I think we've been seeing this for a while now, many films not doing well domestically. Not sure why but maybe streaming and other venues for movies has some effect. If so, then I'd assume the same would hold for overseas audiences but films often do better there. It just seems that Americans aren't going to movies as often, except for certain movies which do well such as probably most Marvel movies.
I believe streaming has a huge impact on box office revenue, Ron, and I'm referring not just to streaming movies but television series as well, as we live in the age of streaming behemoths such as Amazon Prime and Netflix. As a case in point, Amazon Studios planned on releasing "The Aeronauts", which had a budget of $40 million, to be shown exclusively on IMAX during its opening week, followed by a full, wide release theatrical run. Unfortunately, Amazon had cold feet and decided on a two-week limited theatrical release and would be available to be streamed soon after, I'm guessing because they felt it would be much more profitable to do it this way even though "The Aeronauts" was made for the big screen. The top 20 highest grossing films in the U.S. this year have a budget that averages over $140 million. So perhaps Amazon felt it could be more profitable streaming this film to their 100 million-plus Amazon Prime subscribers.
And on the major Hollywood studio end, Walt Disney Studios has virtually cornered the domestic box office market and accounts for a whopping 40% of total theatrical release domestic market share, thanks in large part to its subsidiaries such Marvel, as you mentioned, along with Pixar and Lucasfilm. The good news for studios producing medium budget films in 2020, they won't have to go up against mega budget blockbusters from the Avengers, Pixar and Star Wars franchises are there are no scheduled sequels planned next year. So hopefully this bodes well for
Underwater, which is also considered a medium budget film. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why its distributor, 20th Century Fox, which is also a subsidiary of Disney Studios, kept pushing off the release date to 2020.
When I stated that medium budget films struggle, of course I didn't mean that it's impossible for a mid-budget film to do well at the box office. "Knives Out", with its $40 million production budget already surpassed that figure in domestic box office in just two weeks. "Hustlers", had a budget of $20 million, yet earned a domestic gross of over $105 million. And the movie that producers of medium budget movies should definitely pay heed to is "Joker", which is the first R-rated film to surpass $1 billion. What's even more impressive is that, although the Joker is a character from the DC Extended Universe, there were no superheroes in this film. And its genre? This wasn't an actioner anywhere as much as it was a psychological thriller. I never thought I would see the day that a psychological thriller would gross over $1 billion (adjusted in 2019 dollars). Just goes to show that a well made film, regardless of its budget and genre, has the potential to do well at the box office.
Another reason why CA box office did not meet expectations is perhaps it was too long since a remake was produced. Take for example the original Hellboy which was released back in 2004, a year after Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) was released. It grossed $99 million worldwide on a $66 million production budget. The Hellboy remake, which was released earlier this year, bombed at the box office and made only $44.6 million worldwide on a $50 million budget.
And what about all the naysayers with their preconceived notions, who were insisting months before this Charlie's Angels remake was released that this was a remake that nobody wanted? It sure sounds to me that if this was truly the case, regardless of directed it, who wrote the screenplay and which actresses played the angels, it wouldn't have done well at the box office nonetheless, as "nobody wanted a CA remake," and was doomed from the start, if the naysayers were correct.
Speaking of films that "nobody wants", is there a website that lists the films that "nobody wants" along with films that "everyone wants"? If such a website doesn't already exist, I believe this would be a great idea, and producers would pay handsomely for such a service if they knew exactly what an oftentimes fickle U.S. moviegoing crowd really wanted.
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Ron2011 (907)
4 years ago
"Another reason why CA box office did not meet expectations is perhaps it was too long since a remake was produced."
This could be part of the problem. But to me it means the movie is a whole new take on the CA story, plus a female action flic with some good comedic relief which fit seamlessly into the movie. So I would have though that all would have some good interest for audiences.
I think also that, as you say, the streaming and other services cut into many box office movie sales, except for certain films or genres which are in great demand like Frozen, Marvel movies, Joker and many male oriented action movies.
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LLOwens (983)
4 years ago
I think also that, as you say, the streaming and other services cut into many box office movie sales, except for certain films or genres which are in great demand like Frozen, Marvel movies, Joker and many male oriented action movies.
