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'Blade Runner 2049' Is A Box Office Disaster With Poor $13M Friday

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H

hydruxo

Member
PantsuJo said:
Bad trailer and bad director (imo).
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giphy.gif
 
F

Fat4all

Banned
Denis isn’t my favorite director, but he is very subtle in the way he communicates big ideas visually to the audience.

One of the best in the biz currently.
 
J

jett

D-Member
mlclmtckr said:
I mean, alright. But do you think of a movie like Dunkirk as a blockbuster? Or as intended to be a blockbuster? Mad Max Fury Road? Master and Commander: Far Side of the World? Miami Vice 2006? The Great Gatsby 2013?
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Yes? All of those movies had big budgets and needed to become blockbuster hits to recoup their investment.

Getting back to Blade Runner, it's absolutely not meant to be prestige award-bait. Alcon, the independent studio behind it, foolishly bet the farm on it, for some reason. Not only did the movie cost 150M+, they also spent 100M+ in prints and advertising. It was not meant to be an art piece, it was meant to be a huge hit that would allow them to create further sequels out of the BR IP. They've suggested as much.
 
M

mlclmtckr

Banned
jett said:
Yes? All of those movies had big budgets and needed to become blockbuster hits to recoup their investment.

Getting back to Blade Runner, it's absolutely not meant to be prestige award-bait. Alcon, the independent studio behind it, foolishly bet the farm on it, for some reason. Not only did the movie cost 150M+, they also spent 100M+ in prints and advertising. It was not meant to be an art piece, it was meant to be a huge hit that would allow them to create further sequels out of the BR IP. They've suggested as much.
Click to expand...

But those movies were clearly not the same kind of film as your usual blockbuster. And they mostly did fine, but not in a box office smash kind of way.

Like I said if Alcon thought they had an Avengers on their hands they were clearly badly mistaken. But that still doesn't mean the movie was a failure.

Maybe this is just an argument about definitions. To me a blockbuster is a big, expensive movie that is meant to have a wide release, a broad appeal, and sell a shitload of tickets. I don't know how anyone at a studio could look at a 3 hour long R rated very slow sci-fi movie and expect to blow out the box office.

But it's on track to make its money back, and obviously this is a well-respected movie that will be influential and raise Alcon's profile massively. That seems more like the kind of movie it is.
 
S

SoRuffShoNuff

Member
mlclmtckr said:
But those movies were clearly not the same kind of film as your usual blockbuster. And they mostly did fine, but not in a box office smash kind of way.

Like I said if Alcon thought they had an Avengers on their hands they were clearly badly mistaken. But that still doesn't mean the movie was a failure.

Maybe this is just an argument about definitions. To me a blockbuster is a big, expensive movie that is meant to have a wide release, a broad appeal, and sell a shitload of tickets. I don't know how anyone at a studio could look at a 3 hour long R rated very slow sci-fi movie and expect to blow out the box office.

But it's on track to make its money back, and obviously this is a well-respected movie that will be influential and raise Alcon's profile massively. That seems more like the kind of movie it is.
Click to expand...

The thing is, you don't decide what type of movie it is or should be, the studio sets those expectations and the expectations were this is a big budget movie that we want to showcase, become a hit, and allow us to create sequels in the BR universe. Using those expectations this is a big failure.

And it is not on pace to make its money back at this rate. People are throwing in future video sales to expand its return which is 100% pure speculation.
 
M

mlclmtckr

Banned
berzeli said:
*very Ron Howard voice*

It was not.
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It's not even releasing in China until the 27th. It's made $100M so far and it's the kind of movie that will do very well in home video. It's going to end up profitable.

Edit -

SoRuffShoNuff said:
The thing is, you don't decide what type of movie it is or should be, the studio sets those expectations and the expectations were this is a big budget movie that we want to showcase, become a hit, and allow us to create sequels in the BR universe. Using those expectations this is a big failure.

And it is not on pace to make its money back at this rate. People are throwing in future video sales to expand its return which is 100% pure speculation.
Click to expand...

1) Using those expectations, well, we'll see. They know what kind of movie they made. Every movie studio wants every movie they make to become a hit. That doesn't mean they are completely deluded and think that BR2049 is going to make Star Wars type money.

2) Obviously you can't predict how it will do on blu-ray / streaming but there will be some kind of a tail. And given how long this movie is / how good its word of mouth is I'm expecting it to do better than average. Usually a studio hopes to at least make its production budget back in theatres because then they can expect to cover marketing and make some kind of a profit. So if after it closes in NA and has its China release, if it's done $150M by then, it's safe to say it won't be a net loss for the studio.
 
F

Fisty

Member
Well I did my part in the second weekend at least. Amazing movie, too good for the current climate at theaters. Maybe we'll see it again in another 35 years.

