Disney's movie schedule, what are your thoughts

[Zippa D Doodah]

Originally posted by meowthew2
Bruckheimer for Narnia!!?? Ugh. Perish the thought.

Quite obviously the Chronicles of Narnia needs to be done by someone with a soul. Bruckheimer flicks are engaging, but soulless.

Who could fit the bill?? M Night Shymalan?

 

[Planogirl]

I think it's clear that Sony will run away with the box office this year particularly with Spiderman II coming out. Warner Brothers is interesting. They're not far behind Disney and they have the new Harry Potter and Troy coming.

 

[Bob O]

Shymalan would be great!!!!!!!!!! But very doubtfull as he has written all his own movies and he has directed and made them all close to his home in PA.

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by meowthew2
Wait a sec..."Sleeping Beauty" looks cheap? My gosh, it's probably the most elaborately animated movie ever!

I meant in the context of how animated features look these days. People are used to the look of Nemo and Shrek, and so anything that goes back to the way Sleeping Beauty was done looks like less went into it.

I didn't say that Sleeping Beauty looked cheap.

 

[Bob O]

It could be old animation (hand drawn) or new animation computer graphics, what matters isnt how it is done but the story being told. And that is what disney has been unable to come up with, compellling well told stories. IUf any of Pixar's movies were hadn drawn with the same well told/creative/interesting stories they would still be very popular just like TLK was. You can put Brother Bear/Emperorers groove or Treasure planet in a computerized format and they would still be sub par due to the story. And that is what disney doesnt understand.

 

[WDSearcher]

Originally posted by Bob O
It could be old animation (hand drawn) or new animation computer graphics, what matters isnt how it is done but the story being told.

I agree. But my comments were based on another poster who said that Home on the Range "looked very cheap." The poster hadn't said anything about the story looking strong or weak -- I was just addressing the comment about the look.

 

[Another Voice]

"110 Million for Home on the Range sounds like a lot of money.

That's hand-drawn, 2-D animation for you! "

That's actually about twice what it was supposed to cost. The soundtrack was recored in full twice, major sections of the movie were scrapped and re-animated, main characters were dropped in and out. It was all casued by management indecision and the failure to work out a story before they started making the movie. All of Feature Animation's trouble are the direct result of bad management.

And Hildago opened with a very, very tepid $20 million. A full ten million less than Starsky and Hutch.

 

[Bob O]

TW LW Title (Click to view daily chart) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count/Change Average Total Gross Cost* Week #
1 1 The Passion of the Christ NM $51,392,000 -38.7% 3,170 +127 $16,211 $212,034,000 $30 / $15 2
2 N Starsky and Hutch WB $29,050,000 - 3,185 - $9,120 $29,050,000 $60 / - 1
3 N Hidalgo Dis. $19,630,000 - 3,063 - $6,408 $19,630,000 $90 / - 1
4 2 50 First Dates Sony $7,700,000 -38.7% 3,040 -410 $2,532 $99,411,000 $75 / - 4
5 3 Twisted Par. $5,025,000 -43.6% 2,704 +1 $1,858 $16,382,000 - / - 2
6 4 Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen Dis. $4,036,000 -36.4% 2,180 -323 $1,851 $21,794,000 - / - 3
7 11 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King NL $3,175,000 46% 1,903 +791 $1,668 $368,347,000 $94 / $50 12
8 5 Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights Lions $2,850,000 -51% 2,042 - $1,395 $10,039,000 $25 / - 2
9 6 Miracle Dis. $2,638,000 -41% 1,654 -568 $1,594 $59,917,000 - / - 5
10 13 Monster NM $2,250,000 12.1% 1,082 +114 $2,079 $30,081,000 $8 / $10 11
11 12 Mystic River WB $2,060,000 -1.2% 1,051 -74 $1,960 $85,262,000 $25 / $15 22


Yes, more bad movie news for disney!!!

 

[WDSearcher]

More bad news? Disney has the #3, 6 and 9 films on the top ten, more than any other studio represented. Plus ... Dirty Dancing (#8) is being distributed by both Miramax and BVI, so we get income from that too.

If you're looking at things like percentage lost between one week to the next, then you also have to look at the difference between how many theatres something was in last week vs. this week, and a ton of other factors.

But bad news?? Howso?

 

[KMovies]

Not really bad news at all. Hidalgo's 19 mil take was at the high end of expectations. It wasn't expected to beat Starsky and Hutch, so #2 would have been expected. Then there's the Passion of the Christ which is something out of the ordinary - and something that probably won't come along again.

Miracle and Confessions have had small drops from week to week - something that can't be claimed for most films.

It's only bad news if you want to look at it like that. They came out when there was a lot of competition and did well. Other weeks 19 mil would have been #1. Which would you rather have?

#1 19 mil
#2 13 mil
#3 7 mil

#1 53 mil
#2 29 mil
#3 19 mil

In either case, you brough in 19 mil. Yes, it would have been great to say #1 ... but that certainly wasn't expected.

 

[raidermatt]

In the end, the competition is irrelevant. The films have to generate the return Disney projected long before 'Passion' was ever released. Remember, they've projected sizeable growth... if the studios fall short of last year (very likely, given how well they performed last year), it has to be made up for in other areas.

'Miracle' and 'Confessions' are probably within the "acceptable" range. Not spectacular, but not failures either. Hidalgo's opening was probably on the low-end of the acceptable range. Its large enough that if the movie has "legs", it can still do pretty well.

 

[Bob O]

Hildago cost anywhere from 78 million to 90 million to make and if according to the industry norms half that on pr(which sounds right for all the commericals/advertising) i observed is correct. With 19 million being made this week which will be its high watermark(unless it is one of the rare films) it wont make any money at all, and im sure that disney hoped the viggo factor would help Box Office.
And the number of movies in the top 10 is meaningless, escpecially this time of year when the other 2 made peanuts in a weak time of the year. If you release alot of movies the odds are you will have several movies in the top 10.
Now if disney released a movie that cost 20 mill and it just passed 200 mill with not alot of money spent on pr as compared to disney films, then i would be impressed.
Sadly unless a POTC comes out of nowhere it looks like a long movie year for disney and their saving grace will be another Pixar movie which is the norm for disney.
Small drops from week to week isnt that big deal of a deal if you are starting from a small base of Box Office. Its not like they made major money and then only dropped a small amount from a much larger number.
Hopefully N. Night Shmalyan movie will be excellant like all his movie have been and can give disney Sixth Signes/Signs type of box office, they will need it!!!