Strange World Is a Historic Bomb for Disney on a Weak Thanksgiving Box Office Weekend

[BrianL]

Igor said years ago that the key for Disney is to never forget the importance of the Princess Animated stories. Think Moana, Frozen, Frozen II. It is ok to intersperse other stories, but they should not forget the stories parents want to take their kids to see. There is another Pixar movie coming out called Elemental--another non Princess movie. They need to get back to the basics, how did the line go "If you build it they will come", same could be said for the Princess movies.

Well, Pixar never much did princess movies at all - Brave being the exception. I do agree that WDAS needs to be about those - maybe not for every project, but frequently enough to keep them in the public conciousness.

 

[Mikey15]

I do agree that WDAS needs to be about those - maybe not for every project, but frequently enough to keep them in the public conciousness.

Coco was a great complement to the WDAS princess formula. Memorable characters & music & story. Mama Coco in a way was Hector's "princess," but Miguel was the heart of the story. Stuff like that can work well.

I guess it's technically Disney & Pixar though?

 

[VandVsmama]

Almost all of the Pixar movies have been amazing because, in my opinion, they all have a special way of doing a few important things:

• working through some big sort of conflict that ALL people can relate to. For example:
• doing that with humor, action, adventure, and some whimsy
• using a great soundtrack
• writing a really great script

 

[BrianL]

Coco was a great complement to the WDAS princess formula. Memorable characters & music & story. Mama Coco in a way was Hector's "princess," but Miguel was the heart of the story. Stuff like that can work well.

I guess it's technically Disney & Pixar though?

Yes, I think the music is key. Encanto wasn't a princess movie, but was very well received due to the catchy songs!

 

[superme80]

As a mom of 3 boys, this should have been a must see. I looked at the trailer, and I was bored. I asked my oldest, and he didn't find the ad memorable. I don't care if my boys watch it on Disney+, but I doesn't seem to be must see for them.

 

[RCharnay]

Saw it today and my husband and I really enjoyed it. glad the imagineers were able to go full scale Fantasia/Alice in Wonderland. We thought it wa an excellent allegory.

 

[DodgerGirl]

What I think happened with Strange World is that Disney rushed it out too soon and I think it should be promoted more because if you go to Shop Disney the lone merchandise of Strange World they have is clothing and in toys the only Strange World toy they have is a plushie of Splat and all I can say is that this movie will become the weakest link of Disney movies just like Pixar had with The Good Dinosaur and Onward but I think Strange World will have the same audience as they had with Dinosaur which was another mediocre film which got little promotion as well. But I will watch Strange World because I have a crush on Searcher Clade and he is just so cute. Why was he named Searcher anyway? Because if you look up the words search and searcher they mean "to find" and I find that name pretty cool but weird

 

[npatellye]

Saw it today and my husband and I really enjoyed it. glad the imagineers were able to go full scale Fantasia/Alice in Wonderland. We thought it wa an excellent allegory.

We did a pre-release screening of it with our kids before Thanksgiving and they really liked it. I thought it was well done and, like you, found it to be an excellent allegory.

 

[BrianL]

What I think happened with Strange World is that Disney rushed it out too soon and I think it should be promoted more because if you go to Shop Disney the lone merchandise of Strange World they have is clothing and in toys the only Strange World toy they have is a plushie of Splat and all I can say is that this movie will become the weakest link of Disney movies just like Pixar had with The Good Dinosaur and Onward but I think Strange World will have the same audience as they had with Dinosaur which was another mediocre film which got little promotion as well. But I will watch Strange World because I have a crush on Searcher Clade and he is just so cute. Why was he named Searcher anyway? Because if you look up the words search and searcher they mean "to find" and I find that name pretty cool but weird

The movie is still good, even if a flop. You should definitely see it whne you get a chance. The original title of the film was "Searcher Clade" - which I think is a better title. His name is Searcher because it is distinctive and since his father was a great explorer, he named his son after his profession. his father's name is Jaeger, which also means "hunter" and is appropriate for his character too.

 

[Disney_lost_it]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/disneys-robert-iger-faces-animation-troubles-as-strange-world-bombs-11669582752

Disney’s Robert Iger Faces Troubled Animation Market as ‘Strange World’ Bombs
Entertainment giant’s latest release becomes its second straight animated flop, after ‘Lightyear’

‘Strange World’ collected $18.6 million after opening Wednesday.
by Erich Schwartzel

Updated Nov. 27, 2022 4:20 pm ET

go woke, go broke.

 

[Jwaire]

I just think the era of watching animation in the theaters is over.

It's so expensive to take a typical family to the movies. You could buy a year of Disney+ by the time you paid for 3D tickets, popcorn, candy, drinks, etc. for a family of 4.

If it's not a blockbuster, families just aren't going to go.

 

[Jrb1979]

LI just think the era of watching animation in the theaters is over.

It's so expensive to take a typical family to the movies. You could buy a year of Disney+ by the time you paid for 3D tickets, popcorn, candy, drinks, etc. for a family of 4.

If it's not a blockbuster, families just aren't going to go.

