Originally Posted By TheRedhead And I told my daughter that there's a sing along version coming...she threw up her arms in triumph.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I have a boy and a girl and they both love the songs. Disney needs to realize people (even boys) will enjoy your musicals/movies if you make the music and movies good! Evan my HUSBAND enjoyed Frozen. He is quite literally Scrooge McDuck in human form, and he liked it a lot. Me and my husband both thought the trailer looked horrible though, and we really weren't going to go see it at all, but I decided to because of word of mouth.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>He is quite literally Scrooge McDuck in human form, and he liked it a lot.<< Must be nice to have that money vault so you guys can go swimming in all those gold coins! I'm a little jealous! : )
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I just started the 25 languages Let it Go released, and both my kids came RUNNING to the screen. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://video.disney.com/watch/let-it-go-in-25-languages-4f06e85c30ce6b18db34b461">http://video.disney.com/watch/...db34b461</a> My son (6) has a MAJOR crush on Elsa.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Being the only big family film over Thanksgiving, it was going to have a big opening weekend. But it was word of mouth that gave it legs.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>It was word of mouth and ONLY word of mouth.<< And that just spontaneously happened, huh? You poor naive person. ;-) I think that a few Hayao Miyazaki fans would like to have a word with you on the merits of your theory, by the way. >>Being the only big family film over Thanksgiving, it was going to have a big opening weekend.<< And the directors of Treasure Planet wish to have a word with you. >>No, I've talked to people (and I, myself felt this way) that I actively was against seeing the movie.<< Doesn't matter if you talked to a million people. I talked to $337,450,104, and every one of them said that the marketing campaign was a smashing success. >>If it had a small opening and then had an amazing turnaround and went on to make a jillion dollars I would argue that it overcame a poor marketing campaign. But it opened huge before people knew they'd like it.<< Exactly. >>And I told my daughter that there's a sing along version coming...she threw up << Aww, shucks. I'm disappointed there was another line of text after this. ;-)
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub Apparently a boxed set of Frozen Valentine Cards are for sale. Better buy them early!!!
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub I was just thinking about that. Disney has made a boatload of money and I know only 2 people that have actually seen it. If you are going to see it you should see it on the big screen and not wait for it at home cause you will wish you had made the effort. I am wondering when it will be released for IMAX Screens...
Originally Posted By Dabob2 >>It was word of mouth and ONLY word of mouth.<< <And that just spontaneously happened, huh? You poor naive person. ;-)> I was speaking for myself (and only myself - see what I did there?) when I said that. The word of mouth I refer to was mostly this site and a fellow animation buff friend of mine in NY. So yeah, it was legit word of mouth, unless you count all those on-the-Disney-payroll people who post here (and we all know who THEY are, don't we, um hum nod nod wink wink). <I think that a few Hayao Miyazaki fans would like to have a word with you on the merits of your theory, by the way.> Of course, there have to be other elements in place to be a smash. Japanese animation has its fans here, but obviously it's still a niche fan base compared to Disney. In other words, if word gets out that the new Ghibli offering is terrific, it will probably do better over here than a Ghibli offering that generates lukewarm response. But there's probably a ceiling there even for the terrific ones that is unfortunately lower than even halfway decent Disney releases. >>Being the only big family film over Thanksgiving, it was going to have a big opening weekend.<< <And the directors of Treasure Planet wish to have a word with you.> Fair enough. But to be equally fair, the marketing for that one was abysmal, AND there was no counter "but I've heard it's very good" WOM that I remember, like there was with Frozen (i.e. "I know the trailer sucked, but the word is it's much better than that,") which I heard before Frozen opened. Which is ironic, because TP actually wasn't bad.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Fair enough. But to be equally fair, the marketing for that one was abysmal, AND there was no counter "but I've heard it's very good" WOM that I remember, like there was with Frozen (i.e. "I know the trailer sucked, but the word is it's much better than that,") which I heard before Frozen opened. Which is ironic, because TP actually wasn't bad.>> Disney writing off the development costs even before release was the kiss of death. Everyone picked up on that and they basically left the movie a stillborn. Same with John Carter. Animated movies targeted solely at boys or with predominantly male casts have almost all failed - Atlantis, Emperor's New Groove, Treasure Planet etc. You need to hook in kids of all ages. I'm sure some boys thought "ugh" about a princess movie like Frozen but the presence of two male leads, Olaf and even Sven made the difference (at least to my two nephews).
