Muppets Most Wanted Box Office Numbers

[minor muppetz]

I wouldn't sell Peabody short. If nothing else, it's the BEST Jay Ward cartoon movie by leaps and bounds.

It's the only Jay Ward cartoon movie. Despite having CGI and animated sequences I consider Rocky and Bullwinkle to be a live-action movie.

 

[Drtooth]

Cartoon based film. It's the best of the entire series of film made based on a Jay Ward cartoon. And considering I just saw the trailer for the old Boris and Natasha movie, Peabody and Sherman wasn't exactly in good company to begin with. George of the Jungle 1+2 were the best in their class before P&S... which says something, I guess?

On the Press Reviews thread, I think we made a break through. Parents are probably not taking their kids to see this because Ricky Gervais is in it. Which sucks, because he's a lifelong fan, and this was a dream for him.

 

[Muppet Master]

MMW is ahead of Peabody again as it made $457k today which was more than Peabody. Even though it's most likely MMW will pass the $50 million mark and it'll also most likely make at least that much (if not more) in the foriegn markets, do any of you think we'll see a third Disney muppet movie released in theaters anytime soon, or will Disney wait a longer time, like the gap between MTM and MCC?

 

[Pinkflower7783]

I say we give the movies a rest and let them go back to their roots TV!

 

[dwayne1115]

Yes and by all means don't create a bunch of new Muppets ether. We want Rowlf the band, Scooter Robin, and others to really have a better chance!

 

[Muppet Master]

F.Y.I people Rio 2 has dropped to a 61% on R.T with a 5.6/10 rating, it'll probably get a rotten rating.

 

[MWoO]

Cartoon based film. It's the best of the entire series of film made based on a Jay Ward cartoon. And considering I just saw the trailer for the old Boris and Natasha movie, Peabody and Sherman wasn't exactly in good company to begin with. George of the Jungle 1+2 were the best in their class before P&S... which says something, I guess?

On the Press Reviews thread, I think we made a break through. Parents are probably not taking their kids to see this because Ricky Gervais is in it. Which sucks, because he's a lifelong fan, and this was a dream for him.

I didn't think of that before, but I can totally see parents shying away for that reason. It's too bad too because he is perfect for the role. The only other person I can imagine playing the part is a young Tim Curry. Plus in interviews Ricky is just beaming over working with the muppets. It's obvious he really appreciates their style of humor and gets it.

I don't know what people think Ricky Gervais would do in a muppet movie though. I mean do they think he will curse up a storm? George Carlin was Mr Conductor on shining time station when I was a kid and I don't remember my parents dreaming out about it.

The movie really is a great muppet movie. I wish more people would give it a chance. Luckily it looks like it will turn a decent profit. It's certainly not turning out lego movie money, but I hope it warrants another movie in a few years or at least a tv show, or better yet a web series. Given the direction the JHH took and the collection of shorts we've gotten thus far on YouTube, I think a we series would be right up the muppets alley. Let's face it, TV as we know it is dying out. The future is web series. Jim Henson predicted this years ago when he said one day everyone will have their own tv channel. Well, we basically have that now. If you want one, you can easily have one.

I feel a nice deal with hulu or Netflix would be great for the muppets and they can do the subversive comedy they are known for and get directed to the right crowd.

 

[LouisTheOtter]

Some thoughts about a few things brought up in this thread:

* Despite my enjoyment of Ricky Gervais in this movie and his obvious love of the Muppets, it's plausible that his presence scared some people away (I mean, he even dropped an F-bomb in the big MMW press conference - it's about midway through the video posted on YouTube). But I was curious to see Tim Curry referenced in MWoO's comment - we all remember Tim Curry's breakout role, right? In a not-quite-G-rated little production called The Rocky Horror Picture Show? And yet MTI is the fourth-highest-grossing Muppet movie of all time...hmmm...

* I think a big reason for Mr. Peabody and Sherman's success (apart from the fact that it's another CGI film) is that it catered to an extremely under-served fanbase, ie. that of Jay Ward productions - DrTooth can probably back me up on this. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (a sentimental favourite of mine) came out 14 years ago and its lukewarm reaction among theatregoers and critics probably cooled off the likelihood of a full-blown revival. Fortunately, unlike the Looney Tunes: Back In Action disaster, somebody had the courage to give it another try and they're being rewarded for it. Similarly, TM2011 likely picked up a lot of people simply because it came out 12 years after MFS, whereas the 2.5-year breather between that film and MMW might have had a few people (NOT ME) scratching their heads and saying, "Didn't those guys just HAVE a movie?"

* The ToughPigs article about the misdirection on the publicity campaign (focusing on Constantine instead of whether Piggy and Kermit's wedding was actually, finally, going to happen) has some merit, but I think there was already some risk in staging "another" wedding in this movie and that an extensive promotional campaign regarding that aspect of MMW's climax could have led to an awkward round of media questions and comments about whether the writers were too reliant on previous Muppet movie plotlines. In the end, I think it may be too simplistic to suggest that audiences didn't respond to the evil-Kermit idea (which I still think the writers and Vogel pulled off to a tee, both in the movie itself and in the promo appearances leading up to the release).

