Father’s Day/Juneteenth Weekend Thread | Flash implodes with 55M, Elemental bombs with 29M, holdovers hold atrociously | Theaters are dead, streaming is dead. Everything is dead really.

[Spidey Freak]

11 minutes ago, John Marston said:

Disney Plus and the reliance on Disney Plus is all on Iger 

 

Inexplicably shoving Turning Red to Disney+, giving Encanto a very shortened theatrical window, the mishandling of the parks + the donations to DeSantis which forced his LGBT employees to object in the first place was all Chapek.

 

I'm not caping for Iger and I know he left several cracks in the foundation for Chapek, but c'mon. It was a whole other level of inefficiency.

 

 

[cookie]

1 minute ago, Spidey Freak said:

 

Inexplicably shoving Turning Red to Disney+, giving Encanto a very shortened theatrical window, the mishandling of the parks + the donations to DeSantis which forced his LGBT employees to object in the first place was all Chapek.

 

I'm not caping for Iger and I know he left several cracks in the foundation for Chapek, but c'mon. It was a whole other level of inefficiency.

 

 

Chapek was just a downright idiot. One of his last acts was bragging about a minor event at DisneyWorld as some big success story. It's like he lived on a completely different planet from what the rest of the board was thinking at that moment.

[Eric Prime]

The whole “these movies are unappealing” stuff doesn’t track IMO. The Lion King remake is the lamest, most shameful “we only made this to make money” movie ever, and it still opened higher than the first Spider-Verse’s entire run. If anything, the only movies that breakout are almost all of the same action spectacle ilk and audiences have the least diverse taste and interest in movies ever.

[Koni]

12 minutes ago, Maggie said:

Studios aren't really making mid budget prestige films nowadays. They'd rather lose 100M+ on The Flash than invest the Flash budget in several mid-budget movies. Make it make sense

If I had to guess, it's because "why only make some money, when you can make all of the money?" Releasing a big-budget film is more of a risk, but the payoff I imagine is far greater. And I bet companies really only see the potential profits they can make rather than consider their losses. People have gotten used to the concept of reboots, too, so if an IP you know can do big numbers fails, then you can always just try again down the line.

[grey ghost]

15 minutes ago, John Marston said:

 

 

Disney Plus and the reliance on Disney Plus is all on Iger 

 

 

When did Iger totally abandon theaters and send animated movies directly to Disney Plus?

[wildphantom]

8 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

They go to things that cannot ever be replicated at home. Concerts and such. I think the person above who said the movies that make money are things that have a real spoiler/rush fact to them is bang on. This means that the things that once built legs and just had normal runs are SOL. Many blockbusters will be fine I agree.

I hear what you’re saying for sure. Am with you. I’m less pessimistic as people do still want to see these kind of movies, and theaters are still the best advert for them - no matter how they do. 
We just need the mega movies to make the money for the riskier projects to be greenlit. 
 

I mean how much money did Extraction make this weekend? Answer - $0

Millions would have watched it. Those millions wouldn’t have cancelled Netflix if it wasn’t on there either. 
 

The model of spending so much money for no return with streaming is unsustainable in the long run. I think the cinema business will he just fine, even if it’s going to change. It’s always adapted. 

Edited June 18, 2023 by wildphantom

[Cmasterclay]

If Killers of Flower Moon or Napoleon make money, that'd at least indicate adults will show up for movies sometime - though they would require two of the most famous directors in Hollywood and the biggest stars to do it!

 

Now if something like The Creator of Book of Samuel breaks out, it would give me much more hope and encourage studios to invest in expensive, ambitious projects from directors without as much a track record.

[Jonwo]

6 minutes ago, Eric Prime said:

The whole “these movies are unappealing” stuff doesn’t track IMO. The Lion King remake is the lamest, most shameful “we only made this to make money” movie ever, and it still opened higher than the first Spider-Verse’s entire run. If anything, the only movies that breakout are almost all of the same action spectacle ilk and audiences have the least diverse taste and interest in movies ever.

The Lion King is a beast quite literally and figuratively. I was a bit meh on the remake but the signs were there for it to break out as it was Disney's biggest hit before Frozen came along and it has lived on through both the original film and the stage version and the latter is even more of a beast than the remake, on Broadway alone it has made $1.8bn, globally it's $8.2bn.

 

Speaking of musicals, the global revenues for Wicked is $3.5bn which makes it one of Universal's biggest success stories and why we can't count out the upcoming film adaptation.

Edited June 18, 2023 by Jonwo

[MovieMan89]

4 minutes ago, Eric Prime said:

The whole “these movies are unappealing” stuff doesn’t track IMO. The Lion King remake is the lamest, most shameful “we only made this to make money” movie ever, and it still opened higher than the first Spider-Verse’s entire run. If anything, the only movies that breakout are almost all of the same action spectacle ilk and audiences have the least diverse taste and interest in movies ever.

