Originally Posted By leemac THR is reporting that DM2 did $4.7m last night compared to just $2m for Ranger. Others reckon Ranger could struggle to $60m for the holiday weekend. I was more amazed by the fact that they claim that DM2 cost just $76m to produce - only one Disney feature in recent memory has cost less (Pooh was just $30m) and Brave cost three times that amount.
Originally Posted By leemac I've also been very surprised about the online chatter about the level of violence (granted just from my FB contacts etc). It is a PG-13 but some reckon it is a R. I'm always a poor judge when it comes to ratings so I'm not sure whether PG-13 is soft. I'd be interested to know whether others felt it was too much for a PG-13. I would say that it did seem violent for a "family" movie and it certainly felt a bit more "real" than the stuff you see in MARVEL movies. I guess it is a fine line......
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Some early estimates today https://mobile.twitter.com/BoxOffice/status/352505281281921024
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Didn't link but basically 32 million for Despicable Me 2 and 12 million for Lone Ranger
Originally Posted By leemac ^^ Wow - that is a big number for a July 3 - I wonder if that revises the weekend upwards? It is incredible to think that DM2 will probably break even in its first week of release.
Originally Posted By planodisney My question is, what the problem with Disney and Pixar overseas. Except for TS#, Disney and even Pixar are getting beaten by the other animation studios consistently, but by far inferior movies. Madagacar 3, the last 2 Ice Age movies. What is the problem with the Disney and Pixar brand internationally that even with a better quality film they cant match the other studios?
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Lee the very very very early estimates I'm seeing for DM2 is 135-140 and 60-65 for LR
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 And also it's a big number because a lot of us are off from work today in the states
Originally Posted By leemac <<Except for TS#, Disney and even Pixar are getting beaten by the other animation studios consistently, but by far inferior movies. Madagacar 3, the last 2 Ice Age movies.>> The Pixar recipe doesn't seem to work properly any more. In the past they focused on delivering quality product and it seems to work at the box office too. Now there are a host of animation studios that can create genuinely crowd-pleasing stuff. Even DreamWorks Animation has struggled with some movies like Monsters Vs Aliens and Rise of the Guardians. The movies you list are easily accessible by the whole family and hence movie-goers are happy to plunk down money to see them. Except for the sequels the Pixar stuff has a tendency to skew much older these days. The biggest problem is still the insane cost base. Dropping north of $200m on a Pixar feature puts incredible pressure on the movie to perform. They should be able to reduce their cost base and still make critical and commercial successes. I'd also add that Cars 2 and Brave too were truly awful movies. I've seen better from other studios of late. IMHO the Pixar Brain Trust never recovered from the loss of Joe Ranft. They seem more interested in pleasing Burbank with a host of new merchandisable characters than creating quality animation.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>What is the problem with the Disney and Pixar brand internationally that even with a better quality film they cant match the other studios?<< Which better quality films? Brave? Cars 2? Actually it's probably because dumb slapsticky movies translate better than complex ones. And funny animals translate better than NASCAR and American college life. (Also, Madagascar 3 took place in Europe, so there's that.) An interesting discussion of the topic was posted to Jerry Beck's new website just yesterday: <a href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/animationscoop/are-american-animated-films-losing-their-americanism" target="_blank">http://blogs.indiewire.com/ani...ricanism</a>
Originally Posted By leemac <<They seem more interested in pleasing Burbank with a host of new merchandisable characters than creating quality animation.>> And cashing in their stock options to buy country estates and wineries.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Actually it's probably because dumb slapsticky movies translate better than complex ones.>> I also think that audiences want to see animated movies that look like animated movies rather than the photo-realism that Pixar aspire towards. I couldn't stomach the first DM but can appreciate that it looked and felt like a Cartoon Network show. Madagascar's animals look like cartoon. Then we have Cars 2 where every last detail is slaved over for little benefit to the audience. Same with Merida and her hair.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 It will be interesting to see how the next few films work out for them. Since I think the brain trust will be back making films. And looking at next year I think the Good Dinosaur is a wildcard to win the summer. Right now there is nothing on the slate that will really breakout. And I think Finding Dory in 2015 could be huge. Anyway the numbers have been revised and it's being discussed here <a href="http://forums.boxoffice.com/index.php?/topic/10862-wednesday-numbers-despicable-me-2-35m-the-lone-ranger-15m-kevin-hart-6m/page-5" target="_blank">http://forums.boxoffice.com/in...m/page-5</a>
Originally Posted By leemac I'm not sure I'd agree with Jerry but it is an interesting debate. It is also too early to comment on MU's international gross - it has a big chunk of Europe and important territories like Japan ahead of it. That said I don't think it will set records in the UK or Japan.
Originally Posted By leemac <<And looking at next year I think the Good Dinosaur is a wildcard to win the summer. >> No chance - and you can hold me to that! Next summer is definitely a quieter one compared to 2015 but it still has Spidey 2, Transformers 4, X-Men 2, How to Train Your Dragon 2 etc. July does look a little lighter - and moving Maleficent to Independence Day is poor scheduling IMHO.
Originally Posted By leemac <<And I think Finding Dory in 2015 could be huge.>> I still think a 12 year gap between features will hurt it more than benefit it. The other animation houses are smart enough to churn out sequels every few years to keep them in the audience's minds. I'm prepared to give Stanton the chance to wow me after the truly abysmal Carter but if I think they will struggle to get the mix between the familiar and the new for the story. I know I sound very down on Pixar - I truly hated Cars 2 and Brave - but it is only because they had so much promise with Wall-E and Up - and then they have just squandered their prestige and tarnished their brand with a host of sub-par movies.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Which is why I labeled it as a wildcard. See I'm not sure about Tranformers it could see a drop like Shrek, Spidey and Pirates saw with their fourth films. And the highest an X-Men film has made is 234 million. Now Dragon I think could be big but then it could be a Kung Fu Panda 2 situation.
Originally Posted By leemac I would say that giving the screenplay duty to a rookie (Victoria Strouse) will either be inspired (like Michael Arndt) or a dud. Huge gamble by Pixar to go off-campus for their writer. Same with Frozen - I thought Jennifer Lee did a decent job with Wreck-it Ralph as a first time writer but giving her co-chair on Frozen seems like a heck of a gamble - especially as her co-director Chris Buck has only done one film since Tarzan (the woeful Surf's Up).
Originally Posted By leemac <<And the highest an X-Men film has made is 234 million.>> I thought First Class was exceptional - as good as the Singer movies. I just think it could hit it out the ballpark with a fanboy favorite script and reuniting so many of the X-Men team from the past and present. I'm just not sure comparing Days of Future's Past to the 4 previous movies is possible (but I did think First Class would do much better than it did - both domestically and internationally).
