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

[Jonwo]

I think WDAS would rather mix things up rather than just repeat the formula and actually just relying on the formula lead to their decline in the 90s and early 2000s. 

 

The Lion King's success was a surprise considering it was a film with a lot of problems and it was one that Disney really care for, Pocahontas was the picture everyone wanted to work on so its success was unexpected although if you look at the history of WDAS, films with talking animals like The Jungle Book, 101 Dalmations, etc have been just as successful if not more so than the fairytale films. It'll be interesting how Zootopia does because that will be the first talking animal film from WDAS since Bolt and that genre of animated films has had mixed success in the last few years.  

[Melvin Frohike]

Sadly if that is based on a real convo, then it strengthens my hunch that if WDAS would have followed up Frozen with a princess film like Moana instead of BH6, then the BO would've been far more impressive.

I'm not convinced because it's still not Frozen. And while on the one hand movies such as Tangled and Frozen have proven that the fairy tale/princess musical can still be a viable genre for animation, on the other hand this can be reversed at any time when the GA begins to want something different again. In my view Moana's success will be far more dependent on how it can distinguish itself from previous princess musicals than the fact that it is one.

[Spidey Freak]

I'm not convinced because it's still not Frozen. And while on the one hand movies such as Tangled and Frozen have proven that the fairy tale/princess musical can still be a viable genre for animation, on the other hand this can be reversed at any time when the GA begins to want something different again. In my view Moana's success will be far more dependent on how it can distinguish itself from previous princess musicals than the fact that it is one.

 

I'm using the crazy Early Renaissance streak for reference as that is the best comparison. The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin all fed each other as they belonged to the same genre: musicals based on fairy-tales featuring princesses. Aladdin was a seamless evolution from TLM and BatB that succeeded in making the musical genre and WDAS more boy-friendly, setting the stage for The Lion King. 

 

Completely forgotten thanks to the Big Four? Poor Rescuers Down Under coz of its lack of princesses and musical sequences. The fact that it was a jarringly different movie from Mermaid definitely affected its BO reception despite its actual quality. There is an audience out there that expects a specific kind of movie from WDAS. There is a reason the last Frozen trailer had "Biggest Disney Animated Event since The Lion King" line included. Even WDAS know what their USP is.

 

Of course, that's not to say they should be chained to the musical genre forever. But there's no challenging the fact that when it comes to WDAS, the musical genre is the King! Or Queen, in Frozen's case. Moana by its very virtue of being a musical and having a "princess" as its protagonist would have benefited to a greater extent than BH6 if it were the one to directly follow Frozen. Giants too. Giants could have even played the role of Aladdin in proving that WDAS could be successfully boy-centric too without alienating the princess loving girls and fans of the musicals/fairy-tales, allowing for a greater success of more boy-leaning films.

 

BH6 could have performed much better if it had succeeded Giants instead of Frozen.      

Edited December 26, 2014 by Spidey Freak

[23IsEverywhere]

I think that the new strategy that Disney is trying may not be the best (for profits) in the short run, but it may help extend this period of success by keeping a style from getting stale.

[Ezen Baklattan]

Looks like it's going to cross $200m on Sunday.

[Jonwo]

I'm using the crazy Early Renaissance streak for reference as that is the best comparison. The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin all fed each other as they belonged to the same genre: musicals based on fairy-tales featuring princesses. Aladdin was a seamless evolution from TLM and BatB that succeeded in making the musical genre and WDAS more boy-friendly, setting the stage for The Lion King. 

 

Completely forgotten thanks to the Big Four? Poor Rescuers Down Under coz of its lack of princesses and musical sequences. The fact that it was a jarringly different movie from Mermaid definitely affected its BO reception despite its actual quality. There is an audience out there that expects a specific kind of movie from WDAS. There is a reason the last Frozen trailer had "Biggest Disney Animated Event since The Lion King" line included. Even WDAS know what their USP is.

 

Of course, that's not to say they should be chained to the musical genre forever. But there's no challenging the fact that when it comes to WDAS, the musical genre is the King! Or Queen, in Frozen's case. Moana by its very virtue of being a musical and having a "princess" as its protagonist would have benefited to a greater extent than BH6 if it were the one to directly follow Frozen. Giants too. Giants could have even played the role of Aladdin in proving that WDAS could be successfully boy-centric too without alienating the princess loving girls and fans of the musicals/fairy-tales, allowing for a greater success of more boy-leaning films.

 

BH6 could have performed much better if it had succeeded Giants instead of Frozen.      

 

 

The family market is a lot tougher now compared to when the Renaissance was around and Rescuers Down Under was a sequel that came too long after the first film. We've seen what's happening with DWA because they became complacent and I think WDAS don't that to happen to them again hence why we got a non musical following a musical film. The success of Wreck it Ralph and BH6 even if they don't make as much money as Frozen or Tangled proves WDAS doesn't have to rely on the musical or fairytale formula to be successful. 

