The Last Jedi Box Office discussion thread

[ichab]

"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" is now merely the third fastest grossing movie of all time."

Only in fandom land does such a benchmark equal failure...

No kidding. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous two, but it's no flop by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[Mach5]

Tlj now out of the top 10.

And in a few months from now it'll be out of the top 100. Flop!!!

 

[Ithekro]

Won't even be in theaters.

 

[Prax]

It was such a flap

 

[crookeddy]

Are you people seriously delusional enough to believe that Disney is at all satisfied with part 2 of a trilogy making $280 million less than the first??? It's a flop, and a disastrous one at that, and I'm not saying anything that isn't blatantly obvious. Disney is shitting bricks now, realizing how much money they are leaving on the table.

 

[Prax]

I can't tell who's being serious in this thread any longer.

 

[crookeddy]

I can't tell who's being serious in this thread any longer.

I think the people that think Disney is totally fine with making $280 million less for a sequel are actually being serious, but they are completely delusional. If Episode 9 loses more $280 million on top of ep 9 (which they will, since the narrative is that 8 was awful), that puts Star Wars into the $300 million grossing range - that's PT territory.

 

[Ithekro]

The PT was financially successful.

 

[Reverend]

All Disney cares about is that the movies are profitable and don't actively loose them too much money. The real profit is in merchandising, licencing fees and the parks, for which the movies are functionally just very long and overly complicated adverts. So I assure you they're quite happy so long as their shareholders get their promised returns.

Also remember that this is the same company that took the actual flop that was 'John Carter' without hardly batting an eye. The mouse house has *very* deep pockets and a line of credit that could probably outspend several small countries.

 

[crookeddy]

The PT was financially successful.

But TFA was a lot more financially successful.

 

[crookeddy]

All Disney cares about is that the movies are profitable and don't actively loose them too much money. The real profit is in merchandising, licencing fees and the parks, for which the movies are functionally just very long and overly complicated adverts. So I assure you they're quite happy so long as their shareholders get their promised returns.

Also remember that this is the same company that took the actual flop that was 'John Carter' without hardly batting an eye. The mouse house has *very* deep pockets and a line of credit that could probably outspend several small countries.

John Carter led to several people losing their jobs...

 

[Venardhi]

If Disney could expect an easy 300 million US box office annually no matter what they put out (and they can) they may well just keep making them with no expectation of profit just to keep the merch flowing.

 

[Reverend]

John Carter led to several people losing their jobs...

*Several* you say? Well in that case I take it all back. Clearly Disney are in financial ruins and will never make another talkie cartoon again!

 

[Ithekro]

Not every film will be to top of the box office of all time. Sequels generally don't manage as much as the original unless its a new start after a long time (TFA and TPM made lots of money, like Star Wars did).

 

[crookeddy]

Oh yeah, and merchandising was described as having fallen off the roof. Rian Johnson both made a great movie, and destroyed star wars at the same time.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

All Disney cares about is that the movies are profitable and don't actively loose them too much money. The real profit is in merchandising, licencing fees and the parks, for which the movies are functionally just very long and overly complicated adverts. So I assure you they're quite happy so long as their shareholders get their promised returns.

Also remember that this is the same company that took the actual flop that was 'John Carter' without hardly batting an eye. The mouse house has *very* deep pockets and a line of credit that could probably outspend several small countries.

There is a reason Disney has consolidated their resources on the MCU, Star Wars, live action remakes of their animated classics and POTC (to a lesser extent).

For every success, there is a:
Lone Ranger
Tomorrowland
John Carter
Prince of Persia
Mars Needs Moms
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Alice Through The Looking Glass
Finest Hours

Even your middle of the road successes like Tron Legacy, Oz The Great and Powerful and the first two Narnia movies were considered disappointments by the House of Mouse. Tron Legacy was supposed to be a 3/4 of a billion dollar movie. While Oz and the 2 Narnia movies were supposed to do Harry Potter numbers at the BO. The only one that came close was Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe at $745 million.

Franchise IPs are the name of the game now. I suspect Disney's shareholder's want as little risk to the portfolio as possible.

 

[Trekkin]

merchandising was described as having fallen off the roof.

Sure it was.



Hint: Go research what ‘falling/fell off the roof’ is slang for. It‘s not an antonym for ‘going/gone through the roof.’

 

[fireproof78]

John Carter led to several people losing their jobs...

The mishandling of John Carter is nowhere near what happened with Solo. And one guy resigned over it, coming off of the heals of another loss "Mars Needs Moms." Apparently Mars and Disney do not get along.

As opposed to TLJ, which Disney felt the need to defend Johnson:

“Rian Johnson, the cast, and the Lucasfilm team have delivered an experience that is totally ‘Star Wars’ yet at the same time fresh, unexpected and new,” Disney president of theatrical distribution Dave Hollis told Deadline in response to the backlash. “That makes this a ‘Star Wars’ film like audiences have never seen – it’s got people talking, puzzling over its mysteries, and it’s a lot to take in, and we see that as all positive, that should help set the film up for great word-of-mouth and repeat viewing as we enter the lucrative holiday period.”

Yeah, they're so mad at Johnson.

Franchise IPs are the name of the game now. I suspect Disney's shareholder's want as little risk to the portfolio as possible.

Duh.

 

[Prax]

The Prequels(Particularly Phantom Menace and Revenge) were mega successful for Lucas at the time. Prior to Disney, Lucasfilm was a privately owned and operated company. The Budget of the Prequels in the 2000's was comparable to the budget of Episode 5 and 6 in the 80's. I'm sure Episode 3 exceeded expectations.

 

[Mach5]

But TFA was a lot more financially successful.

TFA was once in a decade event. An impossible standard to meet, for any movie not made by James Cameron.

As for the Prequels, even Attack of the Clones turned a nice profit, let alone TPM which was a monster. A billion of 1999 dollars is a lot of money.