Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
07-22-19, 04:55 PM
#26
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
07-22-19, 05:39 PM
#28
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Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
Geez, I didn’t mean to filet the guy, just didn’t quite get why someone would even get a glimmer of happiness that they didn’t contribute $11 or so to the now most successful movie of all time...
07-22-19, 05:54 PM
#30
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
It's not quite the mark of greatness it once indicated. Hollywood has gotten very good at promoting major blockbusters at the expense of all other films. Actual ticket sales are actually in a bit of decline but rising prices are making up for it.
07-22-19, 06:13 PM
#31
Moderator
07-22-19, 06:14 PM
#32
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
07-22-19, 07:17 PM
#33
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
07-22-19, 07:40 PM
#34
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
07-22-19, 07:50 PM
#35
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
Thanks for all of the replies.
And I agree that a movie joining the billion dollar club isn't quite as prestigious as it used to be, especially when some blockbuster movies are released with the expectation that it will earn at least a billion dollars at the box office.
And I agree that a movie joining the billion dollar club isn't quite as prestigious as it used to be, especially when some blockbuster movies are released with the expectation that it will earn at least a billion dollars at the box office.
07-22-19, 08:43 PM
#36
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
Any movie making a billion dollars is a major achievement. Just because Disney seems to do it quite often doesn’t make it any less impressive. Its still overall quite a rare achievement.
07-22-19, 10:42 PM
#37
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
This thread is awesome, maybe a contender for the TOTY award, we are in the second half of the year so we should start thinking about these things.
What makes it a contender, I am glad you asked and it has to be Oldboy’s extreme self-awareness when he says hey....wait, what, that is the type of question I would ask.
I love it. Also, I am chill if someone cares not one whit for Endgame, as their are people who will say that the second Transformers film made over a billion and most people agree that it was not just the worst Transformers film but just a bad film overall so Endgame making well over a billion is not proof of it being a film that everyone loved. You know what, that is a fair point to make and you will get no arguments from me. I say this as someone who saw and enjoyed Endgame twice in theaters (one of only maybe not even 20 films I have ever seen twice in theaters, seriously...and I have seen a crud ton of films like everyone else on this site in theaters).
Also, a film making a billion will be a monstrously impressive achievement even if hypothetically another 100 get added to the Billion Dollar Club over the next few years and most are from Disney/Marvel Studios, and this achievement will again also still be impressive a hundred years from now. It is pretty amazing to get to a billion as not every Western film makes mad money in China so it often times takes more than just China and the U.S./Canada gross to get a film over the billion dollar line.
What makes it a contender, I am glad you asked and it has to be Oldboy’s extreme self-awareness when he says hey....wait, what, that is the type of question I would ask.
I love it. Also, I am chill if someone cares not one whit for Endgame, as their are people who will say that the second Transformers film made over a billion and most people agree that it was not just the worst Transformers film but just a bad film overall so Endgame making well over a billion is not proof of it being a film that everyone loved. You know what, that is a fair point to make and you will get no arguments from me. I say this as someone who saw and enjoyed Endgame twice in theaters (one of only maybe not even 20 films I have ever seen twice in theaters, seriously...and I have seen a crud ton of films like everyone else on this site in theaters).
Also, a film making a billion will be a monstrously impressive achievement even if hypothetically another 100 get added to the Billion Dollar Club over the next few years and most are from Disney/Marvel Studios, and this achievement will again also still be impressive a hundred years from now. It is pretty amazing to get to a billion as not every Western film makes mad money in China so it often times takes more than just China and the U.S./Canada gross to get a film over the billion dollar line.
07-23-19, 05:38 AM
#38
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
With modern ticket prices for concerts The Rolling Stones can gross more playing Madison Square Garden than the ticket gross from Live Aid. Doesn't make the Stones show bigger than Live Aid.
