Thursday, August 05, 2010

They Can Be Taught!

Who says movie execs don't learn from their mistakes?

When Summit Entertainment announced that the final installment of the Twilight franchise would be coming to theaters on November 16th, 2012, Disney/Pixar was quick to move the release date of the much-anticipated “Monsters, Inc 2” sequel movie.

No battle of the sequels here, folks. Disney got its backside handed to it when the company scheduled Bolt against Twilight Uno back in '08, probably losing $20 to $30 million on White Doggie's opening weekend.

Happily, Diz Co. doesn't plan to make the same mistake twice. Good for the Mouse.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well Tangled is being released on November 24. And Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I is coming out on November 19th.

Winnie the Pooh is scheduled to be release on July 15th 2011. Same day as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.

So maybe they dodged 1 bullet with the 3rd Twilight movie, but the last Harry Potter movie made almost a billion dollars worldwide.
To me, it looks like they still have a lot to learn.

Anonymous said...

Coming out after harry Potter is better than coming out BEFORE it. Especially on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

I think there will be enough audience appetite for both.

Anonymous said...

Coming out after harry Potter is better than coming out BEFORE it. Especially on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

ISTR coming out a week after Harry Potter on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (and, more importantly, Black Weekend) was one of the icebergs that sank "Treasure Planet".
It's a no-win situation for Disney animateds: Compete with a Warner-franchise tentpole and be crushed; blink and change your date, and you get a less prime slot.
(As with PATF chickening out of their primo Christmas date because they were afraid of chipmunks, and ending up getting the week nobody goes to movies.)

Adam said...

Yeah, Disney really needs to rethink it's release date for Pooh (assuming that it's too late to save Tangled). If they're serious about relaunching Pooh as a franchise, then they need to try and expand the audiences beyond the moms and 3-year-olds they expect to skip the Harry Potter finale.

Anonymous said...

the noose has been set. the animation house of mouse is just about ready to be hung out to dry.

Anonymous said...

The same old excuses like, "there's enough room for 2 films," or "it's not the same audience" don't cut it anymore.

I'm sure there is still those at Disney who think Potter will have little effect on Tangled because "Tangled looks amazing".

Personally, I hope Tangled tramples Potter, but it just isn't going to happen.

Anonymous said...

Technically, it's supposed to be "counterprogramming", ie. little kids wouldn't want to see Potter, and put a chick-flick up the week of the Big Action Movie, because female audiences wouldn't want to see that.

...WHY do studios still believe this ancient superstition??
Lesson 1: Everyone goes to see the Big Movie.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I hope Tangled tramples Potter, but it just isn't going to happen.

And whatever happened to the original Monsters Inc.'s trailer to play with Harry Potter 1's opening the second week, reminding audiences their movie was still playing in the screen next door?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyRUcccWLPU

It's rare that you ever hear Hollywood publicly admitting that it's okay, you CAN still come back and go to more than one big-release movie after it opens, it's not going to go away on Monday...

Anonymous said...

I think aiming to make films people want to go see would be a more fruitful endeavor than worrying about the right release date :)

Anonymous said...

I wonder what will be up against "Finding Nemo 2?"

Anonymous said...

"the noose has been set. the animation house of mouse is just about ready to be hung out to dry."

Sayeth the 4,765,234rd person.

But it's never happened.....hmmm................

Anonymous said...

""Sayeth the...""


4,765,234"TH"

rds are for rds..

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