BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 3D Proves Conversion Market - 97% Of Viewers Are Seeing It In 3D!!
That is a staggering figure! 97% of all audiences for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST saw it in 3D and that is up from Disney's previous classic THE LION KING which enjoyed 92% 3D viewership. So if there was any doubt that classic movies (animations at least) could be successfully re-released with 3D conversions and enjoy handsome profits, they are long gone now.
My number 2 most anticipated animation movie of 2012 did not disappoint me at all. By all means go and relive this film if you have seen it before! So many things I had simply forgotten. The music is infectious. The French provincial artistry is amazing. Gaston's hilarious!
Disney expects the MLK weekend total score at about $23.5 million for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (a+ CinemaScore), trailing number one and over achieving CONTRABAND ($28.8m and a A- CinemaScore).
I saw both movies over the weekend (CONTRABAND is good too) and clearly 3D conversion is working wonders for the classic Disney animations. 3D injects a modern look and feel to those heart warming stories and introduces those characters to a new generation - a generation that "owns" 3D. The result is amazing. Children with mouths agape, jumping in their seats with joy while adults sitting in the same theater are having warm memories evoked and frequently swiping their eyes to brush away tears. Very interesting phenomenon to witness.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ($18m) is not doing THE LION KING's ($30.2m) opening weekend numbers for a number of reasons:
1. THE LION KING is simply a bigger movie. TLK did $951m worldwide compared to B&TH's $400m.
2. TLK enjoyed being the first release of its kind from the Disney library (other than its acquired Pixar tandem release of TOY STORY / TOY STORY 2 douuble feature).
3. Carnivorous Products. Funny seeing that marketing term with a family movie, but it's true. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is available to purchase on 3D blu-ray RIGHT NOW. Yes, you read that correctly - it is on retail shelves at the same time as theatrical release. TLK had a dedicated window of theatrical viewing before the disc release. In fact, the 3D blu-ray for B&TH has been on sale since October and it has already been discounted from $49.99 to $34.96.
Disney's response to this rather interesting carnivorous situation is the following:
"We’ve talked to all of our partners in exhibition about this and have made no secret about the Beauty And The Beast 3D Blu-Ray DVD being available. In fact there are multiple exhibition partners that are tying promotions into the 3D Blu-ray being available, like AMC and Regal."
Anyway, the performance of BEAUTY AND BEAST is stellar despite not living up to THE LION KING in box office. BEAST has in fact upped the 3D viewership numbers to 97%! This duo of converted movies for Disney has proven the anticipated market for the 3D conversion of classic movies and should lead us nicely into the live action segment as well.
Kudos to Disney for a job well done and continued success with the rest of their library re-release aspirations.
Source: Deadline | Box Office Mojo
