Why Pandering to Chinese Markets Won't Work

Discussion in 'Transformers Movie Discussion' started by agent j 15, Dec 2, 2015.

  1. SouthtownKid

    SouthtownKid Headmaster

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    Easily.
     
  2. bellpeppers

    bellpeppers A Meat Popsicle

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    I think I'd prefer to discuss an article from The Onion.
     
  3. Ash from Carolina

    Ash from Carolina Junior Smeghead

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    We've seen films shattering domestic records and that's before the Star Wars film is out. So I don't think it's that people have totally abandoned movie theaters.
     
  4. transformervic1

    transformervic1 HI!

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    Upon watching AOE, the only product placement that catches my attention is the Bud Lite scene. I agree that it wasn't funny and wholey unnecessary.

    But they give a reason in the movie on why it's taken to china.....you just need to pay attention to the scene after the Chicago scene, where Joyce is on the phone.
     
  5. SouthtownKid

    SouthtownKid Headmaster

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    For event movies, sure.
     
  6. Ash from Carolina

    Ash from Carolina Junior Smeghead

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    It's not just event movies though. When they start announcing the end of year numbers most years the domestic box office is still up over all. So while the really big summer and winter movies dominate the headlines because that's an insane amount of money the mid-range and small films still bring people out to the theater.

    Even in the down years 2008 and 2010 were only down .3% from the previous years. The only down by a wide margin from the previous year were 2005 at 5.8% and 2014 at 5.2%.

    I just don't think we can blame a film not bringing in as much as the previous film on the box office in general being down. I think we have to look at other factors as to why domestically the numbers have dropped off.
     
  7. SouthtownKid

    SouthtownKid Headmaster

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    I think that's higher ticket price, not attendance.

    I can't remember the last time I went to a movie in the theater and it was more than half-full. Probably the last Star Wars movie. I just saw SPECTRE opening weekend in a theater that was less than a third full. For Ant-Man, my wife and I were two of maybe about 8 people in the entire theater. I imagine Star Wars will be packed, but otherwise, I think theaters are making money by charging larger prices to fewer people.
     
  8. Raiju

    Raiju Navel Shocker Veteran

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    This. This 100%. I too am tired of explaining facts when some people just aren't interested in facts so much as trying to push some sort of jingoistic agenda.

    Besides, Hasbro feels it worth their time and effort to try and broaden their market presence in China. I tend to feel they know more about what they're doing than Cracked magazine.
     
  9. mmhand

    mmhand Well-Known Member

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    Mongolia and China are two completely separate countries with different cultures and government. I would know as my wife is Mongolian. Mongolian culture is as similar to Russia's culture as it is to China's. As such, i would take any opinion about what chinese citizens want from a Mongolian citizen with a grain of salt.
     
  10. Jus09

    Jus09 Well-Known Member

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    I agree pandering to a specific market is shallow.....provided we're not talking about a franchise of movies based on a popular 80s toyline that has been massively successful. I may not like it, you may not like it, but at the end of the day, appealing to international markets brings in a larger audience. And a larger audience means more money. And more money means someone at Hasbro is getting a Porsche.
     
  11. Spin-Out

    Spin-Out Well-Known Member

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    @OP: Stop using BS statistics you pulled outta your ass to fantasize about the "failure" of something you hate.
     
  12. Jus09

    Jus09 Well-Known Member

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    Agreed. Again, as much as I dislike the movies, I don't pretend to be a total authority about what's popular and what isn't. Some people like the movies, some people [including myself] don't. A poorly sourced Cracked article is sure as hell not going to change Hasbro's higher ups' pushing these movies to new audiences.
     
  13. Spin-Out

    Spin-Out Well-Known Member

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    If the quality of something is measure by its sales, then Earthbound and Psychonauts would have beem horrifically bad, and crap like most of the Sonic games released in the past decade would be epic masterpieces on the level of Ocarina of Time or Super Mario 64. Again, sometimes great things (Earthbound) fail sales-wise, and total crap (Like Sonic 2006) become gigantic hits money-wise.
     
  14. Jus09

    Jus09 Well-Known Member

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    Oddly enough, that was the same argument I expressed my disapproval of on a different thread. I call that particular argument Wayne's Law, after the defence hardcore fanboys of Lil Wayne tend to dredge up.
     
  15. Ash from Carolina

    Ash from Carolina Junior Smeghead

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    China really seems like one of the high lights for Paramount lately.

    $320 million is an impressive haul. Doing a quick search it seems the average cost of a movie ticket in China is about $5.30 to $6.40 translated into dollars while the average US ticket is about $8.00. That means not only a larger box office than in the US but they had to sell a lot more tickets to get there.

    Co-production thanks to the amount of filming in China so that means Paramount got a bigger cut of the box office than they would normally get.

    Plus I was reading an article recently and I think it said Paramount only spent about $3 million on advertising in China. So profits weren't eaten up promoting the film in China.
     
  16. Raiju

    Raiju Navel Shocker Veteran

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    Not to mention taking the anecdotal experience/word of a single person to represent a population of 1.3+ billion people is some seriously flawed logic. Polls consisting of one person don't really work.

    This, co-signed.