Box Office Update Jul 27-29

Good afternoon Disney friends,

Summer continues to roll on and so do the sequels of summer. This weekend saw the wide release of the sequel (actually the fifth sequel) Mission: Impossible - Fallout and non-sequel Teen Titans Go: To the Movies. With Tom Cruise's film leading the pack with an estimated $61.5 mil, this is the second weekend in a row (and second in history) where 8 of the top 10 films were sequels. If the estimates hold true for M:I6, this would be the highest opening for the franchise. Teen Titans is looking at opening at number 5 for the weekend with a total of $10.5 mil. With Mission's opening at number 1, Mama Mia: Here We Go Again remained at number 2 and Equalizer 2 dropped 2 spots to number 3. 

With 2 new films, Disney's Ant-Man and the Wasp and Incredibles 2 both dropped 2 spots to 6 and 7 respectively. (This is the first time since the last weekend in April that Disney did not have a film in the top 5.) Ant-Man was able to gross $8.4 for the weekend for a running total of $183.1 mil. This is more than the entire run of the first film. That makes if the 8th highest grossing film for the domestic market so far this year. It's current worldwide gross of $394 mil places it in the top 10 by surpassing Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Incredibles 2 continues its march to $600 mil. It brought in $7.1 mil for the weekend for running total of $572.7 mil. It stands at number 3 for the domestic market this year and is currently number 4 for the worldwide market sitting just shy of $1 bil. 

It is looking more and more likely that Black Panther will not be able to make it to the $700 mil mark for the domestic market. Last weekend saw a jump in theaters showing the film, but this weekend the number of theaters showing the movie dropped from 156 to 15. This led to an estimated take of just $3k which left the film standing at $699,955,434 for the year. 

Next weekend see the release of Disney's last film of the summer--Christopher Robins. This is one of 4 new films premiering next weekend, but current projections have the film finishing around the $30 mil mark. That will be the last new film released by Disney for the next 3 months.

In Disney motion picture news, stockholders of both Disney and 20th Century Fox overwhelmingly supported the merger of Disney and Fox. The merger will be complete next year and will see the Avatar film series come to Disney. Avatar already has a foothold at Walt Disney World with the Land of Pandora in Animal Kingdom. The merger will give Disney a firm hold on box office magic over the coming years. 2019 was already looking strong for Disney with the upcoming line up of Captain Marvel, Avengers 4, Frozen 2, and Star Wars: Episode 9 (which will start shooting this week in the United Kingdom,) but next year sees Fox pictures releasing 2 Marvel films and Avatar sequels beginning in 2020. This should keep Disney at the top of the box office charts for years to come.

I hope you have a great week and if you need help planning a magical vacation, please let me know how I can help by emailing me at brian.herndon@mousemadesimple.com.

Disney Weekend Box Office Round Up

Good evening Disney friends, 

I am sorry to be coming to you a later than normal but I spent time watching Ant-Man and the Wasp earlier today. The movie was very good. There are a few times when the movie did drag but over all the jokes were good and so was the action. From some of the rumors running around, this film will be important in regards to next summers Avengers 4. One last thought about the movie in terms of whether or not to go see it-the end credit scenes were almost worth the price of the ticket. 

Now to some numbers. Disney made it 5 for 6 this year--5 of Disney's 6 films have opened at number 1 for the weekend (A Wrinkle in Time is the only film to not open number 1 and part of the reason was that Black Panther was still number 1 when it opened.) If you look at the 5 movies that ranked number 1, they have been number 1 for a total of 10 weekends this year. In fact, except for three weeks in late January or early February between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Black Panther, a Disney film has been ranked in the top 10 every weekend so far this year. Since Avengers: Infintiy War opened, Disney has had 2 films ranked in the top 10 (2 weekends they had 3.) 

Ant-Man and the Wasp opened with an estimated $76 million dollars which was well above the previous films opening of $57 million. According to some industry experts, Ant-Man and the Wasp will probably clear about $100 million for Disney when the film finishes its worldwide run. 

Disney was also able to hold on to the number two spot with Incredibles 2 staying there for the third weekend in a row. I2's weekend of $29 million helped the film become the first animated film to cross the $500 million mark for the domestic market. It was also able to surpass Finding Dory to become the highest grossing animated film of all time in the domestic market. 

