Just as Paramount began to celebrate its extended partnership with Hasbro…. disaster strikes!
HuaHua Media who collaborated with Paramount by investing US$ 1 Billion to promote and distribute movies in China, moved away from the deal leaving the Viacom company in a tight situation.
That deal, had it stayed, would have funded 25% of Paramount film slates up until the end of 2019.
Those who are in touch with the industry may already know that the deal was in a rocky path ever since Transformers: The Last Knight failed to live up to the expectations of the Chinese company.
While we do not believe that this situation will greatly affect the upcoming two Transformers movies, some sort of financial curtailing may occur. Revenue from China mainly drove the global financial success of Transformers: Age Of Extinction and the aforementioned Transformers: The Last Knight.
Paramount, in a statement, said it and Huahua had agreed to end the arrangement:
“Paramount Pictures and Huahua Media have mutually agreed to end their slate financing agreement… following recent changes to Chinese foreign investment policies,”
Jim Gianopulos, Paramount’s chairman and CEO, attempted to put a positive spin on the news, saying in a statement that the new deals give the studio a better opportunity to capture more of the profits from the films it makes. He noted that deals with the likes of Skydance will help finance the bigger budgeted releases, while Paramount will not enlist third party investors on its more modestly budgeted productions.
Ultrawave
Which is really disappointing, because Star Trek Beyond was far better than Into Darkness, and now Star Trek 4 is stuck in limbo with no one really knowing whether it is or isn't happening.
Negativedark
Yeah, that's what I was bringing up with mentioning Logan and Deadpool, and you listed off a bunch of good movies. While none of them hit what the big effects blockbusters made, they all made the studios money. Not sure how it works out for the Theatres, since even with the big spat of hits they've had troubles, but hopefully the mid budget movies can keep doing well.
Ash from Carolina
I don't think it's that the lower budget stuff can't make money but the studios have put on blinders to focus too hard on the prestige of being the top of the yearly box office.
But the mid and low budget stuff actually did pretty good this year.
Atomic Blond had a budget of $30 million and had domestic box office of $51.5 million.
John Wick 2 had a budget of $40 million and a domestic run of $92 million.
Baby Driver had a budget of $34 million and domestic box office of $107.8 million.
Horror did even better.
Get Out had a budget of $4.5 million and a domestic run of $175 million.
Split had a budget of $9 million and a domestic box office of $138 million.
Annabelle: Creation had a budget of $15 million and domestic box office run of $102 million.
Negativedark
The thing is right now movie tickets are pretty expensive. I mean I spent $12 bucks seeing a matinee of Thor Ragnarok on the ticket, some nachos and a medium drink. I've heard people talking about spending $50+ going to see a movie. So if you are going to see a movie, you've got to ask is it worth it to see it on the big screen once for that price, or wait a few months and then Rent, stream or even buy for about the same ammount as that one time viewing? The big flashy spectacle that really needs a huge screen helps. Hell even Bay has lamented the death of the mid budget film.
That said I hope Deadpool and Logan show you can do mid budget superhero, and hopefully Genre movies, and have them be awesome, and very profitable.
avengerboy123
O O F.
Ash from Carolina
At one time movies felt like a safe bet. It would feel like the studio was putting in serious effort to please the customer on more than just one aspect of the film. Sure we had our stinkers back in the old days, but the stinkers were so rare and the ticket prices were so low it was easy to shrug off the occasional bad film.
But as ticket prices went up the chances of finding that movie you could all around enjoy seemed to go down. We got more and more releases closer and closer together and instead of the occasional disappointment it became having to dig in the muck to find that jewel of a film you were looking for. Since everyone is putting out a flood of trailers and every studio is oh we aren't putting out crap like everyone else is you need something to filter out all the noise of watch me, watch me. The theater experience has only gotten worse with more and more trailers and advertisements before the film so why deal with the hassle for a movie that will leave you feeling ripped off?
If Hollywood wasn't dumping sub par movies off on people with no shame about if their customers actually enjoyed the movie or not then the critical reviews wouldn't be a factor. But after enough times of feeling you had been ripped off then you want to check something other the studio's advertising. Rotten Tomatoes only managed to gain it's foothold because pissed off costumers were just fed up with this feeling that the studios no longer give a damn.