 

 

 

I think that the new strategy that Disney is trying may not be the best (for profits) in the short run, but it may help extend this period of success by keeping a style from getting stale.

 

Exactly, sticking to the formula is what cause the end of the successful streak in the 90s as well as the rise of CG animation. 

[Melvin Frohike]

I'm using the crazy Early Renaissance streak for reference as that is the best comparison. The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin all fed each other as they belonged to the same genre: musicals based on fairy-tales featuring princesses.

I've always viewed Aladdin as more of a comedy (not at its core, but it's a far more dominant element than usual), and while it has a princess, its titular protagonist is a dude and most significantly it features a comedic, shape-shifting genie. At the very least, it certainly distinguishes itself from the other WDAS musicals of the time (as they do with one another, as well).

 

Aladdin was a seamless evolution from TLM and BatB that succeeded in making the musical genre and WDAS more boy-friendly, setting the stage for The Lion King.

I don't know, I see a huge seam with Aladdin and then again with The Lion King, which is a talking-animal movie, of course.

In my view the connections between these movies are substantial but of a different nature. First of all, WDAS was in an environment that was conducive to creativity at the time--finally free from the stodgy remnants of the old guard and, for a few years, relatively free from the meddling of know-it-all, know-nothing executives. Then there was the public discovering animation again after decades of neglecting and relegating it to children's fare--it was a rekindled love affair, and people were as fascinated by it as if it were something entirely new. Disney as a whole, too, was being rediscovered at the same time, rapidly regaining its cultural prominence (in animation and beyond) after a couple decades of decline following Walt's passing. And then there was the musical format, which never actually went away but nonetheless was likewise being rediscovered as something the public really liked and wanted in a big way. Such conditions no longer exist, with the exception of WDAS being in a good creative environment, but it is still enough for WDAS to be successful, especially with Frozen, of course, but that is a special case, as was The Lion King, most likely.

The early Disney Renaissance animated features themselves are quite varied, in my opinion, and this helped keep them relatively fresh--they were both something old and something new (in significant ways), both from each other and previous WDAS movies. Then the novelty wore off and other bad things happened to WDAS.

 

Completely forgotten thanks to the Big Four? Poor Rescuers Down Under coz of its lack of princesses and musical sequences.

I think this is hardly comparable to the success of Wreck-It Ralph and now Big Hero 6, and the latter may well end up grossing more than the princess musical Tangled.

 

The fact that it was a jarringly different movie from Mermaid definitely affected its BO reception despite its actual quality.

This could have been the result of any number of factors, but one thing I'd like to point out first is that the subsequent movies didn't seem to suffer any for the delay that it represented. It's a good movie and deserved better, but maybe like the recent Winnie the Pooh it was viewed as a movie made only for children (having two tiny middle-aged mice and a young boy as the main characters) as well as a relic from the past. People did want a certain kind of movie from WDAS, but it wasn't necessarily as specific as a fairy tale musical--for one thing, they have to perceive it as something that they haven't seen before (regardless of how we may debate the reality of this).

 

There is an audience out there that expects a specific kind of movie from WDAS. There is a reason the last Frozen trailer had "Biggest Disney Animated Event since The Lion King" line included. Even WDAS know what their USP is.

WDAS don't do their own marketing, or else Frozen, for one, would have been sold VERY differently indeed. But still, bringing up their biggest hit is a standard advertising practice. Disney's marketing division did the same thing for The Princess and the Frog, by the way, and the reason in both cases was that a critic happened to say it, which allowed them to use it (they can't say it themselves--they have to quote somebody who doesn't work for Disney).

 

Of course, that's not to say they should be chained to the musical genre forever. But there's no challenging the fact that when it comes to WDAS, the musical genre is the King! Or Queen, in Frozen's case.

They've had a ton of success with these, no doubt, but at the same time they wouldn't want to make the public grow weary of them too quickly. Giving them some variety and leaving them wanting more over a longer period is the best overall way to leverage WDAS' greatest strength and source of popularity. Striking too frequently while the iron is hot, so to speak, would very likely backfire, leading to a loss of interest, both from the public as well as the creative people who work at WDAS (making this a creativity-motivated strategy as well).

 

Moana by its very virtue of being a musical and having a "princess" as its protagonist would have benefited to a greater extent than BH6 if it were the one to directly follow Frozen.

Perhaps, although Frozen didn't seem to suffer for following Winnie the Pooh (flop!) and Wreck-It Ralph instead of directly following Tangled. If this is because Frozen is "special" in the sense of being such a cultural phenomenon, then one could argue, as I have, that it could potentially overshadow any movie of the same basic type that follows it. Arguably this is even true of Big Hero 6 and animated features from other studios this year to some degree, so I could easily imagine people thinking of another WDAS princess musical released this year as being "not-Frozen" instead of appreciating it for its own merits. This is in addition to the long-term considerations that I brought up above and 23IsEverywhere (and maybe others) had brought up earlier. At least Big Hero 6 is perceived as a very different movie, and that's a good thing.