* The sense I get is that MMW is still chugging along (Top-Five for three straight weekends is not too shabby, friends) and could finish up with a respectable take at the North American box office, depending on its placing in the Top 10 over the next couple of weekends. A lot of this will depend on how long Disney and/or theatres are willing to run it on big screens. (I mean, Frozen and The LEGO Movie were still in the Top 15 as of last weekend, with The Nut Job - The Nut Job, people!!! - actually at #21, a good three months after its release.)

 

[Drtooth]

* Despite my enjoyment of Ricky Gervais in this movie and his obvious love of the Muppets, it's plausible that his presence scared some people away (I mean, he even dropped an F-bomb in the big MMW press conference - it's about midway through the video posted on YouTube). But I was curious to see Tim Curry referenced in MWoO's comment - we all remember Tim Curry's breakout role, right? In a not-quite-G-rated little production called The Rocky Horror Picture Show? And yet MTI is the fourth-highest-grossing Muppet movie of all time...hmmm...

Ricky is a loud mouth that annoys button down people. Unless he's become like Michael Cera and people just hate seeing him in a film THAT much because of one bad movie. But if a bunch of prudish parental groups P&M'd about an "adult" movie star being in a kid's movie, then they'd better off not showing them like most of the animated Disney movies out there. But Ricky does rub a certain kind of people the wrong way. If that stopped film goers from seeing it, they're missing out. Though it would kind of be hypocritical of me to scold anyone for that. The ONLY reason I didn't see Planes because (and I was willing to give it a shot until) Dane Cook was in it. But then again, that movie sucked. though I'm sure it was the highest praise a Dane Cook film had.

* I think a big reason for Mr. Peabody and Sherman's success (apart from the fact that it's another CGI film) is that it catered to an extremely under-served fanbase, ie. that of Jay Ward productions - DrTooth can probably back me up on this. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (a sentimental favourite of mine) came out 14 years ago and its lukewarm reaction among theatregoers and critics probably cooled off the likelihood of a full-blown revival. Fortunately, unlike the Looney Tunes: Back In Action disaster, somebody had the courage to give it another try and they're being rewarded for it. Similarly, TM2011 likely picked up a lot of people simply because it came out 12 years after MFS, whereas the 2.5-year breather between that film and MMW might have had a few people (NOT ME) scratching their heads and saying, "Didn't those guys just HAVE a movie?"

With Peabody and Sherman, I get the feeling that some of the old school fans were fervent in their dislike of Dreamworks handling the film with a touch of "we won't get fooled again" from the lousy adaptions they've gotten in the past (though I do like the Rocky and Bullwinkle film, as well as both George films... the new George cartoon sucked worse than all those films combined). There were older fans that were open to it, of course. But the strange as heck thing is kids were really excited to see a movie based on a 60 year old cartoon that was a segment in another cartoon. Peabody and Sherman didn't even have their own syndication package! If this is one of the cases where they managed to take an old property kids have never heard of and sold it directly to them, then it worked. Still, I hope that it's considered successful since it's off 45 mil domestically... which is still the biggest money value of a Jay Ward based Film. At least it got the most critical praise.

Bringing up LT:BIA? YES! WB botched the heck out of that movie, and felt that it was the only measure of Looney Tune character success, and then came up with that crappy Loonatics cartoon in a last ditch effort to make them appear hip. And this was the same company who, in the 90's, would often put Bugs and Taz in early 90's rap gear (they had a shirt where they were dressed as Kriss Kross!) And even that seemed less cynic. Which is where the worry for this film lies, but we've been over that. It really would have been a shame if The Muppets turned out the same, but that was deemed successful enough to get a second film.

If it's a case of "they just released one 2 years ago" then it's a rare case. If anything the first film usually makes people more excited for the next one, and they can't stand the wait. GMC followed TMM the same amount of time. I'll just say for the sake of sanity, it was a SLOW March. Noah and Divergent made money, but they made most of their money overseas.. not that much here. Captain America already passed the 300 million mark before it was released stateside. Hopefully Muppets (and Peabody's) numbers will improve greatly in the international market. If you count the international, (supposedly) MMW passed its budget. Hopefully it makes enough more that it's considered successful, and hopefully the DVD sales and reception help Disney to see how successful the franchise is... if anything in merchandising.

 

[LouisTheOtter]

If it's a case of "they just released one 2 years ago" then it's a rare case. If anything the first film usually makes people more excited for the next one, and they can't stand the wait. GMC followed TMM the same amount of time.

That's true, but it's worth noting that GMC took in only 43% of TMM's North American box-office take. (By contrast, MMW is now at 48% of TM2011's North American gross, and still climbing.)

Sequels occasionally stumble badly, even in a pop-culture landscape that gobbles up family-friendly CGI products. I'm still surprised that Happy Feet II flopped (and I say that as someone who didn't really warm up to the original).

I hope Disney will still see the value of the Muppets as a cost-effective niche franchise. It might seem too simplistic to point out that Jim Henson didn't flinch at the lower take for GMC and instead started making plans for TMTM (even as he was knee-deep in The Dark Crystal). But indeed he did, and that was without Disney's deep pockets to back him up.