Christmas Weekend Thread | Xmas Day #s - Purple 18.1, Aqua 10.6, Wonka 10.3, Boys 5.7, Migration 5.4, Ferrari 2.9 | #BlackGirlMagic dominates the charts

[MovieMan89]

10 minutes ago, MightyDargon said:

I see people got bored with "Avatar has zero cultural relevance" and have now moved to "kids don't like Mario" for this board's latest bizarre meme.

At least with Avatar there was a kernel of truth in that the fandom wasn't that dedicated (although Cameron was also smart enough not to strip mine it the way Lucasfilm or Marvel did under Disney). 

 

Avatar does have little to no pop culture footprint. And I say that as someone who was insisting 700 and 2b for A2 would happen this time last year when many were in full blown “FLOP” mode before Xmas Day happened.

They are movies that can make boatloads of money, but they have not been a pop culture force. Outside of all of those “Avatar depression” people who actually wanted to be on Pandora for a few months after the first. Thats about the most pop culture footprint the franchise has ever given us.

[AniNate]

3 minutes ago, MightyDargon said:

It has to be an IP that at least already registers with them.

 

Or a less "generic looking" original movie.

[MightyDargon]

Just now, MovieMan89 said:

Avatar does have little to no pop culture footprint. And I say that as someone who was insisting 700 and 2b for A2 would happen this time last year when many were in full blown “FLOP” mode before Xmas Day happened.

They are movies that can make boatloads of money, but they have not been a pop culture force. Outside of all of those “Avatar depression” people who actually wanted to be on Pandora for a few months after the first. Thats about the most pop culture footprint the franchise has ever given us.

If it had no "pop culture footprint" it would not have made what it did. Avatar is not a generic film, it just doesn't have a very "devout" fanbase because they watch a lot of other stuff as well. It used to be normal for blockbusters to make a lot but not have an insane fanbase. Avatar is a throwback to this.

[MovieMan89]

4 minutes ago, Eric Wonka said:

I work at Target and uh...yeah, that ain't right lol

Oh cmon man, you know I meant the movie not the merch. Let’s not do this. I’m not spending the time to find it, but nearly certain we got data at some point about the under 13 demo for Barbie being less than 10% or something. 

[Eric Prime]

53 minutes ago, AniNate said:

Soul I'm less certain of since it's a lot moodier and the narrative is pretty reliant on its metaphysical themes

 

I remember pre-COVID, when the world was sane, a lot of us, including myself, felt Soul was going to be this huge breakout for Pixar, but it honestly feels more and more with time that it would have done like Ratatouille numbers (still obviously really good and successful ofc!). I liked the movie, but a lot of the ideas are a little too adult even for Pixar. Hard to make a story about a guy wondering if he should have a job that gives him benefits or not be interesting to kids, especially when even something like Up has a cute kid sidekick and a talking dog to get all those 8 year olds interested.

 

You can also see that in some of the Disney+ Nielsen ratings that TV Grim Reaper shares on Twitter, where Soul almost never reaches the top 10 originals. And it's not even that high a barrier of entry.

 

[cannastop]

1 minute ago, Eric Wonka said:

this chart and others is exactly what I was talking about with Turning Red being on top.

[MovieMan89]

Turning Red was massive with my female coworkers, nearly all in their 20s and 30s. Not Barbie level, but probably second runner up behind Encanto for the most talked about movie with them since I’ve worked there. 

[JustLurking]

Anedoctally my Barbie showing had plenty of kids. Movie wasn't really made with them in mind but they seemed to have enjoyed it as far as I could tell getting out.

[Kon]

39 minutes ago, Eric Wonka said:

I work at Target and uh...yeah, that ain't right lol

I think the point was about Barbie movie. The movie doesn't seem so big between kids. Apparently, the audience under 18 was 11%.

 

That said, I'm sure the outburst for the Barbie movie attracted attention on the brand.

Edited December 24, 2023 by Kon

[MightyDargon]

Gerwig's real innovation was showing you could get kids into an adult oriented film with the right approach and marketing.

Hollywood is too stoopid to learn the lesson.

[Speedorito]

3 minutes ago, MightyDargon said:

Gerwig's real innovation was showing you could get kids into an adult oriented film with the right approach and marketing.

Hollywood is too stoopid to learn the lesson.

You don’t have confidence in Magic 8 Ball: The Movie?

[MightyDargon]

1 minute ago, Speedorito said:

You don’t have confidence in Magic 8 Ball: The Movie?

I'm partial to the 300 million dollar reboot of Street Sharks myself.

