Alien Covenant in the hot seat as Fox reports numbers for 4th fiscal quarter

Another honest topic from joylitt with a misleading title!

I see that AC was not the only movie to fall short of financial expectations- even War of the Planet of the Apes was mentioned. It doesn't seem fair to put the burden on AC alone. Perhaps a part of it is a lot of viewers just aren't interested in those types of movies- not neccessarily the specific movies themselves. Maybe if Caesar and an Engineer don capes and tights the movies might sell better. Viewers just seem more interested in super hero films right now.  

Fox seem to have much larger bigger problems than Alien: Covenant according to those articles. Namely a lack of a truly blockbuster release this year by the studio. None of their films have done exceptionally well.

They also quote  significant release costs during the period for movies including “War for the Planet of the Apes.” The company also cited lower revenue at both the film and television studios.

apologies dk I pretty much paraphrased what you just said lol. I reckon a lot of it has to do with viewers moving away from the Cinema experience to home movies and streaming services. There is usually a large lag before those figures are incorporated into a movies fiscal reports 

dk It seems War of the planet of the apes numbers are not considered for this particular quarter. I just wonder if Fox didn't put Alien Covenant in a difficult situation by changing the release date a couple of times. If it had been released in the same quarter as another big movie it would't have looked so bad.

IRaptus No worries. It goes to show the links get read and also comes back around to the subject of how should movies continue- streaming or cinema. IMO, the Alien series has a lot of potential. The question just seems to be how best to go about it.

The problem with theaters is that it can cost $12 to see a movie.  ($9 if you go during the day).  If I had a movie theater near me which plays movies that have just left the main movie theater and plays them for $4, I would never go to the main movie theater.  These kind of theaters exist because I have used them before.  There are just none around me!  So, if there was a $4 dollar movie theater around me, I would also be going to the movies a lot more.  Some movies look good on TV commercials, but I just don't want to throw $12 bucks at and 2-hours of my time.  $4 is almost throwaway money, really.

IRaptus and dk - We could write studies or theses how joylitt tries to manipulate the readers against the movie with the beginning of this title: 'Alien Covenant in the Hot Seat...'

None of the articles linked are about Covenant, just mentioned by them similarly to other movies, such connotation isn't made.

Is he paid for that? Probably yes. By another company? Who knows? Everything is possible. This is the world we live in...

joylitt I have no idea if or how studios manipulate release dates at the quarterly level you suggest. It would make some sense to look at it from a bird's eye view from a studio perspective, but to fans- they will likely see the movie regardless of release date.

Ati The title is not misleading at all. It is just a fair interpretation of what is in the article. It does not contradict the contents of the article, it just connects to our main topic. Anybody reading this would infer that there is going to be some pressure on the movies under performing during this quarter.

But how can they measure the profit just based on box office earnings? Surely Covenant has garnered way more in merchandise sales than Planet of the Apes or Boss Baby?

Since Covenant's release I've amassed such an embarrassingly excessive collection of Covenant and A L I E N merchandise I could almost be considered an investor at this point... :-/

Like...glancing around me right now...I'm presently surrounded by plush facehuggers, chestbursters, action figures, comics, novels, an art-and-making book, a dismembered Bishop plush

...not to mention the six Covenant T-shirts I got for me and everyone at my birthday and the A L I E N, A L I E N S, Prometheus and Covenant movies I bought... all this I purchased since Covenant's release.

I'm sure I'm not the only one. I don't think many other recent releases inspire this level of fanaticism. I think in the long run, Covenant will prove profitable.

Fox just needs to make sure they have a few mildly evil types on their market research team, to make sure they're targeting obsessive personality types like me, lol. ^-^

I Moon Girl That is the most cost effective way to see a new movie in a theater- I am unsure if or how those views figure in the over all numbers the bean counters consider. Fans who can't afford the opening night hoopla will do what is practical and that is fine. A night out at the movies can get expensive fast.

dk Alien Covenant was originally meant to be released in October. Then the date was changed to August, and finally to May. In another article published today, Deadline wrote: "Filmed Entertainment also struggled as Alien: Covenant and Diary of a Wimpy Kid could not compete with last year’s X-Men and Independence Day." Now, that might seem unfair because ID Resurgence sucked at the box office. However, since it was released in the same quarter as a profitable movie (X men), they are not pointing the finger at it. 

VivisectedEngineer Right on. I have spent more on merchandising since last December to now to watch AC in theater prime time at least twenty times at a rate of $12- no exaggeration.

@Ati

"Is he paid for that? Probably yes. By another company? Who knows? Everything is possible. This is the world we live in..."

You know what would be an ironic twist, but sort of totally plausible?? Maybe joylitt is paid by FOX to make the fans think Covenant is struggling so we'll do more to support it!

joylitt is the evil marketing genius!!!

Jk, joylitt , jk. ...But are you though...?

joylitt It seems unlikely fans follow things that closely. In fact, they become enraged when a release date gets bumped. They don't care about market manipulation- they want to see the movie. The fans would probably like or hate the movie regardless of the release date since it's the same movie.

Alright here are. In Australia:

Prime time movie price = AU $17.50   or    US$22.50

Weekday midday price =AU $13.50  or      US $17.10

medium combo (drink & popcorn) AU $13 or US $16.50

Go to a cinema on a Friday night, get a medium combo =

US $39 PER PERSON

And you wonder why us Australians don't go to the cinema much! Absolute rip-off. Alien: Covenant was the only film I saw at the cinema in about 2 years. 

