Fact Of The Day

[alandhopewell]

     Lorain, Ohio is the birthplace of Alan D Hopewell.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Adjusted for inflation.

1977 Episode 4
Star Wars : a New Hope
$2,016,000,000

1980 Episode 5
Star Wars : the Empire Strikes Back
$1,185,000,000

1983 Episode 6
Star Wars : the Return of the Jedi
$912,000,000

1999 Episode 1
Star Wars : Phantom Menace
$1,318,000,000

2002 Episode 2
Star Wars : Attack of the Clones
$860,000,000

2005 Episode 3
Revenge of the Sith
$1,035,000,000

2015 Episode 7
Star Wars : the Force Awakens
Expected box office $2,000,000,000 to $2,500,000,000
Thus, either the 1st or 2nd highest grossing film in the series to date

5 things to note.

1st. One talks about the 10 year lag between Episode 3 and Episode 7, but . . .?! There was a 16 year lag between Episode 6 and Episode 1.

2nd. While nearly all say that they hated Episode 1, it did better at the box office then Episode 6 and even Episode 5, which nearly all say that they loved. Pent up demand?

3rd. The series has lasted for 5 decades or from the 1970s to the 2010s. Only the James Bond series, which is ongoing, has lasted longer, as it began in the 1960s.

4th. The series may continue up to and into the 2020s. With . . .

Episode 8 in 2017
Episode 9 in 2019
Episode 10 in 2021?

And standalone films from the Star Wars Universe expected in . . .

2016
2018
2020
2022?

5th. The speed at which the Episode films have been released has picked up. It use to be 1 every 3 years. Now it is 1 every 2 years. And . . .

Next time: more Star War figures. The ones you use to find in the cereal boxes of old.

[BoyScoutKevin]

More Star Wars figures, but . . .?! First . . .

$700 million. That is how much "The Simpsons" generates annually in merchandise sales, and with Fox getting its standard 7.5%, that's an annual payday for Fox of $52.5 million, which is a nice payday. No wonder the series continues on Fox TV, but . . .?!

That pales in comparison with the figured merchandise sales for the most recent episode of Star Wars, "Star Wars : Episode VII : the Force Awakens" is suppose to generate, which is $5 billion internationally. I thought that figure was . . .?! But . . .?! Then there were these 2 stories from the U.K.

Grandparents bought their grandson the Kylo Ren hoodie (They call them a hoodie. We call them a jacket) with the pull-down mask, and now the boy is so taken with it, he wears it outdoors. He wears it indoors. He wears it in bad weather. He wears it in good weather. He wears it to school. He wears it at home. And he probably wears it to bed. Probably the only time he takes it off is when he is in the shower or tub. $12.16.

Parents bought their son the Kylo Ren costume, and the Kylo Ren light saber, because it looked cool, and because the mask that came with the costume was not enough, they bought him the voice altering mask, and so, they had to buy his little sister something, so they bought her the Captain Phasma costume. Now the 2 spend all their time in costume, he "threatening" her with the light saber and waving it about, and chasing each other around the backyard of their home. $62.43

And while nothing is assured, multiply those 2 stories X times across the U.K. and across Europe and even into Australia and India, where the merchandise is also being pushed, and $5 billion looks doable, which is 2 to 2.5 times what the box office gross is suppose to be.

And the Walt Disney Company gets not 7.5% of that, but 10%. Which makes sense for both parties, as you come to me with something I can sell $100 of, and I'll give you the standard 7.5%, but . . .?! if you come to me with something I can sell $200 of, without an increase in costs, but . . .?! want 10% of what I sell, then I give you the 10%, and we are both better off. You get $20.00 instead of $7.50, and I get $180.00 instead of $92.50.

That's only 10%. Who gets the other 90%? Well, there's the manufacturer, the retailer (the Disney Store, etc.), who ever is allowing their image to be used for the merchandise, the advertising company, the advertising medium (ABC, ABC Family, which is now Free Form, the Disney Channel, etc.) One reason the Company is doing so well at the moment, is that it is a "closed loop." Some of the money comes in and never goes out. It just goes round and round making more money.

One of the products being generated is over 20 book titles of various reading levels and for various interests. One of them being "The Ultimate Star Wars" by British publisher Dorling Kindersley, or the best book to date I have seen about the Star Wars series of films and TV shows.

Dorling Kindersley from the surnames of the 2 founding partners. Their books are heavy on the graphics and most often found in the children's section of the library, but . . .?! if one is looking for an introduction to a film or TV series, I have found nothing better.

Sometime: "it's always been like that. only more so--now" and "it's an one-way street, people," but . . .?! 1st "the rich are getting richer" and "the rest of the slate, or, where will you be 5 years from now?"

[BoyScoutKevin]

"And the rich get richer!"

$1.433 billion domestic box office
$2.575 billion international box office
$4.008 billion total box office, or . . .