As much as I didn't want this movie and expected the worst, it was beyond anything I could have asked for. Will definitely be checking out the directors previous works.
 
B

berzeli

Banned
mlclmtckr said:
It's not even releasing in China until the 27th. It's made $100M so far and it's the kind of movie that will do very well in home video. It's going to end up profitable.
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The budget is ~$150 million (of which ~$90 million is Sony's), then Alcon spent $100 million on P&A for the US, no estimate for Sony's P&A spend.
Then there is the fact that they don't get 100% of what it makes at the box office, the cinema gets it's cut, taxes, etc. This is especially true for China.
The break even point is in the $400 million range.

Now Warner will be unscathed (they just distribute), and Sony might make it through fairly well (especially since they are first in line for the ancillary revenue). But Alcon is not going to get it's money back.
 
F

Froyo Love

Banned
Even if by your particular reading of the financial tea leaves the movie makes back the money it took to produce and market it - so what? Presumably everyone in this thread who wants the movie to be a box office success really just wants more movies like this to be made. No one is going to be racing to greenlight expensive highbrow sci-fi projects if the prospects look like breaking even. If that's what you want out of Blade Runner 2049's financials, it sucks but you've already lost.
 
N

Nappuccino

Member
If the movie gets in the Oscar track, that re-release might grab a good number of in-theater dollars.

I can see Alcon getting to 100 million, but not any more.
 
K

kirblar

Member
The concern over the finances is "wow, we really loved this movie and would love for these creators to do more work, but they might have royally f'd themselves going forward because of their decision to invest so much money in the film, preventing those future projects from happening.'
 
C

curiouscharles

Member
PantsuJo said:
Bad trailer and bad director (imo).
Click to expand...

#toptenhottakesofGAF

Camper Van Beethoven said:
Yeah I'm in my thirties I'm not impressed by action sequences and zingers.
Click to expand...

"i'm an adult so no fun is allowed anymore".

feel sorry for ya brah.

['84 baby here, you have zero excuses, Thor looks fucking fun as all hell]

edit: also just occured to me, someone as "serious" as you spends their time on a gaming forum for adults... just fucking love this thread right now.
 
N

nhlducks35

Member
mlclmtckr said:
It's not even releasing in China until the 27th. It's made $100M so far and it's the kind of movie that will do very well in home video. It's going to end up profitable.

Edit -



1) Using those expectations, well, we'll see. They know what kind of movie they made. Every movie studio wants every movie they make to become a hit. That doesn't mean they are completely deluded and think that BR2049 is going to make Star Wars type money.

2) Obviously you can't predict how it will do on blu-ray / streaming but there will be some kind of a tail. And given how long this movie is / how good its word of mouth is I'm expecting it to do better than average. Usually a studio hopes to at least make its production budget back in theatres because then they can expect to cover marketing and make some kind of a profit. So if after it closes in NA and has its China release, if it's done $150M by then, it's safe to say it won't be a net loss for the studio.
Click to expand...

I think you have a limited understanding of how the industry works and are just trying to justify your reasons for the movie making its money back
 
M

Martinski43

Member
I think the movie will carry on pretty great legs and have a stellar run at home video selling loads of regular and 4K Blu-Rays. A type of movie people wanna show off their home theatres with.

Also likely to garner a cult following like the first one.
 
H

hendersonhank

Member
SoRuffShoNuff said:
Maybe, just maybe Hollywood will finally learn to not blow huge budgets on movies people don't want to see. The original earned the title of "cult" classic for a reason. You don't blow 150 million on a sequel to that type of movie.
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You sound like you're hoping that Hollywood only gives big budgets to disposable, forgettable action blockbusters, rather than to ambitious, original projects.
 
J

Jarmel

Banned
This failure does beg the question though about how much of Ghost in the Shell’s box office disaster was due to bad reviews and controversy or just the general public not giving a shit about cyberpunk.
 
A

Ashhong

Member
Planned on going to 7pm Dolby Cinema showing with a group of 6. Super hyped. Saw tickets just this morning and it was pretty empty. I checked again before buying and they fucking cancelled the showing to show Happy Death Day instead. I called and they said it’s because they only booked 8 seats so they wanted to change it. God dammit!
 
F

Froyo Love

Banned
kirblar said:
The concern over the finances is "wow, we really loved this movie and would love for these creators to do more work, but they might have royally f'd themselves going forward because of their decision to invest so much money in the film, preventing those future projects from happening.'
Click to expand...

Are you defining creators as the artists who made the film or the producers who financed it? If the former, you can rest easy, the movie was a critical success and I doubt Villeneuve and Deakins are going to be hurting for work.
 
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