Predicting the Movie Hits and Bombs of 2018

WB is really keeping "The Mule" under tight wraps.

 

I think that it all depends on the production and which scenes are being re-shot.

Consider the example that I was using, Nutcracker. It had large elaborate sets and costumes.

When you reassemble cast and crew for shoots like these, every minute costs huge amounts of overhead, sometimes for seconds of film.

It used to be that live action was inexpensive and animation was cheap. Now, with the advent of computer animation and ever evolving software, I think it is turning around the other way.

Another thing to consider, is that there is so much CGI in post production of real live productions.

So either way, you often have that CGI expense.

 

Good God, am I sick of that trailer! I've seen it at least 10 times!

Annoys me that Clint calls them "pe-cans" twice and then calls them "pe-cahns"!

 

There are some submarine movies I like, including Crimson Tide with Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman. Sometimes I wish more sub movies were made, but the box office returns for Hunter Killer show why this isn't happening. I thought Hunter Killer was a fun "B" movie, although the end of it is rather silly. It looked to me like maybe an $80 million dollar movie, but I read somewhere that they somehow made it for only $40 million. Even with that comparatively economical production budget it lost money....

Hunter Killer
Domestic Total Gross: $15,767,460
Distributor: Lionsgate/Summit Release Date: October 26, 2018
Genre: Action Runtime: 2 hrs. 1 min.
MPAA Rating: R Production Budget: N/A
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $15,767,460 100.0%
+ Foreign: n/a 0.0%
= Worldwide: $15,767,460

 

I liked this twisted movie, but even with all the stars (and all the stars taking a big pay cut) it doesn't seem to be breaking even....

Bad Times At The El Royale
Domestic Total as of Nov. 29, 2018:$17,820,724
Distributor: Fox Release Date: October 12, 2018
Genre: Thriller Runtime: 2 hrs. 21 min.
MPAA Rating: R Production Budget: $32 million
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $17,820,724 56.8%
+ Foreign: $13,537,611 43.2%
= Worldwide: $31,358,335

 

Should become the second most successful DCEU flick.

 

'Bohemian Rhapsody' Crosses $500 Million at the Worldwide Box Office

Whodda thunk it?

 

I knew it was going to make some money.

 

Worldwide,"BvS" made the most money. "WW" was the biggest hit in the US, but "BvS" did better overseas.

There seems to be this view that the DCEU movies bombed, but all of them have turned pretty good receipts - they just aren't MCU receipts.

Even "Justice League" probably turned a small profit.

Do the DCEU movies disappoint at the box office? Largely, but they're still not the flops some seem to believe...

 

I thought it would be a hit just from the trailer (which got a great reaction from the crowd), but that's a lot more than I would've predicted.

 

Ok, not looking through Boxoffice Mojo but, domestic-wise I believe Aquaman should fall behind WW. It's got good buzz and trailers support the vibes.

 

Half a billion dollars. That had to surpass expectations.

 

We'll see. It has the advantage of no competition from another live-action superhero film - there's the animated Spidey but "JL" had to deal with "Thor: Ragnarok", and "Aquaman" doesn't have that mountain to scale.

The Transformers spinoff "Bumblebee" does hit the same day as "Aquaman" - gotta imagine the 2 will compete for a similar audience and will probably damage each other...

 

Didn't know Bumblebee opens on the same weekend. Well, let me whip out the Grey Poupon and ready myself to eat.

 

Factor in Mary Poppins Returns opening on Wednesday and this weekend looks to be a bloodbath.

 

I thought she died in the Avengers Infinity War

 

I just can't take Aquaman seriously....

 

Yeah, that's a jam-packed weekend. IIRC, some other big ticket movies were slated for that same period but they moved.

I think "Poppins" exists in a largely different commercial universe than "Bumblebee" and "Aquaman", though I could see some competition for the same viewers between "BB" and "MPR". The studio is selling "BB" less as a Transformers movie and more as a family fantasy, IMO, so it could go either way.

I don't see a lot of competition for the same $ between "MPR" and "Aquaman", though...

 

Weekend Box Office Results for November 30-December 2, 2018 - Box Office Mojo

for those interested.

 

Bohemian Rhapsody might be the most suprising hit of the year, together with Venom, didn't think they would 've been able to make so much money at the B.O.

On a side note, it seems the 2nd "Fantastic beasts" film is underperforming; $519M so far is not pennies, but for a film that cost $200M, I guess the Warner Bros. bosses were expecting more.

Still undecided about watching Bohemian Rhapsody on the big screen..Queen are one of my fave bands ever, but I'm afraid Rami Malek is more Jagger than Mercury

 

With two days into it's second week $519M is a lot of revenue at the box office. Break even would have been about $400M.

 

After I finished watching it the first weekend I knew it would be a big hit. It made me feel good, it was fun and I shed a tear. And the audience applauded afterwards.

 

More like $500m - it apparently cost $200m to make.

So it'll make money, but I can't imagine the studio is excited by the franchise's progression...

 

I thought the cast was nearly perfect...

 

The studio has not lost their first dime on Rowling. They have made a penny or two along the way.