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Why hasn't Disney canned Kathleen Kennedy?


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2020 Jan 13, 11:00am   2,872 views  30 comments

by Goran_K   ➕follow (4)   💰tip   ignore  



Rise of Skywalker is officially a domestic star wars box office bomb, and will likely end up being a global star wars box office bomb once all the figures are in (compared to the previous films).

Box Office tracker Box Office Pro initially predicted the film would bring in between $185 million and $225 million in its opening weekend. The film failed to hit the low end, only bringing in $177 million according to The Numbers.
From there, the numbers get even bleaker. Box Office Pro predicted the film would end up grossing between $550 million and $750 million in its entire domestic box office run.



However, Forbes is now reporting the film won’t top Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s total domestic haul of $532 million. The Rise of Skywalker has currently grossed only $478 million.

What makes the fact that it won’t top Rogue One is that Rogue One had a much smaller opening weekend. It opened to the tune of $155 million at the domestic box office.

https://boundingintocomics.com/2020/01/12/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-labeled-a-box-office-disappointment/


At any private sector company, if you lost a billion dollars of value (literally the drop in value from "Force Awakens" to "Rise of Skywalker"), 99.9% of the time you would be demoted, but likely given a pink slip and sent packing.

Kathleen Kennedy still being employed makes absolutely zero business sense. It only makes sense if she's a globalist pawn whose only true job is as a soldier of the "culture wars".

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10   Goran_K   2020 Jan 13, 12:32pm  

Heraclitusstudent says
They made their $500 millions domestically. Still rather good for a bunch of CGI enhanced pursuits and flashing neon swords battles.


Is it good? From a business perspective, Star Wars is usually grossing domestically easily 2-3 times its total budget. Breaking even? That's a ridiculous failure considering the former value of the license.
11   Goran_K   2020 Jan 13, 12:36pm  

zzyzzx says
According to estimates of 275 million to make, I think she gets to keep her job.


The film isn't going to even hit the low end of its expected domestic gross. If she keeps her job, Disney is okay with devaluing its IPs and losing money. That's not a business. There has to be some other ulterior motive if she sticks around.
12   MisdemeanorRebel   2020 Jan 13, 1:30pm  

The biggest surprise downside is to the Merchandising, which are way below expectations.
13   MisdemeanorRebel   2020 Jan 13, 1:31pm  

Can't fire Kennedy because her Agent's marketing and promotions team basically enshrined her as the Greatest Female in Showbusiness, superior successor to Lucas/Spielburg/etc.

They can promote her up and out of the way, however.

Iger has a book out, that if you read between the lines, this is pretty much what he had to do. But they can't can her in an obvious way. She's run out of Soyboy Underlings to blame.

They can also force her to bypass her team of SJW female writers: "Yeah, we hired a bunch of outside experts and brought some scripts, you'll be using those writers".

To me, the shock was how unvetted she was. The only film she was personally responsible for before Star Wars 6-9 was Jurassic Park 3, which was a bomb. Every other movie, either Lucas or Spielburg had final authority over everything.

Kathleen Kennedy: "How a typing pool member was almost fired but retained for her persnickity scheduling abilities, and ended up screwing one of the most lucrative franchises in Hollywood History"
14   Goran_K   2020 Jan 13, 1:37pm  

NoCoupForYou says
Kathleen Kennedy: "How a typing pool member was almost fired but retained for her persnickity scheduling abilities, and ended up screwing one of the most lucrative franchises in Hollywood History"



Wow. That's one of the best summations of Kennedy's career I've read.
15   MisdemeanorRebel   2020 Jan 13, 1:40pm  

Goran_K says
Wow. That's one of the best summations of Kennedy's career I've read.

Thanks!

So common in history: You have a Great Administrator who rises to be a 4-star general or viceroy or Regent to an underage Monarch. They are great with managing schedules/budgets/organization, but because they've been in the field so long, they start to believe they are also engineers/military strategists/political geniuses/filmmakers when they are really just good staffers without a modicum of those other abilities.

I'm sure Indiana Jones and ET and Star Wars were helped by Kennedy's ability to track down Camera Crew #3 and Post-production Staff and nag them to be at Studio #18 at 3:15PM next Friday. But the problem was, she began to believe she knew storytelling and cinematic artistry because of it.
16   Goran_K   2020 Jan 13, 1:54pm  

NoCoupForYou says
So common in history: You have a Great Administrator who rises to be a 4-star general or viceroy or Regent to an underage Monarch. They are great with managing schedules/budgets/organization, but because they've been in the field so long, they start to believe they are also engineers/military strategists/political geniuses/filmmakers when they are really just good staffers without a modicum of those other abilities.


