Weekend Thread 7/28-7/30 - Barbenheimer Week 2; Barbie 93M/Oppy 46.2M - Haunted Mansion & Talk to Me OW; Mansion 24.2M, Talk 10M

[Mojoguy]

30 minutes ago, Gopher said:

Something feels broken in how PLF theaters get booked right now. Obviously IMAX and Dolby have become major components of theatrical marketing campaigns so I wouldn't expect Disney with its punitive attitude towards theater chains to suddenly relent on booking HAUNTED MANSON in Dolby... but it's obvious MANSION is gonna make a fraction in Dolby this weekend of what BARBIE would've made. It's also obvious that the average digital IMAX screen will make more off of OPPENHEIMER'S fourth weekend than an entire run of GRAN TURISMO or BLUE BEETLE.

 

Here in LA, FLASH did basically zero business in its second weekend IMAX runs. Give those to SPIDERVERSE or even any older WB title and you get more business, even if you don't spend a cent to promote it.

It's fine.

 

Barbie is going to face THM this weekend instead of The Marvels thanks to Disney moving Marvels. Barbie still got the better end of the deal in terms of weaker competition.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Mojoguy

[Jonwo]

15 minutes ago, Eric the Hatbox Ghost said:

Said this before and I will continue to say it until I am blue in the face: just retrofit some auditoriums and give us two IMAXes and two Dolbys in these big theaters. You get to placate the studios with their strict contracts and demands, while also giving people another option with another movie. It's better for the consumer, fits with the current industry trend, and leads to better legs instead of every movie falling like a rock in weekend 2 and hoping it will eventually stabilize.

 

It's not always going to be perfect. Dead Reckoning would still get screwed over since I'm sure both Barbie and Oppy would have taken up those two IMAX/Dolby auditoriums. But it's way better than what's happening right now and it's baffling to me that theaters didn't prepare for this before the summer started. If AMC doesn't take advantage of the incoming dead period coming soon and begin some construction work, then it really seems like they just want to fail.

 

Although IMAX the corporation is also to blame here. They are notorious for having strict stipulations with movies and tight contracts for movies, as well as having really strong relations with WB and Disney that they refuse to back out from. Which in most cases is just ridiculous. I remember in February 2020 they had Birds of Prey playing in IMAX for like three weeks straight, even though Sonic the Hedgehog was right there and would have obviously brought in more people. But heaven forbid, WB just had to be greedy and waste all those big auditoriums.

IMAX prides itself on exclusivity and probably gets a lot of money from exhibitors wanting their format so it's unlikely we'll ever see two IMAX screens in one cinema. I do think we need a proper IMAX rival that could perhaps a joint venture between different exhibitors, it's surprises me how few Dolby screens are globally. 

 

The other factor is exhibitors are reluctant to spend extra money on new screens or even refurbishing. 

[Eric the IF]

4 minutes ago, JustLurking said:

which is dumb, given that ariel could be any color while snow white is literally named after her skin color lol

I mean it's still a fictional story at the end of the day. You can easily rewrite the story where her name isn't because of her "skin as white as snow", but that she was born in the winter time or something. Minus that one minor detail you can easily edit out of the story, there's no real reason why Snow White can't be a Latina. Is it really any more egregious than a Latino man playing Alexander Hamilton, a real-life white guy, on the stage? And frankly, the kids who this is being aimed at aren't going to care. It'll just be an "oh, okay" to them, assuming any possible bigoted parents didn't poison their minds

[Liiviig 1998]

6 minutes ago, Spidey Freak said:

 

TLM is making almost 300M DOM. Don't disagree that Snow White is a tougher sell but going by TLM goes against your point.

It barely broke even is my point. 550m is far cry from the other major live action remakes . Sure it would never hit a billion but at least 750m- 800m if OS didn't flop so bad.

 

I'm not even sure snowhite it can do Cinderella numbers Dom. 

 

TLM was non existent  in both Asia and LATM. The  discourse and backlash was huge . Expect about the same or worse for snow white.

 

 

[Eric the IF]

2 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

IMAX prides itself on exclusivity and probably gets a lot of money from exhibitors wanting their format so it's unlikely we'll ever see two IMAX screens in one cinema. I do think we need a proper IMAX rival that could perhaps a joint venture between different exhibitors, it's surprises me how few Dolby screens are globally. 

 

The other factor is exhibitors are reluctant to spend extra money on new screens or even refurbishing. 

Well IMAX/exhibitors need to wake up and fix their attitudes. It's clear at this stage of the game they are not giving people the premium experience they want and are losing more and more attendees every year. You have to adapt and for some reason these parties just aren't. It's dumb.

[Jonwo]

2 minutes ago, Eric the Hatbox Ghost said:

I mean it's still a fictional story at the end of the day. You can easily rewrite the story where her name isn't because of her "skin as white as snow", but that she was born in the winter time or something. Minus that one minor detail you can easily edit out of the story, there's no real reason why Snow White can't be a Latina. Is it really any more egregious than a Latino man playing Alexander Hamilton, a real-life white guy, on the stage? And frankly, the kids who this is being aimed at aren't going to care. It'll just be an "oh, okay" to them, assuming any possible bigoted parents didn't poison their minds

I agree, I think people who get angry about Snow White's casting need to remember, it's not a real person. I recently saw a production of The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy, Auntie Em and Uncle Em were black and it did not make a jot of difference to the story. 

