Superman Returns There's trouble in River City friends with SR's poor BO and so-so DVD sales

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I may be mistaken but I think the 6.8 million for BB is for 2005. The end of year numbers are always ranked. I am not aware that they come out with number say through February or March the following year as there really is no final number for a DVD. BB sold well during X-Mas season this year especially with the HD version so the 6.8 million is probably a good bit over 7 million now.

But even if we assume it was 6.1 million through December 05 and then went on to sell another 700,000 - by what date I don't know as that number does not include XMAS 2006 sales or probably anything past March of 2006 as I know I saw the 6.8 million number in early 2006 - then we extrapolate to SR. Around 5.1 million through 2006 and another 11% would bring it just show of 5.8 million for the "final" numer as you referenced the BB 6.8 million figure. That assumption of another 11% for SR is probably over-stated as SR underperformed BB in the DVD market generally.

Well what you seem to be forgetting is that in 2005 BB was released at the end of October, in 2006 SR wasnt released until the beginning of December, so of course SR's end of year numbers will be different.

 

[KaptainKrypton]

That is true. Until SR you hardly saw Superman toys at Toys R Us and such. it was Spiderman, Batman and X-Men.

WB mis-calculated the popularity of Superman though they should have known better. Any Superman fan could have sadly told them that Superman is not a top seller anymore.

That is why WB has to go back to square one and re-evaluate all of this. They are sort of already - Spiderman 3 has a 300 million, up to anyway, budget while a potential SR sequel will be 145 - 175 million. That is a world of difference. Especially when Raimi spends money prudently unlike Singer did in SR. The BB sequel will also have a bigger budget. So Superman is defacto already being relegated by the studio itself to the second tier of comic genre films in terms of resources it will commit.

Given how poorly Singer used his 223 million in SR FX I see no way we would get knock your socks off FX with a 145 - 175 million sequel. You can't get there from here.

Whoa, there turbo, hold on. WB did miscalculate the popularity of Superman. What they shouldn't have done was stick Superman in a sandwich between two sequel juggernauts that already had majorly built-in audiences, but should've instead waited for this last fall when the pickings were a lot slimmer. Not saying anything as for the quality of the movie, which had nothing to do with my original point, but if they're trying to market something that is pretty much unproven since 1980, then they should've been more strategic about it. I was one of the ones who sadly banked on the name recognition alone, but that was just me being a wishful thinker. I've heard mixed reviews from people in my family and some of my friends and co-workers, but given the viewing habits of some of them I take their opinions (whether for or against the film) with a grain of salt. I liked it, and the critics liked it for the most part. I'm getting a sequel. That's what I care about most, so all the other "box office doomsday" stuff is moot at this point for me, which is why I haven't spent much time around here as of late discussing nothing and getting nowhere with it. I can't wait till the sequel info starts to leak...then I can start irritating the holy hell out of my wife again! YESSS!

 

[ultimatefan]

But the fact it sold 1 million + less and significantly less in rentals too when BB is supposed to be this dark character which does not appeal a broadly as Superman or Spiderman is not good. The numbers sure aren't bad but they aren't good either - down the middle. That will be a factor in what WB ultimately decides. Like I said, I suspect the signing of Singer to write a potential sequel had as much as anything to do with boosting DVD sales.

That signing occurred under odd circumstances - the weekend it hit 200 million - but look at how if fell off the next week (go to BOM) as in an 80% drop in daily take. I find that odd if not outright suspicious.

The deal was signed based on the 200m number. According to Variety, 200m domestically was the WB goal that would ensure a sequel. The studio then dropped the movie from theaters cuz they reached the goal. Studios don´t sign with directors to boost DVD sales, most people don´t follow those showbiz news the way we geeks and movie buffs do. The decision was made. Signing a deal is, pardon the pun, a big deal. A studio only does that if it has a definite interest in making the movie. of course it doesn´t always mean they´ll approve the script and greenlight the production - that is, shooting the movie. But given it´s the same team that made SR, the studio certainly knows at this point what´s the basic storyline, knows the style the team gave to the franchise, it´s highly unlikely that they won´t move forward.

 

[dark_b]

Whoa, there turbo, hold on. WB did miscalculate the popularity of Superman. What they shouldn't have done was stick Superman in a sandwich between two sequel juggernauts that already had majorly built-in audiences, but should've instead waited for this last fall when the pickings were a lot slimmer. Not saying anything as for the quality of the movie, which had nothing to do with my original point, but if they're trying to market something that is pretty much unproven since 1980, then they should've been more strategic about it. I was one of the ones who sadly banked on the name recognition alone, but that was just me being a wishful thinker. I've heard mixed reviews from people in my family and some of my friends and co-workers, but given the viewing habits of some of them I take their opinions (whether for or against the film) with a grain of salt. I liked it, and the critics liked it for the most part. I'm getting a sequel. That's what I care about most, so all the other "box office doomsday" stuff is moot at this point for me, which is why I haven't spent much time around here as of late discussing nothing and getting nowhere with it. I can't wait till the sequel info starts to leak...then I can start irritating the holy hell out of my wife again! YESSS!

i agree. but i really thought that the name superman willl sell itself. i guess people still talk before they go watch a movie.

 

[Super Kal]

and yet, they tried that, and it took a good , what, 2 months to pull in enough to get 200 mill domestic?... they shouldn't rely on word alone. That doesn't work anymore

 

[KaptainKrypton]

^Definitely. Word of mouth can't really do much for anything with regards to movies and BO these days. Unless a film comes out guns-a-blazin' and draws people in from the first teaser, or unless it has a bona fide hit property, then it just doesn't cut the mustard anymore. I still remember a time when there was only one or two of these types of event movies per summer that were fantasy based. Now, you're lucky if you don't make it through the summer without seeing no less than four or five FX-laden films. My the times have changed. I hope WB digs their heads out of their butts and realizes that Superman had his best success in the winter back in 1978 and it wouldn't be too hasty to say that they should get him firing on all cylinders in that spot before parading him out in the summertime to get slaughtered again by more proven commodities. These days, strategic marketing and proper theatrical run placement (in terms of the schedule) is what does it. That's why I still say Fox (although dumb in my eyes for making a lousy 3rd X-film) was smart to stake out the first slot in May. They grabbed the early summer box office audience because no one had even bothered to watch many movies before X3's release. By the time SR hit theaters, most people were obviously thinking: Why go watch Superman, when Jack Sparrow is gonna be on like next week?

 

[explode7]

Its too late for WB to jump ship they should have done that when singer gave them the proposal to do a S film in the first place.