Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

[jvcarroll]

I'm surprised SpongeBob is this successful. Why? According to reviews I've read,
(SPOILER: don't read ahead if you haven't seen Sponge Out Of Water)
Only the last 20 minutes of the film are CGI. Maybe we will see a re-birth in successful traditionally animated films after this, and it may cause Disney to retool Moana from Paperman-style to traditional animation, the opposite of what happened to Tangled and Frozen (they wrre going to be traditionally animated but changed to CGI). Other studios may also want to cash in and try to make 2D films again after SpongeBob's success. There's also an upcoming Japanese import franchise, Yo-Kai Watch, that like most anime, isn't in CGI (save for the first two ending dances, the current idol song ending is in 2D), and it has a movie which may come to the US. Does anyone else agree with me?
(Spoilers for Sponge Out Of Water end here).
I believe that Cinderella will not be as violent as Maleficent, and will top the box office, what not with the 7-minute Frozen Fever short played before it. On a recent visit to Toys R Us, they only had three Frozen Fever dolls left, and hoardes of Snow Glow Elsas. The Disney Store dolls have also sold out and are now $49.99 via resellers such as eBay.

I much prefer traditional animation, but the last 20 minutes of the new Spongebob movie were by far the best and the CGI was a big part of that. That film will have no impact on animation styles of movies to come. Live action, traditional animation or CGI - it all comes down to story and quality.

The reason Spongebob is just doing well as opposed to extremely well is that the program is already on basic cable several times a day and parents will eventually buy it on DVD or itunes streaming. It's also a good, but not great film.

 

[Drtooth]

I much prefer traditional animation, but the last 20 minutes of the new Spongebob movie were by far the best and the CGI was a big part of that. That film will have no impact on animation styles of movies to come. Live action, traditional animation or CGI - it all comes down to story and quality.

And quite honestly, they did it right where other hybrid movies failed. The CGI managed to perfectly capture the character's looks and movements, keeping the bouncy and fluid movements all while keeping them perfectly cartoon character like. None of that Garfield/Scooby-Doo "this is how they'd look in real life" stuff. And where they did do that with Sandy, it's only perfectly in nature of the show where she's a real squirrel out of water anyway. And the best part is, the interactions with humans were also nuanced. No Mary Sue or Marty Stu's being tossed into the mix for the sake of fake audience surrogates. Just Spongebob, his crew, and the villain. Clean and simple.

That's not selling the 2-D animation short. It's a real shame that gimmick comes when 2-D animation isn't in demand. Live action stuff looks awkward in 3-D. It only really looks good during action sequences in those. But it always looks good in animation. CGI and Stop Motion (especially stop motion) have a great look made for 3-D, but Spongebob's 2-D animated segments popping out stuck with me. Especially Sandy's conspiracy meltdown, with extreme, Ren and Stimpy like contortions and distortions. I've never seen anything like it. Sure, it's just a bigger budget version of what's on the show (slightly higher frame rate and more detail), but it was worth paying extra to see that kind of squash and stretch animation popping out in 3-D.

Also, I'd agree that it isn't doing blockbuster money, but considering the low budget and how it made back it's budget by the second week, while holding onto spot number 3 weeks after it's premiere is far from bad. Especially because it's a cartoon currently on television. And in marathons a day capacity. I'm sure that kept some film goers away, but not as much as you'd think. I don't think any family movie released in that period that doesn't have a low enough budget would be seen as successful, though Lego really grabbed the audience's fancy. Kinda wish that housewives that went to see that awful Twilight fan fic film dropped their kids off at Old Spongebob. They knew it would be moderately successful, and it had a low enough budget.

