Another Voice
Charter Member of The Element
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2000
You go away for a couple of days and there are hundreds of messages on this board
.
First, Im glad everyone seems to have enjoyed Lilo and Stitch. It truly is a great movie. For all the talk about magic around here is it very enjoyable to actually see some of it freshly created.
Second, the box office numbers. Others have written about the strong chance that Lilo will be number one for the weekend. The numbers currently floating around are based on actual Friday, estimated Saturday, and projected Sunday numbers. For the most part, the system works okay, but it relies on the studios themselves to do the estimating. Theres always a chance for a little fudging. This weekend was a major embarrassment for 20th Century Fox NO ONE wants to tell Steve and Tommy that they came in second to a cartoon or that they pulled good, but not great numbers. Going a little on the high side will at least postpone all the angry phone calls until Monday afternoon.
The numbers for Lilo look tremendous at this point. Since family films tend to perform better during the week than event movies, the full week take should put Lilo ahead by a nice margin. The real key will be the fall off for next weekend. Based on the word of mouth so far, Lilo should remain very strong. If things pan out the film should play for an extended run (by modern standards anyway) and top well over $200 million.
Third, a message is being sent loud and clear. Disneys two most successful animated films were both produced outside of Burbank. Tarzan came from Paris and Lilo from Orlando. The flurry of memo and gossip thats going to erupt will be interesting to watch. There will be a significant struggle over the future of animation. And its still not clear if the good guys will win. Remember that both the CFO and the VP/Animation both called animated hit movies flukes so no one is sure if they will be able to see the trends so neon-obvious to the rest of the industry.
Fourth, why all the bad reviews? When you open a movie, you have to advertise it to two groups: the public and to the critics. Most movie critics are pack animals that go to the same parties, eat in the same restaurants and attend the same screenings. Like any closed community, a certain conventional wisdom develops. Ive been hearing for a while that Disneys effort on behalf of Lilo wasnt too good, and it looks like the reviews tend to support that rumor. By the way, a good campaign can work wonders. The single best move by anyone at Disney in the last twenty years was when Katzenberg showed the work-in-progress print of Beauty and the Beast to the New York film critics.
Lastly speaking of current management: both a direct-to-video sequel and a weekly animated cartoon series are in production right now. One rumor said the pressure is to get the sequel out in time for the holiday buying season. Isnt it comforting to know that some things never change?
First, Im glad everyone seems to have enjoyed Lilo and Stitch. It truly is a great movie. For all the talk about magic around here is it very enjoyable to actually see some of it freshly created.
Second, the box office numbers. Others have written about the strong chance that Lilo will be number one for the weekend. The numbers currently floating around are based on actual Friday, estimated Saturday, and projected Sunday numbers. For the most part, the system works okay, but it relies on the studios themselves to do the estimating. Theres always a chance for a little fudging. This weekend was a major embarrassment for 20th Century Fox NO ONE wants to tell Steve and Tommy that they came in second to a cartoon or that they pulled good, but not great numbers. Going a little on the high side will at least postpone all the angry phone calls until Monday afternoon.
The numbers for Lilo look tremendous at this point. Since family films tend to perform better during the week than event movies, the full week take should put Lilo ahead by a nice margin. The real key will be the fall off for next weekend. Based on the word of mouth so far, Lilo should remain very strong. If things pan out the film should play for an extended run (by modern standards anyway) and top well over $200 million.
Third, a message is being sent loud and clear. Disneys two most successful animated films were both produced outside of Burbank. Tarzan came from Paris and Lilo from Orlando. The flurry of memo and gossip thats going to erupt will be interesting to watch. There will be a significant struggle over the future of animation. And its still not clear if the good guys will win. Remember that both the CFO and the VP/Animation both called animated hit movies flukes so no one is sure if they will be able to see the trends so neon-obvious to the rest of the industry.
Fourth, why all the bad reviews? When you open a movie, you have to advertise it to two groups: the public and to the critics. Most movie critics are pack animals that go to the same parties, eat in the same restaurants and attend the same screenings. Like any closed community, a certain conventional wisdom develops. Ive been hearing for a while that Disneys effort on behalf of Lilo wasnt too good, and it looks like the reviews tend to support that rumor. By the way, a good campaign can work wonders. The single best move by anyone at Disney in the last twenty years was when Katzenberg showed the work-in-progress print of Beauty and the Beast to the New York film critics.
Lastly speaking of current management: both a direct-to-video sequel and a weekly animated cartoon series are in production right now. One rumor said the pressure is to get the sequel out in time for the holiday buying season. Isnt it comforting to know that some things never change?