Weekend thread August 16th-18th Alien Romulus $6.5m previews

[YM!]

1 hour ago, Eric Ripley said:

 

Should be the second stop-motion animation to do $100m domestic! Really happy for Coraline, as it’s arguably my generation’s The Nightmare Before Christmas and it’s grown a lot on me over years. Rooting for Wildwood to be a success, as I do think Laika or Coraline at least has seen a slight pop culture resurgence since the pandemic.

[AniNate]

'Alien: Romulus' Tops Box Office With 'Just' $18M on Friday (substack.com)

 

Like even with his most recent writeup, he just parrots a lot of the knee-jerk talking points fanboys bring up in weekend threads, and his general thoughtless editorializing like "(foolishly sold as a prequel to Alien instead of a sequel to Prometheus)" just rubs me the wrong way. He's also wrong saying Prometheus was "barely sold as an Alien film", the marketing very much aimed to promote the connection wherever it could.

[ThomasNicole]

3 hours ago, Ryan C said:

https://variety.com/2024/film/columns/where-have-all-the-cinema-lovers-gone-deadpool-wolverine-tar-1236108202/

 

This article isn't anything particularly new, but I just found it funny that people who are working for some of the biggest websites that cover everything in the entertainment industry are pointing out the hypocrisy in people who say that they love cinema, but never show up to the movie theater to see the films they claim are cinema.

 

Even if they would probably be stating what we all know is obvious, I would genuinely love to see more of these types of articles. 

These articles are always a good starting point to a relevant discussion but i always think they fall short of saying something actually insightful. 
 

They always individualize the problem, as if is some sort of war between different types of audiences. 
 

They tend to presume the GA is dumb and wouldn’t care about smaller “artful” movies and that cinephiles are too few that won’t watch popular movies, which is a bizarre generalist assumption imo. 
 

It’s an industry and, as always, the issue starts at it’s primary system. Every audience have acquired taste, no one born wanting to watch SH or arthouse movies, they learned based on what the industry sell for them. People used to watch the same type of movies they reject now, and they’re not necessarily dumber now, so what changed is just that the industry lost the ability to sell those movies, to made them feel relevant, which is why only people already inclined to them go see them.

 

In the process of thinking only billionaire movies are valuable, Hollywood lost a big chunk of the audience that maybe would be interested in new things, but doesn’t even know they exist because the production has been fewer and then marketing and distribution has been so awful. Along the obvious economical issues, is why movies are selling less and less tickets.
 

I think James Gray probably answer this dilemma better in the video below than these articles that propose good questions and never goes beyond surface: 

 

[ThomasNicole]

2 hours ago, John Marston said:

 

 

strong chance. This is a case where a franchise has a ceiling and the main fanbase is getting older 

I think it’s too early to say this tbh. All franchises pay the price for hated movies … is very usual for well received movies to perform worse than it could right after 1 or 2 hated movies. 
 

This is the first recent Alien movie after Prometheus and Covenant, people didn’t liked them, especially Covenant. It’s probably expected that a part of the possible audience for this won’t come back right now after being disappointed. 
 

But now that Romulus was well received, it can bring interest back to the franchise in the long term and create room to grow next time. Think Batman & Robin - Batman Begins - The Dark Knight, to give a very extreme example of my argument.

 

Romulus is doing +300M WW, and i’m fairly confident it can go higher next time because people liked it this time.

Edited August 18 by ThomasNicole

[Ryan C]

5 minutes ago, ThomasNicole said:

These articles are always a good starting point to a relevant discussion but i always think they fall short of saying something actually insightful. 
 

They always individualize the problem, as if is some sort of war between different types of audiences. 
 

They tend to presume the GA is dumb and wouldn’t care about smaller “artful” movies and that cinephiles are too few that won’t watch popular movies, which is a bizarre generalist assumption imo. 
 

It’s an industry and, as always, the issue starts at it’s primary system. Every audience have acquired taste, no one born wanting to watch SH or arthouse movies, they learned based on what the industry sell for them. People used to watch the same type of movies they reject now, and they’re not necessarily dumber now, so what changed is just that the industry lost the ability to sell those movies, to made them feel relevant, which is why only people already inclined to them go see them.

 

In the process of thinking only billionaire movies are valuable, Hollywood lost a big chunk of the audience that maybe would be interested in new things, but doesn’t even know they exist because the production has been fewer and then marketing and distribution has been so awful. Along the obvious economical issues, is why movies are selling less and less tickets.
 

