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

[YM!]

45 minutes ago, AniNate said:

Key for Migration will be how long it's able to hold onto its ultra wide release. Ferdinand dropped below 3,000 theaters in mid-January when Paddington 2 came out, but Puss 2 was able to hold on through mid-February. I wouldn't think the Pixar rereleases would be that big of competition, but I can see Disney perhaps bullying theaters into giving Soul their Migration screens.

Disney is not in the position after this year to bully any sort of screens.

[Kon]

32 minutes ago, Mojoguy said:

I'd say Raya and Encanto had the pandemic excuse for not doing better, but Strange World and Wish flopping is entirely on Jennifer Lee.

 

One failure us a fluke, two is a coincidence, and three is a pattern. If next WDAS movie flops, Iger is going to have Lee fired and replaced by another woman. Whatever WDAS is doing now is just not working. 

 

I know Raya couldn't be judged by its box office due to the COVID and simultaneous release in Disney+, but I don't feel the interest or hype for that movie was so big (at least compared to Encanto). 

[MysteryMovieMogul]

39 minutes ago, cannastop said:

I'm not sure Brad Bird would even want the job... or if he was even an Employee of Pixar? He was a Pixar outsider when he came in to do The Incredibles.

Obviously he didn't because he's not the head of Pixar (I'm sure they tried to court him).

[AniNate]

Raya did get good reviews though, so regardless of personal feelings I definitely don't think it's a persuasive example to use. 

 

I'm sure things are in flux right now at WDA given the 24 release seems to have been pulled and none of the Wish creatives have made any public appearance since the movie came out. Don't see JLee being ousted though at long as Frozen is still a gold mine. Fawn V seems most likely to take the fall for Wish.

 

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by AniNate

[DAJK]

Boys in the Boat is basically doing here what some of the trackers have been saying Colour Purple has been doing in some US markets.

 

Local theater in Victoria BC, Boys in the Boat 11:50 AM show is single seats away from being sold out. Colour Purple 11:40 AM show has a single seat sold.

[Spidey Freak]

2 hours ago, YM! said:

WOM and reviews sucked largely because the movie was mediocre and the songs sucked (also I think at this point, we can say Jennifer Lee isn’t a good storyteller). It was very mediocre. For a minute, it was on pace for a 50m five day tracking wise, then reviews gave it the first Rotten in almost twenty years putting it back on the 40m train and then audience WOM sucked outside of families plummeting to barely 30m.

 

Lee had also doctored the script for the first Wreck-It Ralph which got her the gig to rewrite Frozen and then co-direct the film in the first place. She seems to be much better at revising a pre-existing script than creating something from ground up.

[Eric Lasagna]

2 hours ago, MysteryMovieMogul said:

How did she get John Lasseter's old job, just from Frozen? At least on the Pixar side, Pete Docter had a number of successes.

I mean it's not just Frozen. She wrote the screenplay for Wreck-It Ralph, developed the story for Zootopia, and was on the creative teams for Big Hero 6 and Moana, all of which became Disney's hits. When you have insights and creative inputs on all those movies and clearly have a passion for where you work...yeah, I don't blame Iger appointing her the job back in 2018. It's not like he has a crystal ball where he can see the future. And even after that, regardless on how you feel on these movies, and I know people have their weird hot takes, Ralph 2 and Frozen 2 earned solid reviews and more than solid box office, Raya was a critical success that will forever be a part of the Disney Princess machine, and Encanto has almost immediately become one of Disney's S-tier properties. So really, she's had more hits than misses.

[titanic2187]

 

They thought it can do 564k but turns out only 276k on CD.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[titanic2187]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Speedorito]

They’re gonna have to hire Lin Manuel Miranda and the Lopez couple for the next decade after Wish.

[AniNate]

I wonder if they might consider reviving Gigantic now. Can't imagine it doing much worse than Wish did.

