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

[Fancyarcher]

This should be enough, but many animated features have had more. DreamWorks Animation, for example, regularly gets 3900+ or even 4000+ screens. And movies from Illumination and Blue Sky often get more screens than what WDAS' movies get. And despite having the same distributor, Pixar also regularly gets more screens. WDAS is up there, but is seemingly in last place among the major animation studios in terms of screens, and apparently nothing has changed.

Here is a list, for reference:

http://boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=animation.htm

 

Which is strange given how more successful their recent films are compared to Dreamworks or Blue Sky films.

[Mojoguy]

I hate how it is taking FOREVER for the BH6 reviews to show up on RT. It is pure agony! Meanwhile the Interstellar reviews are just flying in!

[Mojoguy]

Frozen got its first rotten review over at RT when it hit 17 reviews. Witness the freakout.

 

http://forums.boxoffice.com/index.php?/topic/2717-disneys-frozen-400m-domestic-highest-grossing-animation-of-all-time-number-1-movie-ww-of-2013/page-59

Edited October 31, 2014 by Mojoguy

[Melvin Frohike]

Which is strange given how more successful their recent films are compared to Dreamworks or Blue Sky films.

The following list (select examples from 2010 to the present, the highest number of theaters during their domestic box office runs) might be a bit easier to use as a reference:

WDAS

Tangled 3,603

Wreck-It Ralph 3,752

Frozen 3,742

Big Hero 6 3,7xx (on opening weekend)

Pixar

Toy Story 3 4,028

Cars 2 4,115

Brave 4,164

Monsters University 4,004

DisneyToon

Planes 3,716

Planes: Fire & Rescue 3,839

DWA

How To Train Your Dragon 4,060

Shrek Forever After 4,386

Megamind 3,949

Kung Fu Panda 2 3,952

Puss In Boots 3,963

Madagascar 3 4,263

The Croods 4,065

Turbo 3,809

Mr. Peabody & Sherman 3,951

How To Train Your Dragon 2 4,268

Blue Sky

Rio 3,842

Ice Age: Continental Drift 3,886

Epic 3,894

Rio 2 3,975

Other

Despicable Me 2 4,003

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 4,001

Free Birds 3,736

The Lego Movie 3,890

I guess WDAS' track record isn't yet as proven as those of the more established animation studios. Building the prestige of their brand will be important if they wish to ever get more theaters than the likes of Free Birds. Maybe someday they'll get past 3,800 theaters like Turbo and Planes: Fire & Rescue, but that would probably take at least another billion-dollar mega-blockbuster or two in order to convince theater owners that they can play with the big boys.

I don't know how these things are usually done behind the scenes, but given that Disney's marketers have had little faith and confidence in WDAS' movies, maybe they can't sell them to theaters like DWA can with their dependable, surefire mega-hits. I'm not even talking about results and track records here, but how convincing these guys can be, and it's harder when one doesn't actually believe in the product. For example, DWA's management had themselves and a lot of other people convinced that HTTYD 2 would gross a billion worldwide, while Disney didn't even want the public to know that Frozen had singing princesses.

Before anybody says anything, I actually like all of this--I like when WDAS is humble but ambitious. As far as I'm concerned, they haven't proven crap--they need to keep trying to prove themselves to a disbelieving world. Pixar, too. As for DWA, they've more than earned the right to rest on their laurels--don't worry, guys, all you have to do is release 3-4 movies a year in 4000 theaters each, give or take, and you'll do fine. Got it? Good. Now excuse me while I check the value of my Disney stock...ooh, nice!

Edited October 31, 2014 by Melvin Frohike

[Mojoguy]

The following list (select examples from 2010 to the present, highest number of screens during their domestic box office runs) might be a bit easier to use as a reference

Psst, those are theater counts NOT number of screens.

[Melvin Frohike]

Psst, those are theater counts NOT number of screens.

Actually...I knew that (it's labeled clearly enough in Box Office Mojo) but wasn't even aware that I kept saying "screens." Corrected, thanks.

[Fullbuster]

By the way guys, I'm confused...Does the movie take place in Japan or in the US?

[GuardiaStar]

I'm looking forward to this movie

[GuardiaStar]

By the way guys, I'm confused...Does the movie take place in Japan or in the US?

I believe a combination of both? From the comics.. San Fransyoko?

Combination of San Francisco and Tokyo?

Edited October 31, 2014 by GuardiaStar

[Melvin Frohike]

By the way guys, I'm confused...Does the movie take place in Japan or in the US?

The Marvel comic is set in Japan, but Disney's movie--which is really nothing like the comic--is set in the US. So this means that San Fransokyo is an alternate-reality version of San Francisco rather than Tokyo.

[Melvin Frohike]

I believe a combination of both? From the comics.. San Fransyoko?

This mash-up is not from the comic--it's all WDAS' (probably Don Hall's) idea.

 

Combination of San Francisco and Tokyo?

Yes, but where is this mythical city actually located? My understanding, based on information that Disney released some time ago, is that it is an American city, and the natural assumption is that it would be located where San Francisco is in real life. This is some of Tokyo's style and aesthetic applied to San Francisco's buildings and layout rather than the other way around, which is consistent with the city being located in the US.

[Fullbuster]

The Marvel comic is set in Japan, but Disney's movie--which is really nothing like the comic--is set in the US. So this means that San Fransokyo is an alternate-reality version of San Francisco rather than Tokyo.

