# Maleficent (film) will be a box office bomb. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296 "2014-05-12T19:13:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/21 "2014-05-13T03:22:26Z")
I have access to press and promo screenings and have several people who expressed interest in accompanying me to this one. And that doesn’t often happen. Haven’t ever paid enough attention to sense if that correlates with box office success. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/22 "2014-05-13T03:31:43Z")
I always found her very scary in the cartoon. Don’t understand the horns though… ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/23 "2014-05-13T03:35:53Z")
Who are they marketing this to? Is it a kids film since it’s based on a Disney kids film? Or is it more the teen thing like Snow White & the Huntsman? Do kids movies focused on female bad guy scene chewers typically succeed? ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/24 "2014-05-13T03:48:33Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > I’d say the one and only worry (other than bad word-of-mouth if it sucks) is the old formula of “Girls will go to the movie their boyfriend wants to see but boys won’t go to see the movie that their girlfriend wants to see”. It’s a problem every female lead movie has to deal with. That’s funny, practically the only movies I ever end up seeing are ones that my girlfriend insists we go to. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/25 "2014-05-13T04:07:36Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > . . . Don’t understand the horns though… Makes me think of “Toenail of Satan” in the anime “Kekko Kamen.” He has similar cloth-covered horn…things. At one point someone asks what keeps them up, and he says, blithely, “They’re real.” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/26 "2014-05-13T05:15:12Z")
My only problem with it is it looks a bit too samey as a lot of modernised fairy tale films and TV that have come out in the past few years, none of which have been especially successful, some abject failures. But looking at it as objectively as I can, the trailers make it look completely awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/27 "2014-05-13T05:58:55Z")
I rewatched Sleeping Beauty tonight. I remain bemused and astounded by the people who think Maleficent is a lame villain. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/28 "2014-05-13T06:58:58Z")
I really, really hope she does the monologue. ---
**Author:** ![blueslipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@blueslipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blueslipper)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/29 "2014-05-13T08:26:00Z")
I think about 120M in the USA and 250M worldwide. Angelina Jolie is very famous but not actually a Box Office drawcard. Plus I think it will suffer the same fate as Jack the Giant Slayer - kids cannot go if it is too violent and it will not appeal much to others. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/30 "2014-05-13T10:52:17Z")
> [@well\_he\_s\_back](#): > > I always found her very scary in the cartoon. Don’t understand the horns though… [It’s a headdress, apparently](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maleficent#Development). > [@](#): > > The character has white-green skin, and wears a black, two-pointed headdress, often called an atora, as the character was designed to resemble a giant, menacing vampire bat. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/31 "2014-05-13T11:33:17Z")
From what I can tell, “atora” is an entirely made-up word. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/32 "2014-05-13T11:52:14Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Who are they marketing this to? Is it a kids film since it’s based on a Disney kids film? Or is it more the teen thing like Snow White & the Huntsman? > Do kids movies focused on female bad guy scene chewers typically succeed? It’s PG, whereas SW&H was PG-13. And yeah, original Maleficent is an awesome villain. Right up there with the Queen of Hearts. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/33 "2014-05-13T11:58:00Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > That’s funny, practically the only movies I ever end up seeing are ones that my girlfriend insists we go to. I had been thinking the same thing … married now 29 years my wife has never gone to a movie just because it was one I wanted to see but I’ve gone to many that were on her list. Dating? My suggestions for date movies were chosen with my perceptions of what the girl wanted to see in mind. In any case I am hoping my daughter will want to see this, with me. Maybe we can drag my wife/her mother along. Yeah, the boys who want gruesome won’t want to go. But on a date? They’ll go. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/34 "2014-05-13T13:10:36Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > From what I can tell, “atora” is an entirely made-up word. While I get what you mean, I can’t help but comment that strictly speaking, all words are made up words. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/35 "2014-05-13T13:25:56Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > (But it did make me sad, watching the movie years later, as an adult, how stupid her goblin lackeys are. Geez! You just can’t get good evil minions these days! If she’d hired competent labor, she’d have conquered the world.) All the competent evil minions are unionized. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/36 "2014-05-13T13:30:40Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > All the competent evil minions are unionized. I think we’ve all learned now that unions are the _real_ villain. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/37 "2014-05-13T13:36:15Z")
I’m with the OP, I just have a feeling it won’t do that well. It looks like it’s going to be a special effects driven film that looks WAY too clean, way to artsy-fartsy, and by the looks of the trailer everyone is overacting hardcore. I’ll compare it to Burton’s Alice in Wonderland movie. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/38 "2014-05-13T13:37:43Z")
> [@bobkitty](#): > > She turns into A FREAKING DRAGON. How can you not love her?? And calls upon **ALL THE POWERS OF HELL** to do it! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/39 "2014-05-13T14:32:45Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Yeah, I’ve seen the trailer. They’re definitely shouting at the top of their lungs “Hey, BOYS, this movie is for you too!!!” And they’re hitting that message so hard precisely because it’s a difficult demographic for a female lead movie to capture. > > This movie isn’t selling sex the way the _Resident Evil_ series or the _Underworld_ series or other “Female Lead . . . but for adolescent boys’ fantasies” did. ([COLOR=DarkRed].) (.)[/COLOR] …you know, for kids! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296/40 "2014-05-13T16:17:11Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Is it a “reform the character” revision, like “Wicked?” Can anyone point to some pre-release spoilers? I heard it’s a “how she got that way” story. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maleficent-film-will-be-a-box-office-bomb/688296.md?page=3)