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50 Shades of Grey, Fast 7, Avengers 2, Jurassic World, Ted 2, Terminator 5, Vacation 5, Bond 24, Hunger Games Mocking Jay Part 2, Star Wars 7, Mission Impossible 5.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2833780/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-Tarantino-villain-Bond-s-cunning-nemesis.html
His name is so well-known. People now, like with "Skyfall", want to see Bond 24 simply because a stunning actor is playing in it. I would say: Let's do another 1 Billion Dollar Bond =P~ !
Man @ClarkDevlin, I'm like a frikkin' little kid. I always wanted to see Christoph Waltz in a Bond film!
hahah hell yeah son. I actually read the book so I want to see how the film is
The november/december has 2 big competitors for Bond..Hunger Games and Star Wars..both are gunning for billion..it wil be interesting to see the box office numbers next year
Hunger Games 3 didn't do as well as the first two instalments. Star Wars will definately be a 1.5 Billion Dollar film.
BUT in defense of James Bond.....SPECTRE has gone viral on many forums and movie websites. I have a feeling that there's slightly more mystery surrounded at SPECTRE. It has an incredibly stellar Oscar-heavy cast, like Skyfall. It can now benefit from the benchmark and success that Skyfall created. And, in all honesty, I think it'll do better now than "M: I 5". There's simply more buzz with this film.
Also, SPECTRE fills in a void that has been left open completely by Chris Nolan's Batman-trilogy. And that teaser poster is a classy, but also very very smart bit of marketing and promotion. Just reading some other forums, and they all wonder about this bullit hole.
And I especially love this article. A nice bit of history, and also many questions. What The Joker did for Batman, will SPECTRE and Blofeld do for Bond. http://screencrush.com/spectre-bond-and-blofeld-a-brief-history-of-007s-greatest-adversary
http://www.mi6-hq.com/news/index.php?itemid=11600&t=mi6&s=news
So "SPECTRE" will truly have a worldwide global premiere, in which all premiere dates are aligned :-). The date now is: 6th of November 2015.
I think it's quite an ingenious thing to do. From a business-perspective EON Productions/MGM/Sony could be completely right. Is "SPECTRE" than actually the first Bond film ever that will have a worldwide, globally aligned, release? Can someone answer that for me?
When I read this, "SPECTRE" could actually do better financially than "SKYFALL". And I usually don't say this :-O. Barbara & Michael want "SPECTRE" to have an even bigger impact than "SKYFALL" already had :-O.
PS: We don't need to worry about Bond's BO. It is an unusual franchise in that its global numbers (relatively speaking) far surpass its US numbers. As long as the global release schedule is not cluttered, it will do very well, even if it gets hurt by the clutter in the US.
I haven't finished my post yet. I do hate it when I get double screens inside this forum. The software of this forum is truly bad. Grrrrr. Sorry :-). I react shortly to you. First finishing my post, and REWRITE a whole chunk that wasn't posted ....
Target audience breakdown
I think it's important to have a breakdown of the audiences that usually flock to a cinema to watch either "The Hunger Games" or "James Bond". The audience for "The Hunger Games" franchise is usually like 60% to 62% young females (http://www.forbes.com/sites/markhughes/2012/03/22/the-hunger-game-represents-emerging-opportunities-for-film-studios/), whereas the Bond films focus mostly on target audiences of 55% males and 45% females, aged 16 to 60.
So the target audiences are already very different. Hence "The Hunger Games 4: Mockingjay Part 2" and "SPECTRE" will probably not be big competitors. You could have detected this already back in November 2012 when a similar "young female"-franchise, "The Twilight Saga" opened one week after "Skyfall":
"Wreck-it Ralph", 02.11.2014:
--> $0,471,222,889 (USA & Canada: $189,422,889)
"Skyfall", 09.11.2014:
--> $1,108,561,013 (USA & Canada: $304,360,277)
"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2", 16.11.2014:
--> $0,829,685,377 (USA & Canada: $292,324,737)
I put the animated movie "Wreck-it Ralph" in there as well, as they usually have, like James Bond, large family audiences as well. The problem with animated movies nowadays, is they saturate each other. Too many animated movies appear year after year now, and even the best ones don't reach the 1 Billion anymore. The animated movies that DO well, are usually part of their own franchise. And even these don't catch the 1 Billion Dollar mark that easily.
November 2015
Now, in November 2015, the biggest animated movie would be "The Peanuts Movie" and Disney's "The Good Dinosaur". Now "Peanuts" and "SPECTRE" open the same day, November 6th 2015. But "Peanuts still has to prove itself. And the original Peanuts-cartoons are not like feel-good Pixar productions.
And "The Hunger Games 4: Mockingjay - Part 2" opens only two weeks after "SPECTRE". Its target audience is different, so it won't compete that heavily with "Skyfall".
Now solely looking at "SPECTRE" I think it still profits from "Skyfall"s success. That movie created a benchmark. The combination of slick 50th anniversary marketing--well known director--smart character drama--stellar Oscar cast--fantastic reviews really worked. Regardless of how people in this forum think about the film. "Skyfall" also enlarged its fan base and managed to attract people that usually don't want to see a Bond film.