Charlie's Angels was supposed to be one of the most highly anticipated female oriented films that have strong female leads released in 2019 according to several sites such as this:
https://www.glam.com/culture/most-anticipated-new-movies-of-2019-strong-female-leads/
Two of the films on this list have yet to be released, and out of the eight that have been released, half of them bombed at the box office
(i.e., Miss Bala, The Kitchen, Where'd You Go Bernadette, Charlie's Angels).
So does this imply that demand for such films in general is waning?
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Ron2011 (907)
4 years ago
"So does this imply that demand for such films in general is waning? "
We've already been having female oriented films with strong leads for a while. Such as Angelina in several films, female Marvel roles, etc. And I would think the trend is or should be growing, unless maybe it's seen as pandering to women, which I doubt. I have to think that there just wasn't the audience interest in CA, and the same may wind up being true for some of those other female oriented films. Part of it, I guess, is the fickleness of the movie going audience. Some movies do well when they shouldn't, others do poorly when it's thought they'd do well.
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LLOwens (983)
4 years ago
Even the "Get woke, go broke" crowd can't explain why Marvel Films such as "Black Panther" and "Captain Marvel" did exceedingly well at the box office despite both of these films definitely being woke as they featured social justice warriors as the main characters. So perhaps another reason why CA didn't do well at the box office, like I mentioned earlier on another thread, was because it catered to a one quadrant audience (women in the 13-39 demographic) instead of targeting all four quadrant demographics like Marvel Cinematic Universe films do.
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sokar (2098)
4 years ago
Black Panther, Marvel, no strong political or racial narrative. It was an ok film that overperformed.
Captain Marvel though. It did well because it was sandwiched between the two biggest Marvel movies in the series and everyone was told you needed to see this to help with the events of Endgame, which you didn't. You can skip Captain Marvel completely and still enjoy the series, it has no bearing on the events of Endgame apart from the character being forced into the series. That is the only reason it made money. If it came after Endgame (which it should have done) it wouldn't have made anywhere near what it did.
Charlies Angels made no money because the movie is crap, end of story. You can try and spin it all you want just like Elizabeth Banks but the truth of the matter is, it is just a crap film. The marketing alienated part of the genral public and when your target audience doesn't go and see it then i'm sorr but you have just made a crap film and should accept that and move on.
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LLOwens (983)
4 years ago
Black Panther, Marvel, no strong political or racial narrative. It was an ok film that overperformed.
Then it seems you missed the underlying premise of the movie which was primarily about the power struggle that exists in America today, which is both political and racial in nature. It begins with Wakanda prince N'Jobu using vibranium in order to start a revolution against white supremacists organizations, white colonialists and white dominated power. But then this takes an ugly turn as his son Killmonger is so fed up with political and racial injustices that he wants to take the law into his own hands and use vibranium to start wars around the world via his war dogs in order to overthrow white governments who have been oppressing black people. It becomes black radicalism led by Erik Stevens pitted against the white radicalized powers that be. So I'm not just referring to racism and politics, but the dynamic forces that threaten both power structures to their very core. Thus Killmonger was a social justice warrior to the ultimate degree both literally and in a figurative sense--denying this would show one's ignorance concerning the ideologies which would coarse through the veins of the main characters in this film. And to say this film "overperformed" is an understatement as it grossed $1.34 billion worldwide on a $200 million production budget.
It's not just
Black Panther but many Marvel films have political undertones involving social injustice and other forms of political turmoil. For example,
Captain Marvel doesn't only have a political agenda in terms of it being leftist and progressive--everything about the character Carol Danvey screams feminist. In the comic books which this film was based upon, Carol is a prominent feminist. Brie Larson who was cast to play the role, is a self-professed feminist in real life. And going back to the original superhero, "Ms. Marvel", her ideologies were without question a political statement. Thus, "Black Panther" and "Captain Marvel" could very well be the two most politically controversial movies in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe--to say they were merely social justice warriors in a conservative sense would be a severe understatement.
And lastly, top film critics such as Mick LaSalle, Owen Gleiberman, Michael Phillips, Katie Walsh, David Ehrlich, Beandrea July, and Darren Franicy, wrote positive reviews about the film.
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