It was still very appealing though, by sheer virtue of being The Lion King, aka one of the most beloved films of all time. Hence why the OW was huge and the legs were horrendous after people saw how lame it was. 

[M37]

34 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

I would be willing to bet money that by 2030 movies like No Hard Feelings, Elemental, and Asteroid City are no longer released in theaters. I would say that by the end of the decade the vast majority of theaters are shuttered and the model becomes the occassional roadshow-type release for a very large release. I just don't think people have grappled at all with how quickly and dramatically people's habits are changing. Not just with movies but with all consumption of entertainment and information. The world of 2030 is going to be unrecognizable from the world we live in today because of the exponential takeover of technology.

 

 

Big city theaters will be fine, and even your standard busy 16-plex with at least one PLF screen (or ability to add one) in a mid-major market isn’t going away.  But the slower 8-screen in smaller market is definitely in danger long term. The current box office admission level, particularly outside of metros, just can’t support locations that don’t have ability/funds to upgrade screens/seats/concessions to be able to squeeze enough revenue out of fewer patrons 

 

The comparison I’ve made before is to amusement parks, in that there used be much smaller mom & pop ones in a whole lot of towns, but those have been fading, while the big theme parks have gotten way more expensive. Movies are just going become less broad pop culture entertainment, more big city/higher income experiences 

[21C]

Leave it to Deadline to keep spinning even right now:
 

 

[MovieMan89]

I think theaters are dying is a bit doomposting-ish, buttt Gen alpha/z are concerning. They def don’t care about theatergoing as much, and if that’s the case what gonna happen with their kids if the “tradition” isn’t passed down? It could be a real problem in 20 years or so. 

[Austin]

16 hours ago, excel1 said:

 

To only people that have seen both BVS and THE FLASH - does anyone think they're comparable in quality to your average casual moviegoer?

Well, I liked BvS more than The Flash lol.

[CJohn]

4 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

If Killers of Flower Moon or Napoleon make money, that'd at least indicate adults will show up for movies sometime - though they would require two of the most famous directors in Hollywood and the biggest stars to do it!

 

Now if something like The Creator of Book of Samuel breaks out, it would give me much more hope and encourage studios to invest in expensive, ambitious projects from directors without as much a track record.

Killers of the Flower Moon is 3 and a half hours long. If it does 50M total is a major win.

[Jonwo]

1 minute ago, M37 said:

Big city theaters will be fine, and even your standard busy 16-plex with at least one PLF screen (or ability to add one) in a mid-major market isn’t going away.  But the slower 8-screen in smaller market is definitely in danger long term. The current box office admission level, particularly outside of metros, just can’t support locations that don’t have ability/funds to upgrade screens/seats/concessions to be able to squeeze enough revenue out of fewer patrons 

 

The comparison I’ve made before is to amusement parks, in that there used be much smaller mom & pop ones in a whole lot of towns, but those have been fading, while the big theme parks have gotten way more expensive. Movies are just going become less broad pop culture entertainment, more big city/higher income experiences 

I'm not sure how it is in the US but in the UK, the market for the more premium cinema experience with comfortable chairs, great food and a curated film selection has seen growth and those are 3-6 screens. 

 

There will always be room for the PLF experience but I think you can draw audiences especially those who aren't into blockbusters back to see the smaller and mid scale stuff like Asteroid City, you just need to make the experience better.

[Barbie]

asteroid city 

$131,667 PTA. this makes no sense lol. wtf?

[Torontofan]

1 hour ago, JWR said:

 

Nothing to do with it at all. Mario wasn't hurt by people complaining about Peach being "Woke."

Also it helped it was a an entertaining movie

[Jonwo]

Just now, Barbie said:

asteroid city 

$131,667 PTA. this makes no sense lol. wtf?

It was only release in 4 theaters. 

[MovieMan89]

In the case of gen alpha, I’d argue they don’t even seem to like movies at all that much. It’s like it’s all gotta be short form content now. 

[cookie]

Netflix has conditioned people that mid-budget movies can easily be seen at home. Why put the effort and the $ to go out and see stuff like Knock at the Cabin, Air, Book Club 2, etc. when movies of similar caliber (though not necessarily the same quality) are a few clicks away on your telly? The same decline hasn't happened to big tentpoles because the studios have the big brands and Netflix doesn't, nor has Netflix/Amazon/Apple's attempts at producing Hollywood-level blockbusters yielded many memorable original products.

 

Horror has been mostly immune to the decline but that genre seems to get away on similar grounds that big VFX blockbusters do.