Alien: Covenant Box Office Performance

Started by John73, May 14, 2017, 05:51:54 PM

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Alien: Covenant Box Office Performance (Read 273,359 times)

Scorpio

Box office has not been strong for Alien films since 1992.  Best they can hope for is making back 3x the budget.  And these movies are not cheap to make, like other series.  They went cheap for AVPR and it is the lowest grossing of the franchise.

2.4 is a good result, considering it hasn't opened in Japan and Cambodia yet, that could go to 2.6 or 2.7 times the budget.

Alien is still the top-grossing horror franchise - https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonthompson/2016/10/27/the-13-highest-grossing-horror-film-franchises-of-all-time-at-the-u-s-box-office/#535ce32f68d1

Alionic

Quote from: monkeylove on Jul 14, 2017, 02:25:39 AM
The Alien franchise is one of the best, but that's not shown in the two recent releases.

Prometheus is the highest grossing Alien film, bud. A Fox executive recently said Covenant will make the studio a profit even though it underperformed. Can you do some more basic google searches before you post stuff like this, please?

tleilaxu

I guess the marketing cost wasn't as big as we expected then.

Ingwar

Quote from: Alionic on Jul 14, 2017, 03:19:00 AM
Prometheus is the highest grossing Alien film, bud. A Fox executive recently said Covenant will make the studio a profit even though it underperformed. Can you do some more basic google searches before you post stuff like this, please?

But if you consider its budget and marketing cost then it's not. In relation between box office and budget/marketing highest grossing Alien movies are Alien and Aliens.

SiL

SiL

#1339
Quote from: Ingwar on Jul 14, 2017, 10:43:05 AM
But if you consider its budget and marketing cost then it's not. In relation between box office and budget/marketing highest grossing Alien movies are Alien and Aliens.
Gross doesn't take into account costs so yes, it is the highest grossing movie.

Kane's other son

Did Fox hope that Covenant would match or surpass Prometheus' box office numbers? You bet they did.
Was Covenant a flop? Absolutely not.
It was a disappointment and I'm sure the execs are really trying to figure why it didn't match their expectations. But I'm pretty sure it will make them a tidy, little profit and it will definitely not kill one of Fox's signature franchises.

Ingwar

Quote from: SiL on Jul 14, 2017, 10:59:13 AM
Quote from: Ingwar on Jul 14, 2017, 10:43:05 AM
But if you consider its budget and marketing cost then it's not. In relation between box office and budget/marketing highest grossing Alien movies are Alien and Aliens.
Gross doesn't take into account costs so yes, it is the highest grossing movie.

But it should be taken it into an account. Otherwise box office it's just an illusion. Budget and marketing costs should be considered. Prometheus didn't earn 403 millions. It sold tickets for 403 millions ... minus budget and marketing and so on.

Hemi

Hemi

#1342
Quote from: Kane's other son on Jul 14, 2017, 11:53:52 AM
Did Fox hope that Covenant would match or surpass Prometheus' box office numbers? You bet they did.
Was Covenant a flop? Absolutely not.
It was a disappointment and I'm sure the execs are really trying to figure why it didn't match their expectations. But I'm pretty sure it will make them a tidy, little profit and it will definitely not kill one of Fox's signature franchises.

What I find weird is why release it in the summer. This could have made some serious money with a Halloween release no?

Were they really this confident?

windebieste

Personally, I feel this was the biggest mistake Fox made and I could never figure out this myself.  Why rush it?  Why not just wait until October as planned originally?  As you say, that's the ideal time to release it.

-Windebieste.

Kane's other son

They liked the movie and felt confident. Also, a movie's release date is part of a jigsaw puzzle. We don't have all the data.
Personally, I believe they should've stuck to August 4th.

cucuchu

cucuchu

#1345
Quote from: Kane's other son on Jul 14, 2017, 11:53:52 AM
Did Fox hope that Covenant would match or surpass Prometheus' box office numbers? You bet they did.
Was Covenant a flop? Absolutely not.
It was a disappointment and I'm sure the execs are really trying to figure why it didn't match their expectations. But I'm pretty sure it will make them a tidy, little profit and it will definitely not kill one of Fox's signature franchises.

Didn't a Fox rep recently say Covenant hit all the marks they were shooting for but reception has been tepid at best so another movie is uncertain? That is certainly damning to hear before the BluRay/Digital even releases.

