About the box office performance

[TheGOAT 64]

I keep hearing about that it's going to be a flop and all, but I don't see how that notion adds up if Hasbro makes this film correctly.

Now will it be a billion dollar blockbuster? Haha no. You have to be Disney in order for that to happen. 

But nostalgia sells, especially in the form of animation/family movies. Even if the fandom is not what it once was, an actual My Little PONY (emphasis on "pony", as in "not humans" and "enough time for proper storytelling") Movie will get the attention of those who want to see MLP back at its roots, in addition to the large audience it already has. Not to mention that parents will take kids to take any animated film and MLP is the only one in almost two months. 

I mean the freaking Smurfs making $500 million in 2011 and Trolls making almost $400 million has to count for something, right?

Also as for the backlash I don't think the same 25-30 trolls commenting "cancer" and "autism" and "f*ck Bronies" on YouTube counts as real hate, as most of them are from 12-15 year olds who have nothing better to do. 

So really I see $200 million worldwide at the worst (if the film gets terrible reviews and botches the marketing) and $500-575 million at the best (if everything goes according to plan).

Just my $.02. 

[Richardb 28]

I'm trying my best to avoid it actually. 

[K.Rool Addict 718]

I think it's pretty likely that the MLP Movie will be a financial flop, to be honest. This doesn't necessarily mean it will be "bad" but I don't think it will be as successful as others (such as OP) speculate.

It would be cool if it was a GOOD movie and got made alot of money though, because that would pretty much guarantee another GOOD sequel. In other words, I don't want it to be a shitty movie and do well, or else that will only facilitate laziness on the devs' part. I also don't want the movie to be awesome and not make them any money, because we likely wont see a sequel in that case. -.-

[Prospekt 11,018]

I can't see it being critically acclaimed, but I'm not going to let that turn me away. I won't approach the movie any differently, I'm going to watch it through the lens of a current fan of G4, not a child of the 80s who watched G1 and is seeing it purely out of nostalgia.

[TheGOAT 64]

And the pessimism has already begun 

[Glencoco 15]

I think it's going to have a good chance at the box office, the only movie coming out during the MLP movie is blade runner 2049, kingsman was moved to September so they have less cometition to worry about.

[TheGOAT 64]

1 hour ago, Glencoco said:

I think it's going to have a good chance at the box office, the only movie coming out during the MLP movie is blade runner 2049, kingsman was moved to September so they have less cometition to worry about.

Also there are no kids movies from October 6 until mid-November, so it should have very good legs.

[cmarston1 5,959]

I think it's too early for us to care about things such as how it does at the box office.

[Halberd 88]

It's a little early to tell, but I'm expecting a modest production budget for this. Perhaps $20-$30 million. The marketing budget will probably be around $10-$20 million. At the worst, I would expect Blair Witch numbers ($40-$45 million worldwide final gross). But because this is a movie for a franchise based on toys, I believe the merchandise sales will be of more interest to Lionsgate and Hasbro.

There's also no telling what deals could be reached from partnerships with companies (McDonald's, Red Robin, etc.). Sometimes these deals include money packages that help with marketing costs. We probably won't know about these deals, but they do happen.

I'm just not sure how significant its international presence will be, because a film can have a strong domestic number and completely bomb overseas. Not to mention, it's going up against Blade Runner 2049, which could take some interest away from it.

Still too early to make an accurate guess, though. It's less than six months away.

Edited April 27, 2017 by Halberd

[TheGOAT 64]

6 hours ago, Halberd said:

It's a little early to tell, but I'm expecting a modest production budget for this. Perhaps $20-$30 million. The marketing budget will probably be around $10-$20 million. At the worst, I would expect Blair Witch numbers ($40-$45 million worldwide final gross). But because this is a movie for a franchise based on toys, I believe the merchandise sales will be of more interest to Lionsgate and Hasbro.

There's also no telling what deals could be reached from partnerships with companies (McDonald's, Red Robin, etc.). Sometimes these deals include money packages that help with marketing costs. We probably won't know about these deals, but they do happen.

I'm just not sure how significant its international presence will be, because a film can have a strong domestic number and completely bomb overseas. Not to mention, it's going up against Blade Runner 2049, which could take some interest away from it.

Still too early to make an accurate guess, though. It's less than six months away.

Blade Runner is not competing against MLP. Two completely different types of films.

[Glencoco 15]

3 hours ago, TheGOAT said:

Blade Runner is not competing against MLP. Two completely different types of films.