[MovieMan89]

8 hours ago, joselowe said:

I’d love that but Lily Gladstone pretty much had it sealed way before the movie was ever screened. It’s odd how some films are guaranteed to get wins way before anyone has ever screened it.

I think Stone is still considered the betting odds favorite? It’s early of course. I can actually see this being an unusual race in that category, would be exciting for once. 

[TwoMisfits]

2 hours ago, AniNate said:

Key for Migration will be how long it's able to hold onto its ultra wide release. Ferdinand dropped below 3,000 theaters in mid-January when Paddington 2 came out, but Puss 2 was able to hold on through mid-February. I wouldn't think the Pixar rereleases would be that big of competition, but I can see Disney perhaps bullying theaters into giving Soul their Migration screens.

 

Migration will hold theaters til Kung Fu Panda opens on the 1st weekend of March.  Now, it may only be matinees the last 2-3 weeks, but something has to draw early viewers...

 

And to be around for weekend kid birthday party reservations...

Edited December 26, 2023 by TwoMisfits

[MovieMan89]

28 minutes ago, AniNate said:

I wonder if they might consider reviving Gigantic now. Can't imagine it doing much worse than Wish did.

The one piece of concept art for it remains more intriguing than almost anything they’ve done in recent years. Big Ghibli vibes from that 

Edited December 26, 2023 by MovieMan89

[M37]

3 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

 

Migration will hold theaters til Kung Fu Panda opens on the 1st weekend of March.  Now, it may only be matinees the last 2-3 weeks, but something has to draw early viewers...

Agreed. Lyle Crocodile was still in 1000+ locations for 9 weeks (until Avatar), Paw Patrol for 7 (until Trolls 3), in both cases because there wasn’t another option available worth dropping it for 

[HummingLemon496]

$38.3M domestic, $61.2M OS, $33.7M China, $133.2M worldwide 4-days for AQM 2. 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by HummingLemon496

[Gopher]

The top 10 this year on Christmas Day accumulates to 58.78m. I guess that includes 5 mil or so from previews across the three openers, but putting it at face value with other years (that all had openers with previews), this is: 

 

+35.4% over Christmas Day 2022 (where WAY OF WATER accounted for 67.1% of the top 10 grosses)

+4.4% over Christmas Day 2021 (where NO WAY HOME accounted for 56% of the top 10 grosses)

-21.8% below Christmas Day 2019 (where RISE OF SKYWALKER accounted for 42.8% of the top 10 grosses)

-17% below Christmas Day 2018 (where AQUAMAN accounted for 31% of the top 10 grosses)

 

This tells a few interesting stories. One is that overall grosses are still below pre-covid years, for which I mostly blame a lack of huge releases in November/early December (THE MARVELS and WISH underperforming to the extent they did undeniably hurt this Top 10, as does DUNE 2 getting kicked to March). Two is that this was the first Christmas in a long time without a mega-tentpole release (AQUAMAN 2 was the only one with a mega-tentpole budget and its studio buried it for various reasons), yet 2023 still outperformed 2022 and 2021. Three is that Color Purple's share of the Top 10 this year was 30.9%, which is the smallest of any of these years. Shit was spread out this Christmas. That's phenomenal news for the overall health of theatres.

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by Gopher

[cannastop]

1 minute ago, Gopher said:

Shit was spread out this Christmas. That's phenomenal news for the overall health of theatres.

Yeah but it will still be a dire 2024 to face. Still good news.

[Gopher]

3 minutes ago, cannastop said:

Yeah but it will still be a dire 2024 to face. Still good news.

 

2024 will be a self-afflicted wound from Hollywood, and there are several months on the calendar I'm worried about, but weirdly I'm not that worried about the Christmas slate? KARATE KID, MUFASA and SONIC 3 seem like reliable grossers to me. The LOTR animated movie is a wildcard but audience tastes over the past few years suggest that one has a high potential ceiling. And I expect more stuff for adults to slot in.

[excel1]

Where is Wonka heading?