The Chinese company Wanda acquires Legendary Pictures

[TheSecondComing]

Godzilla didn't do that we'll in China, it made $77M which yielded less than $25M for the studio.

Second highest gross in the entire world.

[Underworld54]

Godzilla didn't do that we'll in China, it made $77M which yielded less than $25M for the studio.

Second highest gross in the entire world.

But that's typical for any big budget film since the U.S. and China are the two biggest markets in the world.

[bczilla91]

Godzilla didn't do that we'll in China, it made $77M which yielded less than $25M for the studio.

Second highest gross in the entire world.

But that's typical for any big budget film since the U.S. and China are the two biggest markets in the world.

Kinda hard to make more money when it had the rug pulled out from under it for that stupid Transformers movie. If not for that movie it would've performed much better

[Underworld54]

Second highest gross in the entire world.

But that's typical for any big budget film since the U.S. and China are the two biggest markets in the world.

Kinda hard to make more money when it had the rug pulled out from under it for that stupid Transformers movie. If not for that movie it would've performed much better

Again, that's China for you. They schedule Hollywood films for a set number of days. They couldn't care less how much competition there is between Hollywood films. Let's be thankful China didn't pull the shady shit they did with Terminator Genisys. That was such BS.

[Cookson]

They do decent enough in China.. And since LP is part of Wanda, the amount it makes for the studio in China is more.

[Ryguy]

Godzilla didn't do that we'll in China, it made $77M which yielded less than $25M for the studio.

Everybody on this forum seems to be perpetuating that claim... I only said that because everybody else is stating something along those lines. I don't know squat: that's just what I am hearing.

How can you claim King Kong is a profitable property when the studio hasn't even seen how one of their KK films have performed?

Yeah, King Kong is totally not profitable: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=kingkong05.htm

Being profitable =/= making billions. The only film franchises that make it into the billions are Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Captain America/Iron-Man (both Marvel properties), Transformers, and maybe some overrated animated flicks like Frozen and Despicable Me (deviating from the main topic, if somebody could please kill the Despicable Me franchise, that would be amazing...)

Kinda hard to make more money when it had the rug pulled out from under it for that stupid Transformers movie. If not for that movie it would've performed much better

And what makes this ironic is that the Transformers movies/Michael Bay are crapped-on critically yet they still make billions. The GA shits on the franchise and Michael Bay's directing yet they still see these films, and they are completely capable of screwing-over far more quality films on a financial level.

[Cookson]

Most movies in China only stay a few weeks. I'm curious to see how long Warcraft will play there since it's under Wanda and Wanda owns pretty much all the movie theaters. It should give us a pretty good idea of how much more advantage LP films have in China.

Don't give me the King Kong isn't profitable BS... Back in 05 it didn't even play in China(well it did but its nowhere like it is today). LP and Wanda have a pretty good shot at Skull Island making over 600m worldwide.

[Underworld54]

Most movies in China only stay a few weeks. I'm curious to see how long Warcraft will play there since it's under Wanda and Wanda owns pretty much all the movie theaters. It should give us a pretty good idea of how much more advantage LP films have in China.

Don't give me the King Kong isn't profitable BS... Back in 05 it didn't even play in China(well it did but its nowhere like it is today). LP and Wanda have a pretty good shot at Skull Island making over 600m worldwide.

That was the Universal King Kong helmed by Peter Jackson. This is a whole new ball of wax we're dealing with here, no one knows how it will perform yet.

[Cookson]

Most movies in China only stay a few weeks. I'm curious to see how long Warcraft will play there since it's under Wanda and Wanda owns pretty much all the movie theaters. It should give us a pretty good idea of how much more advantage LP films have in China.

Don't give me the King Kong isn't profitable BS... Back in 05 it didn't even play in China(well it did but its nowhere like it is today). LP and Wanda have a pretty good shot at Skull Island making over 600m worldwide.

That was the Universal King Kong helmed by Peter Jackson. This is a whole new ball of wax we're dealing with here, no one knows how it will perform yet.

I think we all know what film that was

[morgoth]

Kong is a profitable brand and taking into account that there is a lot of star power in this film, I think the movie will make money. Now, as far as how they (the characters) are written and the script (Borenstein UUUGHH) itself we'll see. With the way Legendary handled the marketing with Godzilla, my gut tells me it will be successful provided the marketing is more honest this time.

[miguelnuva]

Most movies in China only stay a few weeks. I'm curious to see how long Warcraft will play there since it's under Wanda and Wanda owns pretty much all the movie theaters. It should give us a pretty good idea of how much more advantage LP films have in China.

Don't give me the King Kong isn't profitable BS... Back in 05 it didn't even play in China(well it did but its nowhere like it is today). LP and Wanda have a pretty good shot at Skull Island making over 600m worldwide.

That was the Universal King Kong helmed by Peter Jackson. This is a whole new ball of wax we're dealing with here, no one knows how it will perform yet.

It's the same character its going to perform about the same.

[Underworld54]

Most movies in China only stay a few weeks. I'm curious to see how long Warcraft will play there since it's under Wanda and Wanda owns pretty much all the movie theaters. It should give us a pretty good idea of how much more advantage LP films have in China.