Actually it's still a competition on who gets the most money opening weekend, like when Lego Batman went up against John Wick 2 and 50 shades 2, the competition isn't about which movie was best it was about which made the most cash, same thing will happen to the mlp movie, it will compete against blade runner for top box office.

[Halberd 88]

14 hours ago, Glencoco said:

Actually it's still a competition on who gets the most money opening weekend, like when Lego Batman went up against John Wick 2 and 50 shades 2, the competition isn't about which movie was best it was about which made the most cash, same thing will happen to the mlp movie, it will compete against blade runner for top box office.

Yeah, that's what I meant by that. I know the two will attract very different audiences, but the one that will be looked at more is Blade Runner 2049.

Ultimately, subsequent box office returns will come down to word of mouth. It almost always does.

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

15 hours ago, Glencoco said:

Actually it's still a competition on who gets the most money opening weekend, like when Lego Batman went up against John Wick 2 and 50 shades 2, the competition isn't about which movie was best it was about which made the most cash, same thing will happen to the mlp movie, it will compete against blade runner for top box office.

The only people who should care about that are in the studios. All you should care about is whether it does well and whether it is any good. Blade Runner is not in any competition with it as far as films go period. The people dying to see Blade Runner most likely could not care less about MLP, and the People dying to see MLP don't care about Blade Runner. For those who want to see both, they will do so. It is not like we live in an age where you are only allowed to watch one movie a year. And being that they are utterly different genres, I can't see someone standing at the ticket booth racking their brain over which one to see with their 10 dollars. It would be different if it was MLP vs. a Disney flick or something. Like I said, if they are interested they will probably see both. Heck they would do that even if it was a Disney flick competing.

 

As for numbers, even a bad film does a lot of money these days, so I expect with the mixture or bronies & fans, nostalgia seekers, kids and their parents and other assorted curious visitors.. it will do a decent amount. I don't think it will break any records, but I think Hasbro will be happy with it. And since the toys are the big deal for them, they will be laughing all the way to the bank if they promote it right.

[IronCaptain19 15]

I'm pretty sure they would make a good profit, there is a broader audience in the theaters. It may not be like Frozen or Zootopia kinds of success but it should be fine. And with its distribution from Lionsgate it definitely will reach more people.

[Jangocoolguy 433]

Here we go again...

I won't break any records, but I expect it to make enough to earn back its budget and possibly spawn a sequel (even if it's released directly on home media)

[LugiaFan249 46]

I hope to see some fellow bronies in the theater when it is released.

[IronCaptain19 15]

3 hours ago, LugiaFan249 said:

I hope to see some fellow bronies in the theater when it is released.

If you go within a few days of release and see it in a popular theater then you most likely will.

[LugiaFan249 46]

50 minutes ago, IronCaptain19 said:

If you go within a few days of release and see it in a popular theater then you most likely will.

Yeah, hopefully there's other bronies where I live.

[immblueversion 331]

I'm not expecting it to bomb or anything, but with the release of the new Blade Runner movie on the same day, it could probably be a box office disappointment: making back its budget, but not greatly. The teaser certainly didn't get a whole lot of views or good buzz, but hopefully this will change with the first full trailer. I'd still rather see this over Blade Runner, though. I know how great the first movie is, but I was never particularly attached to it, and Star Wars gave me my fix of Harrison Ford playing an older Harrison Ford character.

On the upside, good thing Thor: Ragnarok got pushed back to November, or else MLP never would've stood a chance.

Edited May 1, 2017 by Zeek

[Halberd 88]

On 4/30/2017 at 11:28 PM, Zeek said:

I'm not expecting it to bomb or anything, but with the release of the new Blade Runner movie on the same day, it could probably be a box office disappointment: making back its budget, but not greatly. The teaser certainly didn't get a whole lot of views or good buzz, but hopefully this will change with the first full trailer. I'd still rather see this over Blade Runner, though. I know how great the first movie is, but I was never particularly attached to it, and Star Wars gave me my fix of Harrison Ford playing an older Harrison Ford character.

On the upside, good thing Thor: Ragnarok got pushed back to November, or else MLP never would've stood a chance.

I mean, I'm not worried about MLP. This movie doesn't have to be a success to keep the show going. Merchandise sales are what Hasbro ultimately cares about, and that's why this film is being made anyway.

