JUICY WEEKEND - BJBJ releases with $111M (DHD)

[grumpythepenguin]

6 minutes ago, Scubasteve716 said:

Deadline has this quote. Someone smarter than me does this mean WB spent $100 mil or the other companies pay WB to use Beetlejuice in their advertising?

 

From the wording I believe it's the amount that companies which licensed the Beetlejuice movie (fast food, toys, etc.) paid to promote their tie-in products (and as such the movie as well). Essentially free marketing for Warners, in addition to their direct ad buys.

[Firepower]

1 hour ago, Mojoguy said:

So cynical.

[Firepower]

1 hour ago, Ryan C said:

I'm sure Ghostbusters: Afterlife would've opened much higher had it been the first Ghostbusters movie since the second one and not since the reboot. I think that turned a proper legacy sequel to Ghostbusters as much less of an event than it otherwise would've been. Similar to how Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny wasn't that big of an event because they already did the legacy sequel trick with Kindgom of the Crystal Skull 15 years prior. 

Both reboot and Afterlife killed the franchise. Kids ghostbusters with legacy characters as cameos by the end of the movie was a terrible decision, final nail on the coffin. Adult younger generation with legacy characters as mentors was the only way to go, it would've been a huge hit if it was released after II and that's what the movie was supposed to be until they went with failed reboot. I guess we can kinda blame Murray for this because he outright refused to do it until Ramis died and it didn't matter anymore.

Edited September 8 by Firepower

[Ryan C]

I know I've said this before, but we seriously have come pretty far from where we were in January of this year. 

 

I still remember when no one thought we would have a guaranteed $100M opening for the entire year. No one was sure if Inside Out 2 could do it, people certainly didn't expect Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to do it, and even people didn't expect Deadpool and Wolverine to do it (until at least the first trailer came out in Feburary). 

 

Now we have three $100M+ openings for the year and it's entirely possible to match last year's number of 5 movies that opened to over $100M if the sequels we expect to hit, hit it out of the park. 

 

I swear, had it not been for the strikes, this really could've been the first $10B+ year since 2019 with more movies on the calendar and the amount of movies that we all thought would do far less just completely beat expectations. 

[Scubasteve716]

6 minutes ago, grumpythepenguin said:

 

From the wording I believe it's the amount that companies which licensed the Beetlejuice movie (fast food, toys, etc.) paid to promote their tie-in products (and as such the movie as well). Essentially free marketing for Warners, in addition to their direct ad buys.

That’s kinda what I thought too if that’s the case it might not be too crazy to assume WB made money marketing the movie. 100 mil production budget would think standard marketing budget would be something like 75 mil. Of course maybe they spent more since they got so much licensing ad tie-ins

[AniNate]

I got the "Carmax not Beetlemax" slogan etched in my brain the last month

[John Marston]

Ah Netflix

 

 

[CJohn]

Tremendous start for Beetlejuice. The weaker OS number is expected. This is another Twisters/Star Trek/Ghostbusters situation. It has a few important markets left and WOM should be good so I think it can do 130M OS when all is said and done.

[CJohn]

@Brainbug we are still in the fight. 

[Brainbug]

2 minutes ago, CJohn said:

@Brainbug we are still in the fight. 

 

I love that 70%+ drop.

I need more of that.

[AnthonyJPHer]

4 minutes ago, Brainbug said:

 

I love that 70%+ drop.

I need more of that.

 

guess we’ll see by the end of it’s run lol.

[Eric the Marxist]

2 hours ago, Mojoguy said:

I'll never forget being in the theater in pure shock and disgust when he appeared. The film itself was already dreadful, but then you got this? Vile, nasty, despicable fucking movie. Everybody who approved this idea should be ashamed of themselves.

[AnthonyJPHer]

7 minutes ago, Eric Deetz said:

I'll never forget being in the theater in pure shock and disgust when he appeared. The film itself was already dreadful, but then you got this? Vile, nasty, despicable fucking movie. Everybody who approved this idea should be ashamed of themselves.

At least they didn’t AI his voice into the film. 

[Eric the Marxist]

As for Beetlejuice's opening, it's not invalid to say Wednesday is a factor, but it's certainly not the only thing making it successful. Really, Beetlejuice is breaking out due to a tight combination of cross-generation appeal as well as serving a niche that has been absent for ages.