Don't give me the King Kong isn't profitable BS... Back in 05 it didn't even play in China(well it did but its nowhere like it is today). LP and Wanda have a pretty good shot at Skull Island making over 600m worldwide.

That was the Universal King Kong helmed by Peter Jackson. This is a whole new ball of wax we're dealing with here, no one knows how it will perform yet.

It's the same character its going to perform about the same.

You can't possibly predict that without seeing a trailer and reading people's comments about the said trailer.

[Cookson]

Warcraft is annihilating the Chinese box office. With the merge of LP to Wanda, the LP films are keeping around 55% of the gross there. That's absolutely INSANE. Thomas Tull is a smart man. No wonder Pacific Rim 2 has come alive. They'll probably start pushing G2 now since they see what a LP film can take home from China. I definitely expect to hear a director announcement regarding G2 this summer. Amazing.

[Ryguy]

^It's odd because it doesn't seem to be particularly impressive quality-wise, at least judging from the reviews, reactions, and ratings that I have been reading about. Still, you do have a great point there. Legendary would have to be blind as a bat to ignore the benefits of Wanda's purchase.

[Showa Gyaos]

Warcraft is annihilating the Chinese box office. With the merge of LP to Wanda, the LP films are keeping around 55% of the gross there. That's absolutely INSANE. Thomas Tull is a smart man. No wonder Pacific Rim 2 has come alive. They'll probably start pushing G2 now since they see what a LP film can take home from China. I definitely expect to hear a director announcement regarding G2 this summer. Amazing.

The best part about this news is that Warcraft was released in China on a weekday. Imagine the numbers it could gross this weekend. For a comparison, X-Men: Apocalypse grossed about $59 million over the previous weekend. It's going to make money there.

Still, I hope it does make money here. That's pretty important.

[Cookson]

Warcraft is annihilating the Chinese box office. With the merge of LP to Wanda, the LP films are keeping around 55% of the gross there. That's absolutely INSANE. Thomas Tull is a smart man. No wonder Pacific Rim 2 has come alive. They'll probably start pushing G2 now since they see what a LP film can take home from China. I definitely expect to hear a director announcement regarding G2 this summer. Amazing.

The best part about this news is that Warcraft was released in China on a weekday. Imagine the numbers it could gross this weekend. For a comparison, X-Men: Apocalypse grossed about $59 million over the previous weekend. It's going to make money there.

Still, I hope it does make money here. That's pretty important.

It's important, but the LP films have a "loophole" now with China.

[Ryguy]

Truly, however, the executives at Legendary and Wanda would have to be operating in a cave if they fail to see the potential of their "big-namers" flamboyantly waving income in their face.

I mean, if they have a director set for Godzilla 2 (the truth is unknown now), there is no reason to twiddle their thumbs until the summer ends. This is why any sort of update is welcome: at least give us a run-down on what you have accomplished in recent weeks and what actions are being completed currently.

If Warcraft is a noteable success especially (as in, far more impactful than a moderate success), I would imagine at least a drop of confidence could be gathered, leading to at least one update. But I wouldn't be bewildered if we don't get squat for months, because I understand how the cinema industry operates.

Added in 5 hours 53 minutes 49 seconds:
Warcraft's profit is slowing down now. It seems as though $315 million could be the very upper bound for its final value. So what does this mean for Legendary/Wanda? It didn't flop worldwide, but apparently it didn't exactly live to leave a lasting impression either.

Given the pessimistic attitude of the Godzilla fanbase in general, this is probably nothing but terrible news for many of you...

[godzillalives88]

Added in 5 hours 53 minutes 49 seconds:

Given the pessimistic attitude of the Godzilla fanbase in general, this is probably nothing but terrible news for many of you...

Meh, not really, internationally Warcraft's probably gonna end up being a PAR, and as for Wanda, I don't see how kicking off their relationship with one of the most successful films in China of all time is harmful. I know there's a tendency of late to think every single development with Legendary impacts Godzilla 2, but that's really not the case. Hell, when all the smokes clears, Godzilla's probably still going to be their most successful homegrown property that they've retained the rights to.

[Ryguy]

I know there's a tendency of late to think every single development with Legendary impacts Godzilla 2, but that's really not the case.

This worry originated with the complaining after both Gareth left and after the delay. Suddenly Godzilla 2 faces two roadblocks that are totally not uncommon in filmmaking and everybody writes-up these insane-ass conspiracies that everything is going to hell now.

I do think, however, that a colossal box office bomb could impact the studio(s) very severely, though Warcraft is thankfully not this type.

[Rodan]

I'm honestly not enormously thrilled with this (although since Legendary Pictures has produced 1.5 films I really care about, I suppose it's not a huge loss either way).

Huge blockbuster movies are already made with Chinese audiences in mind, as it's such an important market, but China tends to be pretty active in what it deems acceptable media on this scale. I do worry about the kinds of top-down decisions that could temper what we get in these films. If it's even fathomable, I foresee even "safer" products to come.

Then again, it's the same market concerns either way. I don't really see this affecting the relationship with Toho in anyway, despite continued cultural enmity between China and Japan. They still do business, and there's a bottom line involved.