I don't think we are to expect another one, and most certainly not one helmed by Scott. These films require an at least somewhat decent budget and there is no longer an audience left to profit off that budget.  I love the franchise and enjoyed Covenant but I accept the franchise is dead. Maybe one day someone can fill that Sci Fi horror niche again, but it will not be another Alien film.

bb-15

bb-15

#1346
Quote from: monkeylove on Jul 14, 2017, 02:25:39 AM
Quote from: bb-15 on Jul 13, 2017, 08:28:25 PM

My disagreements with this argument;

1. The claim that box office needs 4 x the production budget to be get a sequel is just a theory.   
* We can test the theory of when studios approve sequels by looking at the numbers and seeing when sequels are approved. (From the numbers.com website)
http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/X-Men#tab=summary
- May 26, 2006   X-Men: The Last Stand, production budget:   $210,000,000, worldwide box office:   $459,359,555, ratio box office/budget = 2.19
Sequel approved.
- May 1, 2009   X-Men Origins: Wolverine, production budget:   $150,000,000, worldwide box office:   $374,825,760, ratio box office/budget = 2.49
Sequel approved.
- Jun 3, 2011   X-Men: First Class, production budget:   $160,000,000   worldwide box office:   $355,408,30   ratio box office/budget = 2.22
Sequel approved.

So, that's two franchises (Star Trek & X-Men) where sequels were approved with box office being about 2.5 x the production budget or even less.   
I could find more examples.

2. A movie makes money from more than just theater box office. There are disk sales (DVD/Blu-ray), streaming, cable broadcast fees, and with science fiction there are merchandising fees from toys and comics.

** Back to "Covenant"; a sequel could happen if its box office gets to 2.5 the production budget. Why? Because there are multiple movies which got sequels (like Batman Begins, Star Trek, X-Men) where that kind of performance got a sequel.

3. The Alien franchise is considered to be one of the top science fiction movie/TV franchises of all time.
http://screenrant.com/greatest-science-fiction-franchises-ever/

The challenge for the Fox studio is to figure out how to release an Alien franchise movie which can get better box office.
Whether the studio goes with a film more like "Prometheus" or "Aliens", there is the potential to make money and because of that, the Alien franchise is not dead. 

;)

The point isn't that a sequel requires revenues at up to four times the budget.

My point is that you and I are not studio executives.
Another of my points is that all we can know if our theories about sequels are correct is by what past box office/budget performance can lead to a sequel.

* Besides, several Star Trek and X-Men movies (and Batman Begins) getting sequels approved with box office ~2.5 x (or below) the production budget, there are other moves where this happened.
- From the-numbers.com
- Jan 20, 2006   Underworld: Evolution, production budget:   $45,000,000, worldwide box office:    $113,417,762,   ratio box office/budget = 2.5
Sequel approved. 
- Jan 23, 2009   Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans, production budget:   $35,000,000, worldwide box office:   $89,102,315, ratio box office/budget = 2.5
Sequel approved.
- Jan 20, 2012   Underworld: Awakening, production budget:   $70,000,000, worldwide box office:   $160,379,930, ratio box office/budget = 2.3
Sequel approved.

- A straight comedy movie, Analyze This, Production Budget: $80 million, Worldwide box office:    $176,885,658, ratio box office/budget = 2.2   (from Box Office Mojo)
Sequel approved.        

- I've already mentioned "AVP". It's box office was above 2.5 x the production budget but it's below 3x at around 2.87. 
Sequel approved.

Quote from: monkeylove on Jul 14, 2017, 02:25:39 AMThe Alien franchise is one of the best, but that's not shown in the two recent releases.

We all are entitled to our personal taste about any film.
- But our personal taste should not be part of this discussion. (Individual personal taste does not = professional critic rankings or large viewer polls.)
The personal taste of a few individuals has nothing to do with the fact that several movies exist which got sequels that had box office which was about 2.5 x their production budgets.   

- As for the box office for "Prometheus", it was 3.1 x its production budget. And it got a sequel. Many films get sequels when their box office is 3 x the production budget.
And comparing "Prometheus" box office with some other Alien franchise films?

- Alien3 - production budget $50 million, world wide box office, $159 million, ratio box office/budget = 3.18
Sequel approved and "Prometheus" did about the same with its box office / budget performance.
- Alien Resurrection - production budget $75 million, world wide box office, $161 million,  ratio box office/budget = 2.15
Sequel not approved.
But both "Prometheus" and "Covenant" have outperformed Resurrection.

* Bottom line; again, going by the publicly known facts about film history, box office and production budgets, if the box office for "Covenant" gets to 2.5 x its production budget, it could get a sequel.

;)

irn

irn

#1347
It was not a summer movie at all. It should have come out on the original release date post-summer and pre-Starwarsmas.

BishopShouldGo

Lol wut. All kinds a movies come out durin' the summer.

PEOPLE WEREN'T AS HUNGRY FOR THIS MOVIE AS THEY WERE FOR PROMETHEUS. THE END

PierreVW

Quote from: BishopShouldGo on Jul 14, 2017, 07:56:51 PM
Lol wut. All kinds a movies come out durin' the summer.

PEOPLE WEREN'T AS HUNGRY FOR THIS MOVIE AS THEY WERE FOR PROMETHEUS. THE END

I disagree.

Prometheus looked bigger. Summer is only for the biggest movies like Prometheus.

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