What Made 'The Wolverine' Such a Disappointment?

'The Wolverine'

 Welcome to the Box Office Report, where we're betting some Fox executive is telling Hugh Jackman that he's "not mad at him, just disappointed," right this very second. 
1. The Wolverine (Fox): $55 million in 3,924 theaters 
So, oof. Let's get the oof out of the way quickly. Hugh Jackman returning to the role that made him famous was supposed to draw a lot more money than $55 million. It's his fifth time in the role (not counting his cameo in First Class) and the expectations were closer to the $70 million range, after X-Men Origins earned $89 million in its opening weekend. But a number of thing contributed to this disappointment. The first Wolverine movie was terrible: Origins received a 38 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The hype around this Wolverine project was that it was better than the last one -- Darren Aronofsky was originally attached to direct -- except reviews said it was only a marginal improvement.
But executives and analysts are pointing to simple audience fatigue to explain away the numbers. "There have been times before when audience fatigue from the summer sets in," a Fox executive told Nikki Finke. Buzzfeed's Adam Vary says it's not the heat that's tiring people out, it's the super heroes: "Granted, most non-superhero movies would be thrilled with an opening weekend that good," he writes. "But nonetheless, it plays into the ongoing narrative that Hollywood’s dependency on mega-budgeted films based on Comic-Con-friendly source material is starting to go bad." 
The last two summers have brought an onslaught of super hero movies that have practically waged a civil war at the box office, and audiences are realizing they're not obligated to see every single one. And when budgets are rising each year, the lower turnouts should scare film executives to maybe think twice when authorizing another $150 million dud. 
2. The Conjuring (Warner Bros.): $22.1 million in 3,022 theaters [Week 2]
Does this mean we're not going to get the requisite end-of-summer horror movie that comes every year? If they start the summer blockbuster season early, does it end early too? 
3. Despicable Me 2 (Universal): $16 million in 3,476 theaters [Week 4]
Having trouble believing there are still kids left who haven't seen this movie.
4. Turbo (Fox): $13.3 million in 3,809 theaters [Week 2]
The snail racer continues to profit from kids who already saw Despicable Me 2 but didn't want to go to the park this week. 
5. Grown Ups 2 (Sony): $11.5 million in 3,258 theaters [Week 3]

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This Box Office Disaster Is Bad News for Netflix

turbo_DreamWorks Animations

 As the video streaming wars continue to heat up, companies such as Amazon.com and Netflix  (NASDAQ: NFLX  ) are increasingly trying to find ways to differentiate themselves from their competition.
And for the industry leaders in video streaming over the past two years, those efforts have increasingly involved building a world-class repertoire of original series.
For Netflix, anyway, this move seemed to be paying off in a big way up until last week, after its programs received no less than 14 Emmy nods, including nine for House of Cards, two for Hemlock Grove, and even one for Arrested Development, which the company recently revived for an exclusive fourth season.
Then again, that didn't exactly help Netflix stock Tuesday, which is when it fell more than 6% after the company disappointed investors with weaker-than-expected second quarter subscriber growth.
What's more, as fellow Fool Blake Bos pointed out in March, original content can often prove undeniably expensive, so there's much to be said for the merits of signing deals for lower-cost existing programming -- of which Netflix incidentally also boasts plenty.
Netflix placed this bet too early
But what happens when some of that expensive original content doesn't perform as anticipated?
Thanks to last weekend's dismal box office debut of DreamWorks Animations'  (NASDAQ: DWA  )  Turbo, we may get the chance to find out.
Remember, as part of Netflix's huge content deal with DreamWorks announced back in February, the animation specialist agreed to create an original kids' series exclusively for Netflix, based on the feature film, and aptly named Turbo F.A.S.T.
So what's the problem? 
If Turbo's horrific $21.3 million opening weekend take is any indication, kids may simply not be all that interested in the snail-racing flick.
And considering Netflix probably promised DreamWorks a hefty sum to ensure that the series would be offered only alongside its signature red logo, something tells me the company won't be allowed to back out of the deal, as the animator undoubtedly wants to continue milking every possible penny out of the brand in an effort to recoup its estimated $135 million production budget.
Then again, perhaps Turbo is exactly the kind of show that could do exceedingly well on a streaming $8-per-month service like Netflix, so maybe this won't be a huge problem for the King of Streaming in and of itself. (Read More..)