Financial Flops You Can't Understand

Tools    





You can't win an argument just by being right!
I too am surprised that the movie about incestuous twin gynecologists did not resonate with mainstream audiences.
LOL. Gold.



How did Star Trek Beyond perform so tepidly?
Bad trailer coupled with a bit of series fatigue. Also I think the second of the reboots alienated what hardcore Trekkies were left, as it embraced being more of a generic blockbuster that is Star Trek in name only, and the third entry no longer even had Nimoy to tie it back to that universe.

It was the sixteenth highest grossing movie in the U.S. that year, wedged between two other disappointing sequels in Jason Bourne and X-Men: Apocalypse on the chart. Star Trek Beyond is a step better than those two quality wise, but frankly it is not as good as Captain America: Civil War or Rogue One or Deadpool, all of which were much more successful at the box office that year, and rightly so.
__________________
"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra



War for the planet of the apes deserved to make more at the box office
it didnt perform well? shame. its a good film.
__________________
yes, i know what the fox says. no, im not telling you.



matt72582's Avatar
Please Quote/Tag Or I'll Miss Your Responses
Scott Pilgrim
Shawshank Redemption
Wizard of Oz
It's a Wonderful Life
Batman Mask of the Phantasm
I had no idea about Shawshank or It's a Wonderful Life -- any ideas why? Both have fine casts, and one is a Christmas movie... Any ideas why?



If I had a steak, I would f**k it!
I had no idea about Shawshank or It's a Wonderful Life -- any ideas why? Both have fine casts, and one is a Christmas movie... Any ideas why?
Probably marketing, I would guess. Shawshank Redemption's title wasn't that appealing to non-King fans and I don't think Wonderful Life was released around Christmas. We actually only know about that movie because it became public domain and a network needed something to air one Christmas that was cheap.



matt72582's Avatar
Please Quote/Tag Or I'll Miss Your Responses
Probably marketing, I would guess. Shawshank Redemption's title wasn't that appealing to non-King fans and I don't think Wonderful Life was released around Christmas. We actually only know about that movie because it became public domain and a network needed something to air one Christmas that was cheap.
I heard about the public domain thing, but had no idea it was NOT released around Christmas.



matt72582's Avatar
Please Quote/Tag Or I'll Miss Your Responses
Oh wait, it actually was...never mind
I wonder if the suicide stuff was too dark for the 1930s? The original trailer could have been much better.. I should compare it with the 2012 re-released trailer



2012 New Trailer (it's better)



Enjoyed 2017's King Arthur but that did pretty badly at the box office.




The Thing (1982) Kurt Russell, John Carpenter, enough said.




I would've picked Big Trouble in Little China over The Thing since at least it looked like the kind of weird but accessible fantasy-comedy that should've cleaned up in a post-Ghostbusters era, but even then I'm not that surprised.


The Thing suffered because people were coming off the back of ET: The Extra Testicle.
Carpenter even says in the commentary that "Spielberg's alien was nice, whereas ours is nasty".
People just weren't ready for a nasty alien on the same month that ET was such a huge hit (yep, both were released the same month).


Big Trouble In Little China though, was hampered by marketing.
Again, in the commentary, Kurt Russell talks to Carpenter, and says "Friends were asking me stuff like 'don't you have a movie out soon?' and I was like, yeah, it's out right now. Yet, nobody could find it"


The marketing for Big Trouble, was a series of newspaper articles, with a painted picture of Kurt Russell, and a tagline: "Where is Jack Burton, and what is he doing now?"
No movie title on it. Just a random picture of Russell, and a daft tagline.
And in the words of Kurt Russell (ish): "Nobody knew who this Jack Burton was, and nobody cared... and they didn't care about a weird cartoon in a newspaper... so basically nobody even knew the film had been released"



Welcome to the human race...
It seems too easy to blame E.T. as if there was ever going to be that much overlap between the audiences in the first place (to say nothing of how easily an '80s Spielberg blockbuster would dominate the box office no matter what its immediate competition was). As for Big Trouble, yeah, sucks that the marketing was bad. Like I said, should've been easy enough to market a bright and crazy fantasy-comedy in the mid-'80s but apparently the producers really wanted to stick to the ill-advised "missing Jack" prologue they cooked up at the last minute.