From some of the box office numbers it seems like the Chinese customers are also starting to feel the bite of being tired of being played by studios who don't care about if the film is good, only if they can find a sucker that will pay for bad movies.
Sorry man but I'm just sick and tired of Hollywood taking profits just to produce more disappointment. So until Hollywood picks up it's game I'm going to be picky as can be about what I pay to see. Support a bad movie and the only message the studio hears is you don't care so they don't have to care either.
Jumacas
This! What other movie franchise (or franchise in general) has antagonized and taunted the established fanbase to such infamous degree? Only something like Dragonball Evolution comes to mind, and that was quickly rejected and forgotten about. Why has the Transformers fanbase taken slap after slap after slap in the face like this? Why do we excuse this mockery of what we have loved and supported for years?
Night Flame
I love Pacific Rim, but I'm worried the general movie-goer is gonna think Pacific Rim 2 is two or more years too late to capitalize on the excitement left after the first film.
And yeah, let's be honest, we don't need EVERY movie to be a huge effect blockbuster level film. I dig thought provokers, small budget comedies (when done well) and even dramas provided they don't shove every cliche that's ever existed into them. Part of the Hollywood problem right now is the homogenization of the whole movie-going experience. Not every film needs something for everyone. Diversify again, make films that are unique and tell a compelling story (different from the other ten movies playing at the same time) and you'll get at least SOME public interest again. Keep putting out the same basic film with different effects shots week after week and you'll end up…well, right about where you're at now.
Negativedark
War for the Planet of the Apes came out the week after Homecoming, so that didn't help. Another thing going on right now is there are a lot of big effects movies coming out every year, so it's very easy to get squashed in the middle of them. I'm kinda worried Pacific Rim 2 is going to get squished in between Black Panther and Ready Player One honestly.
KnightHawkke
I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about as no Marvel film formula has ever been applied to a Transformers movie. I don't recall a TF film who's basis is actually a base film type in disguise with characters laid over top. I know you're a passionate defender of the TF films, and I appreciate that, but please, try to use a little objectivity. I would never say Marvel films are without flaws, I'm not insane. But in the realm of quality of character, character depth and growth the TF films can't even hold the MCU's jockstrap. The TF films may have an edge in overall cinematography and look, but that only takes you so far. That doesn't build a long term audience, and that's why the TF films are failing to thrive. Sub-par character work is a death sentence to the existance of a franchise, even if it may happen slowly.
I mean hell, they even went to the point of characters being misused just to childishly taunt the existing fan-base? I'm looking at the Fembots getting slaughtered in seconds and the Dinobots being a joke. What did that accomplish? How in HELL was that supposed to be a move toward long term audience retention? Let alone immediatly grow the audience.
Russian fan
Well, Hasbro "fixed" the situation on TF5, taking the power and applying Marvel formula – and you know what we got. Because MICHAEL BAY'S TRANSFORMERS ARE DIFFERENT TYPE OF MOVIES! They aren't superhero movies, aren't childish cartoon and they haves slightly different audience, than your idols have. Numerous people here said that notorious Marvel formula is not working for Transformers!
RT justify its name. Dude, Ghostbusters have 74%. I think it enough said about RT incompetence. Why do you listen them? Are you lazy to use your own brain and heart? Do you understand that critics rule YOUR FEELINGS, YOUR MIND? The life is much more interesting, when you feel sincere, your own emotions, think your own thoughts! And I really disappointed that US, the country which ALWAYS valued freedom of thought, absence of brain washing and diversity everywhere, has addicted to the rating system for CINEMATOGRAPHIC ART. I miss the times, when all the people just went to theaters to watch movies they want, to experience sincere emotions and feel sympathy for heroes, to get some wisdom, not to check the box "oh, I watched that pathetically critically approved movie! My colleagues will respect me! (if I go to low-rating movie, they'll laugh on me!)" The times when everyone had own opinion, when there were not good movies and bad movies, there were just MOVIES YOU LIKE AND YOU DON'T LIKE. I admire chinese nation that they save this attitude, they go to the movies they like and wait, spitting to the RT shit. That's why all those 80-90% rating movies (which, by the way, mostly copying each other and explore the same simple conceptions) are in the footer of chinese box-office.
bellpeppers
Hire filmmakers who actually give a crap about the final product, confine them to a budget, and make better movies that appeal to more people.
