Commentary 13 Jun 2006 09:48 am
CARS – a flop?
– In response to Hans Perk‘s comment on my post yesterday, I posted a reply. After writing it, I thought I should bring greater attention to this NY Daily News article which points out that despite the $62 million opening of Cars, Disney analysts were disappointed. They expected $70 million. The shares for Disney stock went down yesterday in reaction. This came as a surprise to me but shoudn’t have.
I haven’t seen the film and don’t know whether I’ll think it a good film. However, I was pleased with what I thought was its successful opening. PIXAR is the premiere company making animated films today, and I want them to do well – if only for the sake of the industry. But it’s obvious that too much money will never be enough.
on 13 Jun 2006 at 1:54 pm 1.Hans Perk said …
That’s just it: how much is enough? Is a film’s quality necessarily measured by the money it makes?
Let’s not forget the amazing things that happened after The Incredibles came out on DVD, with threats of lawsuits (were there any?) because it didn’t make as much as projected. I’m certain that Cars will make a hatfull of money, and at that level, 8 million more or less is peanuts. We are finishing a feature we think is going to be really nice, but it cost less than 8 million. Wall Street should have it’s head examined.
In the end, it comes down to whether you like it or not, after seeing it, Michael. Then you can tell us your opinion, and we’ll read it with interest. We can nod or shake our heads – the next day it will be yesterdays news, and only time will tell if it was a hit or a flop…
on 28 Jun 2006 at 10:56 pm 2.Joe Cabrera said …
Cars isn’t doing too badly:
http://boxofficemojo.com/showdowns/chart/?view=daily&id=vs-pixar.htm
I saw it last weekend and it was fantastic. Even not as good as some of the other Pixar movies still equals better than most anything else out there.
And, Disney? If you call this a flop let’s take a peek at the Wild:
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=daily&id=wild.htm
Cars beat the Wild’s TOTAL domestic gross in ITS FIRST TWO DAYS ALONE at a production budget just 50% more than the Wild’s. That’s pretty damn good.
on 29 Jun 2006 at 9:23 am 3.Michael said …
Of course, CARS isn’t doing too badly. Given you’re only talking about the US receipts (it’ll double that worldwide plus another $100 million for dvd sales) it looks great. Given the other half-billion it’ll make on merchandising, I’d say that it was great. The point is that it didn’t meet what the Disney execs expected. They lowered their expections by plenty. To them it was a disappointing opening.