Any problems I foresee with this film will probably happen because of Lionsgate, who has majorly screwed up marketing with certain films. I thought they were going to do it with Power Rangers, but they managed to avoid mis-marketing it (granted, it's tanking because the film has very limited or no appeal in international markets). The good thing is that this movie is unlike any other during the month of October. It's something for kids. The rest are prestige films for older audiences and horror films. This is probably the best spot that it could have at this point in time.

Edited May 2, 2017 by Halberd

[SONICchaos 824]

On 4/25/2017 at 6:51 PM, K.Rool Addict said:

I think it's pretty likely that the MLP Movie will be a financial flop, to be honest. This doesn't necessarily mean it will be "bad" but I don't think it will be as successful as others (such as OP) speculate.

It would be cool if it was a GOOD movie and got made alot of money though, because that would pretty much guarantee another GOOD sequel. In other words, I don't want it to be a shitty movie and do well, or else that will only facilitate laziness on the devs' part. I also don't want the movie to be awesome and not make them any money, because we likely wont see a sequel in that case. -.-

I pretty much agree with you here.

I think its pretty late in the game to make the official canon MLP movie for the fans. The show is already 7 years old and a large amount of the original bronys have already left this fandom for others. Being a brony used to be a sort of "in" thing but now has dated and become fringe with the obvious drama, cringe and passage of time. Even if this was released in the first 3 years I doubt it would have garnered much of a profit but at this point only the hardcore are still in it and while I suspect alot of them will still see it many others dont have the heart or interest in it anymore to buy the poni experience

I just dont see enough people bothering to watch it in theaters at this point. Too late in the game like when they released the Double Dragon movie 7 years after the release of the game

[TheGOAT 64]

1 minute ago, SONICchaos said:

I pretty much agree with you here.

I think its pretty late in the game to make the official canon MLP movie for the fans. The show is already 7 years old and a large amount of the original bronys have already left this fandom for others. Being a brony used to be a sort of "in" thing but now has dated and become fringe with the obvious drama, cringe and passage of time. Even if this was released in the first 3 years I doubt it would have garnered much of a profit but at this point only the hardcore are still in it and while I suspect alot of them will still see it many others dont have the heart or interest in it anymore to buy the poni experience

I just dont see enough people bothering to watch it in theaters at this point. Too late in the game like when they released the Double Dragon movie 7 years after the release of the game

Do you have backup to this claim? Because I have evidence against this.

[K.Rool Addict 718]

6 hours ago, TheGOAT said:

Do you have backup to this claim? Because I have evidence against this.

He's talking about when Youtube channels like Machinima were covering pony stuff along with their CoD Black Ops Zombie videos, for example. There was a time when being a brony was considered "cool/ edgy" by the mainstream crowd. It was novel at the time and you had countless dudes in their late teens donning ponies as a badge of hipster cred.

Season 2 was clearly targeting these individuals which is why I think it turned out so bad (imo ofc). All aspects of the show have improved since then with the exception of Pinkie's flanderization. It is very uplifting to see the guys at Studio B/ DHX learning from their mistakes =^-^=

But yes, the fandom is definitely not as large as it once was. Is this a bad thing? No fucking way!

Edited May 9, 2017 by K.Rool Addict

[Ganondorf8 11,307]

If Hasbro invested a lot of time and effort into this movie, then they expect it to rake in a good amount at the box office otherwise they would write it off as a financial loss. If that were to happen, they would feel less inclines about wanting to produce further MLP related movies for cinemas and instead stick with straight-to-DVD releases. If they didn't put much effort into it--highly unlikely since they brought in celebrity voice talent--then Hasbro doesn't have much confidence in it.

[TheGOAT 64]

10 hours ago, K.Rool Addict said:

He's talking about when Youtube channels like Machinima were covering pony stuff along with their CoD Black Ops Zombie videos, for example. There was a time when being a brony was considered "cool/ edgy" by the mainstream crowd. It was novel at the time and you had countless dudes in their late teens donning ponies as a badge of hipster cred.

Season 2 was clearly targeting these individuals which is why I think it turned out so bad (imo ofc). All aspects of the show have improved since then with the exception of Pinkie's flanderization. It is very uplifting to see the guys at Studio B/ DHX learning from their mistakes =^-^=

But yes, the fandom is definitely not as large as it once was. Is this a bad thing? No fucking way!

He's whining that nobody likes MLP anymore and everything is cringe and more fear mongering crap like that, not that it's not as big as before.