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Sherman and Peabody
Topic Started: Mar 30 2014, 10:13 PM (119 Views)
Tasermon's Partner


So, Dreamworks latest movie, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, came out about a month ago.

And in that month, it has earned a little over $200 million, on a budget of $145 million. Actually, a little more than half of the earnings seem to be international, as opposed to American. This is actually a crucial number, since, while many movie companies are wanting to drastically expand international earnings, a movie is still considered a "flop" if its American income did not exceed its budget, even if the international earnings did (weird, I know).

Looks like this one just moderately skimmed by as a box office success (critical reviews were highly positive though). This is despite a lackluster advertising campaign (personally, I only saw one billboard and just one movie trailer for this film :( )

This kinda brings up an issue for me, since I believe that Dreamworks' advertising has often been the reason behind the success, and failure, of several of its movies.

"Rise of the Guardians" had almost no advertising whatsoever. I think they were just relying on it to be successful because it came out during the Thanksgiving season, where almost everyone goes out to the movies, and thus thought that it would grab the majority of family-based audiences. No such luck. Great movie, that "bombed" because of lack of advertising.

Then there was "The Croods". The movie was generally lackluster, and the critical reception was much worse than "Rise of the Guardians", but after that movie's failure at the box office, Dreamworks went all-out on advertising to shore The Croods up. As a result, it got much better returns, despite the more negative critical reception, and the fact that the New Year's movie-going holiday crowd is generally much smaller than the Thanksgiving crowd.

"Turbo" had almost no advertising and subsequently bombed big time, though the critical reception was just as bad as the box office returns.

In other words, not surprisingly, there's a direct correlation between advertising and movie success.

Now, Dreamworks advertising for HTTYD2 seems to be a bit better than Rise of the Guardians was, but with just a few months to go, I don't think they've prepared any sort of blitz nearly as big as they did with The Croods. This worries/perplexes me somewhat. Perhaps they intend the movie's popularity to mainly be among viewers of the first movie (it is a sequel afterall), but how do they expect the average non-fanatic, lay-man viewer of the first movie to know that a second movie is even coming out if they don't advertise heavily? Especially since it's been nearly five years since the previous movie?

Thoughts on Mr. Peabody?

Thoughts on Dreamworks advertising strategy, both for HTTYD2 and in general?
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Night Fury
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The Croods and ROTG both had pretty identical reviews from what I can see (at least going by Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB), but The Croods was definitely marketed more heavily.

I also think The Croods had broader international appeal than Rise of the Guardians. It's a more universal story, whereas a lot of people weren't sure what ROTG was all about.

I've yet to see Mr. Peabody & Sherman, but I only vaguely recall seeing any advertising for it.

I agree with you on the lack of advertising for HTTYD2. In fact, I have yet to see any at all, even though I saw a trailer for the original film many months in advance.
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Catherine
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Gronckle
When you see Mr. Peabody & Sherman let me know if it's worth seeing :)
Focus, Hiccup! You're not even trying.
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Astrid Goes For A Spin
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I was actually at the movies a few days ago and took sixty-eight pictures with my cell phone camera of a huge 3D poster of Hiccup and Toothless - http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/198/d/c/httyd_2_poster_by_therealtwilightstar-d6dxm1c.jpg This one, actually, with Toothless's head popped out, and the words, "This summer, there's only one way to fly."

As soon as I figure out how to convert them to urls, I'll be uploading the ones where they're visible despite my flash. (Also when NyxxofStars isn't blocking them by taking a selfie. :)
No one has ever killed a Night Fury - that's why I'm going to be the first.
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Walter Roehrich
Terrible Terror
It does not surprise me that this movie doesn't earn so much outside of US since Mr. Peabody and Sherman (or the Rocky and Bullwinkle show in general) does not seem to be that in popular in other parts of the world. At least I have have never heard of the show until now.

Personally, I enjoyed the movie quite a lot. In my opinion it is the best Dreamworks movie since Kung Fu Panda 2. It does not have quite the "bite" as the original cartoon, but there are enough parallels and references to it to call it a worthy reboot.

That's just weak songwriting. You wrote a bad song, Petey.
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Erazer
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Walter Roehrich
Apr 1 2014, 04:16 PM
It does not surprise me that this movie doesn't earn so much outside of US since Mr. Peabody and Sherman (or the Rocky and Bullwinkle show in general) does not seem to be that in popular in other parts of the world. At least I have have never heard of the show until now.
Well, it's not the first time that happened. Whereas Pixar and Disney always try and do universal stories (hence the massive success of Frozen), Dreamworks can generally be a bit too focused on the American audience. ROTG is an example of that, but also Humpty Dumpty in Puss in Boots confused many European moviegoers (including me).

It find that strange, because lately Dreamworks hasn't really been doing so well domestically, either. In fact, most of the success of their recent films like Puss in Boots, The Croods or especially Kung Fu Panda 2 came from overseas earnings, so it seems strange to me that they're still doing films that mainly target the American audience.

I haven't seen the movie yet, so I'm not sure if it deserved more success. Judging from reviews and IMDb ratings though, it seems to be neither really good nor really bad.

How to Train your Dragon - HoppĂ­polla
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