[MovieMan89]

1 hour ago, Speedorito said:

You don’t have confidence in Magic 8 Ball: The Movie?

Didn’t they already make those Magic 8 Balls movies with Channing Tatum? 

[Wandavisionlover0924]

1 hour ago, JustLurking said:

Anedoctally my Barbie showing had plenty of kids. Movie wasn't really made with them in mind but they seemed to have enjoyed it as far as I could tell getting out.

Hilariously much of the dialogue  in the move felt so juvenile and dumbed down 

[ThePrinceIsOnFire]

I think we need to redifine what a success is, especially in the long run. All these 100-150 M budgeted movies that earn 300-400 M at Worldwide box office do make a profit (however small it might be) that could be enough for the producers, but they don't help the theatres owners/chains, who would prefer more "flops"  like Mission Impossible, aiming high enough to bring a final tally of 500/600 M + WW.

Keeping the budgets in check should be a priority going forward, but giving a pat on the back each and everytime a movie does the safe play by lowering its production costs (that makes reaching the breakeven point at 2.5x  of its budget way easier) creates a risk- adverse environment where there is no big gamble and no big gain for the theatres.

Tickets sold are at an all time- low,  and for all the bad press they received, movies like Mission Impossible and Fast X are the ones that are still moving the needle for theatre business to stay alive, it's not Hunger Games or Wonka with their relatively small earnings, which only look good when applying the budget ratio. 

This december, just like november before it, is a disaster for the theatre business as a whole, no matter how we try to spin it. We need the big blogbusters to show up and perform well,  and something like The Hunger games, taking a huge franchise with a great box office potential and downsizing it to a mid-budget production with no stars and no stakes might look like a great choice on paper and it turned out well for the producer, but is a straight up disaster for the theatres.

What's next? Rebooting Pirates of the Carribean with no stars, cheap effects and  restrained 100 M budget in hopes of earning 300M WW?

 

[TMP]

Aquaman 2’s script felt like the result of a chatGPT prompt that asked for a Jules Verne novel written by a 5 year old. Really is almost too brain-dead to engage with in any meaningful manner, but I’m sure it’s a riot with the right amount of drugs. Feel like unless you take this superhero business intensely serious, it really wasn’t worth all the weird pre-release hubbub lol

[Eric Prime]

7 minutes ago, ThePrinceIsOnFire said:

I think we need to redifine what a success is, especially in the long run. All these 100-150 M budgeted movies that earn 300-400 M at Worldwide box office do make a profit (however small it might be) that could be enough for the producers, but they don't help the theatres owners/chains, who would prefer more "flops"  like Mission Impossible, aiming high enough to bring a final tally of 500/600 M + WW.

Keeping the budgets in check should be a priority going forward, but giving a pat on the back each and everytime a movie does the safe play by lowering its production costs (that makes reaching the breakeven point at 2.5x  of its budget way easier) creates a risk- adverse environment where there is no big gamble and no big gain for the theatres.

Tickets sold are at an all time- low,  and for all the bad press they received, movies like Mission Impossible and Fast X are the ones that are still moving the needle for theatre business to stay alive, it's not Hunger Games or Wonka with their relatively small earnings, which only look good when applying the budget ratio. 

This december, just like november before it, is a disaster for the theatre business as a whole, no matter how we try to spin it. We need the big blogbusters to show up and perform well,  and something like The Hunger games, taking a huge franchise with a great box office potential and downsizing it to a mid-budget production with no stars and no stakes might look like a great choice on paper and it turned out well for the producer, but is a straight up disaster for the theatres.

What's next? Rebooting Pirates of the Carribean with no stars, cheap effects and  restrained 100 M budget in hopes of earning 300M WW?

 

K.

[DAJK]

1 hour ago, MightyDargon said:

Gerwig's real innovation was showing you could get kids into an adult oriented film with the right approach and marketing.

Hollywood is too stoopid to learn the lesson.

Pixar did this for years in the 2000s.

[CJohn]

Who could have predicted that a sequel to Aquaman would open to only 28M. What an insane time to be alive.

[TigerPaw]

4 minutes ago, CJohn said:

Who could have predicted that a sequel to Aquaman would open to only 28M. What an insane time to be alive.

Wasn't a huge shock to be honest. Once the Amber Heard situation went crazy, and people were tweeting BoyCottAquaman when the first trailer came out + our understanding of Christmas eve falling on Sun - with the presales figures.. Some of us already thought + / - 25m.

28m is not really very shocking?