Lilo & Stitch / Hit or Miss?

[Captain Crook]

OK, L&S is slowing down around the 140 million mark. It cost 80 to make and 40 to promote. Still tocome are O/S numbers & of course video & home release...

Was it a hit, a dud or somewhere in between?

Who won the pool, btw?

 

[Bob O]

I would say somewhere in between. Not a dud at all, but also not a major hit!!

 

[Galahad]

Yeah, probably somewhere in between. We liked it better than Atlantis and other recent fare. We are more likely to buy it that some of the other recent films when it comes out on video. I think if they can keep Burbank off their backs, Orlando can continue to produce some good animated films.

 

[YoHo]

It was a hit in the snese that it proved that Feature animation isn't dead. it was a miss in terms of profits, but that could have been different had the promotions been better.

The real question is what will the Disney Corp take from this?

 

[scooby-the-doo]

It's a hit. It's well over the $100 mark, and it came into play with really very little buzz. Time was when every Disney animated flicker was a big event, that's not the case now and they'll be considering this a step in the right direction after Atlantis.

 

[All Aboard]

A financial success, but with one disturbing attribute. One meaningful box office measure to me is the durability of a film throughout it's run. That is, how long does it keep bringing in a sizable audience? One way to measure that is the multiple of total US gross to opening weekend. Opening weekend is a clear result of how well the film gets marketed and how good the story appears in the trailers. The total gross (and ability to maintain it) is a result of the strength of the story which results in repeat views and solid word of mouth.

L&S will end with a total gross that is less then 4 times it's opening weekend. That's actually worse than Atlantis. I had really hoped that L&S would have had better legs and reached the $200m mark that it's opening weekend had indicated.

I'm not sure why it didn't. I thought it was a wonderful story.

 

[Bob O]

Making 100 million is a nice number, but if it cost 120 million to make and market that number means alot less. The movie made money which is good, but for it to be a hit i would expect a bigger profit than what it probably will make.

 

[YoHo]

I'd love to agree with you Bob, but the fact is that there have been plenty of movies that were considered hits that barely made a dime after production and marketing is factored in. we're talking goofy hollywood money here.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Mr. G (says DK skulking out of the corner )

While a 4x opening weekend end result might traditionally indicate that Lilo didnt have good legs and the film couldn't hold it's audience (due to bad story, word of mouth, etc.), would that hold true given the kiddie motion picture market today?

Used to be we struggled to find a movie we could take the kids to. Recently there are more than we know what to do with. If not for the draw of all those other films might Lilo have shown better legs? What did Atlantis have to compete with?

 

[hopemax]

Someone on LaughingPlace with ties to the industry said that Lilo & Stitch pulled in $40 million in merchandise sales prior to the movie's release. I remember the USA Today article where CP VP Andy Mooney stated that they were in a re-order situation for most of the stores (BTW, Disney Stores are finally receiving more Aloha Stitch's again, but they're disappearing rapidly too) and that their figures had L&S pre-release sales up 50% on Monsters, Inc.

 

[smithdaddy]

woah, what a diappointment in that feature. i say disney was not disney in that movie. almost an embarassment to me. saturday morning cartoon maybe, but not feature animation. and i'm not a disney basher by far. to take in that much money is a real blessing/surprise. anything stand out in that movie to you? not me. i didn't feel attachment to any of the characters. or storyline for that matter. rescurers quality. i keep waiting for another mermaid or aladin or lion king.

 

[wdw4us2]

I think it was a success. What everyone needs to remember is that there are a lot more studios turning out kid films and animation now than in the recent glory days of Disney Animation (Beauty & the Beast, Lion King, etc.)

Now Nickelodeon, Dreamworks, Fox and others are producing a lot more family fare than there once was - so there's a smaller piece of the pie for Disney.

I am, quite frankly, happy that a traditionally animated film could be this successful in today's market.

Lisa

 

[Bob O]

Their is a difference between a movie being a financial success and a commercial success. The movie did make money and did well but i would think a movie called a "hit " would have made more money, escpecailly when it had all the disney co. mouth organs shilling for it!!!

 

[The Duchess]

L&S was very cute and funny, but not a classic. Nowhere near Lion King stature, about par with Bug's Life.

 

[Another Voice]

The success of ‘Lilo’ depends on who you talk to because this film has been wrapped in so many other agenda’s that simple box office receipts aren’t really all that important.

People who support traditional animation call it a hit. It did moderately well at the box office and will be the biggest family film this summer by far. Merchandise sales have been strong and even the characters are popular at the parks. The film’s box office was shunted by a lackluster marketing campaign, failure of the company to follow through on the film’s great first weekend, and a cost-cutting decision to link ‘Lilo’ ads to those of ‘Country Bears’ which destroyed the developing adult date-night audience for ‘Lilo’. The problem wasn't the film, but the company behind it.