If that's the case then Disney and all streaming services need to stop giving their movies away from free. If people want to watch it at home then charge them $20 to "rent" it for a weekend.

 

[Jwaire]

If that's the case then Disney and all streaming services need to stop giving their movies away from free. If people want to watch it at home then charge them $20 to "rent" it for a weekend.

That's not the future. They're all trying to get their streaming services to become their next main revenue streams.

Minions did pretty good last year.

4	Minions: The Rise of Gru	Universal	$939,220,210

Maybe you save the theater releases for big budget sequels—Frozen 3?

 

[afan]

That's not the future. They're all trying to get their streaming services to become their next main revenue streams.

Minions did pretty good last year.

4	Minions: The Rise of Gru	Universal	$939,220,210

Maybe you save the theater releases for big budget sequels—Frozen 3?

Minions was this summer and had been delayed 2 years. People knew it was supposed to comr out in 2020 and had been waiting. Merch for the movie had been out since 2020 since some, like kinder eggs, can't sit on a shelf to wait for 2 years. It was also heavily advertised.

It comes down to, if no one knows about the movie no one will go see it. This can be said of live action movies too. I see far fewer ads for movies in general yet new movies still come out every week. Let's see how avatar does with its marketing and actors doing interviews on tv and compare that to the minimal this movie got.

 

[Jrb1979]

Minions was this summer and had been delayed 2 years. People knew it was supposed to comr out in 2020 and had been waiting. Merch for the movie had been out since 2020 since some, like kinder eggs, can't sit on a shelf to wait for 2 years. It was also heavily advertised.

It comes down to, if no one knows about the movie no one will go see it. This can be said of live action movies too. I see far fewer ads for movies in general yet new movies still come out every week. Let's see how avatar does with its marketing and actors doing interviews on tv and compare that to the minimal this movie got.

Lack of marketing is a drawback of streaming. I've seen lots of ads for Strange World but that's do to my kid watching Blippi on YouTube. If all you watch is ad free services then you won't see many ads.

 

[afan]

Lack of marketing is a drawback of streaming. I've seen lots of ads for Strange World but that's do to my kid watching Blippi on YouTube. If all you watch is ad free services then you won't see many ads.

I watch live TV or DVR stuff 90% of the time and saw nothing. I watch GMA most days and my preferred local news is our abc affiliate. Should have seen something at some point. If it wasn't for these boards I wouldn't have known. Even Disney's social media didn't have that much about it and I'm not even sure they all did.

 

[Disney Bobby]

This is actually a very good point. I suggest everyone watch the hot wings with Matt Damon where he discusses what is happening.

I'll try, but it's hard for me to take Matt Damon seriously anymore after he tried to tell me during the Superbowl to "be brave" by buying crypto while he was looking down from a spaceship in orbit around Mars. Fortunately, my keen sense of intuition detected that something was a little "off" about that whole thing. You didn't fool me, Mr Ripley.

 

[HopperFan]

Saw the movie tonight. Took DH, two DS and my brother met us with his wife. Just a light night out.

It was colorful in a beautiful way (not primary colors), it was fun and the story good even if deep. DS said "It wasn't bad but it wasn't good. It was like they pulled from Atlantis and Treasure Planet - and made the same mistake of releasing now instead of summer. Holiday releases need to be musicals."

I felt like it was lots of different movies mixed together with parts feeling like River Navi'. Visually I think children would like it but I the story might be over their head. It was one of those that visually it was for younger but story wise and the nods were all for someone older. I'd watch again at home maybe once.

NOTE: DS#1 love movie theater, he has his routine of kid's snack pack, sleeping through the 3rd quarter and coming home to google all about it. This was a rare event that he stayed awake the whole movie and we caught him laughing at scenes (he's considered nonverbal and usually just watches).

NOW they had a trailer for new Pixar "Elemental" and I was like NO NO NO please stop beating a dead horse. So bad even I don't want to go see it.

I have never even heard of this movie. How strong was the marketing? I agree though it can get
expensive for a family to go see a movie. ESPECIALLY when it might hit streaming soon. Particularly
if it is on demand which im finding more and more available.

We had lots of marketing for it on our tv, enough that DH told me he wanted to see it with us (only boys and I have A-List). DH liked some off beat sci fi back in the day so he was curious.

Yes, I think the music is key. Encanto wasn't a princess movie, but was very well received due to the catchy songs!

And I was one who just didn't get the excitement over it. I thought the music was predictable and while the movie was colorful it was boring.

 

[BrianL]

We had lots of marketing for it on our tv, enough that DH told me he wanted to see it with us (only boys and I have A-List). DH liked some off beat sci fi back in the day so he was curious.

See, I saw ads too. I saw some last night. Clearly marketing was a problem since so many people didn't see them, but my viewing habits definitely had me exposed to it. Those habits include a lot of Simpsons/Family Guy/Bob's Burgers on FXX though, which is Disney owned.

 

[Anna131517]

Did they even advertise this movie? My kids never mentioned it and I never saw a trailer or anything about it coming out. The first I heard of it was this post. Maybe that’s why it bombed? I don’t like going to movie theaters (too loud) but we take our kids to movies and we probably would have gone if we knew about it.