Ash from Carolina
I tried to keep it to movies that came out this year since the list could get pretty long. But you are right Star Trek Beyond wasn't the hit that the studio wanted. A production budget of $185 million, a domestic haul of $159 million, but outside of the US ouch only $184 million at the box office. That was 16th place in the US and 26th place world wide for 2016.
bman29
I think you forgot one for the list, the last Star Trek film under performed too and I believe was co-produced by HUAHUA Media as well. The writing has been on the wall. Although I believe people are beinging picky about where they spend their money when it comes to going to the movies, which is why they will go see a Marvel movie or Disney/Star Wars(though they are going to milk that IP till nothing but powder comes out of the cows teats) etc, because they know what they're going to get. So they would see those and rent the others when they come out on demand or Redbox it.
Even though the early Marvel films where produced/distributed by Paramount interestingly enough, Paramount has failed in having quality IP films of their own in a long time. Spider-man Homecoming while well received had a fifty percent drop its second weekend out. There's been a decline in the domestic box office, which is why Hollywood has been going after the international market, but I believe they are beginning to get wise to it.
Ash from Carolina
I think a bigger financial problem than this Chinese deal is that Paramount can't find a critical darling in an age when customers are more more weary than ever about throwing good money at bad movies. The Tomato Meter break down for Paramount in 2017 is:
Monster Trucks 31%
xXX: The Return of Xander Cage 45%
Rings 7%
Ghost in the Shell 45%
Baywatch 19%
Transformers the Last Knight 15%
mother! 69%
Suburbicon 26%
Daddy's Home 2 currently 4%
If we look at the current domestic top 10 we get Tomato Meters of Beauty and the Beast 71%, Wonder Woman 92%, Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2 82%, Spider Man Homecoming 92%, It 85%, Despicable Me 3 60%, Logan 93%, The Fate of the Furious 67%, Dunkirk 92%, The Lego Batman Movie 91%.
The trend seems to be that movies below 50% don't have a real shot any more at getting in the top 10. So a movie like Daddy's Home 2 at 4% will get stomped by Thor Ragnarok at 93%. If Paramount wants to be one of the top studios they are going to have ramp up their game to be the sort of critical darlings that people are going to go hey lots of buzz on that movie let's go watch it.
TCJJ
Can't say this is surprising. The way I see it, they took advantage of a good situation by churning out as much mediocre crap as they could, and it backfired on them in the end.
And this is coming from someone who enjoyed TLK (I'm not saying it was good though, because it wasn't).
KnightHawkke
Well, you make tripe product and it catches up to you eventually. It took a while in this case but the shoe's dropping. After the first Bay movie they should have found someone else to do similar styles of the movies, but NOT make them insulting to the audience. NOT make the Decepticons nearly all meaningless. NOT make every human a caricature. After Avengers proved the "popcorn" films can still have a least a base amount of quality Hasbro films should have adjusted. By the time Cap 2 came out the MCU was outclassing the TF films in every single conceivable facet of filmmaking and storytelling.*
Though this has all been said in the past, and I'm not going to beat the dead horse too much more. Simple fact is Hasbro was spineless for not course correcting after ROTF was a thorough embarrassment.
* Well I guess that's not 100% fair. Dark of the Moon did have some smooth 3D.
SilverOptimus
Bumblebee movie is budgeted at 100 million. If we give another 100 for marketing, that means the breakeven is at 500 million. I believe it's a comfortable revenue to earn.
Regarding China, it's a hard case. The country does not allow for western movies to have long runs. A marketing push is needed to milk whatever out of the few weeks given for the run.
TLK grabbing just 600 million in total is not a pleasant situation. The film fell short of another 500 million to reach the breakeven point. On average theaters will take 45% of ticket sales. If we do the maths it's 270 million. Which leaves just 330 million. That value is only 10 million more than the production + marketing budget of TLK. But I hardly doubt that Paramount even got that 10 million as they need to payback their investors.
The only consolation Paramount had was the amazing Home Release which even beat the sales from Wonder Woman.
Nezha and the Transformers you mean. It's an animation and done inside China. So, I think it'll be safe.
Chaos Prime
Another nail in Bayformers coffin, maybe?
Jumacas
The stuff of comedy, really.