Last weekend, two blockbuster anime franchises faced each other directly with box office revenue. One of them benefited from the buzz — and it wasn’t a “lightyear”.
In just 3 days Universal And Illuminations “Minions: The Rise of Guru” Domestic ticket sales reached over $ 107 million, surpassing $ 200 million worldwide.
Its rival, Disney Pixar’s “Lightyear” has generated just $ 105 million domestically and has struggled to reach $ 190 million worldwide since it was released three weeks ago.
They are one of the most popular and profitable franchises in their respective studios, each winning billions of dollars in ticket sales over the last decade.
So why did “Minions” soar this year and “Lightyear” flop?
According to box office analysts, it comes down to storytelling and target audiences.
“The relatively mild reaction of the audience to” Light Years “and their unlimited excitement for” Minions: The Rise of Guru “reflect many different factors. In particular, movies are the exact opposite in terms of their approach to telling a story. To the audience. ” Paul Dergarabedian, Senior Media Analyst at Comscore.
“Minions” was heavily devoted to the slapstick comedy that succeeded in the last four articles of the “Despicable Me” series, but “Lightyear” changed from a method that loved many generations to the “Toy Story” series. Migrated. A story around a beloved child’s toy.
The “Minions Feeling of Guru” is the story of the origin of the guru villain who, as a child, is trying to establish himself among the world’s biggest villains. Along the way, a minion gang in his denim overalls put together his plans, resulting in a stupid, intestinal-destroying rampage.
“Slapstick comedy is a proven genre that children of all ages have always loved,” said Dargara Bedian.
Also billed as an origin story, “Lightyear” is about a movie that made Buzz Lightyear the best-selling toy and gave young Andy the coveted award. The characters on the screen are actually humans, not toys that we believe to be real. This meta-style story may have captivated viewers who grew up in “Toy Story” in the 90’s, but for the younger generation, sci-fi action-adventure was unmarked.
According to analysts, “Minions” were simply more accessible to the audience.
“Minions” also got a surprising boost in box office revenue from teenagers who bought 15% of movie tickets during the movie’s opening weekend. According to EntTelligence data, only 6% of that important demographic purchased “lightyear” tickets.
TikTok’s new trends may have helped drive the sales of “Minions” as a group of young movie fans dressed formal to attend new movie screenings. The “Gentle minions” hashtag has been played over 9 million times on TikTok and has caught the attention of Universal Studios.
“To everyone in the suit and appearing in Minions. We meet you and love you,” the company tweeted last Friday.
Family members accounted for 68% of Minions the Rise of Guru ticket sales on the opening weekend, and adults without children accounted for 17% of tickets.
In Lightyear, families accounted for 65% of ticket sales and adults without children accounted for nearly 30% of ticket sales.
“The debut of Minions Feeling proves that family audiences can once again enhance their films with box office revenue,” said Jeff Bock, senior analyst at Exhibitor Relations. “I saw it in Sonic 2 earlier this year, but I’ve never seen traditional animated films kill box office revenue since the pre-pandemic era.”
The final return of parents and children to the theater is a promising sign for the theater, but delays in production during the pandemic mean that there aren’t many new films to watch.
Nickelodeon’s “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank” arrived on July 15th, followed by Warner Bros. ‘ From the “DC League of Superpets” on July 29th to the arrival of Disney’s “Strange World” on November 23rd, it’s calm.
“This summer has long seemed to provide the hottest animation releases for most of the rest of the year, so it’s great that the Minions movie is outperforming as it is today. It’s news, “said Chief Sean Robins, an analyst at BoxOffice.com.
Robins Sony The live-action and animated movie “Lyle, Lyle Crocodile” could be a sleeper hit for families with children looking for a movie to attend in the fall with box office revenue on October 7.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBC Universal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is a distributor of “Minions: The Rise of Gru”.