I think James Gray probably answer this dilemma better in the video below than these articles that propose good questions and never goes beyond surface: 

 

 

Yeah, I know I saw this little clip before, but it still holds just as much relevance seeing it again. 

 

This is definitely a far more compelling and thought-provoking argument to have about this topic and though there's obviously more to it, it's a great piece to what I feel is a much larger puzzle on why people don't show up for non-IP films in the theater. 

 

Though I will disagree with him that you can't quote a line from Aquaman, I can at least quote one.

"Redheads, you gotta love them." 

[wattage]

42 minutes ago, ThomasNicole said:

These articles are always a good starting point to a relevant discussion but i always think they fall short of saying something actually insightful. 
 

They always individualize the problem, as if is some sort of war between different types of audiences. 
 

They tend to presume the GA is dumb and wouldn’t care about smaller “artful” movies and that cinephiles are too few that won’t watch popular movies, which is a bizarre generalist assumption imo. 
 

It’s an industry and, as always, the issue starts at it’s primary system. Every audience have acquired taste, no one born wanting to watch SH or arthouse movies, they learned based on what the industry sell for them. People used to watch the same type of movies they reject now, and they’re not necessarily dumber now, so what changed is just that the industry lost the ability to sell those movies, to made them feel relevant, which is why only people already inclined to them go see them.

 

In the process of thinking only billionaire movies are valuable, Hollywood lost a big chunk of the audience that maybe would be interested in new things, but doesn’t even know they exist because the production has been fewer and then marketing and distribution has been so awful. Along the obvious economical issues, is why movies are selling less and less tickets.
 

I think James Gray probably answer this dilemma better in the video below than these articles that propose good questions and never goes beyond surface: 

 

This is all a bit too nuanced so it won't get clicks!.Much easier to just imagine an us vs them, good guys and bad guys scenario. 

[AniNate]

I'm not interested in It Ends with Us but it is a little encouraging to have something that's not an action or animated tentpole finally breaking out at the box office, and maybe it'll lead to a little more investment in those kinds of films again. 

 

It has been pretty infuriating to see many "cinema" type movies basically get dumped with extremely little promotion this summer such as Ghostlight and Robot Dreams. I just saw Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds which is in my top three of the year and ought to be a best animated Oscar contender but GKIDS doesn't appear to be intent on giving it a wide theatrical bout.

 

But idk, I guess theatrical is still in that "win audiences back" sort of phase, even when modest auteur movies had the market to themselves in April people still didn't really go out of their way to show up for them. I do think some of the onus needs to be on the audiences as well to actually seek stuff out, too many people are content to just whine online about small adult movies being marginalized while not making a whole lot of effort to actually support them at the box office.

 

 

Edited August 18 by AniNate

[wattage]

I just got back from my 3D Coraline viewing and it was amazing in 3D, I never saw it in the format originally and I was sad last year when they didn't have 3D showings for the re-release (which I also went to). Still just as impactful as it was last year and the same as it has been every time I've watched it. 

[AnthonyJPHer]

Just now, AniNate said:

I'm not interested in It Ends with Us but it is a little encouraging to have something that's not an action or animated tentpole finally breaking out at the box office, and maybe it'll lead to a little more investment in those kinds of films again. 

 

It has been pretty infuriating to see many "cinema" type movies basically get dumped with extremely little promotion this summer such as Ghostlight and Robot Dreams. I just saw Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds which is in my top three of the year and ought to be a best animated Oscar contender but GKIDS doesn't appear to be intent on giving it a wide theatrical bout.

 

But idk, I guess theatrical is still in that "win audiences back" sort of phase, even when modest auteur movies had the market to themselves in April people still didn't really go out of their way to show up for them. I do think some of the onus needs to be on the audiences as well to actually seek stuff out, too many people are content to just whine about small adult movies being marginalized while not making a whole lot of effort to actually support them at the box office.

 

 

 

I'm thinking it’ll be Inside Out 2 that nabs the Oscar for Best Animated Feature next year. 

[Ryan C]

13 minutes ago, wattage said:

This is all a bit too nuanced so it won't get clicks!.Much easier to just imagine an us vs them, good guys and bad guys scenario. 

 

Exactly. It's no different than the people who think Marvel is the "death of cinema." It's both an easy target and low-hanging fruit for anyone who just wants a simple answer, when (in the case of this specific topic) there isn't. 

