What's in store for the Muppets in 2012 article

[beaker]

There's only a small handful of modern comic book films that blew me away and or that I thoroughly enjoyed. Dark Knight, Constantine, Hellboy, Road To Perdition, Ghost World, Watchmen and the first Blade come to mind.

 

[goldenstate5]

I remember Jim Hill continually writing off Ratatouille a few years ago as a complete flop just because it didn't open as high as other Pixar films. And using The Simpsons Movie's opening weekend to say "Audiences are getting interested in 2D animation again!" and people are growing sick of 3D and it would beat Ratatouille at the box office... even though it was because the show is so loved, not because it was 2D (though I'm guilty of thinking that The Simpsons Movie was going to start a second animation renaissance...).

Oh yea hahaha. And then he "ate crow".

Jim's reversal of sorts is hysterical. In the article, it's positive, and then his follow up comment has such a bizarre negative spin, almost as if he's appealing to that idiot "stockholder" that keeps trolling. Although if it's really true that the head of marketing got canned... wow. "Yeah you did your job but you didn't have someone go around and vandalize posters for Arthur Christmas and Hugo, so you're fired!"

That fact alone sort of makes me a little queasy. Disney did put out a press release stating that they were pleased with its modest performance... but really? The box office slump, the overabundance of family films... this does nothing to soothe the somewhat tepidness of the performance to execs? Egads, the highest opener this week made 13.5 million and is considered a major flop!

I really hope Muppets does awesome overseas and on DVD. I still believe that we'll get something television related.

 

[zoebell]

is that really true though? the head of marketing got canned because of the film's performance? that can't be true- they couldn't have done any more press

and the movie is a SUCCESS. it's going to make at least 80 million, got stellar reviews, will likely get golden globe and oscar noms (which will help it, that's always a good thing to put in the ads), and hasn't even opened overseas yet.

there's no way you can call it unsuccessful. a movie failing to overperform isn't a good reason to fire somebody

 

[beaker]

Unless people were expecting Titanic/Toy Story 3/Avatar performance, Muppets 2k11 is a hit. Expect the true muppety renaissance next year(in time for the end of the world!)

 

[zoebell]

i think so too. i want more than anything for them to get some kind of weekly base for which to build new fans from. that's what would really do it imo, a show that people can tune in to.

 

[Drtooth]

Jim's reversal of sorts is hysterical. In the article, it's positive, and then his follow up comment has such a bizarre negative spin, almost as if he's appealing to that idiot "stockholder" that keeps trolling. Although if it's really true that the head of marketing got canned... wow. "Yeah you did your job but you didn't have someone go around and vandalize posters for Arthur Christmas and Hugo, so you're fired!"

That fact alone sort of makes me a little queasy. Disney did put out a press release stating that they were pleased with its modest performance... but really? The box office slump, the overabundance of family films... this does nothing to soothe the somewhat tepidness of the performance to execs? Egads, the highest opener this week made 13.5 million and is considered a major flop!

I'm kinda disappointed it's not going to get to 70 mil this weekend (it's the last good weekend before the Chipmunks come out), but that's about it. All it needs is about 1 million more, and it's the third highest grossing Muppet movie. It's on the doorstep of fourth as it is (just a few ten thousands off) Still... 3 kid's films stealing it's BO potential, but still out performing it is something to be proud of.

I WOULD fire the head of marketing if only for the fact the commercials for the film didn't really take off until a week before its release.

 

[brkndwnbus]

After reading about crowd drop offs, I was thinking my third viewing yesterday would be with only a few fellow moviegoers, but my 1:30 showing was packed. It was mostly families with little kids, too. I would say just about every row was almost filled to capacity except the first row.

 

[Reevz1977]

I WOULD fire the head of marketing if only for the fact the commercials for the film didn't really take off until a week before its release.

I'm kinda torn on the whole marketing of this movie. It's a well know fact I have hated all the promotion material I have seen. I think the company behind these did an abysmal job and it certainly didn't help the movie. That said, the exposure of the Muppets was FANTASTIC! They have been everywhere and awareness for the film could not, in my opinion, have been higher!

I genuinely don't see the box office performance of "The Muppets" as poor. It's more a statement about the state of the economy. I have lost count of the number of fairly high profile movies, that would have been huge successes several year ago, disappear without a trace. I think DrTooth said it best when he said that the true test will be the home video market. I also think the international box office may throw in some pleasant surprises!

I am now excited about the future of the Muppets. Disney just has to maintain the standard they have now set!

 

[Drtooth]

After reading about crowd drop offs, I was thinking my third viewing yesterday would be with only a few fellow moviegoers, but my 1:30 showing was packed. It was mostly families with little kids, too. I would say just about every row was almost filled to capacity except the first row.

The unfortunate thing is that it's a slow couple weeks since Thanksgiving weekend and we're high into shopping time now, with less time to see movies. It was going to make the bulk of its BO on Thanksgiving weekend, and maybe 20 mil the second week, 12 mill the third... If we can get at least 2 mil more by Monday, we'll have at least beat MTI as far as domestic BO goes. Still, it is a modest success that will only blow up overseas and on the DVD market. Everything now is profit. And like we said, it's no help that we have 3 other kiddy films and one more next week. It will definitely be around Christmas vacation, and hopefully it gets a bump in that period... but it is NO way a flop. A flop would imply not making back its budget. Still, why are the Muppet Movie commercials disappearing, but I saw Artless Crapfest ads like every other show.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Just read through the comments on Jim Hill's article, aside from one specific recurring comment, I couldn't help but chuckle at the silliness some of these people are blabbering about.

The one recurring comment I noticed is that teenagers want nothing to do with this movie. Based on what I've seen, that's unfortunately correct. With a big movie musical like this coming out, I notice every kid at my old high school puts every musical on a pedestal and unfairly compares it to Little Shop of Horrors and Grease (I'm 95% sure that if John Travolta played Gary this movie or Audrey II made a cameo would be doing double the business it has been for this very reason). And unless it's SpongeBob SquarePants, Pokemon or maybe Pixar on a good day, they will have nothing to do with anything animated. While it's not animation, it's easy to just classify The Muppets as being animated. So it's no wonder teenagers are so narrow-minded to avoid this movie.