Strange World

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Farerb
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Re: Strange World

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I just think they didn't have any faith in this film and didn't want to waste more money on marketing.
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Re: Strange World

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singerguy04 wrote: Mon Nov 28, 2022 8:27 am Ok, I might be pulling out my tin foil hat for this one, but I think that Scott Mendelson quote says a quite part out loud about the serious lack of marketing for this film. I think Disney is harpooning original theatrical-release animated projects so they can move them to Disney+, and making a case that only known successful animated franchise sequels should get a theatrical release. When Strange World hits Disney+, I think it will be viewed as performing better and therefor we'll see a case made to move original projects there.
I agree. We saw this same strategy when Disney wanted to be done with hand-drawn animation, they made as many decisions calculated to keep that from happening in covert manner. It's been clear for a while that Disney would like things to be released on Disney+ Day 1, forcing people to buy their service and no longer having to share money with theaters, etc. The thing I don't get about that is pre-pandemic, they made hundreds of millions regularly at the box office with WDAS and PIXAR films. I don't know why they don't think theatrical releases and Disney+ can co-exist. For example, hand-drawn animation exclusive releases at Disney+ for continual new content and perhaps even less marketable ideas in 3D exclusive to Disney+, with the more mainstream 3D films going to theaters? It's like they want to force the move on the public at the expense of potential loss of a lot of short-term $$$.
Strange World has it's faults, but there are far worse films that have performed better with the right marketing. Disney is fully aware of what it needs to do to market a film correctly.
I agree. The fact that they marketed it so much like Treasure Planet and Atlantis: The Lost Empire was obvious from the beginning, and equally puzzling from the beginning. Those films were not successes, so why would they model their marketing after the marketing for those films (known flops)? I'm more likely to believe that it was a purposeful decision because it doesn't make sense that they would imitate those films otherwise.
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Re: Strange World

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blackcauldron85 wrote: Sun Nov 27, 2022 1:00 pm
Jäger-Rose wrote: Sun Nov 27, 2022 12:01 pm here's the YouTube link lol
Hope you like it!! :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDdPbX_Ax_k
Nice interview as always! Super cool you got to see it on the Disney lot! I agree with you about the great family dynamic.
Aww thanks for the nice words. I try to do my best :D
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Re: Strange World

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It seems that I'll be watching it in theaters after all. The HR manager at my office consulted with me about doing a private screening for the employees and their families. I suggested to her to do a screening of Puss in Boots, but she decided to go with Strange World instead :(
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Re: Strange World

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Composer Henry Jackman takes us on a musical journey to Strange World
https://animatedviews.com/2022/composer ... nge-world/
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Re: Strange World

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Farerb wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 1:36 am It seems that I'll be watching it in theaters after all. The HR manager at my office consulted with me about doing a private screening for the employees and their families. I suggested to her to do a screening of Puss in Boots, but she decided to go with Strange World instead :(
It makes sense given Puss in Boots 2 is a sequel and some may not have watched the original while Strange World is a standalone piece. And of course her choice speaks to the power of the Disney brand. However, is she aware of the LGBT content in the film? I assume some more religious people working at your office might take an issue with that.
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Re: Strange World

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Sotiris wrote: Tue Nov 29, 2022 10:55 pm It makes sense given Puss in Boots 2 is a sequel and some may not have watched the original while Strange World is a standalone piece. And of course her choice speaks to the power of the Disney brand. However, is she aware of the LGBT content in the film? I assume some more religious people working at your office might take an issue with that.
There was one who's aware and said she wouldn't come, but most are secular and I think they wouldn't have an issue with it.
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Re: Strange World