Perfect analogy. Completely explains why Kennedy is such a bad manager/leader.

You cannot be a good leader (in any field) if you believe you're a subject matter expert in every subject because you won't delegate effectively.
17   offendedsnowflake   2020 Jan 13, 2:29pm  

RC2006 says
Why do people keep voting for dems in CA? Same thing.

Stupid is as stupid does.
18   Shaman   2020 Jan 13, 3:13pm  

https://babylonbee.com/news/dear-babee-i-caught-my-wife-watching-the-last-jedi-is-this-grounds-for-divorce

“ Dear BaBee,

I got home from work the other day, and my wife was on the couch watching TV. I thought nothing of it. But then I froze as I heard the words coming from the screen: "It's time for the Jedi to end." In a panic, I confronted her, and sure enough, she was watching The Last Jedi. She tried to play it off like it was no big deal and thinks I'm overreacting. She even rolled her eyes and said I should "calm down" and "stop brandishing that lightsaber at me, it is a pretend toy."

Do you think this constitutes biblical grounds for divorce?

- Triggered in Tennessee

---

Dear Triggered,

In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that there's only one grounds for divorce: marital unfaithfulness. Not all wrongs in a marriage meet this standard. For instance, if she had just been watching the prequels, you could probably get by with some tough marital counseling. If you're seriously thinking about divorce, you need to ask if enjoying The Last Jedi is really the equivalent of cheating on you.

And the answer, of course, is yes. She betrayed those vows she made to you all those years ago by forsaking the true Star Wars canon.

Drop her like a bomb in space that falls toward a capital ship for some reason instead of just floating there.”
19   Rin   2020 Jan 13, 6:46pm  

I have a whole thread on ROS ...

https://patrick.net/post/1329170?offset=80#comment-1639274

As of now, it's about hit the ~$1B global gross so technically, it isn't a flop and thus, Kathleen Kennedy will keep her job despite the movie being a parody of 'Return of the Jedi' and not a serious Sci-Fi film.

https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Star-Wars-The-Rise-of-Skywalker-(2019)#tab=summary
20   Booger   2020 Jan 13, 7:23pm  

NoCoupForYou says
The biggest surprise downside is to the Merchandising, which are way below expectations.


Everybody who wants Star Wars PJ's and bed sheets already has them.
21   Rin   2020 Jan 14, 8:06am  

Ok, looks like my prediction is on target, here's the web url on the box office gross

https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-records/worldwide/all-movies/cumulative/all-time



It's going to pretty much be in that zone between 'Dark Knight Rises' and 'Avengers', as expected after a successful holiday week.

Sorry, but that's enough financial success for Kathleen Kennedy to spend the rest of her career at Lucasfilm's helm. Yes, I know, life sucks and then you die.
22   Goran_K   2020 Jan 14, 8:12am  

Rin says
Ok, looks like my prediction is on target, here's the web url on the box office gross

https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-records/worldwide/all-movies/cumulative/all-time



It's going to pretty much be in that zone between 'Dark Knight Rises' and 'Avengers', as expected after a successful holiday week.

Sorry, but that's enough financial success for Kathleen Kennedy to spend the rest of her career at Lucasfilm's helm. Yes, I know, life sucks and then you die.


You think it's going to make $100,000,000 in the remaining box office time the movie has?

That would put it barely above the Dark Knight, and would by far be the WORST box office total for any of the new trilogy movies. We know for sure it ain't touching TFW.

Why would the third movie in a trilogy drop in box office receipts by 50% if it was a success? Has that ever happened in any other successful trilogy?
23   Rin   2020 Jan 14, 8:35am  

Goran_K says
Why would the third movie in a trilogy drop in box office receipts by 50% if it was a success? Has that ever happened in any other successful trilogy?


That's not the point. When you're up against bean counters, since Lucasfilm is a subsidiary, posting $1B makes it successful and in the top 30. And as a result, Kathleen Kennedy keeps her job.

If this film were Solo redux, in other words, a $300M-$400M disaster, then she's fired.
24   Rin   2020 Jan 14, 8:38am  

Goran_K says
WORST box office total for any of the new trilogy movies


This isn't Marvel vs Star Wars, since it's rather clear that the entire Marvel franchise is a mega blockbuster cash cow king.

It's whether or not will Disney need to see that Lucasfilm needs a new President. Since Solo's now kinda forgotten, I very much doubt they'll want a regime change.
25   FortwayeAsFuckJoeBiden   2020 Jan 14, 8:55am  

Disney wanted her to make a movie that gave them female audience. This was intentional.

That boardroom thought that most feminist is lesbo shit would give them extra market share, and not alienate current audience. That’s why she’s there.
26   Patrick   2020 Jan 14, 9:18am  

offendedsnowflake says
RC2006 says
Why do people keep voting for dems in CA? Same thing.