 

[mr3urious]

Well, I guess I thought wrong. Chappie opened worse than Elysium, but it still remained #1 last week at around $13 mil. Meanwhile, Focus and Kingsman round out the top 3 spots, while the Exotic Marigold sequel and SpongeBob trail closely behind.

http://boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/?sortdate=2015-03-07&track=chappie.htm

 

[Drtooth]

It was a quiet opening all around. March just wasn't what it was in recent years. 13 Mil at number one is still pretty depressing. Then again, Chappie's apparently getting horrible reviews, mainly for the rap band that the movie's focused on.

I'm guessing audiences are staying away until Cinderella.

 

[mimitchi33]

That's probably slightly more accurate than what I posted. That's the dangers of a family friendly website. Can't even give a minor cussword.

The Spongebob movie is doing nicely. Hopefully some regional vacation days help prop those numbers up.

Still...ugh. You'd think those housewives would at least dump some more kids to Spongebob. It's really no surprise Spongebob's doing well. He has a perennial popularity that really should have translated to 3 or 4 movies by now. It's well over a decade since the first one (and that one went up opposite a PIXAR movie), and the Rugrats had about three films well before then. One was a crossover, so technically 2 and a half. Nick's been making some nice money on all the films except Hey Arnold (their fault for using the wrong movie and releasing it opposite Star Wars ep 2 and Lilo and Stitch where PPG was struggling... and PPG was in its prime, too). I really really wish they could find a way to make a TMNT cartoon movie that doesn't interfere with the Bay produced ones. Kinda stinks that Spongebob 3-D didn't have a short cartoon from another Nick show before it. That would have been great.

Side note... the Sponge out of Water specific merchandise pretty much disappeared off the shelves within a week of the film's premiere. The general Spongebob stuff didn't move quite as much, it had a dent in it, but the movie based toys were almost completely gone, save for some blind packaged Mega Blocks figures. Even the yogurt was lacking on a local grocery shelf. Seriously. There was a Plank-Ton Fisher Price figure. Surprised that was even left there.

If Nick was going to put a short before a movie recent, it better not be like this (because many people hate it, even though I like it):

The first SpongeBob movie did actually top one weekend according to some other box office website from back in the day I forget the name of (not Box Office Mojo). And I've noticed the merchandise selling out and being resold-a $15 toy being sold for $35 dollars is a little nuts if you ask me. I've also seen children cry over the sold-out toys at Toys R Us, when there were Frozen dolls aplenty.

 

[Drtooth]

If Nick was going to put a short before a movie recent, it better not be like this (because many people hate it, even though I like it):

The First Rugrats film had a short CatDog cartoon before it. Can't remember if that was actually a sneak peak of the series or not. Didn't see it in theaters and only heard about it second hand.

Kinda wish there was a Sanjay and Craig cartoon before Spongebob. That's their best Non-Turtles TV series. Or sneak previewing Harvey Beaks.

Anyway, is it just me, or does Liam Neeson always get stuck playing the same role? I mean, there were 3 Takens. How does the same thing happen to the same guy three times without him getting wiser to it? Now it looks like a Taken by any other name. He's too good for this crap.

 

[charlietheowl]

Anyway, is it just me, or does Liam Neeson always get stuck playing the same role? I mean, there were 3 Takens. How does the same thing happen to the same guy three times without him getting wiser to it? Now it looks like a Taken by any other name. He's too good for this crap.

I think he's just after money at this point, and knows that the action movies are his best bet. Prestige pictures must not pay the bills anymore.

 

[Drtooth]

Yeah. But can't he get into an action picture with a different plot?

Not that he isn't good in remarkably bad films, but this is going to pigeon hole him as That Taken Guy. And all he's going to do is star in Taken knockoffs. Like he's his own personal Jabberjaw.

 

[mr3urious]

Boy did Cinderella dominate this weekend. I can thank the lack of competition for the huge take, as well as the draw of the Frozen short attached to it.

http://boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/?sortdate=2015-03-15&track=cinderella2015.htm

 

[Muppet fan 123]

Is it really because of Cinderella though? Is it really a popular franchise that people would actually go see it regardless? I would only see it for the Frozen short and walk out right after.