 

 

[Jonwo]

3 minutes ago, Eric the Hatbox Ghost said:

Well IMAX/exhibitors need to wake up and fix their attitudes. It's clear at this stage of the game they are not giving people the premium experience they want and are losing more and more attendees every year. You have to adapt and for some reason these parties just aren't. It's dumb.

I don't disagree but it's not something the exhibitors can control since IMAX holds the cards. That's why I think a rival PLF which offers similar experience could be a solution. 

 

There's a few screen formats which have been released like Samsung's Onyx but it's in very few markets. 

[filmlover]

At this point IMAX/Dolby/etc. primarily serve as an opening weekend boost more than anything else.

[ringedmortality]

I like how Cinemark XD isn't even in the conversation of PLFs

[ZattMurdock]

10 minutes ago, Eric the Hatbox Ghost said:

Well IMAX/exhibitors need to wake up and fix their attitudes. It's clear at this stage of the game they are not giving people the premium experience they want and are losing more and more attendees every year. You have to adapt and for some reason these parties just aren't. It's dumb.

I’m not sure what happens outside the US but at least around here in Brazil it is very simple: biggest launch of the week gets to play at the IMAX screening. Given that it is lieMAX but still carries their brand. Meaning that talks like The Flash holding screens when people want to watch the biggest release there or that talk about Dune 2 keeping the exclusive deal no matter what over The Marvels releasing is not an issue on my end. Dune 2 will likely just share the IMAX screening with The Marvels, with the first days likely just going to The Marvels depending on demand. Despite frequenting this board for more than ten years, I never really faced the whole ‘IMAX screen exclusive" issue. 

Edited July 28, 2023 by ZattMurdock

[harry713]

27m

35m (+30%)

28m (-20%)

90m (-44.5%)

 

Why is everyone so overreactive? This is literally right in line with recent expectations??

Edited July 28, 2023 by harry713

[Bobzaruni]

1 minute ago, harry713 said:

27m

35m (+30%)

28m (-20%)

90m (-44.5%)

 

Why is everyone so overreactive? This is literally right in line with recent expectations??

people were hoping for 100m+ i presume

[ZattMurdock]

1 hour ago, Jonwo said:

Snow White intrigues me because Greta Gerwig co wrote the screenplay and the other writer Erin Cressida Wilson is best known for films like Secretary, Chloe and The Girl on the Train. 

 

There are also the 20th Century films like Alien which should do well,, 

I didn’t know this; now I’m intrigued.

[JustLurking]

13 minutes ago, Eric the Hatbox Ghost said:

I mean it's still a fictional story at the end of the day. You can easily rewrite the story where her name isn't because of her "skin as white as snow", but that she was born in the winter time or something. Minus that one minor detail you can easily edit out of the story, there's no real reason why Snow White can't be a Latina. Is it really any more egregious than a Latino man playing Alexander Hamilton, a real-life white guy, on the stage? And frankly, the kids who this is being aimed at aren't going to care. It'll just be an "oh, okay" to them, assuming any possible bigoted parents didn't poison their minds

I don't care, and neither is personally a big deal to me. I'm just saying since people are going to complain, the complaints should logically be *bigger* here since there was an actual story reason, however minor it may be, for the character to be a certain way, which there really wasn't for Ariel.

 

So...yeah? I agree with what you said, but it wasn't really my point.

[DisposedData]

15 minutes ago, Liiviig 1998 said:

It barely broke even is my point. 550m is far cry from the other major live action remakes . Sure it would never hit a billion but at least 750m- 800m if OS didn't flop so bad.

 

I'm not even sure snowhite it can do Cinderella numbers Dom. 

 

TLM was non existent  in both Asia and LATM. The  discourse and backlash was huge . Expect about the same or worse for snow white.

 

 

It's kind of unrealistic to ever expect Snow White match Cinderella under any circumstance. It just isn't as popular.

[ZattMurdock]

2 minutes ago, JustLurking said:

I don't care, and neither is personally a big deal to me. I'm just saying since people are going to complain, the complaints should logically be *bigger* here since there was an actual story reason, however minor it may be, for the character to be a certain way, which there really wasn't for Ariel.

 

So...yeah? I agree with what you said, but it wasn't really my point.

It’s a fairytale for literally children. It’s Disney princesses stories.There is getting mad at superhero non sense and then there is getting worked up at how Disney princesses are presented. I hope that those that get to that point have friends and family to enact an intervention because holy shit.

[ThomasNicole]

Grown straight men fighting over Ariel and Barbie “respectful adaptations” is certainly one of the funniest outcomes of the decade so far , isn’t it? 
 

It’s pitiful, but i kinda love to see

[redfirebird2008]

22 minutes ago, MrPink said:

 

Was it the Palladium?

 

The location is too god damn far away.

Yeah, Richmond Palladium. Only been there once for a PLF show of Jurassic World. Long way from my neck of the woods (Conroe area lol)

[ThomasNicole]

I’m really tired of these Disney movies with awful lightning, i was hopeful Haunted Mansion maybe was an actually fun ride but while i don’t use reviews as proof that i shouldn’t watch something, i’m starting to think maybe awful reviews should be enough for me to not pay to watch it. 
 

I think i’ll just go see First Slam Dunk instead since luckily it’ll be released here.

[wildphantom]

That’s a shame Haunted Mansion isn’t supposed to be much good. The film they should have made is there in the story of the ride. We didn’t need modern day stay over comedy hijinks. Oh well. 
I’ll still see it, but if you’ve ever been on the ride you just can’t believe they haven’t managed to make a faithful film based on it. It’s right there!!