Big Hero 6 | November 7, 2014 | Now available on home video

[cory]

This is going into Christmas week with about a thousand more theaters than Wreck-It Ralph had.

Edited December 20, 2014 by cory

[Melvin Frohike]

A western movie that features strong Japanese elements isn't making money in Japan.

So far, at least based on Toho's numbers, Big Hero 6 looks to be one of the biggest grossers among western movies in Japan this year.

 

I'm in shock

You should be.

 

 

I think h/she meant something like Godzilla 2014 not making that much money in Japan, albeit it had a Japanese actor, monster, and setting. So obviously, BH6 is not a guaranteed success in Japan, likewise.

I had hoped that the movie would be an even bigger hit on OW, but this wasn't because of its Japanese theming--in fact, I had repeatedly brought this up as a potential reason for it to flop, but it sure doesn't seem to be flopping. It's just getting started, and looks pretty good so far in the early going despite the overwhelming competition. It should become a big hit in the end unless the Japanese audience hates it and it gets poor WOM, and could still potentially be quite a huge hit if they like it and it gets strong WOM. All of this remains to be seen--especially in a market like Japan--so I wonder why people seem to be jumping to conclusions so early on.

 

I already foreseen that BH6 won't do that well in Japan, unlike everyone expected it to be so successful.

We don't know very much yet! All I know is that Toho's numbers for Saturday look promising, especially in the face of such competition. Most western movies--even some worldwide mega-blockbusters--could only dream of doing this well.

 

And my silly reasoning was because it is a superhero movie, because as far as I know Japanese people don't like Western superhero movies that much.

It's not that much like the live-action movies, though. It's really a WDAS animated feature, of course.

 

I took a look at The Avenger's numbers in Japan, and it gained $45 million. So BH6 numbers in Japan, is actually expected for me.

That's a very big number for a western superhero movie, actually (or any western movie, and even for domestic Japanese movies that's a hit), and I wouldn't be surprised if Big Hero 6 could beat that. I've said from the beginning that my expected gross for Big Hero 6 in Japan is $50M, and so far--although it is VERY early and circumstances are harsh--it looks to be on target. I also said that it may have a much bigger upside, and I still see no reason (in part because we have so little data) to think/hope otherwise.

We shouldn't allow Yōkai Watch's unusual, crazy (for Japan) OW numbers to throw off our perception--for the vast majority of movies, including the biggest blockbusters of all time, legs are what matter the most in this market. Frozen's OW gross was nothing compared to what Yōkai Watch's looks to be, but in the long run it still made out OK anyway.

Edited December 20, 2014 by Melvin Frohike

[Fullbuster]

REVIEW FROM THE JAPAN TIMES

 

 

 

  Disney’s ‘Big Hero 6′ reassembles Japan without the ‘cultural cringe’ by Kaori Shoji

 

So we’ve all heard that it’s hard to be a woman in Japan, but being a Japanese geek comes with its own troubles. For some, it’s a life lived in front of glowing screens, a dateless existence spent in a six-mat tatami room with posters of idol group AKB48 plastered on the walls. But here’s Disney’s “Big Hero 6″ (released in Japan as “Baymax”), a Christmas animation extravaganza that elevates the Japanese geek to superhero status. And he’s cute, too.

This is the first Disney animation feature in which the stars have Japanese names: 14-year-old genius Hiro Hamada (voiced by Ryan Potter) and his older tech-wizard brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney). The boys’ parents died, and they are being brought up by their exuberant Aunt Cass (Maya Rudolph). Interestingly, Hiro comes off as a cross between a typical Tokyo chūbō (a slang term for junior high school kids) and a young Lionel Messi, while Tadashi fits the normal Hollywood bill of a polite young Japanese male. Despite their names, the brothers only speak English and there’s nothing in their surroundings to suggest a penchant for samurai or idols — they are, however, obsessed with robots. Aunt Cass, who runs a cafe and seems to have at least three different nationalities coursing through her veins, never serves Japanese food to her nephews, just ribs. Ribs every time.