Barbara Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson use this new-benchmark-recipe again for "Skyfall". But on top of that they create extra anticipation now S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and Blofeld return. They were damn smart Thursday, to not turn it into a press conference. Instead, we got a LIVE 10 min. teaser trailer, resulting in much more speculation, thus more anticipation and curiosity. Just check your Zite-app (great app, I can really recommend it :-) ).
And, do not underestimate this, the same team of crew is back. So is a stellar Oscar-heavy cast (Christoph Waltz, Golden Palm winner Léa Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes). People like this kind of continuity. And also the fame that's behind actor's name helps. Waltz draws in some Tarantino die-hards, just like Bardem/Mendes helped Coen Bros./Chris Nolan-fans to watch this Bond film.
December 2015
Yes, December 2015 will be interesting to look out for. Because back in December 2012 "Skyfall" suddenly managed to regain the no# 1 spot, regardless of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" and Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher. "Skyfall" proved there that it maintained a lot of holdover and re-watching value. And "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and "Mission: Impossible 5" could prevent this effect this time around.
Still, I guess "SPECTRE" will do better than "M:I 5", simply because James Bond fills in the void that was left by Chris Nolan's Batman-trilogy and Inception much better than "M:I 5" will do. "SPECTRE" continues directly on the previous three Bond films, whereas the "M:I 5" films are slightly more stand-alone and "Brosnan-esque". Currently, audiences like continuity a lot as well. This creates free viral marketing by and for geeks, and because of that more awareness among general movie audiences. And young people have become way more grown-up in a sense, have become way more critical and serious in a way. That could help "SPECTRE" slightly more than "M:I 5".
So I think "SPECTRE" has already won the top box office of November. Perhaps it has slightly less hold-over than "Skyfall". But then there's China, in which the Bond franchise can still do much better.
These will/could do better than "SPECTRE"
However, I think "Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens", "Avengers 2: Age Of Ultron" will soar past that 1.2 Billion Dollar mark....1.5 Billion or more per movie? Quite a done deal maybe? And watch out for "Furious 7". This franchise, has really a target audience that's very similar to Bond. And Paul Walker's death and absence will create more interest, how weird that may sound.
I'd say another 1 Billion Dollar Bond is very much in reach. In a similar fashion to "TDKR" following "TDK". 1.2 Billion then, like "Iron Man 3" ;-)? Let that be my prediction for now.
The Bond producers
Regarding Barbara Broccoli & Michael G. Wilson....regardless what other fans say about them, I think they really found their mojo with the Craig-era of Bond films. Do not underestimate their business & marketing skills. They now very damn wel what's happening with their competitors. They put their own stamp on the Bond franchise now and dare to take risks in order to move the franchise forward. Something that "Cubby" slightly prevented during the 1980's, and his anti-risk style of producing could still be felt during the Brosnan-era.
And creatively? Saying that Barbara & Michael do not have a clear idea what should be done with the franchise, is IMO not true. The way Broccoli & Wilson are using the legacy of Ian Fleming, from the novel "Casino Royale", to other elements from his novels (Le Chiffre, SPECTRE, Blofeld, Andrew Bond, Monique DeLacroix Bond, Obituary from YOLT in SF, finally a Shrublands-esque scene in official EON-film SF, Oberhauser from OHMSS/Octopussy) and then re-inventing all these characters and stories in a highly intelligent creative concoction, full of layers and continuity, without stripping off the typical aspects that made Bond so big, is what the franchise needed. And still needs.
A few more points that are likely to come into play.
1. Bond is now a phenomenon. It was not at the opening of SF. SF had excellent word of mouth and brought people into the fold. That is why the film had 'legs' and held up so well.....because of word of mouth.
2. With SP it will be different. The BO is going to be front loaded because of pent-up demand. Therefore, I don't think a staggered release schedule will work so well. A front load approach is more suitable for a global blockbuster, which Bond now is.
3. I think there is a plot twist however, and that is why they want to front load as well and get it out in the major markets at once
4. I think a lot of what created the buzz for SF was that absolutely kick 'a' teaser trailer with the thumping music and the Hitchcock fall. It has to be one of the damn best trailers I've seen. You know the one : "Some men are coming to kill us. We're going to kill them first" with the techno music playing in the background. Absolutely outstanding and it went viral when it came out. SP had better have something just as good.
5. Whether we like it or not, the release schedule is cluttered next year around the time SP comes out. Therefore, they have to put it in as many theatres as possible up front to capitalize on the front load BO. The strategy in the theatres will be very important including how many theatres are showing it etc.
6. At the end of the day $1bn is possible just because of the increase in ticket prices. More than that we'll have to wait and see. I see SP hitting top 5 for 2015 which would be good enough for me given the quality coming out next year. We don't have the benefit of 3D either.
I want SP to do a little worse than SF in all honesty, but still do well. Somewhat like how QoS performed vs. CR (close but a little less). That will take the pressure off them for B25 and allow them to focus on the story. If SP beats SF, I'm afraid they may head in the bigger is better direction and we could end up with a MR (play to the crowds, so to speak) for B25. What I'd like best is an Empire Strikes Back style finale at the end of SP (Bond loses and the Spectre diabolical plot and infestation is revealed at the end). That would set the anticipation up for B25 nicely.
This is IMO a way way more effective trailer then I ever saw during the Craig-era. In all honesty, it's perhaps the shortest and most dramatic trailer ever for a Bond film. As a marketeer, this makes me slobber like a dog :-P: