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| re: Forbes.com on Friday Box Office: 'Dear Evan Hansen' Plunges 78% | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 08:52 am EDT 10/03/21 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 08:51 am EDT 10/03/21 | |
| In reply to: Forbes.com on Friday Box Office: 'Dear Evan Hansen' Plunges 78% - WaymanWong 11:10 pm EDT 10/02/21 | |
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| Last weekend, a handful of industry watchers did seem to think the Showman model will still apply, using the exit interview-esque scores from happy attendees. But the small number of devotees didn't translate into a rebuttal to the critics. And I'm guessing that word of mouth isn't a factor here. The film seems branded as a loser, admittedly one forecast by some after the trailer (unfair at that stage, in my opinion; it made me want to see it). I went last Saturday, a gorgeous day in the NE, and sat in a big cinema among a crowd of eleven. It was parents and older teens. I still hold that the film's marketing seemed to be unsure of it target audience: Evan's generation? Ben's? Or adults? It doesn't interest most 16-30 year olds, to push the actor-character demos together, though the fan base for B'way is often that group. I also believe a backlash will give the film a cult-like status, once everyone can watch it at home via streaming. A failed B'way musical translation begs for cult status, and this one seems earmarked. I can say, a week later, I'm still shocked by the film's failure. I believed it was critics-proof (a naive take, admittedly), that a thirst for a hit B'way score played in a movie theater would send pandemic-weary folks out in droves, if not at smash b.o. levels. This movie is a strange miscalculation, on several levels: creative, timing, marketing. No easy answers. | |
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| re: Forbes.com on Friday Box Office: 'Dear Evan Hansen' Plunges 78% | |
| Posted by: mikem 12:39 pm EDT 10/03/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Forbes.com on Friday Box Office: 'Dear Evan Hansen' Plunges 78% - Delvino 08:51 am EDT 10/03/21 | |
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| I agree that one of the fundamental problems that this film had is: who is its target audience? When a film version of DEH was announced, I immediately assumed it was an arthouse film, and the casting of Amy Adams and Julianne Moore, two extremely talented women who have no real box office pull among the general public, and in particular among teenagers, reinforced that. So I was surprised that the film went into wide release, and the film itself is apparently focused more on the teenagers. For the adult audience attracted to this kind of film, bad reviews will kill the box office as happened here. That older adult audience is still reluctant to go to the theater during the pandemic. Films targeted to them continue to do poorly -- the Sopranos prequel completely flopped this weekend. And for whatever reason, not enough teens were interested; maybe they were all going to see Venom, which had the biggest pandemic opening yet this weekend. The second weekend overall drop for DEH of 68% is higher than they would have wanted, but in line with other films (In the Heights dropped 63%). The good word-of-mouth means it will do okay on home viewings, although still a money-loser. |
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| re: Forbes.com on Friday Box Office: 'Dear Evan Hansen' Plunges 78% | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 03:22 pm EDT 10/03/21 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 03:06 pm EDT 10/03/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Forbes.com on Friday Box Office: 'Dear Evan Hansen' Plunges 78% - mikem 12:39 pm EDT 10/03/21 | |
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| Even if Amy Adams and Julianne Moore aren't the biggest box-office draws, they bring prestige to ''Dear Evan Hansen.'' Adams is a multi-Oscar nominee and Moore is an Oscar winner, so I'd bet the movie was counting on them to attract Oscar voters (and boost Ben Platt's shot at his EGOT). Interestingly, on its opening weekend, Deadline.com reported: ''The few who bought tickets for 'Dear Evan Hansen' were 62% females, 52% over 25, with 54% falling between 18-34, which is what Universal was expecting.'' I imagine Adams and Moore might've been responsible for some of that. It is, however, surprising that ''Dear Evan Hansen'' hasn't done much better with younger audiences. They tend not to care about critics, let alone their 31% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. In these COVID times, they've also been more resilient, than older audiences, about returning to the movie theaters. And you'd think younger viewers might more easily relate to Evan Hansen, a teen dealing with social anxiety and social media. After all, it's a Tony-winning musical with an especially fervent young following. Its official movie trailer has registered over 21 million views. Yet somehow, that hasn't translated to the film. So far, its box office hasn't been so big. And its online reception hasn't been so great. Buzzfeed: ''People Are Tweeting Their Reactions to the 'Dear Evan Hansen' Movie, and Yikes.'' The Cut.com: ''Wow, TikTok Really Hated 'Dear Evan Hansen.' '' Deadline.com asked if it should've gone straight to streaming. Maybe that's where its core audience will be found. |
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| Link | Deadline.com: 'Dear Evan Hansen' - Should the Movie Have Gone to Streaming? |
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