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

[CampbellzSoup]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/strange-world-historic-bomb-disney-163156879.html

The Thanksgiving box office has brought a lot of good and a lot of bad for Disney. While Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is continuing to perform strongly with an estimated 5-day total of $65 million, the Disney Animation newcomer “Strange World” is turning out to be one of the biggest bombs in the history of the studio’s founding division.

Projected for an already poor 5-day opening of $30 million, “Strange World” will now be lucky to even hit $20 million for the extended period after making just $11.2 million between Wednesday and Friday. With a reported budget of $120-130 million, the film’s performance relative to its price tag is drawing comparisons to Disney’s infamous 2002 bomb “Treasure Planet,” a film that earned just $16.6 million during its Thanksgiving opening and went on to make just $110 million worldwide against its $140 million budget before inflation.

But at least “Treasure Planet” earned an A- from audiences on CinemaScore. What’s much more shocking than the opening weekend numbers for “Strange World” is its CinemaScore grade of B from opening day audiences. It is the first Walt Disney Animation film to fail to earn an A or A- on CinemaScore. On Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak, the film earned a somewhat better result with a 4/5 score on CinemaScore, with women giving the film big thumbs up with a 91% overall positive rating while men over 25 were far more tepid with a 66% overall positive rating.

 

[wabbott]

https://variety.com/2022/film/box-o...flop-thanksgiving-wakanda-forever-1235442708/

Nov 27, 2022 8:29am PT
Thanksgiving Box Office: Disney’s ‘Strange World’ Bombs With $18.6 Million as ‘Wakanda Forever’ Repeats at No. 1

 

[wabbott]

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

 

[Narcoossee11]

Movies are ALL in trouble. They just can't win for lossing.
Why spent over $50 for a family of 4 to go see a movie that will be on demand in less than 6 weeks (sometimes 1-2 weeks) in your house to under $10.
Even if it is Premiere price of $20, you can have 2-3 families share the cost.

 

[BrianL]

Movies are ALL in trouble. They just can't win for lossing.
Why spent over $50 for a family of 4 to go see a movie that will be on demand in less than 6 weeks (sometimes 1-2 weeks) in your house to under $10.
Even if it is Premiere price of $20, you can have 2-3 families share the cost.

That's definitely part of it. If it's not a big, spectacle movie like Marvel or Star Wars, it has a hard battle. I really can't believe tehat "B" Cinemascore though - that's really low! It's a good movie too.

 

[fatmanatee]

Shooting themselves in the foot by sending these movies to streaming after a month or two. I was stunned that it happened so quickly for Thor, and now it’s going to be in the back of my mind for every movie I think about seeing in theaters. Non-tentpole movies? Forget about it.

 

[jujubiee4]

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.

 

[movie77]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/strange-world-historic-bomb-disney-163156879.html

The Thanksgiving box office has brought a lot of good and a lot of bad for Disney. While Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is continuing to perform strongly with an estimated 5-day total of $65 million, the Disney Animation newcomer “Strange World” is turning out to be one of the biggest bombs in the history of the studio’s founding division.

Projected for an already poor 5-day opening of $30 million, “Strange World” will now be lucky to even hit $20 million for the extended period after making just $11.2 million between Wednesday and Friday. With a reported budget of $120-130 million, the film’s performance relative to its price tag is drawing comparisons to Disney’s infamous 2002 bomb “Treasure Planet,” a film that earned just $16.6 million during its Thanksgiving opening and went on to make just $110 million worldwide against its $140 million budget before inflation.

But at least “Treasure Planet” earned an A- from audiences on CinemaScore. What’s much more shocking than the opening weekend numbers for “Strange World” is its CinemaScore grade of B from opening day audiences. It is the first Walt Disney Animation film to fail to earn an A or A- on CinemaScore. On Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak, the film earned a somewhat better result with a 4/5 score on CinemaScore, with women giving the film big thumbs up with a 91% overall positive rating while men over 25 were far more tepid with a 66% overall positive rating.

Go woke go broke. Strange world was DOA. Disney will be soon if they don’t wake up. Alienating your core base of customers is generally speaking not a good idea.

 

[HopperFan]

Movies are ALL in trouble. They just can't win for lossing.
Why spent over $50 for a family of 4 to go see a movie that will be on demand in less than 6 weeks (sometimes 1-2 weeks) in your house to under $10.
Even if it is Premiere price of $20, you can have 2-3 families share the cost.

