Box office talk!

[epilogue]

Did someone say box office?!

[Ello Sailor]

Did someone say box office?!

Jump in, bro. We're stanning Babylon and roasting Jorge (optional).

[The Argonaut]

Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness vs Guardians of the Galaxy 3, both May releases, 2022 & 2023 respectively. Off the top of your head, which do you think made more money?

May 2022 there was still some lingering pandemic concerns among some. Dr Strange certainly isn't a beloved character, the Guardians are. Strange 2 was fine, nothing special, Guardians 3 is fantastic. On Rotten Tomatoes, Strange 2 scores a 74% Tomatometer and an 85% audience score compared to Guardians 3's 82% & 94%, respectively.

Through the first 17 days, Strange 2 made $342,785,045.
Guardians 3 in that same time has made $266,522,579.

That's a fair difference. The only thing I can think to explain it is that word has gotten out that Guardians isn't the most kid-friendly movie. Not that Strange was either, though. Or that the long string of post-Endgame mediocre MCU movies (including Strange 2) is just souring more and more people with the franchise each time and the audience is dwindling.

That just struck me as odd.

[Jorge]

Kid friendliness is a factor. But I think the other movies released in that period play an important part. There was basically no competition for Strange 2 for the first several weeks of its release, whereas Guardians 3 is playing at the same time as the box office juggernaut that is Mario (which hasn't let up) as well as dealing with Fast X this week. But yeah, some degree of superhero fatigue is likely setting in

[Jorge]

Another thing: Strange 2 was buoyed by the tremendous success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which co-starred Dr. Strange and literally had Strange 2's trailer as the post-credits scene.

[The Argonaut]

fair points all. the juice from spider-man is probably the key, yeah

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Jorge]

It's a box office thread

[Ello Sailor]

Okay, what about Amsterdam? I genuinely couldn't stand this movie. How bad was the flop?

[Jorge]

Babylon-level flop

[Ello Sailor]

Robbie is getting shit on, huh.

[BurtReynolds]

I don't know about Babylon because I haven't seen it, but Amsterdam is one of the worst movies I've ever seen and deserved to lose all the money.

[wease]

Mario Bros is really that successful?

[Simple Torture]

Mario Bros is really that successful?

Already at $1.2 billion.

[Simple Torture]

Here’s a fun game to play each year: does anyone know the highest-grossing movie released in 2023 that’s not a sequel or based on an existing IP?

Hint: it’s the #9 highest grossing movie of the year, only non-IP movie in the Top 10.

[bada]

Another thing: Strange 2 was buoyed by the tremendous success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which co-starred Dr. Strange and literally had Strange 2's trailer as the post-credits scene.

This is the answer I think plus an incredible amount of speculation and anticipation on what characters and cameos were going to be introduced really drove interest. Then the disappointments of Thor, Black Panther and Ant-Man depressed the market for GOTG. Good word of mouth seems to be keeping it afloat though.

[spike]

Here’s a fun game to play each year: does anyone know the highest-grossing movie released in 2023 that’s not a sequel or based on an existing IP?

Hint: it’s the #9 highest grossing movie of the year, only non-IP movie in the Top 10.

Babylon?

[lennytheweedwhacker]

Babylon can gfi

[bada]

At some point movie budgets have to come back to earth, right? Maybe these giant corporations will sell or spin the studios off and we can hope to have some cool movies again.

For sure the industry has to get back to being happy hitting doubles and triples and stop gong for home runs. Make a Star Trek movie for $80 million or a Superman movie for $125 million and stop with the $250-$300 million insanity. The best returns are those little horror movies that cost a couple million and gross $60 or $70 million.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.