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Second weekend box office update.
Disney’s Strange World ended its first week with $13.8M, a running total of $20.6M; the pic was 5th yesterday with an estimated $396K. Third place is going to Disney’s Strange World at 4,174 locations with $1.08M Friday and a second weekend of $4.4M, off 64%, for a running total of $25M. Strange World (Dis) 4,174 theaters, Fri $1.08M (-78%)/Sat $2.4M, Sun $1.3M 3-day $4.9M (-60%)Total: $25.5M/Wk 2
Source: https://deadline.com/2022/12/box-office ... 235187182/
Disney’s Strange World added $5.4M in 43 markets during the sophomore frame. This was a 40% drop from the weak opening last session. The overseas total is now $16.8M for $42.3M worldwide. The Top 5 to date are the UK ($1.7M), Mexico ($1.4M), Spain ($1.2M), Germany ($1.1M) and Italy ($1.1M).
Source: https://deadline.com/2022/12/black-pant ... 235188713/
After these two films, there is a drop to third where Disney’s “Strange World” continues to tank, falling 63% from its weak $12.1 3-day Thanksgiving opening to $4.9 million in its second weekend. The film is still on course to become one of Disney’s biggest theatrical bombs ever with a domestic total of $25 million and a global total of $42 million against a production budget of at least $120 million before marketing costs are even factored in.
Source: https://www.thewrap.com/violent-night-b ... k-panther/
Disney’s animated adventure “Strange World,” which collapsed with its $12 million debut, wasn’t able to rebound. The movie took third place with $4.9 million from 4,174 theaters in its second weekend, a 60% decline from its opening. So far, the family film has earned $25.5 million in North America and $42.3 million globally, a disastrous result. Since it cost roughly $200 million to produce and tens of millions more to market, sources estimate that “Strange World” will lose at least $100 million in its theatrical run.
Source: https://variety.com/2022/film/box-offic ... 235449388/
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Re: Strange World

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Gabrielle Union is blaming SW’s flopping on the pandemic. 😂
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Re: Strange World

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Disney has released the opening song as a lyric video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2KDIgh54Ag

I liked the comic book style, but not the cel-shading animation. The sequence is just one minute long, couldn't they have used traditional animation instead?
Marce82 wrote: Sat Nov 12, 2022 5:56 pm There are also two moments where the movie departs stylistically from CG... one moment is sort of 2D... the other I will not describe here. Let you be surprised.
The first moment you described is the one in the song that was just released, right? But what was the other moment? I finally saw the film last Tuesday and I don't remember any other part that wasn't CG. Perhaps I missed it.
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Re: Strange World

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Union could be right, in the sense that Disney trained people to wait for streaming with their animated films and are paying a price for it (at least in the short-term). I don't think Disney is the only producer of animated films paying that price either. I don't believe there's been an *original* animated film recently that's been massively successful in theaters (although Encanto was a streaming hit), only sequels have managed it--and even then not that many? I imagine a lot of parents got spoiled by being able to see animated films at home a month after the theater release date. It's the same thing Disney did to hand-drawn animation with the DTV sequels back when, they trained people out of seeing that medium theatrically. It'll take a while--and later streaming release dates--to un-train people out of it.
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Re: Strange World