[AniNate]

2 minutes ago, AnthonyJPHer said:

 

 

 

I'm thinking it’ll be Inside Out 2 that nabs the Oscar for Best Animated Feature next year. 

 

See this kind of goes into my point, I only bring up the Oscars to underline how great I thought Sirocco was but you just saw that as a reason to bring up Inside Out 2 again. People are more interested in just propping up the big familiar hits that really don't need any more promotion than actually seeking new unknown stuff out.

 

[lorddemaxus]

9 minutes ago, AniNate said:

It has been pretty infuriating to see many "cinema" type movies basically get dumped with extremely little promotion this summer such as Ghostlight and Robot Dreams. I just saw Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds which is in my top three of the year and ought to be a best animated Oscar contender but GKIDS doesn't appear to be intent on giving it a wide theatrical bout.

Janet Planet was another one that has an unceremonious release even though it was getting raves. And this was an A24 (the supposed champion of indie cinema)release too. Will be watching Ghostlist at home sometime. Looks like a great film.

[wattage]

20 minutes ago, AniNate said:

I'm not interested in It Ends with Us but it is a little encouraging to have something that's not an action or animated tentpole finally breaking out at the box office, and maybe it'll lead to a little more investment in those kinds of films again. 

 

It has been pretty infuriating to see many "cinema" type movies basically get dumped with extremely little promotion this summer such as Ghostlight and Robot Dreams. I just saw Sirocco and the Kingdom of Winds which is in my top three of the year and ought to be a best animated Oscar contender but GKIDS doesn't appear to be intent on giving it a wide theatrical bout.

 

But idk, I guess theatrical is still in that "win audiences back" sort of phase, even when modest auteur movies had the market to themselves in April people still didn't really go out of their way to show up for them. I do think some of the onus needs to be on the audiences as well to actually seek stuff out, too many people are content to just whine online about small adult movies being marginalized while not making a whole lot of effort to actually support them at the box office.

 

 

What happened with the release of Robot Dreams is a crime 

[AnthonyJPHer]

27 minutes ago, AniNate said:

 

See this kind of goes into my point, I only bring up the Oscars to underline how great I thought Sirocco was but you just saw that as a reason to bring up Inside Out 2 again. People are more interested in just propping up the big familiar hits that really don't need any more promotion than actually seeking new unknown stuff out.

 

I only brought up Inside Out 2 because I think it’s a great animated film and also an Oscar contender. I’m not trying to downplay another animated film. And I also haven’t seen the movie you’ve mentioned so I can’t speak on that, but I think it’s interesting how people are more likely to pay attention to the bigger hits. I personally haven’t seen Robot Dreams so I can’t comment, but I guess that’s kind of encapsulating the box office. People will focus on the bigger hits. But I have followed the distribution of Robot Dreams, that movie was botched in its release strategy, dear god

[Cooper Legion]

13 hours ago, thajdikt said:

600M? 600M is locked. It lost PFL’s screens. Hardly a surprising drop. Only question is over under Barbie. I’m taking under for now.

Easy over 

[THUNDER BIRD]

1 minute ago, Cooper Legion said:

Easy over 

Movie of the year for a reason. 

 

This is what cinema was made for.

[Cooper Legion]

4 minutes ago, THUNDER BIRD said:

Movie of the year for a reason. 

 

This is what cinema was made for.

I mean it will lose by 20% WW and probably lose DOM as well (by like 1-3%), what about that makes for “movie of the year”  

Edited August 18 by Cooper Legion

[HummingLemon496]

4 minutes ago, Cooper Legion said:

I mean it will lose by 20% WW and probably lose DOM as well (by like 1-3%), what about that makes for “movie of the year”  

What will DPW finish at OS?

[Cooper Legion]

I agree that it’s playing much closer to pg-13 CBMs than something like Oppy btw  

 

US R rating is not that restrictive in reality unlike some other territories for DPW — people can take their 11 year old kids or little siblings or whatever if they want and a decent chunk of business is coming from under 18s. Not huge but it’s not a huge chunk for pg-13s either at the end of the day especially being an older franchise now with fans who’ve aged

Edited August 18 by Cooper Legion

[Cooper Legion]

4 hours ago, lorddemaxus said:

Is that below Alien Covenant adjusted?

Yeah just barely