Disney accounted for 57% of the domestic market this weekend.

I hope you have a magical weekend and if you need any help booking a Disney vacation, please let me know how I can help by emailing me at brian.herndon@mousemadesimple.com.

Weekend Box Office Update for Jun 29-Jul 1 (Mid Year Review)

Good afternoon Disney friends,

As we reach the midway point of the year, it is a good time to take a look back at Disney's box office numbers and look ahead to the rest of the year.  

Just a quick note about this weekend before I begin the look back. Disney still has 2 films in the top 10. Incredibles 2 maintained its stay at number 2 with a weekend take of $45 mil (total domestic of $439 mil)  and Solo: A Star Wars Story is ranked at number 8 for the weekend by pulling in $2.2 mil (total of $207 mil) from the domestic market. Avengers: Infinity War was able to gross $1.4 mil (total $672 mil,) but did drop out of the top 10.

Looking Back

The numbers for Disney films have been staggering. From the 5 films they have released in 2018, the House of Mouse has already grossed over $2 bil for the domestic market. The next closest competitor is Universal which has grossed $638 mil. For a little more perspective, there have been 349 films released domestically this year and Disney has only 5 of those films, but yet it is pulling in just shy of 40% of the entire domestic market for the year. All five Disney films have grossed over $100 mil domestically. There have only been 12 films to hit this mark so far this year. 

In terms of all time domestic box office grosses, Disney's Black Panther and Avenger: Infinity War are respectively the 3rd and 4th films on the list. Disney now has 6 of the top 10 all time highest grossing films from the domestic market. Looking at the global market, Disney now has 17 of the 34 films that have grossed over $1 bil for the worldwide market. These 2 films helped make this years April, the highest grossing April of all time. This year also saw the highest February of all time.

Infinity War is only the 4th film of all time to gross over $2 bil from the global market after having the highest grossing opening for both the domestic market and the worldwide market. Black Panther had the highest opening weekend for the month of February. Incredibles 2 had the highest opening weekend for an animated film. In terms of opening weekends for the domestic market, Disney now has 9 of the top 10. Disney now has the highest opening weekends for February (Black Panther), March (Beauty and the Beast), April (Avengers: Infinity War), May (Marvel's The Avengers), and December (Star Wars: The Force Awakens).

I will admit that Solo: A Star Wars Story and A Wrinkle in Time both underperformed and these were not financial successes for Disney, but the films grossed over $200 mil and $100 mil at the domestic box office respectively. Part of their lack of success was the strength of Panther and Infinity War.

Looking Ahead

Here is the list of films (with dates) for the films yet to come from Disney:

Ant-Man and the Wasp July 6

Disney's Christopher Robin August 3

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms November 2

Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 November 21

Mary Poppins Returns Christmas Day

When looking at the future numbers, I think Ant-Man will do very well especially since the latest information has the film building is building to next years Avengers 4, because Ant-Man will attempt to explain the quantum realm which may have a big part of Avengers 4. (There have been rumors about the name of this film this weekend, but I will wait until the official name change to speak on it.)  The first film opened with a gross of $57 mil on its way to a domestic gross of $180 mil and a global take of $519 mil.

Ralph and Mary will do well. Ralph moves to the cherished Thanksgiving weekend spot. The first film opened the first weekend in November 6 years ago at number 1 with over $49 mil and the marketing has been strong. Mary Poppins opens on Christmas day and is one of the most beloved characters at Walt Disney World resort.

To me the wildcards for Disney will be Christopher Robin and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Robin looks a lot like a sequel to Hook and The Four Realms is being released at the right time of year.

Next weekend will see Disney return to number 1 with Ant-Man and the Wasp. Until then, have a great week.

Weekend Box Office Roundup for Jan 8-10, 2018

Good afternoon Disney friends,

The second weekend of the month is about in the books and Disney still has 2 films in the top 5. 

Even though it is underwhelming at the box office, Solo: A Star Wars Story was still able to maintain its place at number 2 for the weekend. With an estimated take of $15 mil, the film has crossed the $175 mil mark (actually $176 mil.) It currently is the fifth highest grossing film for the domestic market this year. It has also moved up to number 12 for the global market (current gross of $312 mil and still has Japan to go.)

