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 Update Jun 22-24 and Some Sequel Analysis

Good afternoon Disney friends,

The weekend has about come and gone and the estimates are showing another good weekend for Disney movies. There are still 3 films associated with Disney that are still found in the top 10 and with no major competition, Disney films should continue to hold well for the weeks to come.

First up is Incredibles 2, which had a larger drop than expected but still brought in approximately $80 mil for a running total of $350 mil . One possible reason for the drop is that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom with its opening of $150 mil was able to chomp into some of the ticket sales because of its strength. An interested side note, this is only the second time (first that did not include a holiday) in which 2 films opened up back to back with first weekends of over $100 mil (May 2007-Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End were the other 2 films.) On Tuesday, I2 ($27 mil) was able to have the highest Tuesday for the month of June. It has already surpassed the entire run of the first Incredibles, which was $261. It was able to accomplish this feat in just 7 days of release (Thursday.) As of now it worldwide gross stands at $485 mil, which may seem low, but animated films tend to have a long roll out period. In fact, it will not reach its last market until September so this film will continue to grow and will probably hit the $1 bil mark by the time it finishes playing. 

Solo: A Star Wars Story is estimated to gross approximately $4 mil this weekend. This puts it over the $200 mil mark and it is still doing pretty good considering how "low" it opened. In its 31 days of release, it has only dropped below $1 mil once. Partially because of this film (and probably almost completely because of this film,) Disney/Lucasfilm is being rumored to be putting a hold on any single entry films, instead looking to focus on Episode 9 and the future new set of trilogy of trilogy films that will be separate from the Skywalker family.

Avengers: Infinity War was able to pull in an estimated $2.48 mil this weekend which puts it less than $1 mil of the $670 mil mark.

Black Panther added another $74k to put it about $250k shy of $700 mil.

A Wrinkle in Time saw a bit of a jump this weekend and now becomes Disney's fifth film of the year to cross the $100 mil mark. This means that all of Disney's films released in 2018 have crossed that threshold.

Now for a little bit of nonexpert analysis/opinion. Looking at the past 2 weekends, I feel that unless the film has a strong or continuation of a story line or there has been enough separation, then sequels are starting to have a struggle. Now do not get me wrong, Fallen Kingdom is going to make a lot of money (maybe even cross the $1 bil mark for worldwide gross,) but this film is coming in weaker than the first Jurassic World film. That film did better than expected, but it had been almost 14 years since the last Jurassic Park film, which is close the length of time between the first Incredibles film and its sequel. Marvel films are able to grow from sequel to sequel because they advance the story line, but even then, if the plot seems weak or just a retelling of the previous film (Marvel's The Avengers vs. Avengers: Age of Ultron,) then expect there to be a drop. 

Thank you for sharing your time with me and I look forward to sharing with you Disney movie information with you again soon.

PS: As always if you need any help booking a magical vacation, please let me know how I can help.

Weekend Box Office Round Up for Jun 1-3 (a look at why Solo is so low)

Good afternoon Disney friends,Dismiss 

The weekend after Memorial Day lived up to its normal weekend numbers and was off quite a bit from last weekend. Part of that is probably due to the fact that so many high school graduations are occurring. Even with the low weekend, Disney still held on to spots 1 and 4 with Solo: A Star Wars Story and Avengers: Infinity War respectively. Both films are expected to bring in double digit receipts from the weekend box office.

First to Solo. Estimates are for the film to bring in about $29 mil this weekend from the domestic markets. This film is doing poorly for one of the biggest franchises in movie history. There are probably 3 major reasons why this film is coming in so low (see what I did there.) 1. It was just to soon after Star Wars: The Last Jedi. When the original trilogy came out, films were released every 3 years (1977, 1980, and 1983.) That allowed for a build up of anticipation which just did not happen with this film since it has only 5 months since the last film in the franchise. 2. Deadpool 2 and Avengers are cutting into the market share. This weekend those 2 films combined ($33.6 mil) grossed more the Solo. Some of that money could possibly have gone to the Star Wars film. 3. Bad publicity about the film may have scared off some casual viewers. After the original filming had finished, there were concerns about the direction of the film which led to the firing of the original director and bringing in Opie (Ron Howard) to try to save the film. He did a fairly good job based upon the fact that the film is getting good reviews from critics and movie goers, but it just was not enough.

Next, Avengers is slowly moving in on the $2 bil worldwide mark. The film currently stands at $1,964,869,932. This weekend the film was able to pull in over $10 mil stateside for running domestic total of just shy of $643 mil. Even with schools getting out for the summer, with movies like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Ant-Man and the Wasp hitting markets over the next month, it will be hard for Avengers to make to $700 mil (of course I could be horribly wrong on that prediction.)

Lastly, Black Panther crossed the $699 mil mark and has less than $900k to go to make it to the $700 mil mark. Again, this will depend on how well it can hold facing stiff competition to come.

I hope your upcoming week is magical.

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.

Weekend Box Office Update--May 4-6

Good afternoon Disney friends,

The weekend numbers are in and Disney has broken more records. First, the House of Mouse made it to $3 bil for the worldwide market on May 5, which broke Disney's record previous record of making it to that mark by one day (2016.) Disney now has 17 out of the 34 films that were able to gross $1 bil from the worldwide market. 

In terms of Avengers: Infinity War, the film was able to gross $112.4 mil this weekend based on current estimates. The weekend gross gives the film the second highest second weekend only behind StaIr Wars: The Force Awakens. Again, it bears repeating that Avengers is pulling in its numbers on a week when most children are still in school. Star Wars second weekend fell on Christmas weekend. Looking at the worldwide box office, the film became the fastest film to $1 bil. This figure beats out Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The film still has China to come, which will occur on May 11. Iron Man and friends will have one more weekend at the top of the heap before Deadpool 2 opens on May 18 followed by Solo: A Star Wars Story which is slated to open the following weekend.

Speaking of Solo, the film is already outpacing Black Panther in tickets sales on Fandango. Some of the current projections and looking at a four day opening of around $170 mil. 

I hope you have a magical week.