 

For starters, Beetlejuice has always been popular. Like a lot of other Burton movies, it's been a Halloween staple on cable/streaming, and merch at Spirit Halloween is always available. Heck, the Broadway show was able to be a decent hit despite having basically all the odds stacked against it. Tim Burton’s also one of the few directors who was able to sell a movie on his name for the longest time. He’s a cornerstone for tons of Hot Topic millennials and Gen Xers, so seeing a return of one of his old favorites, arguably the movie he is most synonymous for, was going to be an event for those generations. Only other movie people may think of first when it comes to Tim Burton is probably Nightmare Before Christmas (yes, I know he didn't direct it. Blame Disney, not me).

 

And yeah, for Gen Z, Wednesday managed to make Burton hip and exciting to a new generation and revitalize that campy gothic aesthetic people know and love about him. But it's not like there wasn't already his older movies already airing on ABC Family or streaming. There's even Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which has become just as, if not more iconic than the Wilder film to people my age...ew, but that's nostalgia for you.

 

It also helps that while Burton’s 2010s output is largely regarded as poor and disposable, he hasn’t made a movie in five years, which is enough for him to be out of the limelight just enough, and make people love him all over again. If this came out like two years after Dumbo, I don't think it would have been the event that it is. Plus, there hasn't really been any other director or franchise that has tried to attempt his campy, gothic aesthetic and atmosphere, making his return even more exciting. Even Wednesday season 2 is taking an eternity to get made. It’s absence that makes the heart grow fonder, after all.

 

Add on the original cast, who are just as popular and relevant as ever, if not more so, as well as Jenna Ortega fresh off her own big hits, nostalgic toy commercials still as huge as ever, and tons of “remember that” money shots that make people go “OMG MY CHILDHOOD”, and you got a 110M opening.

[Ryan C]

5 minutes ago, Eric Deetz said:

As for Beetlejuice's opening, it's not invalid to say Wednesday is a factor, but it's certainly not the only thing making it successful. Really, Beetlejuice is breaking out due to a tight combination of cross-generation appeal as well as serving a niche that has been absent for ages.

 

For starters, Beetlejuice has always been popular. Like a lot of other Burton movies, it's been a Halloween staple on cable/streaming, and merch at Spirit Halloween is always available. Heck, the Broadway show was able to be a decent hit despite having basically all the odds stacked against it. Tim Burton’s also one of the few directors who was able to sell a movie on his name for the longest time. He’s a cornerstone for tons of Hot Topic millennials and Gen Xers, so seeing a return of one of his old favorites, arguably the movie he is most synonymous for, was going to be an event for those generations. Only other movie people may think of first when it comes to Tim Burton is probably Nightmare Before Christmas (yes, I know he didn't direct it. Blame Disney, not me).

 

And yeah, for Gen Z, Wednesday managed to make Burton hip and exciting to a new generation and revitalize that campy gothic aesthetic people know and love about him. But it's not like there wasn't already his older movies already airing on ABC Family or streaming. There's even Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which has become just as, if not more iconic than the Wilder film to people my age...ew, but that's nostalgia for you.

 

It also helps that while Burton’s 2010s output is largely regarded as poor and disposable, he hasn’t made a movie in five years, which is enough for him to be out of the limelight just enough, and make people love him all over again. If this came out like two years after Dumbo, I don't think it would have been the event that it is. Plus, there hasn't really been any other director or franchise that has tried to attempt his campy, gothic aesthetic and atmosphere, making his return even more exciting. Even Wednesday season 2 is taking an eternity to get made. It’s absence that makes the heart grow fonder, after all.

 

Add on the original cast, who are just as popular and relevant as ever, if not more so, as well as Jenna Ortega fresh off her own big hits, nostalgic toy commercials still as huge as ever, and tons of “remember that” money shots that make people go “OMG MY CHILDHOOD”, and you got a 110M opening.

 

Amen to all this! Couldn't be more right on why this movie opened to such a big number. 

 

Also, I think two other reasons should be considered for why this movie did as well as it did. 