Avengers: Infinity War was number 5 and brought in over $6.8 mil which helped it cross the $650 mil mark (currently $654.7 mil.) The film also stands at $1.998 bil for the worldwide market. By Tuesday (probably sometime on Monday,) the film will become just the 4th film to cross the $2 bil mark. It also got an extra month in China (normally films only get about 1 month in China, but sometimes they will allow films an extra month.)

Black Panther is still inching its way to $700 mil with the addition of $137k bringing it to $699,388,067 in 17 weeks of release.

Next weekend sees the release of the long awaited Incredibles 2, which is looking to be Disney/Pixar's next hit. There are 2 numbers that will be interesting to keep up with (I am being careful with predictions after Solo's predictions.) First, Finding Dory has the highest grossing opening weekend ($135 mil) for the domestic market for an animated film. Secondly, Frozen, which is the highest grossing animated film for the global market, brought in $1.276 bil during its release. 

I hope you have a magical week.

Box Office Update for May 25-27(28) (Solo is weak) and a little bit of weather

Good afternoon Disney friends,

I hope you are having a great Memorial Day weekend. Walt Disney Pictures will have 2 of the top 3 films of the weekend: Solo: A Star Wars Story and Avengers: Infinity War. (If the sale of Fox to Disney had already occurred then Deadpool 2 would have given Disney the top 3 films.) 

Unless things turn around, Solo is coming in way under the projections heading into the weekend. The film is looking at around $83 mil for the 3 day weekend and about $101 mil for the 4 day holiday. That is under the the projections of somewhere between $130 mil and $170 mil. There are going to be a lot of speculation as to why this happened, but in the end, the people still thought the film was good, but we will have to see how it plays over the next few weeks to see if Disney just had a bad weekend or was this film just not what people wanted.

Avengers had a pretty good weekend with an estimated $16.5 mil, which was down 44% from last weekend. If this holds true, the film will probably cross the $625 mil mark tomorrow. It has also grossed a total of over $1.9 bil worldwide. 

Black Panther is still inching to the $700 mil marks and is about $1.5 mil short.

These films have helped Disney cross the $4 bil mark for the year at the worldwide box office. The next two weekends have smaller opening films in all categories. So until Incredibles 2 opens on Jun 15 and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom enters theaters on Jun 22, Disney films might be able to have some pretty strong holds if they are going to leg it out to higher levels.

On a weather note, Subtropical Storm Alberto is bringing copious amounts of rain to the southeast. Walt Disney World is getting bands of rain. Vero Beach resort (on the east coast of Florida) will be getting the same. Cruises sailing out of Port Canaveral will also have to deal with rain off and on. Disney's Hilton Head resort will get quite a bit of rain today and tomorrow. 

I hope you have a great 1st unofficial week of summer.

Good afternoon Disney friends,

Well it is the last weekend before the unofficial start of summer vacation series and Deadpool 2 knocked Avengers: Infinity War out of first place. Infinity War will end the weekend just shy $600 million for its domestic take. The film will cross the $600 mil mark either tomorrow or Tuesday assuming weekend estimates are correct. The film was still the second highest grossing film ($28.6 mil) of the weekend by almost double of the third place film. Deadpool will probably come under the Disney banner in about a year if the purchase of Fox films from 20th Century Fox goes through. The film has grossed a total of $1.2 bil from the international market for a worldwide total of over $1.8 bil. It is still going to be interesting to see if the film can make it to the $2 billion mark which would make it only the fourth film to do so. 

Next weekend sees more competition when Solo: A Star Wars Story enters the marketplace. Right now it is looking like solo is going to open up to a total of $160-$170 mil for the 4-day weekend based on current pre ticket sales and industry projections. Disney is still looking to have a great summer based on the fact that it still has two more blockbusters, Incredibles 2 and Ant-Man and the Wasp, that are building expectations. Black Panther is still moving slowly to the $700 mil domestic mark coming in just $2.2 mil shy of the mark.

Thank you for sharing your time with me and I look forward to speaking to you next week with numbers for Solo and see if Avengers: Infinity War still being in the top five.  hopefully by then Black Panther will cross the $700 bil mark.