Solo Solo box-office discussion

It does feel like this is the movie where we go from "OMG, it's Star Wars!" to "Okay, another Star Wars movie."

It'll be interesting to see how it goes.

 

I'm doing the "OMG it's Star Wars YAY!" All those years between the OT and the PT with nothing. I am happy for more.

If I love this film, (I think I'm going to) I'll be playing Wookie Hookie to go see it as many times as I can.

 

There’s no way to wash away the stink of Star Wars in China! LOL jk. Jeez that’s crazy though totally the opposite, here Star Wars is a brand name that’s worth big bucks.

 

The Foreigner did $81.2 mill in China & only $145 mill worldwide - why you ask "Jackie Chan" that's why ,

Ron Howard should have done an emergency call to Jackie Chan & then Solo would have smashed it in China......

 

When do you think tickets will go on sale for Solo? The beginning of May?

 

For reference, tickets for Rogue One went on sale 11/28, less than 3 weeks before its opening. I wouldn't expect the tickets for Solo to go on sale earlier than a month out.

 

Just as an aside, the Chinese movie Monster Hunt 2 made $145 million in just two days in that country. Holy smokes...

 

China is becoming another India. They are watching their own stuff, and foreign movies are largely ignored. Except Vin Diesel. He is the King of China.

 

I don't know why such a fuss is made about the Chinese market, apart from the F'n'F and Transformers series no foreign movie does that well there.

 

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to the film, but the urgency has gone. I think the 5 month gap plays a big part in that. Had the movie been released in December I'd have been champing at the bit a little more. I won't be going to the midnight screening for this one. But ultimately, I'm not sure that matters that much. At the end of the day the hype and anticipation fades and what we have left is a bunch of films that we either like or don't like to varying degrees. So far I'm 3 from 3 with the new movies, if Solo adds another cracking SW adventure to the collection, that'll be great.

 

Yeah no. Jurassic World made 229m, Age of Ultron made 240m, Zootopia 236m, POTC5 172m, Coco 189m+, the list goes on and on. The last Transformers movie made 228m, so not really more than the biggest other foreign releases. It is by far the biggest international market and the one thing that can throw a wrench in comparing the international performances.

It's not really a match for chinese movies, but China does its best to give local movies as much of an advantage as possible anyway. Though who knows what Avatar 2 can do there. The first one made over 200m there when the market was still tiny. With a bit of luck, China on its own could counter all the losses elsewhere.

 

What did TLJ do in China? 42?

 

LFL could easily make a SW movie to break all records for foreign movies there, but it would not be SW as we know it. Will be interesting to see what B.P. does there.

 

I very much doubt that. By this point the name of the brand has a negative image. Making a movie that caters to chinese audiences is one thing, but you still need the hype for people to come out in the first place, and that simply isn't possible anymore.

There aren't really any smaller starts that turn into something really big because WOM spreads. It's either a gigantic opening with not a whole lot of legs, or a big opening that holds on well. If you don't make a ton of money right away, showtimes drop like a rock after just a few days.

 

42.6 million.

Yes, curiously, the Star Wars name brand has just not appealed to Chinese audiences, and it's doubtful that it will. A pity, because China is a huge and a growing market, challenging the USA. Doubtful that Solo will have much of a presence there. But it's not as if sci-fi space stories don't appeal there. GotG2 got 100 million USD from China (though of course, that could be a Marvel effect).

 

I think that is probably more of a Marvel thing. And even then, the 100m are the lowest number among all recent MCU movies, even Antman made more. It's not a big difference though, most are in the low 100m range, apart from Age of Ultron and Civil War.

There is a bit of room for sci-fi, but apparently sleak, modern and colourful is more to the audience's liking than a used or dark and grim look.

Over the last two years, Valerian made 62m, Alien: Covenant 46m, Passengers 45m, Arrival 16m, Blade Runner 2049 about 11.5m. None of those were really hits anyway, but still, that's ranging from no to modest success at best. One year before, The Martian was pretty successful at 96m, but that is also more of a really good performance, not something that is up there with the blockbusters.