We've been back going to movies this year, and I don't see how they sustain.

First off they are sending very few movies to the theater and on top of that they are going for short stints. Yesterday saw "Glass Onion" (3 of us). I think it is only in theater a week so it qualifies for Oscars, then off to ... Netflix? I would say the theater was the most crowded I've seen this year with about 25 people. Most movies there is less than 10. I think "Wakanda" had around a dozen. You can't keep running movies with theaters mostly empty. There isn't enough popcorn bought to float that.

Tuesday we are heading to "Strange World" (all 4 of us) and BIL/SIL are joining us because it is discount night. I'm also going this week to see "The Fabelmans" because I am interested it seeing now, not in a couple months. Two of us have AMC A-List so I try to see as much as we can. I grew up going to the movies a couple times a week so I'm going now while they still exist.

Second the price is too much if taking your whole family unless you hit discount times. The streaming services are what families are better off investing in than taking kids to movies. It is safer, you can do bathroom breaks and you provide your own snacks. Even when we go to kid's movies (my DS likes those most) there are rarely any kids in the theater.

Finally, streaming is where the focus is and the few movies they are making for theaters aren't enough. All of Hollywood is going to have to change their way of life because streaming movies can't keep paying huge salaries. Are we seeing the beginning of the end for mega-stars?

 

[Alicefan]

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.

I haven't either. I'm reading today that it's as "woke" as you can get though and no one seems to have anything positive to say about it from what I've seen. I have no idea what it's about myself. I don't think I've seen the first preview for it?

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Movies are ALL in trouble. They just can't win for lossing.
Why spent over $50 for a family of 4 to go see a movie that will be on demand in less than 6 weeks (sometimes 1-2 weeks) in your house to under $10.
Even if it is Premiere price of $20, you can have 2-3 families share the cost.

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

 

[Mikey15]

Not having seen it, the marketing gave the impression of a '50s Sci-Fi "B"-movie, or similar-era Sci-Fi serials. The teasers, as they do, didn't really tell me what the movie's about otherwise, but if the theming doesn't appeal to a broad audience, there's only so many people who are going to invest more to find out.

The animated features that do really well for Disney continue to be their brightly-colored musicals, that kids really want to go see. Even then, Encanto struggled last year as Omicron showed up, and some theaters were even closed. We'd be reflecting on Encanto very differently if it hadn't become a hit with preschoolers on up on D+. But I'm guessing a January D+ release isn't going to send the Strange World soundtrack to #1 either...

 

[BrianL]

Not having seen it, the marketing gave the impression of a '50s Sci-Fi "B"-movie, or similar-era Sci-Fi serials. The teasers, as they do, didn't really tell me what the movie's about otherwise, but if the theming doesn't appeal to a broad audience, there's only so many people who are going to invest more to find out.

The animated features that do really well for Disney continue to be their brightly-colored musicals, that kids really want to go see. Even then, Encanto struggled last year as Omicron showed up, and some theaters were even closed. We'd be reflecting on Encanto very differently if it hadn't become a hit with preschoolers on up on D+. But I'm guessing a January D+ release isn't going to send the Strange World soundtrack to #1 either...

I think this assessment is correct. The Sci-Fi serial style has a niche appeal (it definitely appeals to ME!) and plays on nostalgia that younger people just don't have. That's why I've been worried about it from the beginning. It also has no real songs, not even a pop song for the credits. The only song, is the very theme-song/toy commercial "Meet the Clades" which is fun, but not really worth a listen without the associated comic-book style visuals. They need something catchy!

 

[iheartglaciers]

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.

I know, how is it possible I spend all day on Disney news web sites and message boards and didn’t realize this movie was coming out this weekend?!

I had seen an early trailer a long time ago, maybe as part of D23, but nothing recently.

 

[BrianL]

I know, how is it possible I spend all day on Disney news web sites and message boards and didn’t realize this movie was coming out this weekend?!

I had seen an early trailer a long time ago, maybe as part of D23, but nothing recently.

I have seen quite a few ads for it, hoever I've been following this movie since it was announced. I will say I didn't see the full-court marketing press that other movies have gotten, but I did see commercials on TV, etc.

 

[NJlauren]

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

This was a good listen.

They have to have a longer wait time to streaming, or charge on streaming for a longer time to change this issue in anyway.