 

Thank you, you're really knowledgeable about this movie

So it's in the US It's pretty logical when you're thinking about it : the movie's man market is the US and the cast is pretty diverse (and Japan is one of the world's least racially and ethnically diverse countries).

And indeed this city looks like San Francisco more than Tokyo...San Francisco is very influenced by Asian cultures by the way, 33% of the population is Asian American (41% is Non-Hispanic White).

Edited October 31, 2014 by Fullbuster

[Spidey Freak]

This mash-up is not from the comic--it's all WDAS' (probably Don Hall's) idea.

 Yes, but where is this mythical city actually located? My understanding, based on information that Disney released some time ago, is that it is an American city, and the natural assumption is that it would be located where San Francisco is in real life. This is some of Tokyo's style and aesthetic applied to San Francisco's buildings and layout rather than the other way around, which is consistent with the city being located in the US.

 

Thanks. That will definitely help place BH6 in the Disney/Pixar verse! 

 

 

[Fullbuster]

Thanks. That will definitely help place BH6 in the Disney/Pixar verse! 

 

 

 

Huge

[Melvin Frohike]

Thank you, you're really knowledgeable about this movie

Well, I haven't even seen the movie yet, so I couldn't tell you whether the location of the city is left ambiguous in the movie itself. I suspect that it will be, although the original concept began with the speculative idea of what would have eventually happened if Japan had won World War II (at least the Pacific theater). I seriously doubt that this idea remains as part of the movie's canon in any way, but it's another clue that this is in fact intended to be San Francisco (which is hard to deny anyway if you're familiar at all with the real city, as the movie replicates literally every street, block, and structure, and then makes them look fairly Japanese). I mean, why would Hall think of such a thing if this were Tokyo or any other city in Japan?

 

So it's in the US It's pretty logical when you're thinking about it : the movie's man market is the US

Actually, I don't think it's this because WDAS has always liked to set their animated features in other countries--I guess it makes things more interesting or "exotic" from their point of view. If anything, they probably considered keeping Japan as the setting a big risk because then it would really seem like they're pretending to do anime. And they might have felt that they could get away with taking artistic liberties or just being Disney if the movie were set in the US (trying to have their cake and eat it too). On the other hand, if this were true, then they probably would have made a bigger deal out of the city's location...maybe they assumed that people would simply assume that it's in the US?

 

and the cast is pretty diverse (and Japan is one of the world's least racially and ethnically diverse countries).

WDAS tends to do this with groups of characters whenever they can. With dogs they'd use a variety of breeds, and with humans a variety of races and ethnicities, much like in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It's a snapshot of America, so what better place to set this movie than in America? Making San Francisco look Japanese is strange enough as it is, so making Japan seem racially diverse would be taking things a step too far. In addition, I wouldn't be surprised if Japanese people would be sensitive to such a thing, actually, because in real life the US and its allies actually won World War II, of course, so making Japan appear more like the US racially and culturally could be taken as some kind of nightmare vision of post-war Japan losing their identity, when in fact this did not happen (at least not in such an overtly Americanized way as this).

 

And indeed this city looks like San Francisco more than Tokyo...San Francisco is very influenced by Asian cultures by the way, 33% of the population is Asian American (41% is Non-Hispanic White).

Underneath the artistic liberties WDAS took, it is an authentic, detailed replica of San Francisco, not an artist's interpretation--it is based on hard data and was generated by computers before artists came in and decorated (and made minor architectural changes to) the buildings. Whether this is a good or bad thing, it sure makes it clear which city it is.

And yes, in real life there are sizable populations of Chinese and Japanese immigrants and their descendants (many from the Old West days of California) in the Bay Area (plus tons of Vietnamese immigrants, centered in San Jose), which makes it an ideal jumping off point for this movie's weird ideas. Well, not that weird, but even Americans generally find this portrayal of an entire major city rather different, being THIS influenced by a single foreign culture. Fortunately people don't seem to be looking at San Fransokyo as some kind of ghetto, but rather the alternate reality that it is intended to be.

[Mojoguy]

I just wish the prerelease hype was bigger right now for BH6. I have no interest in seeing Interstellar.

[Mojoguy]

At this point, I'm expecting BH6 will make Wreck It Ralph numbers.

But It feels like WiR had more hype, with people very curious about how the video game characters would be used, compared to BH6.

[AJG]

At this point, I'm expecting BH6 will make Wreck It Ralph numbers.

But It feels like WiR had more hype, with people very curious about how the video game characters would be used, compared to BH6.

It's disneys fault for not pushing the Marvel connection.

[Mojoguy]

It's disneys fault for not pushing the Marvel connection.

It was never going to happen. Disney pissed Marvel off too much with how they handled the whole BH6 situation.

[Sal]

At this point, I'm expecting BH6 will make Wreck It Ralph numbers.

But It feels like WiR had more hype, with people very curious about how the video game characters would be used, compared to BH6.

 

I hate to say this, but WiR had a more immediate pull because the trailers showed showed characters from actual popular video games (which had its own problem when people realised that their appearances only amounted to cameos).  But don't let that discourage you!  I think this has the potential to be leggier than WiR.  It just needs good word of mouth and at least it shouldn't get that 'the big thing we went to see turned out to not be a factor' response from viewers.