 

I’m not feeling this movie for some reason. I saw the trailer when I saw black panther, and the fan reaction was very bland as opposed to the ant man trailer

 

I never understood the idea of judging the reactions to trailers in theaters. Not only is the amount of people you could judge so tiny that it is completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, but it is also all but impossible to know what people are actually thinking. You only get the reaction from those in your immediate vicinity, which is small even compared to the audience in the theater, and even that is hardly objective because people can like something without making much fuzz about it. Just like always, those who are loud about something are rarely the majority.

There are some exceptions, like the sloth scene from Zootopia. But even laughter doesn't really have to mean all that much, as people can find something funny and stupid at the same time. E.g. jokes that are funny but don't really fit into the movie.

 

It's not like the US is any different though. We love English language films. Name a foreign language film however, that has made several hundred million here? You kind of can't, because if it's subtitled, we don't see it.

 

That is not true. The MCU continues to do well as well as Transformers (aside from the newest one). SW has the misfortune of timing (the prequels just ended before you began to see the proliferation of theaters across the country which helped Iron Man/Transformers/F&F) and the new films being too weeded to movies that most people in China never saw.

They can if they try. The newest films need to be standalone and not be so dependent on knowledge of the OT. There is clearly interest in Star Was. TFA made $124 million (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=starwars7.htm) there. That is MCU numbers numbers.

 

I have always thought it was a mistake to go Live Action with Han Solo (Recasting), instead of an Animated Series of the adventures of Han and Chewie. I still do; but I am not too worried about the realistic chance of a box office let down with Solo. Even if Solo: a Star Wars story falls way short of previous Star Wars movies at the box office, I don't think it will matter that much to Disney actually. I think they are looking at the big picture. That being a constant cash flow from one Star Wars movie/TV show, to the other. One movie's profit margin wont matter in the long run; only the sum of the parts. Only a trend of a steady decline of profit margin, for several movies/other media, would make Disney shelve the Franchise indefinitely IMO. And I certainly don't see that happening any time soon. Star Wars, being the huge sandbox of a Galaxy, is still as popular as it was 40 years ago.

 

When I see the design for the new Disney's Star Wars Land, it seems to be very related to Solo.

Maybe this movie will be more important for the parks than for its Box Office.

 

My only concern with this is TFA teaser trailer. It had an effect, a reaction, something magical and wonderful was going to happen. That was just with a one minute teaser that started out.........There is an awakening....Kylo with the red lightsaber with Falcon flying and Han and Chewie at the end, "Chewie, we're home!" Dec. 2014 could not end quick enough. Everytime that trailer was shown, and then subsequent trailers the people in my theater were clapping, yelling and applauding (Cinemark 24-Davie, Florida)

Fast forward to the Marvel trailers with the music and whala. Avengers: infinity war has me stoked...I mean May can't come fast enough. So for some, trailers are a mover. RO wasn't that bad...it wasn't the same as TFA but it had its ....moment. I felt it with the Jurassic World 2 and Deadpool 2 trailer, not the Han Solo movie for some reason.

With Zootopia, the trailer not only won my daughter, but my parents as well. They couldn't wait to see it and boy what a movie it was. It did not disappoint. March 2016 was awesome. As generalist, I want to agree, the other part of me, not so much because I have been in theaters watching the trailer previews and have had fans both boo and clap on certain movies. TFA was super a lot, Avenger's Infinity Wars hoots and some hollars. Han Solo......well, nope didn't happen when I was there.

 

I never clap, never yell and never applaud a trailer. Even if I loved it.

So judging the reactions to trailers in theaters is just anecdotal.

There is a modern phenomenon of professional reactors on Youtube. It seems many are thinking that their behaviour defines what is supposed to be a "normal" reaction. It is not.