Now, as for why Frozen not only did well despite not immediately following Tangled, but became such a phenomenal success, I think it's because the public perceive it as simultaneously being something "classic" that they love from the past and something very new and different in certain ways--the latter, in conjunction with amazing hooks such as "Let It Go" and Elsa herself, was what raised this movie's box office and level of awareness above that of any other WDAS animated feature since The Lion King and maybe even more than that. Moana is almost certainly not going to reach such heights or anywhere near them, but waiting a couple more years is, I would argue, not going to hurt (and might even help in this specific case), and it still needs to distinguish itself in some readily perceivable ways in order to maximize its potential as a WDAS princess musical--making these movies and having them be successful at the box office is not easy (for many people it's a lot harder than it looks), even for WDAS.

 

Giants too. Giants could have even played the role of Aladdin in proving that WDAS could be successfully boy-centric too without alienating the princess loving girls and fans of the musicals/fairy-tales, allowing for a greater success of more boy-leaning films.

We can't predict how audiences will react to various elements with such certainty (especially in such a prescribed, coordinated manner). For WDAS and Disney's long-term good, the movies they produce should be based on their creative process instead of a master plan based on certain types of movies and how audiences reacted to the last one. These eras are hardly identical anyway, and I think that trying to replicate what happened would be an exercise in futility, as well as unnecessary since the Enlightenment/Revival/Resurgence is doing just fine without trying to mimic the Renaissance. That era had its own "lightning in a bottle" and so does this one, and there is a good reason this phrase uses lightning as a metaphor.

WDAS should just make the best movies they can out of the ideas that interest and inspire them the most (which in turn greatly helps them make the best movies they can), and the rest will take care of itself. To do otherwise would be, no offense intended, thinking like an executive instead of a creative. The point is to make a great product, and the money will naturally follow--actually trying to make money and leading the creative process in doing so very often ends up failing to accomplish either goal in the long run. Now, in the real world some of both is needed, but in my view the creative aspect is ultimately more important (if for no other reason than the fact that the public is unpredictable).

 

BH6 could have performed much better if it had succeeded Giants instead of Frozen.

Who knows, but WDAS cannot dictate which ideas come along first and how quickly they come together in development. All they can do is try to make the best movies they can (and then release them when they run out of time and money--hey, they still have to live in the real world ).

 

 

I think that the new strategy that Disney is trying may not be the best (for profits) in the short run, but it may help extend this period of success by keeping a style from getting stale.

I totally agree, although I question how much they can really strategize with a creatively-run studio. There are things they can do, certainly, but they wouldn't want to force anything. That said, they probably are pointedly trying to leave some "breathing room" between similar types of movies whenever possible, and I think that's a good idea for the sake of sustainability.

[Dan9]

I don't know how any studio can be dissatisfied with original movies grossing $200M+ domestically. I know it's an adaptation of a comic but it's so unknown that it hardly counts. People (unless they're like us) won't just go to see a movie because it's made by WDAS, it still needs to look good so BH6 is doing just fine. Not many studios can pump out non-franchise film after non-franchise film and have this much consistent success (hey there Dreamworks who still try to make massive franchises and don't do half as well).

[Jonwo]

I've always viewed Aladdin as more of a comedy (not at its core, but it's a far more dominant element than usual), and while it has a princess, its titular protagonist is a dude and most significantly it features a comedic, shape-shifting genie. At the very least, it certainly distinguishes itself from the other WDAS musicals of the time (as they do with one another, as well).

 

 

Aladdin was intended to be more a musical comedy in the vein of the Hope and Crosby Road to films before they made changes including Aladdin from a young boy to a young man and cutting his three sidekicks and replacing him them Abu. The Broadway adaptation is a hybrid of the film and the original concept restoring the sidekicks while cutting Abu, restoring Proud of Your Boy and Genie is less like Robin Williams and more like old school entertainers like Fats Waller and it works great although whether or not that would have worked in the film remains to be seen,

[Melvin Frohike]

Aladdin was intended to be more a musical comedy in the vein of the Hope and Crosby Road to films before they made changes including Aladdin from a young boy to a young man and cutting his three sidekicks and replacing him them Abu.

