Muppets Most Wanted Box Office Numbers

[Duke Remington]

Cause the studio doesn't consider them a viable franchise.

Wrong! They are still considered a viable franchise!

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Wrong! They are still considered a viable franchise!

In our eyes they are but I don't think they are in Disney's right now. So I doubt I'm that WRONG!

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Well I think they did before the movie was released,

I do too but I'm talking about the after.

 

[LouisTheOtter]

Hard to know what Disney would consider a "viable franchise" at this point. MMW certainly isn't the box office bonanza we all wanted (it should hit $49 million by the end of the week and will likely top out at $50 million by the time the theatrical run ends over the next week or so) but we have to remember that other supposedly "viable franchises," Disney or otherwise, have also struggled.

Case in point: Winnie The Pooh. From the way the new 2011 movie of the same name was marketed, it looked like Disney really wanted this to be the beginning of a major relaunch of the Hundred Acre Wood gang. Sadly, the whole thing fizzled (I believe it pulled in around $10 million in North America), likely due to its shorter-than-expected running time, but I hardly see Disney disowning Pooh and friends anytime soon.

Not everything Disney tries is a major hit. Treasure Planet and Home on the Range failed to catch on with audiences, and The Emperor's New Groove - despite its home-video and Saturday-morning-TV spinoffs - is regarded as a failure in some circles.

With The Muppets, at least Disney has a group of characters with a core fan base and a media climate that is generally friendly whenever they show up. (I expect this to kick in big-time when MMW reaches the DVD/Blu-Ray stage.)

And, all things being equal, I'd sooner see The Muppets in their current position with Disney than, say, the Looney Tunes franchise (severely watered down for their current TV adaptation nearly a decade after Looney Tunes: Back In Action bombed) or The Flintstones (potentially buried for good after Viva Rock Vegas stumbled so badly in 1999).

 

[Reevz1977]

I truly do not know what went wrong with this movie. As I've said before, the ONLY thing I can think of was it's release date. Thats the only thing! It competed with a CGI movie which was a huge mistake, and released during the annual quiet period for movies in general.

That said, one thing that has occurred to me, which only recently struck me, was that not one person has mentioned this movie's release to me. To put that into context, if any of my family, friends, peers, work colleagues or neighbours even hear anything about the Muppets, I get a phone call, text or email - that is pretty much a guarantee. But I have not had a single person mention this movie to me which is very odd...in fact it's down-right freaky. My only thought comes down to where the marketing focussed it's attention. I was aware of every marketing movie Disney did on this, but now that I rack my brains, it was a largely digital media campaign, at least here in the UK, save for the TV spots and few appearances. I have not seen a single piece of printed media in my day-to-day life. My family and most of my friends wouldn't necessarily be privy to the online onslaught and certainly wouldn't be visiting the sites I would search in order to find Muppet material. Now, I have seen billboards, bus branding, bus stop shelter ad's etc etc for all other movies that have come out recently - could this have been one of the problems also?

Like I say, I loved this movie, thought Disney did a superb job but I am dumbfounded by it's lack of traction at the box office. We know it's not the Muppets that are the problem here, something else went drastically wrong for Disney and it's that which they must focus on, and not the franchise! I hold out huge hope for this movie on Bluray and expect it to do extraordinarily well as long as it's marketed well.

 

[Muppet fan 123]

I agree with that, Reevz. Aside from my computer and the TV, I haven't seen a single Muppet ad anywhere. There were Mr. Peabody ads on the side of every bus in the city and on billboards across the highways, but no Muppet ones were to be found.

Another mistake that I said BEFORE the movie came out, was that Walter did not promote this movie at all. The entire last movie introduced people to Walter, the world's biggest Muppet fan, and audiences fell in love with him. He carried the entire frachise back, and he was literally everywhere promoting this movie with Jason Segel, and audiences became most familiar with him, The folks in charge of marketing should have put him on a few late-night talk shows.

In our eyes they are but I don't think they are in Disney's right now. So I doubt I'm that WRONG!

Sorry Pinky. You're 100% incorrect.
It's probably safe to say that Disney isn't "rushing" to produce another Muppet film at the moment, but just becuase one film slipped up against blockbuster Divergent, Frozen and The Lego Movie, which are STILL making truckloads of money, doesn't mean Disney is dumping the franchise.

