Does ‘Toy Story 4’ tell us anything about the future of the box office?
Chris Morgan
Thursday, June 27, 2019
34704
Toy Story 4 made $118 million at the box office in its first weekend. On the one hand, that’s a lot of money, and a step up from a disappointing box office for Father’s Day weekend. On the other hand, Disney had projected Toy Story 4 to make $140 million. So, based on the company’s own hopes, the latest Pixar film was a disappointed. They expect Pixar movies, and Toy Story movies in particular, to make a ton of bank. That didn’t happen. There are questions to be asked. Is there something wrong with the current movie landscape, or is the problem that the film industry expects the movie business to keep being what it always was?
The fog of Avengers: Endgame, which was a massive success by any measure, has faded, and we can go back to looking at the 2019 box office as a whole. There has been handwringing about the movie industry for a few years. This year has been no different. People were panicking early in the year, only occasionally being swatted down by “Well there was no Black Panther in February this year” talk. Then Endgame set records. Now, though, we’re hitting summer, and the box office is still lagging. Even a sure-fire splash like Toy Story 4 can disappoint. Surprise hits don’t seem to happen anymore. A few blockbusters have bombed now. Men in Black: International, Dark Phoenix, even The Secret Life of Pets 2. If animated family films are fading, what can be done?
If you bend your ear toward the speculators, you are going to start hearing more and more about how filmgoers are tired of sequel after sequel. You can see that in these disappointments. Dark Phoenix was the fourth film in a series that came after a different three-film series, not to mention the three Wolverine standalone movies. The Secret Life of Pets was a hit, but maybe people thought one was enough. Even Pixar seems to be no longer immune to this, if Toy Story 4 is any indication. Hey, even Solo seems to suffer from something previously unimaginable: Star Wars burnout.
The allure of sequels is obvious. You know people like these characters and bought into at least one story with them. If you fail with a sequel you have something to point to. If you fail with an original idea, what do you blame? Endgame was a massive success, but that took over a decade to build to, and they included a lot of fresh movies (admittedly based on existing IP) in the mix. Also, if you aren’t Marvel, you aren’t Marvel. Now seems to be the time to turn away from sequels and give people a reason to go see something new in the theaters. Tell a good story and give us some new memorable characters. The movie business will likely not be what it used to be in the days before Netflix and streaming, but it doesn’t have to be like this. If Toy Story 4 can underperform, no sequel is safe. It may be time to try a different plan.
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