To hear Chuck Viane, the president of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, tell the story … Well, Walt Disney Studios was absolutely thrilled with the way that “Cars” performed this past weekend. With this Pixar Animation film pulling in $33.7 at the box office during its second weekend in domestic release.
“I guess the family audience picked their favorite,” Chuck explained, “And (they) decided that (‘Cars’) is what it was going to be.”
Well, if that was really the case … Then it took the family audience an awful long time to decide which film was actually going to be its favorite this past weekend. For – on Friday – both “Nacho Libre” & “The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift” actually did better at the box office than “Cars” did. With Jack Black‘s new comedy earning $10.8 million that day, while Pixar’s latest release (Which earned $9.2 million on that same date) was edged out by “Tokyo Drift” (Which sold $9.7 million of tickets on Friday).
If it weren’t for $12.9 million that “Cars” pulled in on Saturday (Besting “Nacho Libre” ‘s $9.2 million Saturday take by $3.7 million) as well as the $11.6 million worth of tickets that this Pixar film sold on Sunday (Outdoing the $8.2 million that this Nickelodeon Movies production earned) … Pixar’s $120 million ode to the open road would have found itself in the embarrassing position of being out-grossed by a $35 million live action comedy about Mexican wrestling.
Disney did its damnest to distract the press from “Cars” somewhat disappointing performance this past weekend. Doing things like talking up the fact that – when domestic ticket sales for this new John Lasseter film broke through the $100 million barrier this past Saturday – “Cars” officially became the 50th Disney film to break through the blockbuster barrier. Which is supposedly the highest number of blockbusters that any single studio has ever produced.
And then there was the fact that “Cars” did eventually come out on top in this past weekend’s box office derby (Besting the $28.3 million that “Nacho Libre” pulled in by only $5.4 million). So that did give the Mouse some additional bragging rights.
But the fact of the matter is … Many people in Burbank are really rather depressed at the way that “Cars” has been performing lately. As one studio insider told me just yesterday:
“We had originally expected that ‘Cars’ would only start to fade once Adam Sandler’s new comedy (‘Click’) opened in theaters this coming Friday. That teens & young adults would favor that film over ours. But that was okay because we’d still pretty much have the family audience all to ourselves ’til ‘Superman Returns‘ opened five days later.
But to have ticket sales fall off by 43% in our second weekend and to almost lose the top spot to a Jack Black wrestling comedy … Nobody here ever saw that coming.
This was a film that was initially projected to do over $300 million domestic. Last week, that number got pushed back to $250 million. Today, I’ve got people asking me if I think ‘Cars’ is actually going to be able to make it to $200 million domestic. And – to be honest – right now, I don’t know.
I’m hoping that ‘Cars’ can pull in another $50 – $60 million by next Wednesday. But after ‘Superman Returns’ opens, we’re officially toast. With ‘Dead Man’s Chest‘ opening 9 days after that, there’s no way that ‘Cars’ is going to do any significant repeat business this summer. This time around, the competition is just too strong.”
If there is an upside to the “Cars” situation, it’s that – while audiences may not be all that enthusiastic about John Lasseter’s latest film – that hasn’t actually stopped them from snatching up products that were obviously inspired by this new Pixar release.
Copyright 2006 Disney/Pixar
According to my sources, retailers around the country are reporting a run on “Cars” – related books and toys (You’ll find photos of some of the more popular items used to help illustrate today’s article).
In Walmart‘s case, many of the stores in that retail chain are now supposedly reporting that they’ve sold through their entire original shipment of “Cars” toys. And so – until the next shipment gets there … Well, these Walmarts are filling the shelves that these toys used to occupy with special “Cars” -themed boxes of Kleenex. And even the “Cars” Kleenex seems to be selling extremely well.
Photo by Nancy Stadler
Of course, when I hear news like that, I can’t help but think that Michael Eisner was right.
“What do I mean by that?,” you ask. Well, how many of you recall how — back in 2000 — Disney’s former CEO was supposedly given a choice of future projects from Pixar. Michael had to chose what that studio’s seventh & then-final film (From Disney’s co-production deal with that animation studio) would be. And Eisner’s choices were “Toy Story III” or “Cars.”
Well, in the end, Uncle Michael eventually opted to go with “Cars” because A) By producing “Cars,” Pixar would be adding a whole new set of characters to Disney’s pre-existing stable of characters and B) Eisner thought that a line of toys that were based on “Cars” would turn out to be a big seller.
Well, Eisner was at least right about the “Cars” line of toys being popular. It’s just too bad that he couldn’t have seen that audiences wouldn’t turn out to be as enthusiastic about this new John Lasseter film as they were about Pixar’s previous pictures.
“So what will Pixar now do in an effort to recover from this box office stumble?,” you query. Well … To be honest, given that this film is still projected to possibly earn as much as $200 million during its initial domestic release … It’s really hard for me to classify “Cars” as a failure. A disappointment? Perhaps. But “Cars” is certainly not a failure.
But – that said – when you take into consideration that this Pixar production reportedly cost $120 million to produce and that the Walt Disney Company has supposedly spent upwards of $50 – $60 million in order to properly promote this new motion picture … Well, this John Lasseter film has yet to even recover its initial marketing & production costs. Which is why the sales of “Cars” -related toys & this film’s overseas ticket sales now become doubly important.
Copyright 2006 Disney/Pixar
In the short term, this increases the box office pressure on “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.” Now this Gore Verbinski film just has to be a smash hit in order to make up for “Cars” somewhat lackluster performance.
In the long run … Well, this may mean that the folks up at Pixar – in order to make it up to Disney Company management (Who – after all – just laid out $7.4 billion for Pixar Animation Studios. Based – in large part – on Pixar’s ability to consistently crank out hit after hit after hit …) – might then be compelled to put a sure-fire sequel on that studio’s development fast track.
“A sure-fire sequel?!,” you sputter. “Which film is Pixar supposedly considered producing a sure-fire sequel of?” Well, as you know, development of “Toy Story III” (Both the Disney-produced / Circle Seven version as well as the official Pixar version) has been halted. At least for the time being.
Whereas “Monsters, Inc. II” … Well, Pixar recruiters (Who have been touring college campuses this past year, attempting to get the next generation of computer geniuses to come work in Emeryville) have reportedly been talking up Pete Docter‘s next project. Which supposedly prominently features monsters.
So could Pete’s next project actually be a follow-up to Docter’s 2001 smash, “Monsters, Inc.”? Only the folks in Emeryville know for sure. And – as of right now – they ain’t talking.
But – that said – it certainly probably would make Bob Iger feel better (Given that he’s the guy who will soon start feeling the heat for all that “Disney paid too much for Pixar” grumbling that you already hear coming from certain circles within the investment community) if he knew that he had a sequel to a previous Pixar smash already making its way through the production pipeline.
But – for now – all eyes are on “Cars.” As the folks at Disney try to get a handle on how high (Or – more importantly – how low) the domestic take of this computer animated feature is going to be.
How about you folks? At what box office figure do you think this new John Lasseter film is finally going to run out of gas?
Your thoughts