A question about The Simpsons Movie's domestic box office performance

O

Oliva Maesfield

New member
When I checked Box Office Mojo, I was shocked that it only grossed $183 mil. domestically. I was expecting the movie to finish its theatrical run somewhere around the $250-$350 mil. range and become News Corp.'s highest-grossing film of 2007 in the process, because the movie made a $74 mil. opening weekend and the TV series the movie was based on was so phenomenally popular and well-received, it spawned lots of merchandise, won lots of awards(esp. emmies and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame), has a year's worth of episodes and not to mention, the movie has lots of positive reviews(esp. an 89% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes), some very good promotion, lots of cultural references, a very wide release of over 3,900 theatres and it was nominated for a good number of awards(esp. The Golden Globes for Best Animated Feature), so was anyone just as surprised as I am that this movie didn't manage to cross the $200 mil. mark domestically for the same reasons I've posted in this very topic?
 
I think it was a little too smart for the audience at times. The only times people laughed when I saw it was the slapstick. The verbal humor was met with a few chuckles, but no huge guffaws like Homer getting a hammer in the eye.
 
Yeah, I'm kinda shocked too, especially when you compare it to the worldwide figures. I honestly can't say what I think would cause such a thing. The movie itself was OK, heck, my brother and I saw it twice. I'd like to think it wasn't over-hyped either, although I can't say what the promotion was like in the US.

The best reason is probably the simplest: people simply didn't go see it because they didn't want to or just decided to wait for the DVD, which I believe did quite well over the Christmas season.
 
There's a number of reason about why TSM had poor legs. The first one was definetly that summer 2007 was an extremely crowded market. Does anybody remember it? Remember how for the two middle weeks in July, the media wouldn't shut up about Harry Potter, and I swear to god the minute that book came out they ran off and started printing story after story about the Simpsons Movie. But as soon as that came out, they moved immediately onto Bourne. Because of a lot of competition (re: Bourne, which while not grossing as strong as an opening weekend, did end up doing better domestically than TSM), including Rush Hour 3 and such, Simpsons suffered.

Two was that there was a large belief that everyone who wanted to see it, saw it on opening weekend. Roughly only 10-20 million people saw this movie on opening weekend, which is about the amount of viewers the series regularly scores. Anyone else either waited for DVD or didn't care at all. After opening weekend, not many others wanted to go. For example, if last Sunday's Simpsons episode reran this Sunday again, do you think many people missed it? Probably not. I think audiences treated this as a big summer episode of the series. They paid their religious viewer dues by going to see it the weekend of July 27th and that's it. Whoever doesn't watch the Simpsons didn't go, plain and simple.

Pretty much, it's a movie based off of a TV show that's still airing. Sure, the Simpsons are pretty big in America (I think the opening weekend proves that), but their popularity is waning and the show on the whole is still a bit cult, because it has a love it/hate it mentality. Thus, only repeat viewers and people who missed it because of vacation or whatever kept it alive afterwards. Plus, the aforementioned competition really did it in...

I still really think the movie benefited by 20th Century Fox's luck on picking the opening weekend. Every single other movie scheduled to play that weekend was pulled out, except for No Reservations (dumb move!)...and TSM really capitalized on that one. Not only was it the first big movie since Harry Potter, but it was the only movie that weekend, and what people (mostly the media) couldn't shut up about. On top of it all, it had good reviews! (suck on that, Transformers!) As a result, people flocked. But then Bourne came out next weekend. A sequel, with good reviews to boot! As a result, people flocked to that one instead, having already seen TSM. Harry Potter had at least two weeks to stay mildly afloat, as well as repeat viewers who were far more loyal than any Simpsons fan would ever be. Transformers was big, dumb action movie with special effects...that was released in the United States of America. Need I say anymore?...
 
I never thought that it was disappointing. The Simpsons movie, is currently ranked #16 as the highest grossing animated feature. And is also the third highest grossing 2D animated feature in America.
 
How can you sat TSM was a disappointment?

$183 million for a 2D animated film based on a TV series....


I'd say that's pretty freakin good
 
Poor legs = poor performance after opening weekend.

Yeah, it did very well, but with a 74-million dollar weekend, well usually you'd expect a 200-mil-plus gross...

EDIT: Also, remember we are talking about DOMESTIC gross...
 
Well, I've been so badly burned by the show since, like, season 10, that I would not see it in theaters. I saw it on DVD- thought it was definitely very good.

Matt Groening- face it- lied when he said he was releasing the movie NOW due to "good ratings". He wanted to get the movie out before the franchise went the way of Archie Bunker's Place.

And consider this- the toys McFarlane did for the Simpsons has NOT been selling well. About 10 years ago, it would've been a slam dunk hit. The Simpsons IS on its way out, so considering how well the movie DID do, be pretty impressed.

And be glad they got the original writers back to do this movie- that was the reason it was so good.

Imagine watching a movie written by the CURRENT writers of the show. :sad:
 
$183 million is nothing to sneeze at, especially for a cartoon. And that's just domestic box office. It doesn't take into account foreign box office (probably pretty high in most of the English-speaking world), cable and broadcast TV sales (probably in negotiation during the film's opening weekend), and the 800-lb gorilla of the entertainment industry: DVD sales. Bear in mind that movies based on TV shows that are still on the air don't usually do well -- look at the box office returns for The X-Files Movie, The Powerpuff Girls movie, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force and compared them to The Simpsons Movie.
 
Yes, you do. Transformers was not badly reviewed; it got a Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, right? Simpsons got more good reviews, but they were both well thought of.

And how is almost $200 million domestic bad? The movie only had to have cost a fraction of that.
 
Nobody is saying an $183 mil. domestic gross is disappointing! It was just that, despite the heavy competition, I was expecting Harry Potter numbers from the Simpsons Movie, as the media franchise the movie is based on is a huge media institution that appeals to a generation of fans including nostalgics and young children who are looking for something smart to watch on TV, and I also wanted an animated non-Pixar/Shrek flick to reach the $200 mil. mark for a change.
 
The Simpsons latest seasons are not terrible they just aren't as good as the 90s seasons. I don't think the Simpsons are on their way out though, they are pretty much a staple now. They lost a lot of ground thanks to Family Guy as the "cool" cartoon for older people but people still see the simpsons as something that is "cool" even if after lame episodes since they are just the average fan that doesn't notice. I do wish the Simpsons would end but I don't see it happening.

The movie was indeed great and I would like to see another or Simpsons DTV projects, I think that would be the way to continue the series and still able to deliver quality.
 
In truth the DVD version actually felt pretty bland to me. I mean theyv'e been working on this movie for how long and all the extras they have for it are a couple of deleted scenes, two commentaries, ads pretty much already seen by everyone on Youtube and... I'm pretty sure that's it actually. I partially blame the writer's strike for cutting some of time they had to work on the DVD as well as being too busy with the show to care about giving it a bigger build up then it should of had. (Also the writers seem to not like doing many "behind the scenes" featurette though which is really something this move should of had).



Actually it cost 75 Million to make overall, so it did make double it's money back. Defintley enough to be called a success but it defintley wasn't cheap to make either.

Though it didn't do the 200 million dollar well (which for some reason Alvin and The Chipmunks got sadly enough) it still did well in the midst of Summer Movie madness. Obviously though people are still interested in more 3D animated flms now then 2D though (I still say the Simpsons being snubbed of at least an Academy Nomination is a crime. It's way better then Surfs Up which should of been capped just like Grand Theft Walrus capped the Happy Feet penguins ripoff:D ).
 
Back
Top