"Sematary (2019)" performance

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Rrty

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2007
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Not sure if this has already been discussed, but what did everyone think about the opening weekend box-office gross? The movie resurrected $24.5 million domestic, and I think $42 million worldwide. This was compared to a reported $21 million budget. I have no idea what the marketing spend was.

I don't exactly know what to think of this. Seems pretty good to me; I guess we will have to see how it holds up over the coming weeks. I read that if the studio and/or financers (not sure if this was co-financed or not without checking, but Paramount does tend to spread the risk) are satisfied, there may be a prequel...which I would love to see made. That actually might work in this post-It (2017) world when you think about it...imagine if it were set in the 80s with high school kids instructed by a younger Jud about the Micmac land. Besides burying their pets (and they can start off with frogs/pigs from biology lab!), they eventually bury someone they accidentally hit in a drunken-driving accident (and maybe before that they bury a favorite teacher who passed away). So many ways to do it. In some ways, I wish Jason Blum was shepherding this project, if you get what I mean...

Another thing I wonder is if movies like this might be better off on streaming platforms as exclusives. And I also wonder why this particular release date...why go up against Shazam, any idea on that? Wouldn't an earlier date have been better? What type of counterprogramming is this...older females? Just older people in general? I suppose for certain they wanted to stay clear of Avengers.
 

Moderator

Ms. Mod
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Jul 10, 2006
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Not sure if this has already been discussed, but what did everyone think about the opening weekend box-office gross? The movie resurrected $24.5 million domestic, and I think $42 million worldwide. This was compared to a reported $21 million budget. I have no idea what the marketing spend was.

I don't exactly know what to think of this. Seems pretty good to me; I guess we will have to see how it holds up over the coming weeks. I read that if the studio and/or financers (not sure if this was co-financed or not without checking, but Paramount does tend to spread the risk) are satisfied, there may be a prequel...which I would love to see made. That actually might work in this post-It (2017) world when you think about it...imagine if it were set in the 80s with high school kids instructed by a younger Jud about the Micmac land. Besides burying their pets (and they can start off with frogs/pigs from biology lab!), they eventually bury someone they accidentally hit in a drunken-driving accident (and maybe before that they bury a favorite teacher who passed away). So many ways to do it. In some ways, I wish Jason Blum was shepherding this project, if you get what I mean...

Another thing I wonder is if movies like this might be better off on streaming platforms as exclusives. And I also wonder why this particular release date...why go up against Shazam, any idea on that? Wouldn't an earlier date have been better? What type of counterprogramming is this...older females? Just older people in general? I suppose for certain they wanted to stay clear of Avengers.
Is this thread intended to focus on the monetary/marketing aspect rather than discussing the plot changes and/or what others think of the movie itself? If so, separating those discussions is fine and I won't merge this post into the other discussion.
 

Rrty

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2007
1,394
4,588
...I really don't give a rip about the whole dollars and cents end of the thing...no slam to Rrty, but I'm more concerned whether I'll be entertained....

I agree on this, but I'm hoping to get that prequel, so I guess I'm further hoping this performance is good enough for that. That's why I hope the producers think streaming at the very least for another dose of the Sematary.

I stopped going to the theater once they started to make me pay to watch advertisements. I usually wait until it trickles down to Netflix or a library dvd. I am very much looking forward to the film...in about 8 months or so.

I haven't been to the theater for a long time now, but for other reasons; I believe the last film I saw in that forum was Ghostbusters 2016 (I did like that film). I hear you on the ads, although I suppose the chains have to diversify revenue streams somehow (I'm surprised the industry doesn't allow for payment of trailer placing, would seem fair to me; at least, I don't think that is allowed, or if it is, I know it is discouraged). Then again, I don't know if you have cable or not, but we pay to watch ads there, as well (or we pay to skip through them, if you have a DVR; believe it or not, I oftentimes watch ads to support the product!).
 

preciousroy

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Apr 4, 2018
175
661
My impression of Shazam was that it must be a really bad movie for it to be advertised as an interview-promotional/trailer. My theatre has been running that annoying uninteresting preview before every movie I go see for months now. I thought at first it was just for the weekly classics they screen to supplement ad revenue but I saw the preview before contemporary films like Glass and Pet Sematary. I just got the feeling from that preview that the people who made that movie know it's gonna suck. I've heard that when movies are heavily advertised it's because the movie company knows they're gonna suck and have to build hype. This one had to try to use the promotional hype and left the actual preview out of it. I get the feeling that if it had been a romance-comedy Shazam would have been dating his co-star for promotional reasons, too. It gives me visions of Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy "dating" so many years ago when they were trying to sell their movie. How good could it be?

Skip Shazam. Go see Pet Sematary twice.
 

jdt827

Member
Jan 30, 2019
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I think the box office performance is a little lackluster. Ideally, American films want to make a profit in America and other territories just add to that. Basically it broke even in the US if we aren't counting the marketing budget which I believe was pretty moderate. I think they may still consider a prequel on a smaller scale (which may be better) with more affordable actors and director. But frankly, it just wasn't a very good movie as critics and audience scores have concluded. So between that and the mediocre box office performance, I really don't see a big demand for more Pet Sematary in the near future. Just my opinion.
 

Hill lover35

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Jan 8, 2017
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I stopped going to the theater once they started to make me pay to watch advertisements. I usually wait until it trickles down to Netflix or a library dvd. I am very much looking forward to the film...in about 8 months or so.

yeh I found the ones for pet seminary to be annoying. they are the same commercials as we see on TV, and for the same products. so we see the same products when we show up for the pre entertainment and then we get movies. it was annoying.
 
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