Muppets Most Wanted Box Office Numbers

[Muppet fan 123]

Oh, I hear you. Mrs. Otter and I don't even want to see 80 per cent of the movies I just listed (although we're disappointed that Million Dollar Arm has already come and gone).

That's incredbily disappointing. It's already out of theaters in my hometown. No kidding, the nearest screening is one city over. It's pretty upsetting to see how fast Million Dollar Arm was swept out of theaters. It's probably a pretty good film.

 

[LouisTheOtter]

Keeping that in mind, I really am intrigued and heartened that MMW is still playing in about 200 theatres across North America. I imagine that this is confined to major centres (NYC, LA, Boston, maybe Toronto or Vancouver up here) but considering how fast MFS was yanked from theatres in 1999, I'm pleased to see that the new film is still playing nearly three months after its release, and that people are still going to see it.

I can't claim to be any kind of expert in this, but I feel like I've learned a lot about the major studios' approach to their films just by following the two Disney Muppet movies' performance on sites like BoxOfficeMojo. I don't know whether it's the studio/distributor or the theatre chains that make decisions on whether a movie remains in theatres - I'd be curious to read up on that, if anyone knows where I could find such information.

 

[Muppet Master]

Lots of movies stay in theaters for a long time. The first despicable me came out in july 2010, but was still playing in like 200 theaters at the end of november.

 

[Muppet Master]

So all we can really expect for MMW is a $51 million domestic total, but if the film opens in Brazil June 26 than maybe we'll have more than $27 million in the foreign market. Honestly, however much some people on this forum are disappointed about MMW's domestic total, I'm far more disappointed with the foreign markets. IT HAS NOT EVEN COME CLOSE TO THE LAST FILM'S TOTAL. I'd have at least expected $60 million! Anyway as of now the film has $50,972,373 in the bank domestically. Also, it's more than half the year and its still Disney's 4th biggest hit of this year, and the 3rd highest grossing Disney film of 2014, only behind CAP and Maleficent.

 

[LouisTheOtter]

Yeah, I'm completely mystified as to why MMW didn't do better internationally, especially since the theme of the film was a Muppet world tour. Maybe international audiences got their hackles up over the thought of semi-clueless American characters barging in on their various territories. I honestly don't know.

I'm hopeful for the Brazilian returns, though. If memory serves me correctly, the movie did well in Mexico, so perhaps it will get some South American love, too.

 

[Muppet Master]

Hopefully it can at least end its run with a $50 million foriegn total to at least get a $100 million final worldwide total, I mean come on $78 million worldwide is really bleak considering that the last film made more than that at the domestic box office alone.

 

[Muppet fan 123]

I think it's about time we close up this thread. We all agree that Muppets Most Wanted under performed, but in no way is this the end for the Muppets. There's not much more to talk about.

 

[goldenstate5]

As much as I hate to say this as well, even though you're optimistically looking at the film as doing better than other flops the problem is that family films are one of the most consistently bankable items in Hollywood nowadays. A family film that does mediocre business is not well looked upon in the industry.

Not to mention the August dumping grounds for the DVD (my guess is that Disney wanted it to avoid any competition with Planes 2 in July, but still) shows little confidence. I'm sure they're looking for other places to restart the franchise, my guess is that you'll have to wait for the small media party surrounding the home release to find out where the franchise is going next.

 

[Muppet fan 123]

As much as I hate to say this as well, even though you're optimistically looking at the film as doing better than other flops the problem is that family films are one of the most consistently bankable items in Hollywood nowadays. A family film that does mediocre business is not well looked upon in the industry.

Not to mention the August dumping grounds for the DVD (my guess is that Disney wanted it to avoid any competition with Planes 2 in July, but still) shows little confidence. I'm sure they're looking for other places to restart the franchise, my guess is that you'll have to wait for the small media party surrounding the home release to find out where the franchise is going next.

Dumping the movie in August? DVD sales are very different than theater sales and the timing is completely different. Dumping a theatrical movie in August means the studios doesn't have much confidence, dumping a DVD in August barely means anything. If you realize, there are very specific dates when Blu-Ray sales are high and they try to stick to those dates best.

For crying out loud, they're putting Toy Story of Terror on Blu-Ray six days later. TOY STORY. That could sell billions any time of the year. I don't think Disney is "dumping" Toy Story in August. Same goes for MMW.

Captain America and SHIELD are coming out a week later too. September is even slower than August in theaters- but extremely different in DVD sales.
My theory is whenever theater sales are quiet, Blu-Ray sales go up and vice versa. People are more likely to rent a movie from a store (or iTunes or whatever) when there's nothing in the theaters, and August is usually incredibly slow.

 

[Muppet Master]

Well, so MMW passed $51 million today with $51,026,579. It's not going to make much more than that, so I guess domestic total discussions are more or less over. BUT WHY WON'T IT GROSS IN THE FOREIGN BOX OFFICE!!!!!!!!!??? THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING, WHY CAN'T IT MAKE MORE THAN $27 MILLION!? I don't know what's happening in the foreign territories, but if its been released in all countries and all the final tallies are put in then...AHHHH