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Animated movies targeted solely at boys or with predominantly male casts have almost all failed - Atlantis, Emperor's New Groove, Treasure Planet etc.<< What about Aladdin, The Lion King, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo? I would say that those were all male-centric, yet did very well. I guess the difference is that they originated as story ideas, rather than as "We need a movie for boys, what do you have?" in a meeting. When male-centric films do well, they tend to do much better than female-centric films that do well. However when they bomb, they bomb big time; they don't have the luxury of a princess movie, which some people will go see no matter how bad it may be
Originally Posted By leemac <<What about Aladdin, The Lion King, Toy Story, and Finding Nemo?>> Aladdin had Jasmine and a love story TLK had Nala and a love story plus Sarabi and Shenzi. Nemo had Dory. Toy Story was an anomaly I guess.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Atlantis had the love story with Milo and Kida. Plus Audrey and Ms Packard were both around throughout the film TENG had Pacha's wife and daughter, both of whom provided motivation for Pacha's actions. Yzma, while the villain, is definitely a lady. Plus there's that cross-dressing llama scene Treasure Planet had...Jim's mom? Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen the whole film in one sitting, so I can't remember if there are any other important female characters Every movie needs a balance of male and female characters to make it interesting and appealing to anyone, regardless of trying to make it appealing to everyone. It just happens that the male-centric films tend to have a wider range of topics, while the stereotypically female-centric films are either a love story or a princess movie, or both. You're more likely to miss when you try a new storyline, but when you make a hit it's also more likely to be a big hit
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Treasure Planet had...Jim's mom? Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen the whole film in one sitting, so I can't remember if there are any other important female characters> The Captain was actually a woman, voiced (wonderfully) by none other than Emma Thompson.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 I do hope they don't get people tired of Frozen too quickly. We now have a Broadway version coming, as well as the sing-a-long. Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I have an irrational desire to see Frozen surpass DM2 at the box office. Right now it's 30M behind domestically... could it make that up in the next few weeks? (It made 18M last week but was dropping.) Could they hold it in theatres as long as the Oscars? If it wins the Oscar, you'd think they'd hold it over (maybe even bring it back) and that would do it. Worldwide it's farther behind, but I don't think it's opened in China or Japan yet... wonder if that will be enough?
Originally Posted By leemac <<I have an irrational desire to see Frozen surpass DM2 at the box office. >> It does look unlikely at this point unless there is a massive boost from the sing-a-long (odds against it). Oscars won't make a jot of difference to the gross - it isn't that type of movie to be effected by awards runs. Japan don't get it until March now (they have consistently been behind the release curve on Disney movies for the past few years). The China release just got announced for two weeks' time. If they had had an IMAX release and could have competed with Hunger Games then it would have sailed past DM2 - biggest mistake they made was not providing it in that format. Especially when there has been little content of quality in IMAX since Thanksgiving.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Oscars won't make a jot of difference to the gross - it isn't that type of movie to be effected by awards runs.> Not at all? I kept telling a friend of mine he had to see Spirited Away, but he resisted. Then it won the Oscar and he went (and took his family). I think at the very least it could provide a final marketing push, i.e. "Frozen has just won the Oscar! See it again, or if you haven't seen it yet, see what everyone's talking about, blah blah blah..." I dunno - 30M doesn't seem that big a hurdle... we'll see what it's done this week in a couple of days.