I love going to the movies, but it’s not cheap that’s for sure!

 

[Orion Nebula]

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.

Same here, I don't know what age group it is aimed at though and everyone is now grown in my household.

 

[Moliphino]

The closest theater to me closed permanently early on in the pandemic, so now it's a good 30 minutes to get to one. I only bother going to see Marvel movies. I can easily wait for the Disney+ release for this one.

 

[VandVsmama]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/strange-world-historic-bomb-disney-163156879.html

The Thanksgiving box office has brought a lot of good and a lot of bad for Disney. While Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is continuing to perform strongly with an estimated 5-day total of $65 million, the Disney Animation newcomer “Strange World” is turning out to be one of the biggest bombs in the history of the studio’s founding division.

Projected for an already poor 5-day opening of $30 million, “Strange World” will now be lucky to even hit $20 million for the extended period after making just $11.2 million between Wednesday and Friday. With a reported budget of $120-130 million, the film’s performance relative to its price tag is drawing comparisons to Disney’s infamous 2002 bomb “Treasure Planet,” a film that earned just $16.6 million during its Thanksgiving opening and went on to make just $110 million worldwide against its $140 million budget before inflation.

But at least “Treasure Planet” earned an A- from audiences on CinemaScore. What’s much more shocking than the opening weekend numbers for “Strange World” is its CinemaScore grade of B from opening day audiences. It is the first Walt Disney Animation film to fail to earn an A or A- on CinemaScore. On Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak, the film earned a somewhat better result with a 4/5 score on CinemaScore, with women giving the film big thumbs up with a 91% overall positive rating while men over 25 were far more tepid with a 66% overall positive rating.

I'm not surprised. Saw the trailer a couple of times when we were at the movies in previous weeks seeing other films and thought, "Meh, not interested. Looks like it has no plot. Don't care about their LSD-tripping made-up world. Not spending my money on that."

Sounds like I'm probably not the only one who decided to opt out.

** Edited to add **
Disney has lost its way in the story-telling department. Bob Chapek was bad at it. I mean, even in public appearances, he was a bad story teller and salesman & pitch man. And yeah, I put the situation with Disney studios & Pixar on him.

Encanto was a good movie, but what was 'off' about it was that the grandmother was basically the villain. And with Strange World, if in a 3 minute trailer/sneak preview, the audience can't even really tell what the movie might be about, then you've lost them and they aren't going to bother spending money to see it.

Turning Red by Pixar? Never bothered to see that one either. Not even on Disney+ and I'm a subscriber. Plot looked stupid and wasn't interested in a movie where a pre-teen girl randomly starts turning into a red panda.

Spent real live $$ to see "Lightyear" in the theater this summer. Total waste of time. Movie lacked all of the regular stuff that has made Pixar movies great in the past. The plot dragged on forever. And Emperor Zurg turned out to be Lightyear? That was dumb. Missed hearing Tim Allen's voice as Buzz Lightyear. Went away from that movie thinking, "What a waste of time."

Raya and the Last Dragon? Meh, that one was just ok, too. And based on seeing little kids' Halloween costumes and the stuff on sale in stores in Disney parks and online, I'd say that the general public thought the same. Raya and the Last Dragon stole too many elements from The Last Airbender animated TV series.

You can usually tell by the trailer if a movie is worth going to see in the theaters. I mean, when I saw the trailer for Lightyear, I thought, "Huh, I'm not sure, but YDD wants to see it, so we'll give it a go."

The ONE area that Disney is doing well in the story-telling department is the Star Wars tv series. And that's because Dave Filoni and John Favreau are excellent story-tellers and because they love Star Wars down to the pit of their bellies. The Mandalorian, the Boba Fett series, Andor (which gets better and better with each episode), the Obi Wan Kenobi series....they're all excellent. Movie-quality stories in every episode. Leaves you at the end of each episode thinking, "OMG! I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT EPISODE!"

But these latest Disney Animation and Pixar movies? They all kind of leave me with the opposite reaction...and that is one of "Bleh, that was dumb/waste of time/disappointing."

 

[Smugpugmug]

I'm not really surprised this didn't do well. Disney didn't market this at all. I'm seeing a lot of people on social media sites saying that they didn't even know this was coming out. For me, I haven't gone to the movie theater in 3 years as I don't have an issue with waiting until a movie comes to streaming to watch it. This didn't look interesting enough for me to pay to go see it.