Last week I predicted that the controversy surrounding The Lorax (too environmental, not environmental enough) wouldn't hurt the movie at the box office. My reasoning: kids don 't care about the political context of the film. They just want to see bar ba loots and truffula trees. Exhibitor Relations was predicting the film would earn $47 million. Instead the movie brought in a whopping $71 million.
That means The Lorax scored not only the best opening of the year but it was the sixth-highest debut ever for an animated film, according to Box Office Mojo.
Why did The Lorax so far exceed expectation? As I've written before, it can be almost impossible to truly gauge how many people will go to see a kids movie because market research companies don't usually target kids when they're doing pre-release polling. The youngest age group they look at is under 25 which encompasses everything from toddlers to teens to adults.
We saw something similar happen with The Smurfs last summer. That movie was expected to open at $24 million. Instead it earned $35 million opening weekend. Not quite as impressive a turn as what we just saw The Lorax do but still, a good example of a film doing much better than expected.
And as with The Smurfs, you can't underestimate the power of a strong brand that appeals to both Generation X and their children. I was a fan of The Lorax (and The Smurfs) as a child and now my kids love them too. Plus The Lorax smartly opened on a quiet weekend (instead of in the busy summer season) that conveniently coincided with Dr. Seuss' birthday which is also Read Across America day. Good timing, good marketing and a great property can create a Hollywood gold mine.
