamie Lee's Golden Globe winning performance should have gotten an Oscar nom. 

 

 

[PlatnumRoyce]

Not sure how much to read into this (still in early stages of pulling together more demographic reports on films) but it really looks to me as if Strange World is missing kids/families. Lightyear did as well (for that hypothesis) but I also some of the other thanksgiving kids movie percentages seemed to have a soft u-25 percentage suggesting this might be a time of year thing (though if it was would Disney release major animated films frequently at this time)?

 

 

I mean, obviously, Strange World is mostly just missing everyone. Does anyone know if franchise flops have weird dynamics?

Edited November 26, 2022 by PlatnumRoyce

[BoxOfficeFangrl]

Was going to see The Fabelmans today, but the power is out at the theater (the region's biggest multiplex). Sorry Steven, I tried!

 

Smile was a leggy hit but I was still taken aback to see it hit Paramount+ and EPIX already. At least it hit $100 million first.

 

Still can't believe Universal released Easter Sunday in late summer. I looked it up and the story takes place around Easter. "Christmas in July" is a thing but "Easter in August" is not. The average person sees that scheduling and thinks it's extremely weird timing, or the movie must suck, or both: either way, they don't bother to see it. As a studio, you have to release that 3-4 weeks before Easter, then by their rules, it would’ve hit PVOD in time for Easter, hopefully boosting the on demand sales in the process.

 

The market is changing, but some of these box office fails are own goals by the studios.

[dudalb]

On 11/23/2022 at 8:21 AM, grey ghost said:

Everyone knew Strange Worlds was going to flop.

 

Of course the idiotic "go woke, go broke" crowd will feel validated but that doesn't matter. All that matters is King Iger is back.

The "Go Woke Goi Broke" crowd is pretty silent about the huge sucess of "Wakanda Forever" i note.

[dudalb]

 l

2 hours ago, PlatnumRoyce said:

Not sure how much to read into this (still in early stages of pulling together more demographic reports on films) but it really looks to me as if Strange World is missing kids/families. Lightyear did as well (for that hypothesis) but I also some of the other thanksgiving kids movie percentages seemed to have a soft u-25 percentage suggesting this might be a time of year thing (though if it was would Disney release major animated films frequently at this time)?

 

 

I mean, obviously, Strange World is mostly just missing everyone. Does anyone know if franchise flops have weird dynamics?

Strange World is NOT a franchise film; genre, yes, but not franchise. there is a big difference.

[dudalb]

Streaming has had a  big impact on threatrical box office; you can;t deny it without ignoring the facts.

You can't keep blaming Covid; I think all Covid did was speed up into a couple of years an impact that would have taken four or five year in Noraml condition.

 

[Cmasterclay]

Strange World is like an animate version of Wrinkle In Time where everyone wants to blame it on "wokeness" when all indications are that the movie is kinda bad, even from people naturally rooting for it.

[charlie Jatinder]

4 hours ago, Borobudur said:

They don't impact legs, they attack box office total directly 

This.

 

Early VOD is not impacting legs because it has already impacted the head by creating the atmosphere that, oh this will be out for free in 17 days. 

 

Industry need to stop acting dumb and put a strict 90-120 days window in place.

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by charlie Jatinder