So Disney-Pixar's Coco is expected to top the box office this week with about 40M. That means Justice League was #1 for only one week and underperformed then.

JL did do pretty well in holding about 57% of last week's take, it's just that last week was not as much as it was supposed to be. Still I think it is closing in on 400M worldwide.

Despite that they are saying Warner Brothers may lose up to 100M in the end. That's just ridiculous. Studios can't make films that cost this much, whether its because of the all-star cast salaries or expensive CGI effects, it doesn't matter. If you are pulling in this much money and you can't get out of the red, what do you expect? That every person on the planet will have to go see your film to make it a hit? And from what I hear even the CGI in many scenes was lacking, including getting rid of Superman's moustache.

Between this and Suicide Squad, DC and Warner Brothers are just botching it up.

I enjoyed Justice League. I wanted two hours to kill and I got an enjoyable film. My son (17) went with his friends and they all hated it. They hated the CGI, the story, the actors, everything. I ask them why- two of my son's friends said some guy they followed on (I can't even remember where-some site I was unaware of) hated it and they agreed with him that it looked bad. My son just said that the story was "weak". My guess is that the target audience that would go multiple times did not connect with it.

I guess maybe I was slightly premature in my prior post about Justice League not making the Top 15 of the year

It is now the #15th highest grossing film of 2017 at the U.S. box office, up to 171 M

It will soon pass Pirates of Caribbean and Boss Baby.

I am guessing it will end up being # 11 for the year. It may end up around 200 M, but won't get up to 225 M.

With Star Wars coming, it probably won't be in the Top 10.

It looks like the Top 10 films of the year are sure to be:

1) Star Wars
2) Beauty and the Beast
3) Wonder Woman
4) Guardians of the Galaxy 2
5) Spider-Man
6) It
7) Thor
8) Despicable Me 3
9) Logan
10) Fate of the Furious


So wins for Disney with # 1, 2, 4 and 7, and I believe that with their deal with Sony, they win with # 5, also.

I thought COCO was mediocre at best, the Omar cartoon was boring.
THREE BILLBOARDS did nothing at all for me.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
...Between this and Suicide Squad, DC and Warner Brothers are just botching it up.

Despite bad reviews, Suicide Squad made lots of money.
Despite bad reviews, Batman v Superman made lots of money.

I guess there was a reasonable expectation a Justice League film would make lots of money too, which in a way it has, but if reports are correct not nearly enough to justify the amount they spent making and promoting it.

Reportedly, the overseas box office for Justice League is strong enough to compensate for the weak showing in North America and the film will likely turn a profit at some point.

quote:

Originally posted by Obi Wan Chrisobi:
Reportedly, the overseas box office for Justice League is strong enough to compensate for the weak showing in North America and the film will likely turn a profit at some point.

It's complicated as although it has made huge ticket sales in China, the percentage the Studio gets is only around 25% there. The exact amount the studios get in North America and Europe is never publicly released, but I understand it is of the order of 60% of the box office ticket, except for the opening weekend. Add to that, the average big movies spend ~£3 million on advertising in the UK, however in the USA they spend far more, recently estimated ~$40 million, and I am pretty sure a superhero film like Justice League would have spent more. So if reports are correct and Warner Brothers spent $300 million making this film, they will probably need a box office of nearer $750 million worldwide just to cover their costs.

quote:

Originally posted by WOMBLE:

quote:

Originally posted by Obi Wan Chrisobi:
Reportedly, the overseas box office for Justice League is strong enough to compensate for the weak showing in North America and the film will likely turn a profit at some point.

It's complicated as although it has made huge ticket sales in China, the percentage the Studio gets is only around 25% there. The exact amount the studios get in North America and Europe is never publicly released, but I understand it is of the order of 60% of the box office ticket, except for the opening weekend. Add to that, the average big movies spend ~£3 million on advertising in the UK, however in the USA they spend far more, recently estimated ~$40 million, and I am pretty sure a superhero film like Justice League would have spent more. So if reports are correct and Warner Brothers spent $300 million making this film, they will probably need a box office of nearer $750 million worldwide just to cover their costs.

..and that doesn't take into account the creative accounting employed to avoid paying more than the absolute minimum to the Taxmen (and IP/license rights holders...Tolkien Estate fiasco anyone ?) in the various regions

Justice League has made 560 M worldwide so far, and that is not huge, taking into account all of what was discussed above

I remember when Superman Returns grossed "only" 391 M worldwide, way back in 2006, and that was considered nowhere near what was needed to justify a sequel

MAN OF STEEL grossed 668 M worldwide in 2013, so you can compare that to Justice League

I know this may be old news, but BLADE RUNNER 2049 cost 150 M plus to make, and worldwide it has grossed a mere 255 M which means it is definitely in the RED.

Money lost all around on that one

With these movies that are from franchise titles, whether Marvel or DC or Star Wars or even something like Blade Runner, people feel compelled to see them because they saw the others. The studios know they have a built in audience that are going to show up for the opening week or are almost guaranteed to at least see the DVD. So just because they make what certainly sounds like a good amount of money does not make them good movies, it merely means that they were seen by X number of people.

Regardless of the box office or what critics say, how many of those films just named were disappointments to the fans? How many were judged OK by the fans, but they could have been better? How many were hindered not by the reviews, but by word of mouth from the fans that saw them? Quite a few and I saw most them, so I'm part of the problem too. By contributing my money, along with everyone else's money, I'm just as guilty of ensuring that sequels will be made for some films that don't deserve them.

I think what we're seeing is a result of the New Hollywood Era, 1967-1982, well documented by books and other media. During that period, you had all of those "creative" films, bucking the studio system, and being hits. We're talking Easy Rider, M*A*S*H, The Godfather 1 and 2, etc.

But by 1980-1982, with massive flops like Heaven's Gate and One From the Heart, the studios weren't going to take ANY more risks with investing big bucks into questionable films that were not guaranteed to be hits.

So since the 1980s, they've gone the STAR WARS route-- endless sequels which are more or less guaranteed to make at least some money.

Reviews are not as important as ticket sales, to the Big Studios.

I thought HEAVEN'S GATE (and still do think it is) was a masterpiece. I'll have to dust off my DVD and watch it again.

You're both right. Heaven's Gate was a massive flop when it was released and many people do now regard it as a masterpiece all these years later.

One from the Heart was the notorious flop that Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now) did. It cost 26 M to make, much of which was spent building a replica of an airport. Columbia released it in Feb 1982, and it grossed $ 600,000. Didn't even make 1 M

That's why Coppola spent the 1980s doing films like The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, Tucker, and finally Godfather 3, to get out of debt for all of the money lost.

I thought YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH was excellent.

Justice League is now up to 201 M in the U.S., which is a bit better than expected.

Perhaps it will end up being the 8th or 9th highest grossing film of the year, in the U.S., if it can get up to 225 M or so.

Justice League is up to about 220 M in the U.S.

So if it can make about 7 M more, which it will, it will end up being the 9th highest grossing film of the year, domestically.

Just saw STAR WARS THE LAST JEDI in IMAX today. To me, it's a miss. The ONLY Star Wars movie I did not immediately really like. I kept asking myself, is this over yet?