On Monday, a sobering holiday, Hollywood is still trying to process what happened over the weekend as two of the biggest franchise labels – DC and Pixar – opened pricey $200 budget films. million that debuted.
Following the strong reception of its trailers and buzz from CinemaCon, ‘The Flash’ was expected to debut and top the $67 million ‘Black Adam’ earned in its first weekend at the box office. .
That didn’t happen, with the film arriving with a domestic opening of $55 million and a three-day global opening of $139 million. According to The Wrap, “The Flash” may be in a position where it fails to match the $393 million worldwide total for this Dwayne Johnson-led DC film.
“Elemental” fared even worse with just a $29.5 million domestic opening weekend and just $15 million in overseas markets where it opened to low numbers.
This is the latest in a series of losses for both companies. DC is still thinking about ‘Black Adam’ and ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’, which seriously underperformed, while Pixar just released last year’s bombshell ‘Lightyear’ and a series of films who ended up going straight to the Disney+ service.
Both need a hit, not only for economic reasons but also for reasons of public sentiment, and the public has apparently rejected the attempts here. This has led to obvious questions as to what impact this will have on Disney and Warners who are counting on Pixar and DC, respectively, to help them fill their bottom line.
With “Elemental,” part of the problem is cost. Disney and Pixar animated films cost around $200 million – a budget more than double that of rivals such as Illumination Entertainment and Sony Pictures Animation, which have had more success of late with films like the box-office juggernaut. -office “The Super Mario Bros”. . Movie” and the critically acclaimed “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (both of which cost $100 million each).
“Elemental,” on the other hand, got only mildly positive reviews and was criticized in reviews as too much like old Disney and Pixar fare to be interesting enough to appeal to audiences more likely to expect it. see on Disney+ in a few months.
Familiar IP seems to be the big draw for animation, as the biggest animated hits of recent years have been sequels or based on established IP. The last animated original, Pixar or otherwise, to gross over $500 million worldwide was “Coco” in 2017.
Meanwhile, “The Flash” has faced issues on multiple fronts ranging from its lead man’s behavior to shifting sentiment, which has gone from gushing early reaction to mixed reviews, and the movie’s complicating factor. part of an “abandoned” universe that soon swept away.
The box office fate of the last two pre-Gunn-era DC films, “Blue Beetle” and the sequel “Aquaman,” is now a big question. At least with these movies, the stars of the movies will probably be there to promote them. With films boasting budgets of $120 million and $205 million respectively, both projects have their work cut out for them.
Source: The Envelope