Admittedly I live in "rural" Australia, in a large inland town/city. prices are cheaper in the major coastal cities, but its still too expensive to go to the cinema here. 

That is why digital streaming and DVD sales are a very important factors    

VivisectedEngineer haha, no I'm not. I just think it is good to report what is in the news and to interpret it so we are not caught off guard by the turn of events. Of course I also highly appreciate the positive thoughts you spread. But I must confess I feel very angry when I read that the "franchise viability" is in question and I cannot help but blaming Alien Covenant for it.

dk But we do follow those things that closely here at alien-covenant.com lol. Let's take a walk on the memory lane:

http://www.alien-covenant.com/news/breaking-alien-covenant-release-date-changed-to-august-4-2017

haha now seriously, I see your point: the regular movie goer does not pay attention to those things.

joylitt Point taken. However there are way more Alien franchise fans than members on this site who don't dig into the finer points discussed on the forum because they just don't join fan sites. Can I give a number? No. I can only account for real world fans I know of who never heard of this site and extrapolate there surely must be more around the world like my location.

@joylitt

"haha, no I'm not."

<_<; Yes, good, good... I thought not! ;>_>

"But I must confess I feel very angry when I read that the "franchise viability" is in question"

Deep down, we're ultimately on the same side. Same objective different methods. :)

...I really really love Covenant, though.

What point is intended for members to take from the OP?

@dk

The point I'm taking from it is that we all must buy as much Covenant merchandise as possible.

@IRaptus

I'm glad you shared those numbers with us!

Lower ticket prices means more movies being watched in the theater.  More movies being watched in the theater equals marketing through the public.  Marketing through the public means good movies will make the money and most likely will be watched again and again in the theater.  I would say if I saw a movie for $4, I would watch it enough to easily spend $12 that it costs me today.  I wouldn't doubt it if I spent a little more than $12 to watch that movie again and again, but I don't find myself spending $24 to watch a movie twice.  After that fact takes control of me, I feel a little empty on the inside since I only watched the movie once in the theater.  I wish I watched A:C again, but that $12 ticket price just got the best of me.

Another problem with movies is that actors are just paid way to much.  If the actors made less, than movies make more profits.  I don't see why actors and actresses should be worth $8 million dollars for barely being famous.  Example is Eric Roberts.  He played an amazing gangster in The Dark Knight.  He was perfect for the part, but that was his biggest acting gig (at least that I know of).  I am sure other people on here can think of better examples since I don't love movies in general (or T.V. for that matter), but I will stop and take the time to enjoy an Alien franchise movie or novel (if it is an important novel).

These are just my problems with the movie industry and I think it relates to A:C's problems with making money is because all these actors that I have never even heard of in A:C have to make big bucks because everybody in Hollywood has to make big bucks.  Obviously they don't get as big as the big stars, like Danny McBride.  Yet, this ain't his typical role, so I guess he could get casted cheap.

Why is Amy Seimetz worth $5 million?

Why is Billy Crudup worth $6 million?

The point is, there are people who do more for the world and the environment than these people and would never earn that amount of money in their lives if they worked from age 15 1/2 to 65.

This may not relate to Alien: Covenant very well, but it does bother me.

I Moon Girl Where did you get those numbers if I may ask? I mean Crudup and Seimetz salaries...

I Moon Girl I respectfully disagree that actors take a pay cut. Although there are many great actors out there, there is also the adage that "you get what you pay for". The script is another subject. If an actor makes $8 million for a movie, my understanding is that also pays for coaches, trainers, agents, publicists, lawyers, etc so the actor likely does not walk away with that contracted amount after everyone gets their cut.

I also respectfully ask if you would take a pay cut because others think you make too much. Personally, I will not accept a pay cut for what I do unless others do so.

They're not salaries, they're an estimated net worth.

I just googled "Billy Crudup Net Worth" (or anybody famous really).

I know, I know.  A simple google search is not real research and Wikipedia is forbidden in all research, but still, my life ain't movies so I ain't going to do that much research for something like this.

If we just remember that those are rough estimates, I think we can still see that those numbers shouldn't be, but they are...

Right.

@dk

I guess those numbers make sense with the obsession people have with the television.

Why do actors get more money than NASA employees?  I would much rather a NASA Aerospace Engineer get paid more than $100,000 a year.  I mean, that's real space.

Why can't NASA get more funding to develop real space instead of spending it on the movies?

Why do we have people dying of hunger in Africa and we got people make poses and faces and saying a few lines which are making more than an average person makes in their whole life?

I guess the movies just make TONS of money, so they are just spreading the wealth to the people who had a part in making the successful movie.  Why can't those movies go to charities instead of the actors making this money?

Someone who is worth $8 million and acted their whole life and doesn't come from a rich family made more money than a person could ever need even after paying the necessary expenses that come with the acting job.

"What have we gotten?!  Yea! Yea! That's entertainment!"

- Spyder One

It doesn't make sense to me.

I Moon Girl I agree that health care workers and scientists are more valuable than entertainers, but that is what the majority of the world deems more important and worthy of more money. Entertainers make as much as they do because people are willing to pay for it to be honest. And no one to my knowledge will willingly accept a pay cut.