For the last few years franchise movies like star wars, marvel, etc. made money regardless of quality. However now it seems like audiences are being choosier when it comes to these kinds of tentpole releases. I’ve seen some people online say that the movie/theater industry is losing people in general but I don’t think that’s the case.
Super Mario and spiderverse made a lot of money. And Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Dune seem to be tracking well. I think the problem is that people are getting sick of the same old stuff and need more than just a brand name to go to the theater. What do you you think?
Indy is failing not because it’s a franchise, but because the audience for an 80 year old Harrison Ford is not going to the theater.
Flash failed for reasons other than it being part of a franchise. It failed because that franchise is not well liked, and in fact is in the process of being replaced.
Also, Ezra Miller is apparently a giant dick bag, turning off audiences.
I expect Blue Beetle will do worse due to featuring a character 90% of the movie going audience is unaware of, based on characters 99.9% are unaware of. At best people will go “So it’s an Iron Man / Spider-Man ripoff?”
Aquaman is the last of this generation of DC movies, hard to tell how it will turn out. The first one was the ONLY ONE of the DC films to hit the big $Billion mark.
Man of Steel - $668M
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0770828/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Batman V Superman - $873M
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2975590/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Suicide Squad - $746M
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1386697/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Wonder Woman - $822M
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0451279/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Justice League - $657M
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0974015/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Aquaman - $1.148B
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1477834/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Shazam - $367M
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0448115/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Birds of Prey - $205M
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt7713068/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Wonder Woman 1984 - $169M
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt7126948/?ref_=bo_se_r_2
The Suicide Squad - $168M
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt6334354/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Black Adam - $393M
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt6443346/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Shazam: Fury of the Gods - $133M
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt10151854/?ref_=bo_se_r_2
The Flash - $245M and counting:
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0439572/?ref_=bo_se_r_1
Edit I should say, both Birds of Prey and the Suicide Squad deserved better. Victims of covid and day/date streaming.
WW84 can die in a fire though.
Fair point about DC and Indy but Disney has had a few flops recently as well. Pixar isn’t a franchise but it was definitely a brand that normally would bring people to the theaters with just the name alone. Now they are struggling to get people to come to the theaters.
Oh, definitely. In my mind Pixar hasn’t had a really good movie since Coco.
Yeah Pixar was absolute magic until around then. Hey, it had to end sometime.
This phenomenon is due to many different issues, but in my opinion they can all be boiled down to: making a great movie is not the priority anymore. Sometimes it’s selling the product, sometimes it’s playing to special political interests (lookin at you, Eternals), etc. for better or worse; but when a film is made for the purpose first and foremost to make a great film, it usually succeeds. Maybe not the flamboyant numbers that some do, but then again for every one that a studio makes a killing on, they also take a bath on a handful of others.
They’re looking at the industry and just seeing a sponge with dollar signs and just want to squeeze as hard as they can.
Do yourself a favor watch more independent films. They’re not always amazing but they are made with heart.
I think Ezra Miller is a great actor, but in small indie films, where he can act the problematic individual he’s outside the screen. Whorever decided to cast him off for big budget summer blockbusters should be fired.
They actually did a decent job in the Flash. It’s tricky playing an 18/19 year old version of the main adult character on screen at the same time.
Well, in their defense, The Flash was first filmed way before he got super problematic iirc.
I also thought it wasn’t too bad, but I seem to be in the minority apparently lol. My biggest complaint is some moments of bad CGI.