 

1. Reviews didn't need to be perfect to get audiences to see the movie. 

 

I don't think anybody (even people who love all of Tim Burton movie's) expected a Beetlejuice sequel to be Oscar-worthy. It just needed to be fun and deliver audiences what they wanted to see. The fact that the reviews were genuinely good and people are calling it a return to form for Burton is just the extra cherry on top. 

 

2. The release date 

 

We love to hate on Warner Bros. (and for justifiable reasons), but they deserve all the credit for turning that first weekend of September after Labor Day into a massive hot spot for horror-centric movies. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is no exception as Warner did the work when it comes to marketing this film, put it on a great release date, and thanks to their experience with both IT films and both Nun movies, it made it pretty easy for them to turn seeing this movie into a legitmate event. 

[Chaz]

2 hours ago, JeepCSC said:

I don’t think the tv series was overly popular. It looks to have run opposite TMNT for instance, which was the real star of Saturday Morning at that point. The Beetlejuice character was popular however in a similar way to Slimer. I think vague nostalgia of Keaton’s character being the main driver of this bus makes sense to me. Certainly O’Hara and Ryder and Ortega having hit shows as of late raised the profile though.

I LOVED the Beetlejuice cartoon! It aired in syndication and on Nickelodeon in the early ‘90s so I would catch it on Fox and Nick several times a week. It initially aired on ABC’s Saturday morning block where it was a giant success. 
 

TMNT was airing on CBS Saturday mornings but also was big in syndication at the time as well, moving to five days a week in the second season. It had moved to USA by the time Beetlejuice moved to Nickelodeon. 

Edited September 8 by Chaz

[OncomingStorm93]

A “Nightmare After Christmas” would make serious (relative for it’s genre) bank. Not Beetlejuice numbers, but would break all kinds of records for stop-motion filmmaking. I could see it being like a 75M OW / 200M Dom / 300M WW on a 50m-60m budget

[Flopped]

This interview is from NINE years ago where Winona confirms the sequel is happening. 1 minute in, she talks about being surprised that little kids know the movie. It has endured and reached new generations. 

 

 

[stuart360]

Genuinely blown away by this opening. I havent been following the film, or tracking or anything, and i thought it was going to open in the 30-40mil range and maybe creep to 100mil total lol.

[eddyxx]

3 hours ago, Eric Deetz said:

As for Beetlejuice's opening, it's not invalid to say Wednesday is a factor, but it's certainly not the only thing making it successful. Really, Beetlejuice is breaking out due to a tight combination of cross-generation appeal as well as serving a niche that has been absent for ages.

 

For starters, Beetlejuice has always been popular. Like a lot of other Burton movies, it's been a Halloween staple on cable/streaming, and merch at Spirit Halloween is always available. Heck, the Broadway show was able to be a decent hit despite having basically all the odds stacked against it. Tim Burton’s also one of the few directors who was able to sell a movie on his name for the longest time. He’s a cornerstone for tons of Hot Topic millennials and Gen Xers, so seeing a return of one of his old favorites, arguably the movie he is most synonymous for, was going to be an event for those generations. Only other movie people may think of first when it comes to Tim Burton is probably Nightmare Before Christmas (yes, I know he didn't direct it. Blame Disney, not me).

 

And yeah, for Gen Z, Wednesday managed to make Burton hip and exciting to a new generation and revitalize that campy gothic aesthetic people know and love about him. But it's not like there wasn't already his older movies already airing on ABC Family or streaming. There's even Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which has become just as, if not more iconic than the Wilder film to people my age...ew, but that's nostalgia for you.

 

It also helps that while Burton’s 2010s output is largely regarded as poor and disposable, he hasn’t made a movie in five years, which is enough for him to be out of the limelight just enough, and make people love him all over again. If this came out like two years after Dumbo, I don't think it would have been the event that it is. Plus, there hasn't really been any other director or franchise that has tried to attempt his campy, gothic aesthetic and atmosphere, making his return even more exciting. Even Wednesday season 2 is taking an eternity to get made. It’s absence that makes the heart grow fonder, after all.

 

Add on the original cast, who are just as popular and relevant as ever, if not more so, as well as Jenna Ortega fresh off her own big hits, nostalgic toy commercials still as huge as ever, and tons of “remember that” money shots that make people go “OMG MY CHILDHOOD”, and you got a 110M opening.

 

umm… Edward Scissorhands.