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Re: Strange World

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singerguy04 wrote: Tue Nov 22, 2022 7:21 pm Over all, my hot take is that it’s a pretty middle of the road movie for Disney. Probably in the ranks of Ralph Breaks the Internet or The Rescuers Down Under. I’ll definitely revisit it, and I did find it enjoyable. It just wouldn’t make my top 5, 10, or even 25 WDAS features.
It also felt like a "minor Disney classic" to me, though I still enjoyed it as well. The relationships between the characters and the world-building were the best aspects for me, though they weren't perfect either. Personally, I didn't have a problem with the film's message. As for the twist, I think it was actually quite clever, but the movie would've been much more interesting if it wasn't so obvious, even from the teaser trailer. Maybe it wasn't for everybody, though. But when I showed my brother the trailer, one of the first things he mentioned was that the strange world looked like the interior of a body, so I guess it's not just us here who noticed it. It was still interesting seeing the characters discover it, but shouldn't Jaeger at least have realized what that world was after spending 25 years there?
Disney's Divinity wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 6:38 pm Anyway, I feel like I was right about Callisto to a degree. The turn when she locked them all in the closet had the feel of an early Twist Villain reveal that they pedaled back from, to the point she was just a temporary antagonist.
Yeah, for a moment it looked like a twist villain reveal. Personally, I'm glad it was just temporary, because we've had enough surprise villains.
Disney's Divinity wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 6:38 pm The grandfather had some line during the card game that made me laugh, about how no villains is lazy storytelling. :lol: That whole argument felt like Disney fans v. Disney executives. They don't want us to have villains because they don't want to depict anyone as being fully bad yet it's unsatisfying that almost none of their new films have them.
That argument was interesting. I know its purpose was to show us how Ethan saw things, so his decision in the climax made sense, but I wonder if they also included it to explain to us why they don't have villains in their movies anymore.
blackcauldron85 wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 6:45 am A lot of the parent negative mentions of representation talked about how they were blindsided, how the trailers didn't show this.
Thanks for that thorough breakdown you posted, blackcauldron85! I read all the verified audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes who gave the film just 1 or 2 stars and most of them were from parents disappointed to find out the movie featured a gay romance, so it seems this did have an effect on the audience score after all. The scores have improved a bit, though. Right now it has a 75% from critics (same as Lightyear) and a 66% from audiences.
blackcauldron85 wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 2:16 pm
My husband's thought at the very end was "Is that turtle lonely?". Aww.
I thought the same. :lol: Poor turtle. Though, we didn't get to see the other side of the planet. Who knows, maybe there are more creatures there. Anyway, them living on this giant turtle didn't make much sense to me. I guess it never dives or rolls over; otherwise the Avalonians would all die. Don't humans tickle the turtle? And what would happen if it really dies eventually?

Also, finally they didn't tell us how humans arrived there or anything like that. I don't know why I expected they would. I should've known there wouldn't be any explanation. Maybe it's just an alternate reality, for example.

blackcauldron85 wrote: Fri Nov 25, 2022 2:16 pm So did Ethan turn 18 and moved out to the underground or like he was working there for a day, or was travel just open between the 2 areas? I'd like an expansion of the story as far as what life is like now, the two areas affecting each other.
I thought he was just there for a day or so removing the rest of the Pando plants, but now that you mention it, he wrote his father a letter from there, right? So it must have been longer than that. I'll pay more attention to it next time I see the film (which will be when it's on Disney+).
Rumpelstiltskin wrote: Sun Nov 27, 2022 11:42 am I haven't seen the movie yet (so far they are only showing it in dubbed version here), but it makes me sad that it is a science fiction movie. First Lightyear, and now this. Both a sci-fi and didn't do well at the box office. Disney is probably concluding that people don't want animated science fiction (and remember Treasure Planet?).
Yeah, it's a shame it's yet another sci-fi family film that bombs. Families might really not like this type of movies, though, judging by how many have underperformed. Apart from these two recent ones and Atlantis and Treasure Planet, there are also other animated films like Titan A.E. or Mars Need Moms, and live-action family ones like John Carter or Tomorrowland.
Jäger-Rose wrote: Sun Nov 27, 2022 12:01 pm Not sure how to embed a video (or if I even can haha) so here's the YouTube link lol
Hope you like it!! :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDdPbX_Ax_k
It was a very interesting interview. Thanks for sharing! And how cool that you got to attend the premiere! I'm so jealous!
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Re: Strange World

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D82 wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 10:43 pmYeah, it's a shame it's yet another sci-fi family film that bombs. Families might really not like this type of movies, though, judging by how many have underperformed. Apart from these two recent ones and Atlantis and Treasure Planet, there are also other animated films like Titan A.E. or Mars Need Moms, and live-action family ones like John Carter or Tomorrowland.
There is still one sci-fi movie waiting to be released: Elio. It it flops, we will probably not see much sci-fi from Disney or Pixar in a long time. The most successful sci-fi from Disney is still Lilo and Stitch.
As mentioned elsewhere; the problem with at least half of the sci-fi flops is the marketing.
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Re: Strange World

