2020 At The Boxoffice (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

From the tepid reaction to WW84 around these parts, it might not have done that great anyway as a theatrical exclusive, even in normal-like times. At least once word of mouth started to circulate.

I think this might’ve had an above average second weekend drop had it gotten a conventional release in normal times.

 

[Jake Lipson]

As I understand it, the film was shot in 2018. If I remember correctly, the original release date was going to be December 2019, but WB moved it to the summer of 2020 to avoid Star Wars. I wonder if the executives at Warner wish they had stuck with last year at this point?

 

[Wayne_j]

Charts with Dan

 

[Lord Dalek]

I think this might’ve had an above average second weekend drop had it gotten a conventional release in normal times.

Pre-Covid: surprise disappointment
Post-Covid: watch that money pile burn!

 

[Tino]

How Covid Wiped Out The Studios’ Domestic Box Office Market Share In 2020

Sony was No. 1 in the domestic box office market share race in 2020, a year that didn't go down as anyone had planned.

deadline.com

 

[TravisR]

Warners would have made at least $1 billion (and, if the movies caught on, maybe $2 billion) with just Tenet and Wonder Woman and instead they made under a quarter of billion, made less than three other studios while releasing two major movies and they also managed to aggravate alot of their talent. Smart management over there.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Warners would have made at least $1 billion (and, if the movies caught on, maybe $2 billion) with just Tenet and Wonder Woman and instead they made under a quarter of billion, made less than three other studios while releasing two major movies and they also managed to aggravate alot of their talent. Smart management over there.

As misguided as I think WB's 2021 plan is, I at least respect the fact they've thrown a bone to exhibitors over the last 4 months.

We've only gotten 3 legit tentpole movies since the summer reopening, and 2 of them are from WB.

Not even sure "Croods" deserves to fall into the "tentpole" category, too.

 

[Jake Lipson]

As misguided as I think WB's 2021 plan is, I at least respect the fact they've thrown a bone to exhibitors over the last 4 months.

They told the exhibitors to open up during a worldwide health crisis for their movie because they had a movie that was so big it just had to be seen on the big screen. But they demanded a 66% share of the gross for the entire run of the film, which is ridiculously high. Then that movie lost a bunch of money, so they decided to unilaterally destroy the theatrical window.

How does that qualify as throwing the exhibitors a bone exactly?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

They told the exhibitors to open up during a worldwide health crisis for their movie because they had a movie that was so big it just had to be seen on the big screen. But they demanded a 66% share of the gross for the entire run of the film, which is ridiculously high. Then that movie lost a bunch of money, so they decided to unilaterally destroy the theatrical window.

How does that qualify as throwing the exhibitors a bone exactly?

Theaters were gonna reopen anyway. WB didn't force that to happen, and theaters were more than happy to have something new and "big" to run.

I already acknowledged that the plan for 2021 sucks, but viewed as a compromise for the 1 movie - "WW84" - it was a thrown bone.

Even with the shared HBO Max deal, "WW84" sold a lot more tickets than anything had since "Tenet".

What have the other studios given the theaters to show? Nothing that did much to entice audiences back into theaters...

 

[TravisR]

As misguided as I think WB's 2021 plan is, I at least respect the fact they've thrown a bone to exhibitors over the last 4 months.

Leaving aside everything relating to the virus, I would give Warners some credit for trying with Tenet but that was Nolan more than WB and as soon as that movie didn't make money, they turned to an idea which will ultimately be devastating to theaters. And if they didn't have streaming, I don't think there's a chance that they would have released WW84 so they weren't really looking for theaters by putting that one out either. In the long run, I'd say it'd have been better for theaters if there had been no big movies until the spring/summer over a simultaneous streaming and theatrical release.

And nothing against The Croods but I definitely wouldn't consider that a tentpole picture.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Leaving aside everything relating to the virus, I would give Warners some credit for trying with Tenet but that was Nolan more than WB and as soon as that movie didn't make money, they turned to an idea which will ultimately be devastating to theaters. And if they didn't have streaming, I don't think there's a chance that they would have released WW84 so they weren't really looking for theaters by putting that one out either. In the long run, I'd say it'd have been better for theaters if there had been no big movies until the spring/summer over a simultaneous streaming and theatrical release.

And nothing against The Croods but I definitely wouldn't consider that a tentpole picture.

I don't claim WB is selflessly "looking out" for theaters. I do claim that they've done more to help keep theaters afloat than the others, though. No one else put out A-list movies over the last 4 months.

And I agree that "Croods" isn't a "tentpole", but it's also a film with much greater mass audience appeal than almost everything else released since August.

Outside of "Tenet" and "WW84", I don't think we've gotten any other semi-"big" releases outside of "Croods" and "New Mutants" - and "New Mutants" was a film Disney was more than happy to dump!

 

[TravisR]

I don't claim WB is selflessly "looking out" for theaters. I do claim that they've done more to help keep theaters afloat than the others, though. No one else put out A-list movies over the last 4 months.

That's true but Warners is also the studio that seems to be doing the most to kick the theaters when they're down. In my mind, the good doesn't even come close to outweighing the long term bad.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

That's true but Warners is also the studio that seems to be doing the most to kick the theaters when they're down. In my mind, the good doesn't even come close to outweighing the long term bad.

Like I said: I separate the "2021 slate all streaming/theaters" into a different bucket than "2020". Hate the decision, think it'll backfire - probably already has.

Yes, I understand that decision came down in 2020, but I just looked at 2020 movie releases, and they were really the major studio that did more to put butts in seats since August...

 

[Jake Lipson]

Since 2020 is (thank goodness) over, does this thread need to stay sticky? I went to post something in the 2021 thread and almost stuck it in here until I noticed.

 

[Tino]

Since 2020 is (thank goodness) over, does this thread need to stay sticky? I went to post something in the 2021 thread and almost stuck it in here until I noticed.

For the record I asked to unstick this thread when I started the other one.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Okay, it’s unstuck! It’s not like box office records are being broken.