True enough, although in this instance we were looking at what worked for WDAS back in the day and how (in hindsight) rather than the original intentions. Regarding the latter, note that Beauty and the Beast was originally intended to be a non-musical until the director resigned over creative differences and the story was completely scrapped and begun anew with Howard Ashman in charge (credited as executive producer in addition to lyricist). And this was because Aladdin's development had stalled--with such a fluid creative process going on there can only be so much strategizing, I would think. My point is that originally they weren't going to make virtually every movie a musical, but when that turned out to work so well for them, they kind of got stuck on the idea. Things have changed, however, both within WDAS and in the industry as a whole (one thing being that there is a feature animation industry outside of WDAS at all, after like six decades), so WDAS shouldn't have to feel that they can only succeed with one type of movie, and they've been proving it.

[wileECoyote]

So 200 soon. Hopefully on Sunday.

[phantom]

I finally watched this movie last 26 Dec. and more adults turned up rather than kids (weird maybe because of the time), then the cinema was not full despite it's the opening day and it's in the city. But anyway...

 

I cried when Feast was played, that short alone was worth all the cents.   And I'd definitely buy the Blu-ray so I could watch it over and over again.

 

There's collective gasps or wows during the flight scenes or any scenes with beautiful background in BH6. But not much laughs, considering common people treated animated movies as comedy, but the emotional scenes seemed to work okay (though I hope it should be stretch longer so the drama will sink in). All in all, it was good but didn't make me jump into the fandom immediately and obsessively.

 

In comparison to HTTYD in terms of boy with his buddy cliche, I'd rank HTTYD higher. But in terms of the team dynamics, BH6 is definitely better for me. The emotional core of the story, HTTYD on father-son relationship while BH6 on brother/sibling relationship, I chose BH6 because I couldn't relate to HTTYD. The only nitpick I could think of was NEED MORE TADASHI!!!   

 

I was lying there's one huge nitpick that really bug me... the soundtrack and voice actors were not that splendid. For me, background music and voice actors are one the primary reasons I become so obsess in an animated product (I love listening to soundtrack!), even though the animation is crappy as hell (e.g. Shingeki no Kyoujin and Death Note), it's the music that makes it so awesome for me, especially if it is very epic! (just listen to the said animes' soundtrack) And mostly I fell in love with voice actors rather than how the characters were designed/looked like. In BH6, I love Baymax's voice so much but the rest, not that much. I don't know about you, but what this movie really lacks for me is the epic soundtrack.

 

Peace out. 

Edited December 28, 2014 by phantom

[Fullbuster]

February 11th in France, it's still pretty far :/ I can't wait to see this

[eXtacy]

Just saw this and it was so good!

[wileECoyote]

Big Hero 6 BV $4,854,000 +33.3% 2,065 -342 $2,351 $199,933,000 $165 8

Biggest jump from the major holdovers.

So close to 200. Maybe it'll get there with actuals.

[Fullbuster]

Big Hero 6 BV $4,854,000 +33.3% 2,065 -342 $2,351 $199,933,000 $165 8

Biggest jump from the major holdovers.

So close to 200. Maybe it'll get there with actuals.

 

Wonderful

[Fullbuster]

Foreign :

 

Big Hero 6 grossed $24.7m from 51 territories to reach a relatively early $120.9m and opened in Brazil on $4.5m and Australia in second place on $3.2m. The global haul stands at $320.8m.

Russia has generated $20.2m, Japan $17.2m, Mexico $16.4m, Malaysia $6m, Italy $5.8m, Spain $5m, Philippines $4.4m, Argentina $4.1m and Singapore $3.9m.

Coming up are Germany and South Korea on January 22, the UK on January 30, France on February 11 and China on March 1.

 

http://www.screendai...contentID=40071

[Fullbuster]

As for Big Hero 6 we can say $4.5m is a good number, if we take the exchange rate and the fact Brazil now has 4-day OWs into account it is clear BH6 is in line with the previous WDAS movies such as Wreck-It Ralph and Tangled, so $20m can be reach if the legs are good enough, that's quite great to hear

 

Tangled 3-day OW : $4.6m (very advantageous exchange rate and despite it had less admissions than Frozen it still grossed more)

Wreck-It Ralph 3-day OW : $3.5m

Frozen 3-day OW : $3.6m (slightly better exchange rate than BH6 but still at a disadvantage)

Big Hero 6 4-day OW : $4.5m

[Fullbuster]

Such an excitement you guys!

[Melvin Frohike]

Big Hero 6 BV $4,854,000 +33.3% 2,065 -342 $2,351 $199,933,000 $165 8

Biggest jump from the major holdovers.

For comparison Big Hero 6 has grossed over twice what Wreck-It Ralph had grossed over the last three weekends of the year (including the weekdays in between), and about 2.3X over the past two weekends--so much for the concern of there being too much family competition this year. Although the amounts involved are not huge, all things considered this is a spectacular result!

I wonder whether Disney should have released Big Hero 6 on Thanksgiving instead. Hindsight is 20/20, yes, but many were saying this long before the movie was released.

 

So close to 200. Maybe it'll get there with actuals.

If this were Paramount, the estimate would definitely have been given a bump.