'Lightyear' ខកចិត្តជាមួយនឹង Soft $21 លានដុល្លារថ្ងៃសុក្រ

Over the last year, we’ve had the second-biggest opening weekend of all time (Spider-Man: គ្មានផ្លូវនៅផ្ទះទេ), a Tom Cruise-starring កំពូលកាំភ្លើង movie earning $160 million in four days, a វេជ្ជបណ្ឌិតចម្លែក sequel seizing the second biggest no-Iron Man/Spider-Man MCU opening ever and the biggest-grossing video game movie in unadjusted domestic grosses (Sonic the Hedgehog 2 ។). There’s been much evidence since last May, when A កន្លែងស្ងាត់ទី II opened with $57 million and essentially tied its pre-Covid $50-$60 million tracking, that tentpoles can open as well (if not better) now than they would have under non-Covid circumstances. ឆ្នាំពន្លឺ (ពិនិត្យឡើងវិញ) technically nabbed the biggest Covid-era opening day for animation on Friday, but a $20.7 million Friday for a Pixar biggie is still a disappointment. Maybe conditioning consumers to watch Pixar biggies “for free” on Disney+ was a long-term mistake.

ឆ្នាំពន្លឺ, starring Chris Evans as Buzz Lightyear in a stand-alone sci-fi action-comedy that’s being weirdly sold as “the movie Andy saw in 1995 that made him a Buzz Lightyear fan,” earned about as much money on its first full Friday than Top Gun: Maverick earned ($19.5 million) in its preview grosses. I was wrong about Tom Cruise’s legacy sequel soaring to infinity and beyond, but I frankly always pegged ឆ្នាំពន្លឺ as a shameless IP cash-in that, at best, would play like a straight-up Pixar original. Inflation notwithstanding, the 2001-2012 run of Pixar newbies (Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Incredibles, Cars, Wall-E, Up និង ក្លាហាន) mostly opened with $60-$71 million. រតនៈសម្បត្តិ debuted with $48 million in 2007 (before legging to $209 million) and ខាងក្នុងចេញ nabbed $90 million (against the second weekend of ពិភពលោក Jurassic) in 2015, but I digress.

In a non-Covid world, ឆ្នាំពន្លឺ (which is a perfectly solid three-star, IMAX-friendly outer-space adventure) would have been the presumably easy lay-up/IP sell-out following a slew of original, inclusive and/or riskier Pixar toons like តទៅ, ព្រលឹង, ឈ្មោះ Luca និង ងាកក្រហម. But those last three films went straight to Disney+, with Pixar’s “cool for grownups” reputation being used by a desperate Bob Chapek as a streaming subscription carrot since most of its non-សង្គ្រាមផ្កាយ/Marvel shows didn’t break out and Covid kept the pipeline from running at full speed. Throw in រ៉ាយ៉ានិងនាគចុងក្រោយ និង មន្តស្នេហ៍ getting heavily compromised theatrical releases while this IP cash-in/white man’s hero’s journey actioner gets a full-throated theatrical release. Fair or not, it’s not a great look that the first big Disney pure theatrical in years is essentially Pixar’s តែឯង: រឿងសង្គ្រាមផ្កាយ.

It’s an unrequested prequel/origin story about the co-lead character in a popular kid-friendly franchise yet played by a different actor than the one associated with the character. Chris Evans as Buzz is a better bet than Alden Ehrenreich (great actor, go rent សត្វច្នៃប្រឌិតដ៏ស្រស់ស្អាត) as Han, but it’s still a generic “white guy’s journey” flick following a handful of “not a white guy” films in the same brand, but with an eclectic, diverse cast (including at least one non-hetero supporting character) surrounding him. ទោល bombed in 2018 because nobody gave a damn about it (especially overseas). Alas, the narrative became that its failure was due to “bad marketing,” “too much តារា Wars” and the reception to the acclaimed and $1.3 billion-grossing Last Jedi. នេះ ជា​លទ្ធផល​នៅក្នុង ការកើនឡើងនៃ Skywalker ។ being (seemingly) retooled to appease the online trolls.

I fear a similar fallout here, especially if ឆ្នាំពន្លឺ doesn’t recover over the weekend (which it could) or leg out over the summer (which it might). In a sane world, an underperformance by ឆ្នាំពន្លឺ would be seen as a bad bet on audiences wanting a standalone Buzz Lightyear flick. Had it opened closer to $70 million over the weekend (instead of the likely $52 million Fri-Sun/$60 million four-day Juneteenth holiday weekend), it could at least be explained as “Audiences just took this as a Pixar original.” However, the world being what it is, we’ll see discourse about how the film’s non-sensual kiss between two married grandmothers and/or Patricia Heaton’s last-minute Twitter outcry over Tim Allen being replaced somehow sunk the otherwise surefire film. Or, worse, Bob Chapek may decide that future Pixar movies, original or otherwise, shouldn’t open theatrically.

I was more bearish than I should have been on កក II after a “mere” $40 million Friday (akin to Alice in Wonderland 11 years earlier) and on រឿងតុក្កតា 4 after a “mere” $120 million opening weekend (akin to រឿងតុក្កតា 3 nine years earlier and just after មិនគួរឱ្យជឿ 2 opened with $183 million). កក II legged out to $130 million over the weekend and $470 million domestic while រឿងតុក្កតា 4 topped $430 million in North America. Like ទោល, Lightyear is solid three-star entertainment, and unlike the summer of 2018, there just isn’t a ton of comparative competition. នាទី៖ ការកើនឡើងនៃហ្គ្រុយ opens on July 1, but big Pixar movies (Toy Story 3, Inside Out, Finding Dory, Moana) can coexist with big Illumination movies (Despicable Me, Minions, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing).

ឆ្នាំពន្លឺ has solid reviews (an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes), an A- from Cinemascore and a firm birth as one of two “big deal” animated films between now and Disney’s ពិភពចម្លែក ជាង អរព្រះគុណ. Could it crash like ដាយណូស័រល្អ ($127 million from a $55 million Wed-Sun Thanksgiving debut)? Sure, and that would be around $155-$165 million domestic, while a run like រថយន្ត 2 (២០២ លានដុល្លារ / ៣០ លានដុល្លារ) និង រថយន្ត 3 ($153 million/$54 million) would still give ឆ្នាំពន្លឺ an over/under $155 million cume while រឿងតុក្កតា 4 legs would get it closer to $190 million. I’m more concerned about overseas numbers (ទោល merely underwhelmed domestically but outright bombed overseas). I’m most concerned about how a theoretical commercial failure of ឆ្នាំពន្លឺ will be received at Disney. ទោល essentially killed សង្គ្រាមផ្កាយ theatricals. I hope ឆ្នាំពន្លឺ doesn’t do likewise for Pixar.