07-23-19, 07:43 AM
#39
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
As a historical gauge on popularity the numbers mean nothing. It's tickets sold that counts. To get a more accurate assessment we need to multiply the original gross of movies from the 60s by about 15, movies from the seventies by at least 10.
With modern ticket prices for concerts The Rolling Stones can gross more playing Madison Square Garden than the ticket gross from Live Aid. Doesn't make the Stones show bigger than Live Aid.
With modern ticket prices for concerts The Rolling Stones can gross more playing Madison Square Garden than the ticket gross from Live Aid. Doesn't make the Stones show bigger than Live Aid.
Take the 1930s vs the 2010s. The population is much bigger today. There is now a huge international market. GWTW was re-released every seven years until the advent of home video (I saw it in 1960 in its fourth release when I was about to start 8th grade). Both television and home video were enormous changes.
Anyway, all I've been doing in this thread is having a silly, playful exchange centering on the Avengers and broccoli (and Broccoli).
07-23-19, 11:03 AM
#40
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
There's only 39 so far with two more (Alladin and Spider-Man Far From Home) going to hit that benchmark pretty soon. While it is becoming more common place, it is still a massive acheivement. It is more impressive and rare when it isn't the usual fantasy/superhero/ sci-fi fare that are the usual ones to hit those numbers. A movie like the Titanic or Fate of the Furious is still quite impressive to reach that milestone. The movie industry is changing though and many people are waiting to watch the movies at home on streaving or digital media rather than go to the theaters, so it may eventually get more difficult for those numbers to be reach until inflation hikes up movie tickets even more. If we go by Netflix claims, a lot of their movies would be billion dollar movies if they were in the theaters based off of how many people streamed them online. This of course is not accurate as many people would not pay theater ticket prices to go see them if they were not "free" to watch at home.
07-23-19, 12:13 PM
#41
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
Cool so you don't like the MCU and are one of these people who likes to gloat about that fact. Us commoners are just silly for liking something so mainstream.
07-23-19, 12:20 PM
#42
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Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
In order to break the billion dollar mark your movie has to play well to the Chinese market. The Chinese taste in movies is highly questionable. They seem willing to watch anything. So this billion dollar thing is about as cool to me as winning 2nd prize in the beauty contest playing Monopoly.
07-23-19, 02:58 PM
#43
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
I agree with this. Only 39 out of millions of films? And one more within a week or so? Granted most are within the last decade or so but yeah it is still a major achievement.
07-23-19, 04:43 PM
#44
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
The big difference is that the first 30 or so films to hit one billion took months to hit that figure, allowing them to expand their cultural presence in unexpected ways. Today billion-dollar blockbusters often make the bulk of their revenue in a matter of 2-3 weeks. They are here today and gone tomorrow culturally speaking.
07-23-19, 04:51 PM
#45
07-23-19, 04:58 PM
#46
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
The big difference is that the first 30 or so films to hit one billion took months to hit that figure, allowing them to expand their cultural presence in unexpected ways. Today billion-dollar blockbusters often make the bulk of their revenue in a matter of 2-3 weeks. They are here today and gone tomorrow culturally speaking.
07-23-19, 05:36 PM
#47
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
The billion dollar status is becoming more and more meaningless. "Highest grossing" achievements have always been glass records that are eventually broken due to ticket price inflation. I remember when a movie was considered a blockbuster if it made $100 million domestic. Now a big tentpole production would be considered a bomb if it made less than $200 million - probably less than $300 million. Really the only thing that matters is how many TICKETS a movie sold, but no one tracks that.
07-24-19, 05:31 AM
#48
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: Is a movie earning one billion dollars at the box office still considered a major achievement?
There was a segment on the news last night about Endgame. When ticket price inflation is factored in the highest grossing movies of all time are
1. Avengers Endgame
2. Star Wars
3. Sound of Music
4. E.T.
1. Avengers Endgame
2. Star Wars
3. Sound of Music
4. E.T.