Christmas-New Year Weekdays Thread (12/26-28)

[Borobudur]

2 hours ago, AniNate said:

Migration is more or less following Ferdinand's day-to-day trends, difference is having higher nominal sales and no Paddington 2 to compete with in January will probably encourage theaters to keep it longer, unless the Pixar releases end up being a significant draw.

 

 

Glad that people are responding well to the movie. It would a pity if illumination tried not to overly rely on silly funny to drive their story this round, only to flop terribly. I am targeting 13m 2nd weekend because that 12.5m OW was still loaded with 1.5m preview. 

[baumer]

3 hours ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

They spend way less on marketing this way, too.

 

Unfortunate about The Color Purple's post-Christmas Day results. It's getting the "Black trauma porn" allegations from social media (younger people) and the 1985 version got heat through the years for negative portrayals of Black men in particular. So that tracks with the attendance now being skewed so strongly to older Black women, the group least likely to have an issue with TCP conceptually. Maybe WB should have pulled a Boy and the Heron and "protated" the early screenings into the daily numbers. Hoping the weekend numbers rebound...

 

 

 

 

BLACK TRAUMA PORN??

 

What kind of insane idiom is that? Every time I think I've heard it all something new and ridiculous just pops its head up.

[titanic2187]

Was hoping flatter change

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Eric Prime]

@4815162342 You know what? You're right. The Color Purple isn't a nostalgic toy commercial after all. If it was, it would have had good legs. Guess they should have made Celie and Shug action figures. 🤷‍♂️

[AniNate]

Hopefully Migration can get some good increases today and tomorrow, these were Ferdinand's two biggest days of the New Year's "weekend"

[MovieMan89]

Well I’m kinda ready to throw in the towel on 10x for Wonka, since I know some are eager to hear me say it. I still think it could go a lot higher in multi than it might seem right now though, because what else is going to play well through Feb? 
 

Looking like no juggernaut for the holiday season after all though, meaning we are likely going summer to summer without a true box office smash. That seems really bad to me considering it’s never happened before in box office history outside of the obvious Covid stretch 

[MovieMan89]

TCPs holds are really really bad, just no way around it. For all the flack some got for bringing up Ali as a comp (which I also thought didn’t make sense) it’s actually on track to do even worse than that now for OD multi. So I guess this Black demographic led super frontloaded CD opener is officially a thing now for future ref? 
 

I do have to wonder if the musical element is hurting both TCP and Wonka a bit. I feel like more people I know are coming out of the woodwork all of a sudden to act like musicals are the bane of existence than I’ve ever seen before. 

Edited December 28, 2023 by MovieMan89

[Cmasterclay]

Interesting section from the Deadline article on 2024 box office. Virtually everyone I know complains about this and the sheer number of fucking ads (not trailers, ads) and how cold and uncomfortable theaters are.

 

Another takeaway from the NRG study: Compared with other out-of-home activities (i.e., amusement parks, sporting events, restaurants), moviegoing ranks lowest on providing “a lot of value” for consumers’ money spent. That said, “cheaper tickets” and “cheaper concessions” are points that prospective customers cite most often as a way to get them back to theaters, a sentiment up significantly over the past two years, likely driven by inflation concerns.

[MovieMan89]

Heron has a good chance to move into 3rd place on the anime DOM list over Pokemon 2 (43m). Demon Slayer’s 49m silver medal will be really tough, but I’m not giving up if it can get screens back. 

[AniNate]

I feel like "too expensive" is more often than not just an easy quick response when you can't articulate what your real issue is. It wouldn't be too expensive if it provided you the value you think that money is worth. I do think that ads are an issue, or more specifically the false advertising of a movie's showtime that's more often than not actually 25 minutes to a half hour later, but it's inconsistent so you still have to show up "on time" to be sure you don't miss anything.