 

MORE HERE : http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2014/12/17/films/disneys-big-hero-6-reassembles-japan-without-cultural-cringe/#.VJaFMv8HYA

 

 

 

It's good to have a Japanese opinion here, and they sure like it

[Fullbuster]

 

BRAZILIAN REVIEW FROM ADOROCINEMA

 

O mundo é dos nerds

 

Ah, o século XXI... Época gloriosa para os nerds, com seus ídolos não apenas ganhando as telonas mas eles próprios sendo alçados ao posto de heróis, por mais que às vezes sejam ocasionais. É o que acontece em Operação Big Hero, nova animação da Walt Disney Pictures que, pela primeira vez, explora personagens da filial Marvel Comics. Os escolhidos são os (ainda) pouco conhecidos Big Hero 6, supergrupo de heróis inspirados no mangá japonês que, neste longa-metragem, ganham uma boa americanizada.

 

http://www.adorocinema.com/filmes/filme-209529/criticas-adorocinema/

 

MARK : 4/5

 

Good to see they like it, I expect good numbers in Brazil next week

[kayumanggi]

'Big Hero 6' has now earned more than 'Wreck-It Ralph' at the domestic box office: http://t.co/N85OAM8QxQ pic.twitter.com/1qMrZAC9pq

— Box Office Mojo (@boxofficemojo)

December 21, 2014

[Dingdong123]

BH6 is only ahead of Ralph's 7th weekend by just about 300k, badly affected by the slaught of family movies. Hopefully the gap increases once more next weekend.

[Fullbuster]

 

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Thank You America B)

[cory]

BH6 is only ahead of Ralph's 7th weekend by just about 300k, badly affected by the slaught of family movies. Hopefully the gap increases once more next weekend.

Probably not, the only December 2012 family releases were Monsters Inc 3D and Parental Guidance.

Though, BH6 dropped slightly less compared to Ralph's pre-Christmas weekend and is in far more theaters.

[BadAtGender]

I've been seeing some grumbles of disappointment about BH6's performance elsewhere, along with a saying that a Disney exec agreed that it wasn't doing very well.

 

Does anyone know if there's any proof of such a statement? Because my read on it is that it's doing very well domestically and in the international markets it's already hit. The only way to be disappointed is if you expected it to literally be another Frozen.

[Inuyugi]

I've been seeing some grumbles of disappointment about BH6's performance elsewhere, along with a saying that a Disney exec agreed that it wasn't doing very well.

 

Does anyone know if there's any proof of such a statement? Because my read on it is that it's doing very well domestically and in the international markets it's already hit. The only way to be disappointed is if you expected it to literally be another Frozen.

 

But it has quite a few markets to open no??

[cookie]

But it has quite a few markets to open no??

 

Most of Asia is already covered (except Taiwan later this month and China which has no date yet as far as I know) so there's Australia, Europe and South America left.

[John Marston]

I've been seeing some grumbles of disappointment about BH6's performance elsewhere, along with a saying that a Disney exec agreed that it wasn't doing very well.

Does anyone know if there's any proof of such a statement? Because my read on it is that it's doing very well domestically and in the international markets it's already hit. The only way to be disappointed is if you expected it to literally be another Frozen.

I can believe that. The success of Frozen could have built up higher expectations even to execs

[edroger3]

I've been seeing some grumbles of disappointment about BH6's performance elsewhere, along with a saying that a Disney exec agreed that it wasn't doing very well.

 

Does anyone know if there's any proof of such a statement? Because my read on it is that it's doing very well domestically and in the international markets it's already hit. The only way to be disappointed is if you expected it to literally be another Frozen.

It's true, those are very good numbers for a not-sequel animated movie, but unfortunately BH6 opened in a world in which the words "Disney" and "animated" for the 99,99% of the people mean "Frozen".

[BadAtGender]

I can believe that. The success of Frozen could have built up higher expectations even to execs

 

It's believable, yes, but that doesn't make it true. Which is why I asked.

[cookie]

I think Disney has to look to Moana if they want to replicate Frozen's sucess. Big Hero 6 and Zootopia just aren't in that ballpark.

[TServo2049]

Not every release has to replicate Frozen's success. The attempts to repeat the same Broadway-musical formula every year eventually drove the Disney Renaissance into an early grave. I was a child of that era, I remember how it seemed to feel less and less special with each new film.

I think it's much smarter to put out a big Broadway fairy tale musical every 2-3 years, and do a couple atypical things in between.

Edited December 23, 2014 by TServo2049

[Melvin Frohike]

BH6 is only ahead of Ralph's 7th weekend by just about 300k, badly affected by the slaught of family movies. Hopefully the gap increases once more next weekend.