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Rumpelstiltskin wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 6:30 pm There is still one sci-fi movie waiting to be released: Elio. It it flops, we will probably not see much sci-fi from Disney or Pixar in a long time. The most successful sci-fi from Disney is still Lilo and Stitch.
As mentioned elsewhere; the problem with at least half of the sci-fi flops is the marketing.
It's true, we still have Elio. Lilo and Stitch takes place mainly on Earth, so it doesn't feel as sci-fi as other movies of the same genre; perhaps that's why it was more successful. Although WALL·E does and did well too, so maybe you're right that with the right marketing they can be successful.
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Re: Strange World

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Randy Haycock did draw-overs for this film.
Adds Head of Animation Amy Smeed, “It was awesome having [Disney veteran] Randy Haycock on this film. The general way it worked was somebody would come up with an idea and do a blocking pass in CG. They'd show it to the directors, who would give whatever thoughts they had. If Justin and I had a thought, we would chime in, and then they would go to Randy and say, ‘Okay, this is what I'm working on. Where do you think I could plus this?’ And then Randy would do draw overs. Sometimes it might be something simple like, ‘Oh, I think this facial expression could be pushed a little bit more asymmetrically,’ or ‘This could be a stronger silhouette if the elbow was out,’ or whatever it was. I feel like it really plussed our posing throughout the film.”
Source: https://www.awn.com/animationworld/behi ... ange-world
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Re: Strange World

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Sotiris wrote: Fri Dec 09, 2022 2:25 am Randy Haycock did draw-overs for this film.
I'm glad they still do that. I'm sure it makes a difference.
Farerb wrote: Mon Oct 31, 2022 8:04 am They claim that they took inspiration from the WWII era films, personally I don't see it:
Hall and his team also looked to the post WWII era Disney animation for ideas for character design — the look of characters in classics like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Johnny Appleseed figured prominently during development. These 2D inspirations proved a serious challenge for the CG computer systems used by the animation team.
Source:
‘Strange World’: Don Hall and His Disney Team Explore Family Dynamics in Unchartered Territories
https://www.animationmagazine.net/2022/ ... ic-voyage/
I don't see it either. I think what actually happened is most likely that they wanted to have those Tintin, Once Upon a Time... Life, etc. inspirations and they searched for similar styles in Disney films to have an excuse to use them. I don't mind them taking inspiration from these properties, but I think they weren't too successful at blending them with the Disney style. Plus, the combination of very caricatured characters and subtle expressions was a bit weird sometimes, especially in close-ups. Pixar and other studios also have very caricatured characters and subtle animation, but for some reason, I don't remember having that thought watching other movies.

Something positive I can say, though, is that the visual style looked more unified than it seemed at first. If it was a Sony film, for example, I would've thought it looked fine.
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Re: Strange World

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D82 wrote: Fri Dec 09, 2022 7:44 pmI don't see it either. I think what actually happened is most likely that they wanted to have those Tintin, Once Upon a Time... Life, etc. inspirations and they searched for similar styles in Disney films to have an excuse to use them. I don't mind them taking inspiration from these properties, but I think they weren't too successful at blending them with the Disney style. Plus, the combination of very caricatured characters and subtle expressions was a bit weird sometimes, especially in close-ups.
That's a good theory. The Strange World characters look nothing like the characters from Disney's late '40s shorts. And I agree about the animation and how it didn't mesh well with the designs.
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Re: Strange World

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Third weekend box office update.
Strange World Dis 3,560 (-614) theaters, Fri $787K (-28%) Sat $1.8M Sun $1M 3-day $3.6M (-29%)Total $30.4M /Wk 3
Source: https://deadline.com/2022/12/box-office ... 235195382/
Strange World (DIS): $3.7M intl weekend (43 markets); $23M intl cume/$53.5M global
Source: https://deadline.com/2022/12/black-pant ... 235195914/
A pair of Thanksgiving box office busts are in the remainder of the top 5 with Disney’s “Strange World” making just $3.6 million in its third weekend, bringing the $120 million-plus budgeted animated film to a meager total of $30.5 million domestic and $53.5 million worldwide.
Source: https://www.thewrap.com/black-panther-4 ... ce-avatar/
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Re: Strange World

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