[MovieMan89]

Why anyone would buy theater popcorn is beyond me at this point. The price passed absurd two decades ago already, it’s easy to “sneak” ziplocked microwave popcorn in (or just walk in with it in plain sight at my theaters), and the theater “butter” is straight up poison. I would sooner be on my death bed from starvation before I’d consider buying movie theater popcorn again. 

[AniNate]

It's definitely hard for me to take anyone seriously when they bring up the price of concessions as their reason. Like, you're not required to do that to see the movie.

[Cmasterclay]

The ads are totally insane. I saw a 4pm showing of the Iron Claw on Christmas. They started the first preview at 4:17pm. There was then random Hotels.com and AirBnB ads in the middle of previews. And a bunch of Regal Unlimited ads after the previews before the movie. Film started at 4:35pm. Wanted to be out by 6:15, got out at 6:45 and nearly missed dinner. And that's regular now. Also, the theater was ice fucking cold to the point my head was pounding. Great movie, but just an unpleasant experience. Also, the general perception is that these movies are now long as shit themselves on top of everything else. I'm Mr. Theatrical and even I'm debating seeing Color Purple and Ferrari in theaters because going to movies is such an annoying endurance test these days. You can see how more casual people tuned out.

[Eric Prime]

16 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

Interesting section from the Deadline article on 2024 box office. Virtually everyone I know complains about this and the sheer number of fucking ads (not trailers, ads) and how cold and uncomfortable theaters are.

 

Another takeaway from the NRG study: Compared with other out-of-home activities (i.e., amusement parks, sporting events, restaurants), moviegoing ranks lowest on providing “a lot of value” for consumers’ money spent. That said, “cheaper tickets” and “cheaper concessions” are points that prospective customers cite most often as a way to get them back to theaters, a sentiment up significantly over the past two years, likely driven by inflation concerns.

All this stuff is accurate, but the bolded part drives me up the wall. I love my Regal, and they did a good job refurbishing it to make it more modern and fancy, even if one or two auditoriums clearly need to be fixed up after two years. But it feels like every year, they keep increasing the amount of ads you see before the movie. A showing that started at 5:00 used to mean the trailers would start at 5. Which like...kinda misleading, but trailers were always part of the moviegoing experience. Not the most egregious thing I guess.

 

Then it's gone to about 5 minutes of random ads. But now, when a show starts at 5, you're still seeing 10 minutes of random ads for Mountain Dew and M&Ms and Toyota. 10 extra minutes of that crap. And sometimes, I'm pretty sure it goes to 11 or 12 minutes. Sometimes, even near 15 minutes. Then you get the 25 minutes of movie trailers...which are now broken up with another random commercial for Trivago or some crap in the middle of it. It's torturous. So your movie now starts about 40 or 45 minutes from the allotted showtime.

 

Like I'm sure this is done so Regal/AMC can make these advertisers pay extra, but man...you think about the time it takes to drive, the costs for the tickets even at the base price, with most people paying extra to see it in IMAX/4DX, the costs if you want popcorn and water, and then you have to wait 40 minutes to see the movie you paid money for...yeah, it's no wonder streaming and VOD won the battle.

[Cmasterclay]

Another thing from talking to friends is just how big of an issue not checking the phone is. In the post-COVID era, this isn't just an acceptable inconvenience anymore. People could receive a work email at any time, and just generally have gotten used to spending every single minute staring at the screen and on their Whatsapp chats and in a constant state of communication with people that wasn't quite true even in 2019. I know it would piss off the purists on the board, but I genuinely think you could bring some people back to theaters by altering the environment to make some screen use acceptable.

[Eric Prime]

2 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

The ads are totally insane. I saw a 4pm showing of the Iron Claw on Christmas. They started the first preview at 4:17pm. There was then random Hotels.com and AirBnB ads in the middle of previews. And a bunch of Regal Unlimited ads after the previews before the movie. Film started at 4:35pm. Wanted to be out by 6:15, got out at 6:45 and nearly missed dinner. And that's regular now. Also, the theater was ice fucking cold to the point my head was pounding. Great movie, but just an unpleasant experience. Also, the general perception is that these movies are now long as shit themselves on top of everything else. I'm Mr. Theatrical and even I'm debating seeing Color Purple and Ferrari in theaters because going to movies is such an annoying endurance test these days. You can see how more casual people tuned out.

