(Source:Jim Hill Media)
Trust the IMDb to have two stories one after the other on its Movie and TV News forum: one called 'Cars' picks up speed about how the Pixar film is making better box office than originally estimated, and How Far Can 'Cars' Go?, talking about how disappointed Disney suits are with the film's box office to date.
Further digging took me to JimHillmedia, where the Maven of Mouse pointed out that Disney suits are grumbling about how Cars has performed. Hill talked with an anonymous Disney insider. Here are his comments:
"We had originally expected that Cars would only start to fade once Adam Sandler's new comedy (Click) opened in theaters this coming Friday . . . that was okay because we'd still pretty much have the family audience all to ourselves 'til Superman Returns opened five days later.
"But to have ticket sales fall off by 43% in our second weekend, and to almost lose the top spot to a Jack Black wrestling comedy ... Nobody here ever saw that coming."
Further statements aren't any better:
"This was a film that was initially projected to do over $300 million domestic. Last week, that number got pushed back to $250 million. Today, I've got people asking me if I think Cars is actually going to be able to make it to $200 million domestic. And - to be honest - right now, I don't know.
"I'm hoping that Cars can pull in another $50 - $60 million by next Wednesday. But after Superman Returns opens, we're officially toast. With Dead Man's Chest opening 9 days after that, there's no way that Cars is going to do any significant repeat business this summer. This time around, the competition is just too strong."
Harsh words, but there is some silver lining to all this doom and gloom. Apparently, Cars-related merchandise is flying off the shelves. Wal-Mart reports that they've sold off their initial run of Cars merch and are scrambling to get more in shelves.
This is important because, according to Hill, Disney spent $120 million on production costs, plus another $50-60 million to promote the movie. That means, even with $117 million already earned, Cars has yet to make back its investment.
This doesn't mean Cars is a failure. But those Disney executives who dropped over $4 billion to buy Pixar stock must be sweating right now. And so must new Creative Director John Lasseter, for whom Cars was his baby.
