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[BumRush]

96% of the Fresh films in the $150M+ budget range made at least 75% of their production budget in the domestic box office (The Good Dinosaur was the one miss). 80% had a gross larger than their production budget.

Only 3 of the 14 Rotten films in the $150M+ club made 75% or more of their production budget back in the domestic box office, and all three were superhero films (BvS, Suicide Squad, and X-Men Apocalypse).

Wow.

 

[starchild excalibur]

Nice stuff, OP.

Regardless of how much reviews impact opening weekend takes, what can't be denied is how much bad word of mouth can sink a film even with a relatively strong opening weekend. The studios can keep blaming review sites for affecting their B.O. takes, but if they're making shitty films that no one wants to rewatch or implore their friends to go see, then you could outlaw all media review sites and still find some films dropping precipitously in weeks 2, onward.

 

[Sarcastic Poster]

Monster Trucks getting a 125m budget still astounds me.

 

[Parch]

The superhero films can really be considered an exception. They're a popularity all their own and will get an audience no matter what. At least so far.

I think kids films can also be considered an exception (Minions). Kids are a specific audience with limited selection so they're gonna want to watch junk like Minions no matter the ratings. They're also dragging along their parents to further boost box office numbers.

 

[Parch]

Monster Trucks getting a 125m budget still astounds me.

I recently saw this. Maybe some bonus points for creativity, but wow, what an incredibly stupid movie. It is indeed astonishing this got made.

 

[Mister Wilhelm]

What a treasure OP is. GAF does not deserve you.

 

[starchild excalibur]

The superhero films can really be considered an exception. They're a popularity all their own and will get an audience no matter what. At least so far.

Yeah, but to what degree? It still blows my mind that a film could have, ostensibly, the two most popular, well-known superheroes going head to head against each other, have a $166 million opening weekend, and still not even hit $1B. Surely reviews and generally negative word of mouth affected it somewhat, even if it still made a lot of money.

I think kids films can also be considered an exception (Minions). Kids are a specific audience with limited selection so they're gonna want to watch junk like Minions no matter the ratings. They're also dragging along their parents to further boost box office numbers.

Again, it depends. Even something like the Smurfs franchise has been halving in box office receipts with each subsequent entry.

 

[kswiston]

Yeah, but to what degree? It still blows my mind that a film could have the two most popular, well-known superheroes going head to head against each other and still not even hit $1B. Surely reviews and generally negative word of mouth affected it somewhat, even if it still made a lot of money.

The previous two Batman films made $535M and $448M domestic with no 3D money, and back when IMAX and other large formats were still in their early stages of mainstream uptake. It's pretty obvious that the potential was there for BvS to earn a lot more than the $330M it made out with, even if $330M is a solid domestic gross at almost any budget.

Compared to other new films in the same year of release, BvS was less popular in 2016 than Batman Forever was back in 1995. That makes it the 5th most popular Batman film at release of 8.

 

[starchild excalibur]

The previous two Batman films made $535M and $448M domestic with no 3D money, and back when IMAX and other large formats were still in their early stages of mainstream uptake. It's pretty obvious that the potential was there for BvS to earn a lot more than the $330M it made out with, even if $330M is a solid domestic gross at almost any budget.

That's crazy to think about. Even more so than the fact that SS, which essentially had no mainstream-recognizable characters besides The Joker, made only $5 million less domestically than a film with Batman and Superman.

 

[Fancyarcher]

Reviews can break or make a film for a lot of people, plus if reviews are bad usually it means bad legs basically.

Monster Trucks getting a 125m budget still astounds me.

Apparently the idea came from one of the studio heads own kids, I shit you not.

 

[kswiston]

That's crazy to think about. Even more so than the fact that SS, which essentially had no mainstream-recognizable characters besides The Joker, made only $5 million less domestically than a film with Batman and Superman.

Suicide Squad is one of those exceptions where I would argue that critics were definitely not on the same page as the film's target audience. It opened huge and held much better than BvS. BvS only made another $70M after its second weekend. Suicide Squad made more than $100M.

Neither were Wonder Woman though. WW might end up with $175M beyond its second weekend. I think Wonder Woman had the opposite problem where people had already written the film off, but were later swayed by the outstanding WOM.

 

[starchild excalibur]

Neither were Wonder Woman though. WW might end up with $175M beyond its second weekend. I think Wonder Woman had the opposite problem where people had already written the film off, but were later swayed by the outstanding WOM.

That'd explain why its drops week-to-week have been so small.

 

[Obliterator]

Beautiful work as always kswis

Yeah it's very clear Rotten Tomatoes has become ubiquitous enough that it has an impact on the Domestic BO

 

[Monocle]

Interesting stuff, thanks.