C’MON BARBIE LET'S GO PARTY...AT LOS ALAMOS | BARBENHEIMER WEEKEND THREAD | We’re Thriving in our Plastic Fantastic Era | Mother Mothered with 162M | Daddy Exploded with 82.4M

[John Marston]

1 minute ago, keysersoze123 said:

I dont like seeing movies on digital. 2K resolution, mediocre picture quality and small screen. I would rather see it on my 4K OLED tv at home with great sound system. TVs are getting better and many have 77" or above tvs. So theatrical business cannot sustain on mediocre screens. Every screen should be like a PLF. Need not be an Imax. But fairly good screen size, great resolution(at least 4K) and sound system. Plus ensure seating quality (I love the seats at Dolby Cinema). 

 

I think AMC is upgrading all their screens to "Laser Cinema" by 2026. I hope others follow as well. 

 

 

the AMCs near me have absolutely terrible screens. The LieMax's in particular suck. 

[Jonwo]

2 minutes ago, keysersoze123 said:

I dont like seeing movies on digital. 2K resolution, mediocre picture quality and small screen. I would rather see it on my 4K OLED tv at home with great sound system. TVs are getting better and many have 77" or above tvs. So theatrical business cannot sustain on mediocre screens. Every screen should be like a PLF. Need not be an Imax. But fairly good screen size, great resolution(at least 4K) and sound system. Plus ensure seating quality (I love the seats at Dolby Cinema). 

 

I think AMC is upgrading all their screens to "Laser Cinema" by 2026. I hope others follow as well. 

I do think the pandemic put a lot of investment to replace the aging digital projectors and sound systems on hold. New builds come with laser as standard but it's the older cinemas that are the issue. It's likely been a decade or more since they got those older digital projectors.

[JustLurking]

44 minutes ago, Ororo Munroe said:

Good to see it being one of the OS markets that embraced TLM. Will be interesting to see Elemental's numbers. 

Japan didn't embrace TLM...it's one of the worst performing disney live actions in the market. It just didn't completely bomb there is all.

[AMC Theaters Enjoyer]

1 minute ago, Jonwo said:

I do think the pandemic put a lot of investment to replace the aging digital projectors and sound systems on hold. New builds come with laser as standard but it's the older cinemas that are the issue. It's likely been a decade or more since they got those older digital projectors.

Anecdotally, I think you’re on the money here cause when I was working at AMC we were gonna have some upgrades at my theater but then the pandemic hit and we never got that done while I was there.

[TheDarkKnightOfSteel]

Not taking anything away from Gosling and especially Gerwig but Robbie was totally the biggest reason why Barbie succeeded. She is extraordinarily beautiful and has the classic Barbie look down to a T but I won’t even focus on looks… there are plenty of blonde hair/ blue eyes actresses out there. But this character in the hands of a less capable actress would end up looking like a caricature. Robbie delivered a fantastic performance that connected with the target audience. Even in the 2 minutes trailers she was sincere and charming and confident. 
 

Like I love Anne Hathaway to death but her Barbie would not click the same way. I won’t even talk about the Amy Schumer version… 

Edited July 23, 2023 by TheDarkKnightOfSteel

[kayumanggi]

1 hour ago, filmlover said:

I believe so, yes.

 

But if it's two openers on the same weekend? Is it WORLD WAR Z?

[filmlover]

2 minutes ago, kayumanggi said:

 

But if it's two openers on the same weekend? Is it WORLD WAR Z?

Gotta be, yeah.

[The Dark Alfred]

13 minutes ago, keysersoze123 said:

I dont like seeing movies on digital. 2K resolution, mediocre picture quality and small screen. I would rather see it on my 4K OLED tv at home with great sound system. TVs are getting better and many have 77" or above tvs. So theatrical business cannot sustain on mediocre screens. Every screen should be like a PLF. Need not be an Imax. But fairly good screen size, great resolution(at least 4K) and sound system. Plus ensure seating quality (I love the seats at Dolby Cinema). 

 

I think AMC is upgrading all their screens to "Laser Cinema" by 2026. I hope others follow as well. 

Smaller, intimate screens are a better business model in the long run. What needs to change is vultures like Disney not charging crazy money crippling exhibitors and putting their content into streaming. I'm advocate to have more PLF screens, but need a right balance. If all cinemas have PLF the industry would collapse, it is crystal clear to see.

Edited July 23, 2023 by The Dark Alfred

[vale9001]

The amy schumer version of Barbie was even supposed to be produced by Sony

 

28 on Metacritic was coming. 

[kayumanggi]

14 minutes ago, kayumanggi said:

The worldwide opening of BARBIE already puts it at number 10 globally among Hollywood releases.

 

My mistake. It's 11th. DEAD RECKONING I has also entered the list.

[Jonwo]

5 minutes ago, AMC Theaters Enjoyer said:

Anecdotally, I think you’re on the money here cause when I was working at AMC we were gonna have some upgrades at my theater but then the pandemic hit and we never got that done while I was there.

I can understand why they did put that investment on hold but I think it's important for exhibitors going forward to invest in their sites every so often and TBF before the pandemic, many were. 

[Krissykins]

51 minutes ago, WorkingonaName said:

DOFP was the movie Flash wants to be.

That’s actually the only X-Men film I haven’t seen. Will need to watch it at some point. 
 

45 minutes ago, kayumanggi said:

 

 

Incredible for Barbie. $337m opening weekend. That UK number is insane. 

[M37]

4 minutes ago, keysersoze123 said:

I dont like seeing movies on digital. 2K resolution, mediocre picture quality and small screen. I would rather see it on my 4K OLED tv at home with great sound system. TVs are getting better and many have 77" or above tvs. So theatrical business cannot sustain on mediocre screens. Every screen should be like a PLF. Need not be an Imax. But fairly good screen size, great resolution(at least 4K) and sound system. Plus ensure seating quality (I love the seats at Dolby Cinema). 

