Les Mis set to be highest grossing movie musical of all time. — Page 7

Plum, I agree. I am just tired of people getting their hopes up!

^
Funny how some of the nay sayers are changing their tune. Like we can't go back and read.

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It's kinda sad (or maybe pathetic?) that "Les Miz" grossed more than the entire theatrical release of "Nine" ($19.6 million) after its second day.

"Les Miz" will easily pass the total domestic grosses for both Phantom of the Opera ($51.2 million) and Sweeney Todd ($52.8 million) after today's intake is added in.

Still a a ways off from Dreamgirls, Hairspray, and the modern-day champs Mamma Mia! and Chicago, but it's well on its way to being right up there.

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Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, but here's a few reasons I think "Nine" tanked and why I think "Les Miz" did it right (at least from the "money" angle):

BAD: "Nine" is not an instantly recognizable title. It has no hit songs or pop standards from it. It's not widely produced by community theatres, high schools, colleges, or even summer stock theatres. The general public wasn't aware of it.

GOOD: "Les Miz" is known on some level by the general public, even if they've never seen it. They know the original novel and perhaps even the basic plot. They may even have been "forced" to read it (or parts of it) in a classroom. They might know "I Dreamed a Dream" because of Susan Boyle. And the musical was/is a mega-hit, so they might have seen a production of it, professional or amateur.

BAD: "Nine" loaded up with movie stars, many of them Oscar-winners or nominees, but few of them had ever starred in or carried a huge blockbuster hit film.

GOOD: "Les Miz" loaded up with a Blockbuster cast, including Wolverine, Gladiator, and Cat Woman at the top of the heap, followed by a star from an actual hit movie musical (Mamma Mia!) and Borat and Belatrix from the Harry Potter movies.

BAD: "Nine" opened with mixed reviews (at best), but it also opened in limited release (just 4 theatres), allowing for an equally mixed word of mouth to spread in the bigger cities before it went into wide release and tanked.

GOOD: "Les Miz" opened with mixed reviews, but it also opened in wide release on Christmas Day in 2,808 theatres.

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Per Deadline:

"Tom Hooper’s musical crosses $100 million worldwide today. Playing this weekend in 8 international territories — Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Hungary and Spain – its overseas gross is now $36.6M. Combined with the U.S. total of $68M expected by Sunday, the worldwide cume should be $115.7M by then."

Deadline is a site for fools. The film is doing very well - people really think it will pass The Sound of Music as the highest grossing musical of all time? Dream on, Cinderella. Just adjust for dollars and nothing will beat The Sound of Music - ever. When you adjust the original gross for inflation it come in at over one billion dollars. Even if you don't adjust, it's 158 million on a budget of 8.2 million.

"Deadline is a site for fools."

How is the most reputable and popular Hollywood trade a 'site for fools'?

No one ever said Les Miz was going to top any adjusted gross, but at this point $200 million in the US alone is not out of reach.

I haven't seen the film yet, but I expect it to gross well over a billion worldwide, maybe over 2 billion.
Les Mis is just not like any other movie musical. You are talking about the most successful musical in the history of the world. It has much more appeal than even Mamma Mia or The Sound of Music. They are both enjoyable confections, whereas by all accounts this is as much of a blockbuster as the stage show.

Laugh now, while you can.

Les Mis is just not like any other movie musical. You are talking about the most successful musical in the history of the world.

You'd think that'd be enough to seal its place in the top spot, but it isn't necessarily. For a start, the most financially successful musical in history (as per the Guinness Book of Records and Cameron Mackintosh's own press team) is not Miz but Phantom (Miz trumps Phantom in terms of number of places performed, though). And we all know how...er..."well" the film of that show did, although of course it didn't help that the film was pretty much a travesty.

But Miz is definitely getting a lot more positive buzz and, indeed, buzz generally than the Phantom film ever did. It helps it has A-list stars and major studio backing. Seeing the trailer in the cinema yesterday (it's not out in the UK till mid-January) was genuinely exciting as it got everyone talking in anticipation. And the TV spots and posters are everywhere.

Updated On: 12/29/12 at 06:32 PM

Check out my deconstruction of Les Mis' success

An Incomplete History of Les Miserables

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It was better then the movie ...lol

So they've already made more than their budget, which I know still means it has to go well above that to even break even but it hasn't even opened in the UK yet where it's sure to have a very high box office there.