I took my mom to see Maestro at our local arthouse theater, and it felt so refreshing to have it start at a normal time. You had about 15 minutes consisting of an intro from the theater owner, asking for donations and stuff, one or two commercials for events the theater does (repertory re-releases and junk), then a couple trailers for new movies, and then the movie started. I know what I'm talking about is only like a 25 minute or 30 minute difference, and obviously a nonprofit theater isn't reliant on Toyota ads and stuff, but that really does make a difference. Unless you're watching something on Tubi, and we are conditioned to accept ads on TV more than at the movie theater for obvious reasons, nobody wants this inconvenience thrown at you.

[Ozymandias]

6 hours ago, Cmasterclay said:

These numbers may be what gets me to finally quit the boards. It just isn't any fun anymore.

 

I went to the theater ONCE this year, and that was for Oppenheimer.  Other than DUNE 2, I don't see anything else I care about next year except maybe Gladiator 2 if(and thats a big if) the right Ridley Scott shows up.  I hate to say it, but I just largely don't give a shit about what Hollywood has chosen to focus on and put out as a business model in like that past half decade.  Maybe part of it is that I'm getting older.  I still occasionally post here only because I've been a part of this community for so long, since 2009 on BOM.

 

Besides DUNE, it looks like the big media events of 2024 that will capture he zeitgeist will be HOTD2, THE BOYS4, and ANDOR2.  And ROP2 will likely be another hilarious mess that unites people of all stripes in laughter.

 

We may all need to move over to streamingtheory.com in a few years.

[JimmyB]

12 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

Another thing from talking to friends is just how big of an issue not checking the phone is. In the post-COVID era, this isn't just an acceptable inconvenience anymore. People could receive a work email at any time, and just generally have gotten used to spending every single minute staring at the screen and on their Whatsapp chats and in a constant state of communication with people that wasn't quite true even in 2019. I know it would piss off the purists on the board, but I genuinely think you could bring some people back to theaters by altering the environment to make some screen use acceptable.

People check their phone all the time when Im at the theater, lol.  You'll see the little lit pop up. Usually, it's only 20-30 people in a 200 seat auditorium so it doesn't bother me.

[Eric Prime]

3 minutes ago, JimmyB said:

People check their phone all the time when Im at the theater, lol.  You'll see the little lit pop up. Usually, it's only 20-30 people in a 200 seat auditorium so it doesn't bother me.

Honestly? I'm kind of guilty of this sometimes. My brain has become so hardwired to check my phone that sometimes I'll just check Telegram or Twitter for a couple minutes, just to see what people are saying. Even for good movies I do this stuff. And in many ways, it can be very beneficial when I'm watching a bad one.

 

I don't know if this is a me thing, but I wouldn't be surprised if other people did that stuff too. And thankfully, I've never had any experience where somebody was talking on the phone or playing a game.

[AniNate]

33 minutes ago, Cmasterclay said:

Another thing from talking to friends is just how big of an issue not checking the phone is. In the post-COVID era, this isn't just an acceptable inconvenience anymore. People could receive a work email at any time, and just generally have gotten used to spending every single minute staring at the screen and on their Whatsapp chats and in a constant state of communication with people that wasn't quite true even in 2019. I know it would piss off the purists on the board, but I genuinely think you could bring some people back to theaters by altering the environment to make some screen use acceptable.

 

Well I do think this is a deep psychological issue with first world humanity that shouldn't be encouraged. We're humans. We're not supposed to be constantly in tune with everything going on in the world. Internet addiction really is like drug addiction.

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by AniNate