Written by steet :
* UPDATED * See below!
The Princess And The Frog is now available widely (in the US!) and here's its first week end box office :
$24,208,916
My analysis? Disappointing. VERY disappointing.
This is below the expectations, below any 3D animated film being released over the past years. UP made 3 times that, other lesser efforts such as Cloudy With a Chance of Meatball or Disney's A Christmas Carol made much better.
Enchanted, a film with similar aspects but limited target, made 35M$. Heck, even Curious George, a 2D animated film that no one talked about when it was released in 2006 and which had very little marketing, made 15M$ on its opening! And don't forget the other big recent 2D animated film, The Simpsons Movie, which made...74M$!
And I'm not sure this will get better : the film will unfortunately stand no chance against the blockbuster Avatar and the sequel to Alvin next week end.
The strangest thing? Everyone news reporter seems to take this box office as a good news... As if they expected even worse.
That being said : I'm not too worried about the fate of 2D at Disney. (at least on the movie side) The Princess & The Frog did not "boom", for now it's making almost as much as Bolt or Meet the Robinsons. Now that they've reopened their 2D department, they won't give up on it immediately. Also, much befenits from the films come from merchandise, and I still have hope for big DVD sales too.
Also, the film itself is very, very good and up to the level of their 90's animated films : just take a look at all the reviews, including here. Even if it doesn't meet the deserved success, I think this is a film we'll still remember as a cult classic in several decades, when no one will know if Cloudy With a Chance of Meatball was really a movie.
But one sure thing : no other company will venture into making 2D animated films when they see such results. And with the Direct-To-Video sequels trend being officially dead, that means : no more traditional animated film before Disney's next one, The Snow Queen... in 2013.
What a crual world we're living in...
UPDATE : It's even worse than I thought...
Due to the lower-than-expected box office for Princess & The Frog, there are currently internal talks at Disney to decide whether Snow Queen will stay a 2D film or will move to a 3D project!!! And apparently, Lasseter has no saying on this.
Source : A Disney animator who went back from the Germany promotional, where the film "bombed" too. I can safely say this is a real source.
http://www.disneycentralplaza.com/index.htm
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| December 30, 2009 | ||
Webmaster    | ||
| AS leader |
I'm still awaiting for an official reaction from Disney. I think
they're probably wondering the reasons of this failure (just like
everyone here : there are some possibilites, though no real reason
that stands out : the film has got excellent reviews, unlike Alvin 2
which is completly rotten though it is making much, much better at the
box office currently...You have to see it to believe it... BTW, I have seen Avatar too, and it's not really good. It's only worth for the effects, but Avatar is very far from being a masterpiece like Titanic was, especially on the scenario side... |
| December 30, 2009 | ||
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| Mostly active on DeviantArt |
*looks at the ground with a mad face*i saw avatar and i thought it was
a good movie but i`d rather see the princess and the
frog....   |
| December 28, 2009 | ||
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I think the mistake lies in that The Princess and The Frog was
released pretty much alongside Avatar... o.- The audience's focus was
(and is still) on Avatar and Princess just falls down the priority
list :/ The Princess and The Frog still hasn't been released in many countries apart from the US, so I think there's still hope. (Pleasepleaseplease don't change The Snow Queen to 3D animation, aaah >. |
| December 26, 2009 | ||
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| acting troupe |
hmm, i keep seeing all these comercials that say its the number 1
movie in america, is the the gross for world wide or just the USA? |
| December 24, 2009 | ||
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| Talent Over Image |
That's true Steet. And your right, and as I've said, I never saw it so
I can't say much. But it even said in the trialer, but not quite the
way you've heard it before. That's whatit turned it down with me, and
all my friends said. And hey, the movie might have been really good. I
bet it was. But all I'm saying is that I'm really sick of these in
general same stories in a new setting and characters. But that's just
me. And becides I really don't go to the theaders that much anyway. I really think Disney first should have made a plot that was creative, and someting new, new. Not a new way, new. And then make the Princess and the Frog. That way there will be alarger audience. That's my put on it if I was Disney. |
| December 23, 2009 | ||
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| I am a legend |
I think it is much bettter than the disney movies because I hear it is
made by the orginal disney animators, so I am pretty excited to see it |
| December 22, 2009 | ||
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| acting troupe |
im suprised, i thought it would "boom!"...guess not. I saw the the
film a couple of days ago, i loved it. dinsey dilivered to my high
expectations! horray! i'm gonna buy the DVD when it comes out  |
| December 22, 2009 | ||
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| (CORE) [for VG & VS] ;) |
Hm, Well I'd Have To Say Im Gonna Stick With The 2-D Animations, 3-D
Isnt Great To Me...  |
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Still, it's much less than Lilo & Stitch for example, and yet after that one they decided that it wasn't enough and stopped doing traditional animation. Let's hope it doesn't happen again.