 

I think AMC is upgrading all their screens to "Laser Cinema" by 2026. I hope others follow as well. 

The Barco laser projectors are nice (and so quiet!), though I don't know how much the average viewer will notice much difference on screen, depending on the quality of what they are replacing.

 

But making "every screen like a PLF" is much more complicated, much costlier investment, especially with the market in a period of flux and not knowing what the future will hold. I suppose some chain is going to bite the bullet and just go for that strategy, and it will either be successful, or burning cash in a fading industry

[ZattMurdock]

27 minutes ago, Arlborn said:

I get what you are saying and I agree, marketing strategy needed to be better to attract younger people at least. It’s just that I think most people here have already agreed that the marketing was one of the issues, because the movie itself was a great action movie.

I don’t doubt that this is true. I don’t doubt the film’s reviews, my point is that for one reason or another, Fast and Furious became an actual popular box office juggernaut while Mission: Impossible never reached the same heights. I don’t think you can fabricate the type of marketing that both Indiana Jones and Mission: Impossible actually need.

 

Despite breaking my heart, I agree with the take from the video I’ve posted earlier: without Harrison Ford and John Williams, Indiana Jones as a character is nothing but a hat and a whip. It hurts to say it, because clearly that character is important to me. I firmly believe that eventually, we will get a reboot and the odds of that being successful is good, but we can’t ignore that Solo also happened and well, I’d argue that that film is the actual one single misfire of Lucasfilm under Disney’s tenure - other than Dial of Destiny at least from a financial standpoint, that is.

 

Uncharted is a film that in my opinion didn’t work. Not because I don’t love Tom Holland as an actor and find him crazy talented, but because it is an obvious miscast. One of the most popular memes I saw for MI7 was related to this:

 

 

And this is what I mean when I say that neither M:I or Indy have much more going for them other than a vocal hardcore aging fanbase. How do you market a film like M:I7 more than having Cruise free falling and promoting it by saying "see you at the movies" amid the pandemic? Or the viral audio of him demanding safety to his set? I mean I don’t like the guy and I’m not a fan of M:I, but that free falling commercial was an impressive stunt regardless the way you put it.

 

My takeaway about MI7 and the MI franchise is that no matter how crazy money you spend on marketing it, even if you have the perfect marketing for it (and I’d argue that the marketing at least from the viral side was good), people don’t seem to care because younger generations don’t have an attachment to it. We get bombarded with cool shit like this particular scene that MI7 seems to pay homage for in videogames and Netflix 24-7. Extraction 2 was released weeks before MI7 and it’s one of that platform’s biggest films.
 

Tom Cruise does his own stunts is a good sell, but just like Indy, M:I isn’t integral to the public conscious of the new gen as much as Nathan Drake, that’s their Indiana Jones guy, that’s the guy that they remember fondly escaping of well, impossible situations. It’s not that we are entering "the age of videogame adaptations" with Super Mario Bros (and I sincerely doubt that we are getting an Uncharted sequel, hopefully a reboot eventually), my point is that what Lionsgate is aiming for John Wick is what Mission: Impossible should have for like a decade by now if they planned to become bigger than they actually were, and the budget, even if ballooned by covid, seems to indicate that Paramount does have the interest of going big with the franchise:

 

Building spin-offs that enrich the world and welcome new characters, like Ana DeArmas Ballerina, that Continental tv series that they are prepping, this is the kind of marketing I’m talking about. It’s about keeping the brand present and with more people getting into the fold.

 

Top Gun Maverick worked because of Top Gun, not because of Tom Cruise, but the character he plays on that franchise, jingoistic America fuck yeah and all. M:I8 won’t be able to build the kind of brand presence with a younger crowd by simple WOM. You can hire the best marketing team ever, and I don’t doubt that Cruise has one of the best for this franchise, but I think that what M:I7 and Dial of Destiny both teach us is that they are old franchises that the new gen just doesn’t have a personal connection with.
 

Meanwhile, John Wick, arguably the third time that Keanu Reeves has reinvented himself as an actor and the second time as an action star, it’s out there planning spin-offs, tv shows, AAA videogames and the type of multimedia presence that takes long and proper planning of more 5-10 years, and that franchise doesn’t have even 10 years. That’s the kind of ’marketing’ I believe Indy and M:I doesn’t have, a multimedia presence that serves as gateway to their new films.

[reddevil19]

So Oppenheimer above MI7 WW?

We'll have to see legs for it of course but the fact that it's a possibility blows my mind.

[kayumanggi]

 

[Water Bottle]

It would be funny if they put Amy Schumer in the now inevitable Barbie sequel. I like Amy Schumer. She's funny.

[Jonwo]

1 minute ago, M37 said:

The Barco laser projectors are nice (and so quiet!), though I don't know how much the average viewer will notice much difference on screen, depending on the quality of what they are replacing.

 

But making "every screen like a PLF" is much more complicated, much costlier investment, especially with the market in a period of flux and not knowing what the future will hold. I suppose some chain is going to bite the bullet and just go for that strategy, and it will either be successful, or burning cash in a fading industry

I wouldn't make every screen a PLF just because it's quite costly to have every screen be a PLF and some some cinemas simply can't do it due to size or location. In the UK, the boutique cinemas like Everyman have seen growth and their strategy is smaller cinemas that are a more premium experience and having been to one of their cinemas, it's pricey but worth it.

[kayumanggi]

 

[Kalo]

1 hour ago, Gavin Feng said:

what was the biggest opener without winning the weekend? Inside Out?

Yes.