The third Monday in February every year is President's Day, a legal holiday in the United States. With the three-day long holiday and the previous Valentine's Day, this past weekend should have been an important timetable for the North American film market this spring. However, this year's schedule still continues the decadence since the beginning of 2024, with a total box office of only about US$77 million over the three-day weekend. Compared with the same period last year, the data dropped by a full 47%, which is really shocking; if inflation is taken into account, the President's Day holiday schedule in 2024 will probably be the worst since box office data are available.
"Mrs. Spider" failed both at the box office and in word-of-mouth
There are two new films scheduled for Valentine's Day this year, namely "Bob Marley: A Love", a biopic of reggae legend Bob Marley ( bob marley: one love), and the superhero movie "Mrs. Spider: Super Sense Awakening " (madame web) derived from the Spider-Man universe. The result is that the former performed better.
Stills from "Bob Marley: A Love"
The music biopic "Bob Marley: A Love" produced by Paramount will be released in 3,539 theaters starting from Valentine's Day. If calculated based on a three-day weekend, It earned a total of US$27.7 million at the box office, ranking first on the weekend box office list. The total North American box office after five days of release has now exceeded 50 million US dollars. It has the opportunity to become the first North American film with a total box office of more than 100 million US dollars in 2024, and its production cost is 70 million US dollars.
The film is directed by Reynaldo Marcus Green, who filmed "King Richard", and focuses on the wonderful story of the short life of Bob Marley, the originator of reggae music. Currently, the film only has a 43% freshness rating on the film review website "Rotten Tomatoes", compared to the 90% freshness rating of "King Richard" and the Elton John music biopic "Rocket", also produced by Paramount. The 89% freshness of "People" is really different. However, the middle-aged and elderly audiences, as well as the African-American and Hispanic audience markets that the film mainly targets, all responded enthusiastically to "Bob Marley: A Love".
"Mrs. Spider" stills
In contrast, the situation of the superhero movie "Mrs. Spider" from Sony Pictures is much worse. The film was released in 4,013 theaters in North America during the same period. Based on the three-day weekend, the film only earned US$15.15 million at the box office, which is slightly more than half of "Bob Marley: A Love" and ranked second on the weekend box office list. Five days after its release, the film's total North American box office was only 25.8 million US dollars, only half of "Bob Marley: A Love". Moreover, this is after "Mrs. Spider" has occupied all IMAX theaters in North America and gained the advantage of high ticket prices.
Judging from the previous promotional materials, Sony is focusing on the horror elements this time, rather than its connection with the Spider-Man movie universe. It is said that this is mainly because the reputation of superhero movies has plummeted. Especially after the box office failure of "Captain Marvel 2", the industry is worried that similar movies with female leads will no longer arouse the interest of the audience, so Sony simply will not stop this time. Emphasize the relationship between the film and the "Spider-Man" series, and instead promote its own plot with its ups and downs. Starring Dakota Johnson also repeatedly emphasized when promoting the TV show: "You don't need to know any previous information or background at all to watch this movie directly."
"Mrs. Spider" is fresh on "Rotten Tomatoes" The popularity is only 13%
. However, the media obviously does not agree with this. "Rolling Stone" magazine's film review called the film "a true Chernobyl-level catastrophe"; "Variety" called it "an empty "Spider-Man" spin-off". Overall, the film currently has only a 13% freshness rating on the film review website "Rotten Tomatoes" and a failing popcorn index of 55%. With such a bad reputation, there is no chance for this film with a production cost of US$80 million to turn defeat into a victory in the subsequent box office.
Seven weekends have passed so far in 2024, and only one of them has a total North American box office of more than $100 million; during the same period last year, three weekends reached this threshold. Going back to the beginning of 2020, just before the epidemic, there were five weekends with a total box office exceeding US$100 million.As for 2019, there were six weekends with box office sales exceeding $100 million at the beginning of the year.
According to earlier predictions by British data analysis company Gower Street, the total box office in North America in 2024 will drop by 10% compared with 2023. Looking at the beginning of the year so far, the North American box office has dropped by about 15% compared with the same period last year. This extra 5 percentage points will have to be recovered in the next ten or so months. The overall situation is quite tight.
Popcorn buckets become a powerful revenue tool for theaters
Movies are not attractive and the audience is not large enough. In order to survive, theaters have to fend for themselves. Recently, many theaters in North America have launched a variety of expensive movie-themed popcorn containers. Because of their special designs and limited supply, and fueled by social media, they have also created many gimmicks, bringing additional revenue to the theaters. revenue.
Not long ago, "Deadpool" star Ryan Reynolds hurriedly appeared again after the first trailer of "Deadpool & Wolverine" was released during the halftime break of the "Super Bowl" He posted a supplementary message on his personal social media account - "Wait to see our Deadpool's popcorn bucket." He, who actively devotes himself to social media surfing life, is undoubtedly responding to the enthusiastic response of the majority of netizens to the sandworm popcorn container recently launched in " Dune 2".
"Dune 2" sandworm-shaped popcorn bucket
In addition to making theaters and manufacturers make money, the Hollywood movie manufacturers who sell IP to them can also get an extra income. From a business perspective, it is indeed a good thing that benefits many companies. It is said that this kind of popcorn container specially designed for a certain movie was first born in 2019, when North America's largest theater chain AMC and Disney reached a cooperation intention to cooperate with the release of "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker". An R2-D2 robot-shaped popcorn bucket sold out quickly, even though it sold for $49.99. Later, other companies followed suit, and a new industry chain was formed.
The popcorn bucket in the shape of the robot R2-D2 in " Star Wars "
Currently, when searching for the above-mentioned R2-D2 popcorn bucket on second-hand websites in the United States, the price is generally more than 80 US dollars. This kind of resale profit margin also allows such products to have no worries about sales once they are launched. Last summer, in conjunction with the release of "Barbie", AMC Theaters launched a pink sports car-style popcorn container. 25,000 units were sold out in the first weekend after the film opened, multiplying by its unit price of US$34.99. , meaning that theaters can earn an additional $875,000 in revenue.
Pink sports car style popcorn container launched in conjunction with the release of "Barbie"
Moreover, many of these derivative products are not sold alone, and you must first buy a movie ticket for the relevant movie before you can purchase additional items. Don’t underestimate the appeal of this kind of marketing strategy. According to a North American market research agency, when the new version of "Mean Girls" was released earlier this year, 15% of the audience said that the reason for buying tickets was because of the enemy. But those colorful derivative products are attractive.
"Mean Girl" spin-off
