Why’d They Bomb? Christopher Robin, Mary Poppins Returns, and Dumbo/Why’d it Hit? Aladdin

https://lebeauleblog.com/2019/07/03/whyd-they-bomb-christopher-robin-mary-poppins-returns-and-dumbo-whyd-it-hit-aladdin/

As for Dumbo, two words why that movie disappointed at the box office: Tim. Burton. Alice in Wonderland might have made a billion dollars but one look at Tim’s movies showed that, even if people saw Alice in Wonderland, it doesn’t mean they liked it. Dark Shadows, Frankenweenie, Big Eyes, and Miss Peregrine have all underperformed or outright bombed at the box office. Alice was the last straw for Burton for many people and they haven’t come to see a movie of his since, not even when critics go “No, you don’t understand, it’s actually decent” like they did with Frankenweenie and Big Eyes.

Granted his choice of source material isn’t really helping. Dark Shadows is based off of a once popular but now long forgotten TV show, Big Eyes is based off of an artist whose paintings were popular once upon a time but is not really someone many people would rush out to see a movie about, and Miss Peregrine is based off a book with a niche fanbase. Frankenweenie is a stop motion film and, judging by the box office results of most recent stop motion films (except for Coraline), I think the general public isn’t really fond of stop motion animation, they think it makes the movies seem “old” and “archaic” and the fact that a CGI animated film with a similar look and theme (Hotel Transylvania) was coming out at the same time killed whatever chance it had at the box office.

That being said, I do think Alice in Wonderland caused a stigma against Burton’s name and turned many people off from seeing anything he does ever again. And having him do another remake of a popular Disney film, especially when the trailers made it clear Burton was going to throw out the source material and do his own thing, just like he did with Alice in Wonderland, turned audiences away because they didn’t want to be fooled again like they had been with that movie.

Guy Ritchie doesn’t have quite the same stigma. Sure people think he’s gone downhill as a director but not to the same extent as they do with Burton. I don’t think he’s even really the household name Burton is and, if people do recognize the name, it’s probably more for the Madonna connection than it is for his movies. When people think of Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes, they think of Robert Downey Jr. not Guy Ritchie. When people think of Tim Burton’s Batman, though, they think of Tim Burton just as much as they think of Michael Keaton. This probably helped Aladdin‘s box office.

But I think what also helped is that people are more selective about WHAT re-imaginings, remakes, sequels, etc. they go to see. Yes Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella, and The Jungle Book are all older movies but they were the only Disney remakes that came out in their respective years. Since 2018, though, Disney has been making 2-3 re-imaginings or sequels or remakes a year that it becomes hard for people to keep up.

So I think most people are really just going to be sticking to the Renaissance remakes from now on because their based on the movies their most passionate about. Sure they saw Dumbo, the Winnie the Pooh shorts, and Mary Poppins, and they might have loved them, but it was moreso something their parents or grandparents introduced them to.

But Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King were movies from their generation, movies they remember seeing in theaters, movies they remember getting hyped up for, their just movies that have a more special place in their heart because they remember when those movies were big. They weren’t alive when those older movies were big and, now that newer movies are getting remade, and there’s so many remakes coming out, there’s just no reason to go see the remakes of older films anymore. They’d rather nostalgically remember movies that came out around their time instead because it’s what they connect with the most.

So that’s why Aladdin is a box office hit and why The Lion King is definitely going to be a box office hit even though Dumbo never took flight.