Muppet Movies Actual Box Office!

[frogboy4]

Yup! I clearly marked it "adjusted" for inflation and that was the whole point of this thread.

Some idiot from the NY Times was comparing Toy Story 3-D ticket prices to all the Muppet movies that came out decades before it when ticket prices were did not factor in a modern $15 bucks for 3D films! It was a ludicrous comparison from a paid professional who should have known better.

Funny enough there's a Box Office Mojo article here about this very topic that was published over a year ago that came to an almost identical conclusion concerning the Muppets' box office take.

Anyway, "Muppets from Space" really was an epic bomb and the Muppets' only true box office disappointment. The rest of the movies actually did okay or better. I personally think MFS was bad enough to warrant the terrible reputation, but I also respect that this was the first theatrical film for so many Muppet fans so I do try to be nice about it. I cried after seeing it because I predicted its failure to perform and knew it would send the Muppets into movie oblivion for many years to come. At the time it came out it cost $24 million and only raked in $16 million of that back. Even a crummy kiddie film should make far more than that in the summertime. It was a shocking miscalculation that was quickly yanked so that it could be rushed to the much more forgiving home video market. It did do well there, just like most Muppet media does. I'll still watch it on DVD every year or so, but not like I watch the others.

 

[Drtooth]

Had MFS actually been good, I don't think it would have made all the difference.

What I'm desperately wondering is who said the Muppet Movie that was going to be made HAD to have a space/Sci Fi theme? Was it Henson or Columbia? I mean, CLEARLY they wanted to compete in Star Wars summer, and there were a few movies that basically just kept referencing Star Wars coming out at the time... Austin Powers definitely... I think South Park too. If it didn't have a Space theme, it had to have the song "All Star" in it.

We have to face facts, MFS good film or what we ended up with was doomed to doing poorly in a fiercely competitive part of the year during a fiercely competitive year in and of itself. Even without Star Wars, there was just too much out there, and most of it didn't do so well either. Remember Wild Wild West? Wouldn't blame you if you didn't.

MFS was a DTV quality product that had a very disastrous run (though both times I saw it in the cheaper theaters the place was packed)... pluys it came out Mid-July... that's just a week or so short of when people stop seeing films.

 

[frogboy4]

Had MFS actually been good, I don't think it would have made all the difference.

What I'm desperately wondering is who said the Muppet Movie that was going to be made HAD to have a space/Sci Fi theme? Was it Henson or Columbia? I mean, CLEARLY they wanted to compete in Star Wars summer, and there were a few movies that basically just kept referencing Star Wars coming out at the time... Austin Powers definitely... I think South Park too. If it didn't have a Space theme, it had to have the song "All Star" in it.

We have to face facts, MFS good film or what we ended up with was doomed to doing poorly in a fiercely competitive part of the year during a fiercely competitive year in and of itself. Even without Star Wars, there was just too much out there, and most of it didn't do so well either. Remember Wild Wild West? Wouldn't blame you if you didn't.

MFS was a DTV quality product that had a very disastrous run (though both times I saw it in the cheaper theaters the place was packed)... pluys it came out Mid-July... that's just a week or so short of when people stop seeing films.

I think they knew it would turkey-out so and buried it. I just watched the latest Tough Pigs interview with key Muppet performers and they keep mentioning Disney's mysterious marketing strategy. I don't think Columbia Tri-Star had much of one for "Muppets From Space".

 

[Drtooth]

I think they knew it would turkey-out so and buried it. I just watched the latest Tough Pigs interview with key Muppet performers and they keep mentioning Disney's mysterious marketing strategy. I don't think Columbia Tri-Star had much of one for "Muppets From Space".

But something tells me even if they didn't, it still would have been buried. This was back when my cheaper theaters (they're now just the relative cheaper theaters that show first run movies... not complaining) didn't get Star Wars episode 1 until almost OCTOBER... so basically when I saw a movie, I had to see the little left over ones that no one wanted to see and the ones that did well, but just not as well.

Here's a partial list of stuff that came out during that summer, from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_movies#April_-_June (the list continues after that)

Most of them I remember, the rest of them I didn't. And most of them I remember either did well or flopped. Though, to be fair, MFS came out as the ONLY movie that week (according to that list).

So it's a mix of both. Competitive summer, lack of care over the film... buried in July when someone MIGHT see it. But then again, I fault whoever said "Star Wars is coming out next summer, so let's force a Muppet Sci-Fi film in before then." Clearly there was some sort of rush somewhere. That's why they went with a bad director, that's why they got less than satisfactory results.

Somehow, I just can't help but think the same of the Smurfs movie. They rushed a script out to get a film out before the license was up, they made something that looks terrible, and shoved it in August when no one watches movies (except for poor people who can only afford dollar cinemas who waited patiently to see the big movies of the Summer that came out in May). But they seem to want it to make some money and marketed the heck out of it.

That said, crummy as MFS was, it was a crapload better than Blair Witch. That was just... I watched like 20 minutes and I wanted to rip my head off. Just... UGH!

 

[Muppet Master]

I've been trying to find a DVD copy for just that reason.

I didn't really think the movie was anything really impressive, but it does arguably have the most fearsome Muppet villain of all time.

Ed wasn't really fearsome. Nicky Holiday and Doc Hopper surpass him by far. Though the most effective muppet villian though is Rachel Bitterman. I wanted to take her eyes out after what she did to the muppets.

 

[muppetlover123]

Ed wasn't really fearsome. Nicky Holiday and Doc Hopper surpass him by far. Though the most effective muppet villian though is Rachel Bitterman. I wanted to take her eyes out after what she did to the muppets.

Constantine is definetly going to be the most fearsome villain!

 

[Muppet Master]

I must point out that the Times claims that the last 5 Muppet pictures together didn't take in as much as Toy Story 3 did in its first 5 days.

Really, stupid NY Times! Anyway does it really matter? What matters is the profit. Here are the statistics for the original muppet movie trilogy

TMM: Gross: $65 mil. Budget: $8 mil. Profit: $57 mil. ($150+ mil. in 2014 $)
I don't know about the NY times, but that's a big success, making $57 million even in today's money is really good, but that was 35 years ago, and making $150 million + profit is awesome, it's obvious why that combined with critical acclaim and an oscar nomination led to a sequel.

GMC: Gross: $31 mil. Budget: $14 mil. Profit: $17 mil. ($50+ mil. in 2014 $)
While all statistics were a step down from the previous film, making $50+ mil. profit or $17 mil. in 1981 $ is still a really large profit, and good reviews and an oscar nomination obviously led to a three-quel.

MTM: Gross: $25 million Budget:$8 million Profit: $17 mil. ($50+ mil. in 2014 $
'bout the same as GMC


Unless you're the NY Times then I'm pretty sure that those are real good numbers, furthermore MCC made $27 mil. on a $12 mil. budget gave that film a decent $15 mil. profit. Also I don't know the MTI budget, can someone please find out? So really only MFS was a flop, but it was its own fault boasting a robust $22 million budget, much more than the $14 million GMC budget which was the highest muppet movie budget before the film.