Stupid is as stupid does.


The answer in one word: resentment.

So they're not entirely stupid. They feel anger at their own flaws and failures, and want others to suffer too so that they can feel better.

Man would fain be great, but sees that he is little.
Would fain be happy, but sees that he is miserable.
Would fain be the object of the love and esteem of his fellow man,
But sees that his faults only merit their contempt and aversion.
The embarrassment wherein he finds himself creates the most criminal and unjust feelings imaginable for he conceives a mortal hatred of those truths that condemn him.


--Pascal, in Pensees
27   WookieMan   2020 Jan 14, 12:02pm  

What's the point in comparing box office sales??? Everyone does understand this is about the theme parks... right? I paid $33 to watch the movie with my two boys. What do you think Disney netted from that?

2 years ago we went to Disney and easily spent close to $4-5k in and on Disney properties. What do you think Disney netted from that purchase? That's what they're going for. Not sure the hang up on a movie executive, who is likely a cunt as has been mentioned. Unless an absolute bomb, Disney simply doesn't care in the grand scheme of their business as Rin has mentioned. And yes, they want popular movies, but Star Wars is/was simply a tool in their revenue generation to get people to the parks.

Let's put it this way. Disney would have to put out a movie every month for a decade to get the money they got from me in one theme park visit. They care about the bottom line, but they bought a franchise that will attract visitors for decades. A couple movies ain't gonna make or break them or one executive.
28   Rin   2020 Jan 14, 12:24pm  

Fortwaynemobile says
That boardroom thought that most feminist is lesbo shit would give them extra market share, and not alienate current audience. That’s why she’s there.


With George Lucas's full blessing and endorsement.

What would you expect from a board, where the so-called cultural/literary/movie making "genius of the generation" endorses a company person who's been on-board since 1980?

As I'd stated in my other thread, if Disney Inc is making money, they do not need to micromanage Kathleen. Leave that to GE, Computer Associates and their respective boards, who BTW, ruin much of what they acquire.

The thing now with SW is that the merchandising pales in comparison to prior generations but hey, you can't have everything under the sun.

WookieMan says
but Star Wars is/was simply a tool in their revenue generation to get people to the parks.


Yes, this is a 5-10 fold multiplier on the movie sales and offsets the lackluster in-store merchandising of toys.
29   MisdemeanorRebel   2020 Jan 14, 2:44pm  

WookieMan says
2 years ago we went to Disney and easily spent close to $4-5k in and on Disney properties. What do you think Disney netted from that purchase? That's what they're going for. Not sure the hang up on a movie executive, who is likely a cunt as has been mentioned. Unless an absolute bomb, Disney simply doesn't care in the grand scheme of their business as Rin has mentioned. And yes, they want popular movies, but Star Wars is/was simply a tool in their revenue generation to get people to the parks.


Wookie, the Park side of that has also been underwhelming. 3% drop in a booming economy, despite a $1B investment by Disney. They've eliminated and not replaced a boatload of executives in charge of the facilities, as well. They promised investors big returns on investments that are underperforming.

https://orlando-rising.com/disney-eliminates-u-s-parks-chief-post-amid-disappointing-star-wars-galaxys-edge-opening/
30   WookieMan   2020 Jan 14, 5:05pm  

NoCoupForYou says
Wookie, the Park side of that has also been underwhelming. 3% drop in a booming economy, despite a $1B investment by Disney. They've eliminated and not replaced a boatload of executives in charge of the facilities, as well. They promised investors big returns on investments that are underperforming.

I wasn't saying Stars Wars would raise all ships. I was just saying that the whole point of the Lucasfilm purchase was obviously for future and past box office receipts, but also a large chunk was for the theme park revenue. It's a guess, but I'd say it was the primary reason.

The nostalgia of the original Disney stuff is wearing thin. That's likely a factor in the parks drop. Much of the old stuff in Magic Kingdom is two generations or more removed. It sucks for adult or kid. Basically it's shit no kid cares about now. Since there's only two parks at Disneyland, we spent the vast majority of our time in the California Adventure park versus the old shit when we went 4 years ago to that park. Basically the parks are outdated for kids being born now up to the past decade. Star Wars was a way to change that.

Do they care about the box office, hell yes. But they need new customers at the theme parks and I'd guess most families with boys that were into Star Wars, would only go to Disney if Star Wars was involved. That was the case for me, some of peers with kids and family. Can't rely on all the Asians, white/black trash locals, princess daughters and moms, and a bunch of drunks wanting to get plastered in Epcot. That was my experience before the full Star Wars section opened at least. At least at World. I didn't mind Land so much.

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