Wednesday, January 13, 2016

New Low?

An entertainment journal tells us:

... “The Good Dinosaur” is the Pixar’s 16th release and could be the studio’s lowest-grossing ever. It has taken in $118 million since opening domestically on Nov. 25, and with $149 million from overseas its worldwide haul is $266 million.

That’s not terrible, but it doesn’t offset the movie’s $200 million budget or measure up to Pixar’s unparalleled box office track record. The previous low-earner was the $362 million global haul of the original “Toy Story” in 1995, so it’s in some pretty good company. ...

“It’s not like they didn’t see this coming,” said Exhibitor Relation media analyst Jeff Bock, referring to the director switch and a storyline shift. “It didn’t seem to have the creativity or gravitas of previous Pixar releases. But in the long run they may learn something from this experience, and they’re going to be fine.” ...

Well, yeah. "Good company." Except Toy Story cost in the neighborhood of $30 million (1994 dollars) twenty years ago and made twelve times its cost. So not really an apt comparison to the current production.

Pixar has been hitting three-baggers and home runs for twenty years. Toy Story (all installments), Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Up, the list is long. But every not streak eventually cools off. DreamWorks Animation had sixteen hits in a row, then the hits stopped.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, turns out blockbusters all of the time. At some point, an idea that sounded good during the pitch doesn't pan out, and the motion picture that results is ... how to say it? ... an under-performer.

Which is, it seems, the label TGD is earning now.

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