Those that don’t want to continue traditional animation counter that the movie didn’t bring in the bucks like ‘Ice Age’ did and therefore is a failure. No one wants to see flat animation and ‘Lilo’ only did as well as it did because it had “Disney®” plastered all over it. They say that the production costs on ‘Lilo’ were many times the size of TV animation and that ‘Peter Pan 2’ had a much better percentage return (‘Lilo’ cost $80 million and brought in $140 million. ‘PP2’ cost $20 million and brought in $50 million). It is more cost effective to make a lot of cheap movies than one big one. And they continue the refrain of “wait until ‘Treasure Planet’ – people want CGI”. The problem is the film.

My personal opinion is the ‘Lilo and Stitch’ is a brilliant movie, easily in the top five of all Disney animated features ever released. The movie has more truth and honest emotion than all of the post-Katzenberg movies combined. The line ‘I liked you better as a sister than as a mother’ has more meaning than the dozens of songs that have been thrown into the recent movies. And the scene were Lilo runs back to her tossed-aside rag doll and hugs it with a lifetime of sorrow and love is one of the best single moments I have seen in any movie this year (and is one of the best character moments in any Disney film).

Like ‘Pinocchio’, this film will grow beyond its rocky box office opening. All it needs is a management that understands the film’s quality and a management that is worthy of it.

 

[Galahad]

My personal opinion is the ‘Lilo and Stitch’ is a brilliant movie, easily in the top five of all Disney animated features ever released. The movie has more truth and honest emotion than all of the post-Katzenberg movies combined. The line ‘I liked you better as a sister than as a mother’ has more meaning than the dozens of songs that have been thrown into the recent movies. And the scene were Lilo runs back to her tossed-aside rag doll and hugs it with a lifetime of sorrow and love is one of the best single moments I have seen in any movie this year (and is one of the best character moments in any Disney film).

I agree wholeheartedly! I hope that management (whoever that might eventually be) will treat this well and learn from it!

 

[raidermatt]

I agree about the emotional depth of L&S. The one song that was actually sung by a character, Aloha Oe, was another very touching moment. Definitely not a case of "insert song here".

But agendas, agendas, agendas....

They say that the production costs on ‘Lilo’ were many times the size of TV animation and that ‘Peter Pan 2’ had a much better percentage return (‘Lilo’ cost $80 million and brought in $140 million. ‘PP2’ cost $20 million and brought in $50 million). It is more cost effective to make a lot of cheap movies than one big one.

L&S is spawning an animated TV series. Does Pan 2 have that kind of popularity?

L&S will likely have a very successful direct to video sequal. Certainly more successful than a Pan 3.

L&S is generating large amounts of merchandise sales. Exponentially more than the sales of that orange octupus from Pan 2.

Factor in all of these things and L&S's return looks a whole lot better...

Pan 2 only existed because there was an original high quality Peter Pan film for it to sponge off of. If you are going to try to bleed a successful franchise for every penny, you first have to create the successful franchise.

I can understand that some people are completely focused on profit margins, revenue streams, roi, etc. It may not be the best way to run a company built on creativity and quality, but at least one can figure out where they are coming from. But with this group, all logic seems to have been thrown out the window. They seem to have no idea how to consistently create quality, and when they do manage to produce a solid product that will produce continued profits for at least the next 2-3 years, they try to discredit it.

 

[Bob O]

There is a difference when comparing financial hits to creative hits. If L & S is considered a hit then what would you consider the pixar movies or shrek, blockbusters???? Or Ice age which made more money without the disney name and marketing behind it.
As for merchandise sales where are there numbers showing how much has been sold??? It hasnt seemed to help the disney stores out of their problems and when i see kids i still see far more wearing Little mermaid/princess attire than L&S. And the fact they are making a sequel or direct to video may not mean the movie is a hit as much as it may mean that disney has little fresh ideas to go with. I think they are making sequels to their movies because they have little in the way of new ideas and are aware that a spin off from a successful movie will sell well no matter what the quality.

 

[raidermatt]

I think they are making sequels to their movies because they have little in the way of new ideas and are aware that a spin off from a successful movie will sell well no matter what the quality.

Exactly. The success of L&S is why all of these spin-offs are planned. Without that success, the spin-offs would be cancelled (see Atlantis).

 

[kamgen]

Warning: only my opinion.

My dh and I LOVED L&S. We saw it 4 times already and I cannot wait to see it again. I would have to say it is one of the all time best movies. Mainly due to the incredible character of Stitch and the moving story line. Disney has failed to do such a wonderful story since Lion King. And personally, I feel the story of L&S is more moving than LK. The script was fantastic, not to mention the animation. At first, I was thrown off by the animation water-color look. But it works so well with the atmosphere of the movie. Disney should be very proud of this film.
Unfortunately in this day and age, money means everything. The movie has done really well and will do awesome on DVD/Video.
If you look past the money aspect, this movie has done something recent animated movies have not done...made you feel. This is a memorable story that is a testament to families, especially those that society considers unconventional.
I am sure there are people who don't understand why I feel so strongly that this movie was exceptional, just as I don't understand how you could watch this movie and not be absorbed in the delight, sadness, and celebration of the story of Stitch and how he finally finds a family.

Again, this is my opinion and in no way discrediting anyone else. I just think everyone, all families, should see this movie, at least twice, talk about it, and reflect on how much we should appreciate what we have.

Yes, I see a lot in an animated film. But I loved it, plain and simple.


Kamy