Based on the actual gross, it's over $426K more, which is 13% more than Wreck-It Ralph's weekend #7 gross--not as much as it has been lately, but still in line with most of the run, with a chance to recover, hopefully. It could have been worse, I suppose, but at least the new family movies had weak openings.

By the way, Big Hero 6 is now (as of Saturday) grossing more than Penguins of Madagascar on a daily basis despite having opened nearly 3 weeks earlier. So yes it's facing more competition than many other WDAS movies have of late, but the competition has been anemic on an individual level, at best.

 

I've been seeing some grumbles of disappointment about BH6's performance elsewhere, along with a saying that a Disney exec agreed that it wasn't doing very well.

I had hoped for more myself, but the movie is doing well nevertheless. Those who feel otherwise have allowed themselves to develop unreasonable expectations.

 

Does anyone know if there's any proof of such a statement?

I'm not aware of any proof.

 

Because my read on it is that it's doing very well domestically and in the international markets it's already hit. The only way to be disappointed is if you expected it to literally be another Frozen.

This wouldn't surprise me one bit.

 

But it has quite a few markets to open no??

Yes, and most of the biggest, too.

 

Most of Asia is already covered (except Taiwan later this month and China which has no date yet as far as I know) so there's Australia, Europe and South America left.

The movie should get a release in China next year, although so far no date has officially been set (rumored to be March 1). That's a big market, and so is Japan, in which the movie is just getting started (and is doing well--substantially better than any other WDAS movie not named Frozen, as well as most Pixar movies, for that matter). Then there is South Korea (January 22), which is a wild card--few animated features break out there, but Big Hero 6 appears to have characteristics that give it the potential. In terms of individual markets most of Asia is covered, but in terms of box office potential the movie's run has a lot left to go in that region.

 

I think Disney has to look to Moana if they want to replicate Frozen's sucess. Big Hero 6 and Zootopia just aren't in that ballpark.

I have no such expectations for Moana, of which we still know very little, because that would be grossly unfair. A phenomenon like Frozen is not easily replicated.

 

Not every release has to replicate Frozen's success.

That's right, and "has to" starts with "can," as in few movies can do this, therefore our expectations ought to be reasonable, which in turn means that future WDAS movies don't all have to be mega-hits in order to be considered successful.

 

The attempts to repeat the same Broadway-musical formula every year eventually drove the Disney Renaissance into an early grave. I was a child of that era, I remember how it seemed to feel less and less special with each new film.

That's right. The GA decides, and you can't force them to do anything.

 

I think it's much smarter to put out a big Broadway fairy tale musical every 2-3 years, and do a couple atypical things in between.

Well, The Lion King was somewhat "atypical" (not really--just in the context of this discussion), but it is also obviously one of WDAS' biggest hits. Just keep making good movies and maybe every once in a while one will really catch on and become a mega-hit.

[NYer4Life]

Lets not take BH6 grossing well over $200 million lightly.

That's a HUGE deal for a Walt Disney Animation studio title. (Or really any studio)

Frozen definitely set the bar high, and yes, it would have been amazing to see a Lego Movie breakout-style final number for the movie.

But it wasn't too long ago when WDAS movies were lucky to cross $150, some even $100 million.

Based solely off of BH6's box-office performance, it has soldified itself as a hit/success and stands proud along the 2nd Disney Renassiance of the 2010's.

I hope the string of hits continue for the studio.

Edited December 23, 2014 by NYer4Life

[Dingdong123]

Lets not take BH6 grossing well over $200 million lightly.

That's a HUGE deal for a Walt Disney Animation studio title. (Or really any studio)

Frozen definitely set the bar high, and yes, it would have been amazing to see a Lego Movie breakout-style final number for the movie.

But it wasn't too long ago when WDAS movies were lucky to cross $150, some even $100 million.

Based solely off of BH6's box-office performance, it has soldified itself as a hit/success and stands proud along the 2nd Disney Renassiance of the 2010's.

I hope the string of hits continue for the studio.

This. It satnds to be the second biggest WDAS film since The Lion King. Something to be proud of. And if they handle Baymax right in the coming years he can be a very big merchandise and a Disney park staple.

[Fullbuster]

BH6 numbers are clearly satisfying