The Muppets have been around for years. It already has a big-fan base built in, and Muppet movies aren't expensive to make. $45-$50 million is like ten bucks to billion-dollar movie studios like Disney.

Planes budget was $50 million as well, and they've already green-lighted two more sequels even though it's not such a major money-maker. It did make $90 million at the end of it's run, but in the summer, $90 million isn't that much of a deal. I just think Disney dumping MMW in March was an awful idea. If the last movie worked in Thanksgiving, why not try it again in the Thanksgiving date?

And in the case of Winnie the Pooh, which we discussed above...The 2011 film was really meant to relaunch the franchise, and it didn't really work out (which is a shame) but The Muppets are already back into the spotlight! The last movie did great and Disney's gonna keep trying. They've got their eye on this franchise, looking for another way to cash in on them.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

I hope I am wrong but at the end of the day Disney wants the $$$$ folks. You can put all kinds of pretty words around it but their like any other corporation. And if it's not bringing in the numbers they want they aren't gonna be rushing on any projects and I'm not just talking movies. AND I THINK THEY ARE AN IMPORTANT FRANCHISE I never said they weren't and when in any of my statements did I say they were gonna dump them I NEVER said that I even emphasised that but don't expect them to never do anything again but I don't think their gonna be pulling out new projects anytime soon is what I'm saying.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

At least in MFS I can find a few good things in it. MWoO I'm lucky that I found one.

I've probably said this somewhere before too, but I like The Muppets Wizard of Oz for the most part. There are a few things that get risque and were unnecessary (particularly Gonzo's infamous "nipples" line)- but I could say the same of "Batman & Robin"- and I still like both movies just fine. I really do enjoy the soundtrack though- I think there are some great songs- "When I'm With You" is one of my favorites!

I'll agree to that! I was okay with MFS, but MWoO... I would stay from that movie. I would rather watch the classic Wizrd of Oz with Judy and stuff, but the Muppets version is not my cup of tea and it is garbage.

And that's fine, of course. You don't have to like it. I agree that The Wizard of Oz (1939) is a great film and one of my favorites. I also like the 1985 Return to Oz movie. And I've also read the Frank L. Baum book. I don't know if this is what you were getting at, but I wanted to point out that the Muppets' versions of literary works (or other things) are never going to be totally true to the original.
Honestly, I'm not really watching the Muppets' version expecting it to be totally on par- but I think they still got the main gist of the book across in any case and it was enjoyable.
Oh well- I know I'm in the minority on actually liking both The Muppets Wizard of Oz and Muppets From Space. That's okay- it's hard for me to outright hate many things- and it's hard for me to make choices on favorites- particularly when it comes to The Muppets. That's probably why I wind up liking most all of it. (Though I do try to be discerning- 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 "Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid all appearance of evil.")

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Not everything Disney tries is a major hit. Treasure Planet and Home on the Range failed to catch on with audiences, and The Emperor's New Groove - despite its home-video and Saturday-morning-TV spinoffs - is regarded as a failure in some circles.

With The Muppets, at least Disney has a group of characters with a core fan base and a media climate that is generally friendly whenever they show up. (I expect this to kick in big-time when MMW reaches the DVD/Blu-Ray stage.)

And, all things being equal, I'd sooner see The Muppets in their current position with Disney than, say, the Looney Tunes franchise (severely watered down for their current TV adaptation nearly a decade after Looney Tunes: Back In Action bombed) or The Flintstones (potentially buried for good after Viva Rock Vegas stumbled so badly in 1999).

For the record, I LOVE The Emperor's New Groove- great movie! I've seen it a number of times.

I watched Looney Tunes: Back in Action once a long time back- I don't think it was horrible or anything, but I didn't get into it as much as Space Jam. But it's not a bad movie- I probably need to rewatch it and then I might enjoy it even more. (If I recall correctly, when I wound up watching it, it was late night and I was fairly tired so I was not in the best frame of mind to really pay full attention to it- lol.)
I never did get around to seeing Treasure Planet (though I would probably be interested with the scifi take on Treasure Island) and Home on the Range- one of these days I might.....
How did The Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas stumble? I LOVED that movie! I thought it was even better than The Flintstones in some ways. It was great to see The Great Gazoo introduced- and I thought everyone involved did a great job bringing those legendary Hanna Barbera cartoons to life.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

Strongly agree to disagree on MWoO.