Random Thoughts
By the time Maleficent finishes its run, it will likely be Disney's second-highest-grossing live-action fairy tale behind Alice. But much more than Alice, it will leave behind fans that passionately love it - just look at the twitter activity (see tables below) three weekends after its release. Unusual for a film that has been out that long, it is keeping pace with the just-released 22 Jump St and the social phenomenon Fault In Our Stars. It has an energized fan base and is inspiring an almost Frozen-like passion which hopefully will help it to have a Frozen-like hold in the weeks ahead.
Disney will no doubt seek to further capitalize on its popularity and we should see more of Maleficent across the vast Disney empire. An amusement park attraction seems like an easy and obvious offshoot, together with all the usual Disney merchandise beyond what is already on offer. In short, the box office is just the start and Disney should be reaping rewards from this in the same way it does with all its iconic properties -- the company had $40B (yes, billion) in merchandise revenues last year. That gives them a very strong incentive to keep the brand at the forefront of consumers' minds and among other things, a sequel would certainly help to do that. The big hurdle obviously is convincing Angelina to return and while it may be difficult, its not impossible with the right script and director.
Angelina has been effusive in praising Linda Woolverton with whom she collaborated to refine the Maleficent script so they already have a scriptwriter who can readily work on the sequel.
Finding a director is trickier and it will have to be someone Angelina holds in high esteem. David Fincher may not be an obvious choice for a fairy tale but he was at one point attached to make 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for Disney so he has interest in fantasy and the lines of communication are there. Guillermo del Toro, who is a lifelong Maleficent fan, is another possibility.
-- Fussy
All data below from boxoffice.com
MALEFICENT took in $2.27M on Monday. Domestic total now stands at $165.29M. #Maleficent
— BoxOffice (@BoxOffice) June 17, 2014
Daily Domestic Gross
Mon, Jun. 16 2014
| Title | |
|---|---|
| 22 Jump Street | $6,830,926 |
| How to Train Your Dragon 2 | $5,056,288 |
| The Fault in Our Stars | $2,307,777 |
| Maleficent | $2,269,929 |
| Edge of Tomorrow | $1,672,018 |
Twitter Tracking
Wed Jun 18 as of 08:05AM PDT
| Title | # Tweets |
|---|---|
| Maleficent | 19,072 |
| The Fault in Our Stars | 15,864 |
| 22 Jump Street | 13,221 |
| How to Train Your Dragon 2 | 5,336 |
| Transformers: Age of Extinction | 4,329 |
Twitter Tracking
Tue Jun 17 as of 03:46PM PDT
| Title | # Tweets |
|---|---|
| The Fault in Our Stars | 58,543 |
| Maleficent | 37,285 |
| 22 Jump Street | 32,026 |
| How to Train Your Dragon 2 | 10,261 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | 9,926 |
boxoffice.com
Top 15 Movies for Monday June 16th
| Rk | Film | Sun | Mon | Sun-Mon % |
| 1 (-) | 22 Jump Street | 119,146 | 89,582 | -24.81% |
| 2 (+1) | The Fault in Our Stars | 89,129 | 80,395 | -9.80% |
| 3 (-1) | Maleficent | 113,777 | 75,655 | -33.51% |
| 4 (-) | How to Train Your Dragon 2 | 22,574 | 18,135 | -19.66% |
| 5 (+2) | Transformers: Age of Extinction | 6,113 | 11,635 | 90.33% |
| 6 (+5) | If I Stay | 3,990 | 8,602 | 115.59% |
| 7 (-2) | Edge of Tomorrow | 6,937 | 5,177 | -25.37% |
| 8 (+1) | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 | 5,525 | 5,144 | -6.90% |
| 9 (-1) | Godzilla (2014) | 5,970 | 4,942 | -17.22% |
| 10 (-4) | X-Men: Days of Future Past | 6,272 | 4,895 | -21.95% |
| 11 (+2) | Think Like a Man Too | 2,844 | 4,628 | 62.73% |
| 12 (+4) | The Rover | 1,654 | 3,254 | 96.74% |
| 13 (+1) | Avengers: Age of Ultron | 2,408 | 3,226 | 33.97% |
| 14 (-4) | The Amazing Spider-Man 2 | 4,268 | 3,036 | -28.87% |
| 15 (+3) | Jersey Boys | 1,341 | 2,056 | 53.32% |
