MSNBC: ‘Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms’ ticket demand crashed box office sites, and that’s a good thing

PUBLISHED MON, AUG 29, 2022

2:06 AM EST

Sarah Whitten@SARAHWHIT10

KEY POINTS


 * At midnight on Aug 29, tickets for the most recent 20th Century Animation film, the highly anticipated Puppet Pals spin-off “Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdom” went on sale, crashing domestic movie ticket sites.
 * This kind of demand shows positive signs for animation.
 * Box office analysts say it is a positive sign for the movie theater industry ahead of dry period of box office despite Hailey and Stella overperforming

When the clock stuck midnight on Aug. 29, tickets for “Princess Joanna” went on sale. Within minutes domestic movie ticket sites began to crash as moviegoers rushed to snag seats for one of the most anticipated films of the year.

It is something that the box office has not experienced ever for a September release and shows "a bright future" for September's box office.

Lately other than animated releases "Stella" and "Hailey", box office has been incredibly slow during August with a high lack of four quadrant tentpole releases. But with this film, September might be one of the biggest months of the year since this summer.

Overnight, the latest 20th Century Animation film, a division of Walt Disney Studios, has sparked even more optimism for September's box office. Ticketing sites like Atom Tickets, Fandango and MovieTickets.com alongside movie theater sites like AMC, Cinemark and Regal saw a surge of demand for tickets leading many to crash or place visitors in hour-long online queues.

“There are different tiers of intense fan demand when it comes to box office pre-sales, and this film is clearly showing it belongs near the top with a select few others,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “For anyone who doubted the communal draw of the theatrical experience over the past two years, look to this enthusiasm for Joanna’ as a major inflection point during the box office recovery period and the sign of a bright future ahead.”

This kind of fervor has not been seen at the box office since 2021 where "Cool Spot: Spot Goes to Hollywood" and "Spider-Man: No Way Home" did a Double Jeopardy making $232.2 million and $260 million in their respective opening weekends while crashing AMC websites causing high demand.

Movie theater chains have been eagerly awaiting the debut of “Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms,” with some going as far as to provide additional incentives for moviegoers to pick up tickets for opening night.

AMC partnered with and Sony Pictures to offer 86,000 limited addition Princess Joanna plushies to members of its AMC Stubs Premiere, AMC Stubs A-List and AMC Investor Connect who ordered tickets for the Sept. 16 opening of “Princess Joanna and the Four Kingdoms” in advance.

Box office analysts were already optimistic that the latest Spider-Man film could top $160 million during its September debut with a possible $200 million, the biggest for that month, but this high demand for tickets is even more encouraging for the film’s opening.

The previous animated 20th Century Animation films in September, "Puppet Pals Forever" in 2018 and "Crystal: The Rise of Darkness" in 2019 opened up to $151.6 million, the current record holder and $145 million.

“It would be entirely fitting that a Joanna movie could potentially be the biggest September release and the biggest tentpole release since the summer” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

“It should come as no surprise that pre-release online ticket sales for ‘The Four Kingdoms’ are, in essence, breaking the internet as excited fans clamor to be the first in the virtual line to grab their tickets for the film.”

''Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Fandango.''