35.75% domestic box office
64.25% international box office
100.0% total box office

We think the people in Hollywood are stupid. They do make mistakes, but . . .?! They are not stupid. Thus, what are they going to do, when they see that the success of an American film relies more and more on how it does overseas and less and less on the home market. They are going to start making films that appeal to the overseas market.

Last year, The Company also made o'er $4 billion at the box office, but . . .?! That was not to the 1st week of December. This year, they made the o'er $4 billion by the 1st week of October. That is from January 1 to October 1, inclusive, almost $165.67 every second.

The strength of that o'er $4 billion box office relying principally on 4 films:

Ant-man
Avengers : Age of Ultron
Cinderella
Inside Out

One wonders how NBC Universal is doing, as they have the top grossing film at the box office in Jurassic World, at this moment. And we will talk about that, but . . .?! later, as . . .

Next time: "the rest of the slate, or, where will you be 5 years from now?"

[alandhopewell]

[Newt]

Since Florida holds a special place here:

25 Sun-Soaked Facts About Florida
http://www.mentalfloss.com/article/70934/25-sun-soaked-facts-about-florida

Ah, Florida. The land of palm trees, sunshine, and … a carnivorous pink cloud? Read on to learn more about the home of Disney World and the world's worst superhero.
...
3. The 3500-year-old cypress tree named “Senator” was the pride of Longwood, Florida (and the fifth oldest tree in the world). Then in 2012, a meth addict climbed inside the trunk and lit up. Senator was reduced to ashes. “I can’t believe I burned down a tree older than Jesus,”she later said.
4. People really, really, really love Walt Disney World—so much so that some of them never want to leave. It’s not legal to scatter human ashes in the park, but that doesn’t stop people from doing it on the sly. The Haunted Mansion is an especially popular choice. But that effort probably isn't worth it: staff members who find suspicious piles of dust call code “HEPA cleanup,” after the special vacuum the custodians use to suck up what’s left of Grandma.

6. Miami banks were losing business in the mid-'90s because rollerbladers didn’t feel like taking off their skates to go inside. To accommodate banking on the go, one Citibank installed a custom-built rollerblade ATM, complete with a flashy pink ramp. “Hey, that's a great thing for skaters,'' one waiter on wheels told the Orlando Sentinel. ''I'll be using that baby all the time.''
7. A 1998 Florida law requires all state-funded daycare centers and preschools to play classical music for the children. “I want all the kids in the state of Florida to be the best and brightest,” state senator Bill Turner said. The so-called Mozart effect has since been debunked, but the law holds.
8. Florida’s nasty mosquitoes have inspired some creative pest-control efforts. In 1929, the owner of a Florida Keys fishing lodge spent $10,000 of his own money to build a 30-foot wooden tower in the hopes of attracting bats. Equipped with “all the conveniences any little bat heart could possibly desire” and smeared with pheromone-rich bat poop, the tower would have been a big hit—if any bats ever showed up.

10. The very first meeting of the Homestead, Florida, Crime Watch group was interrupted when a 75-pound bale of cocaine fell out of the sky and into the meeting. The fugitives flying overhead had dropped another parcel of cocaine nearby—onto a church.
11. In 1982, the Florida Keys seceded from the United States and declared themselves the Conch Republic, in order to protest the placement of a Border Patrol-run road block in Florida City. Key West Mayor-turned-Prime Minister Dennis Wardlow declared war against the United States. The campaign was short-lived; within two minutes, Wardlow had surrendered and requested $1 million in foreign aid.
12. Florida has its own Bigfoot: the eight-foot tall, hairy, smelly monster known as the Skunk Ape. Sightings were so frequent in the '70s that legislators feared it was just a matter of time before the Skunk Ape was caught or killed. They tried to make it a misdemeanor to “take, possess, harm or molest anthropoid or humanoid animals.”
13. The South Florida Museum houses the world’s largest collection of fossilized poop.

15. Travelers in the 1950s and '60s reported being chased through the woods near Daytona by a strange pink cloud. Citizens told of a carnivorous cloud that would absorb people whole and spit out their bones.
16. Sarasota, Florida, is home to what may be the only Amish beach resort in the world.
17. In 2013, a Florida woman named Linda Ducharme renewed her vows to a Ferris wheel named Bruce. After a short ceremony, the bride fed the groom a slice of pizza.

21. Participants in the annual Interstate Mullet Toss throw dead fish over the state line from Florida into Alabama.

[indianasmith]

In 1983 an Italian immigrant named Vigliotti was arrested on bigamy charges.  It turned out he had 105 wives in 14 countries.  He would marry them, talk them into moving in with him, pack all their stuff in a moving van and tell them he'd be back to get them . . . then drive off and sell their worldly goods at flea markets.

[BoyScoutKevin]

The rest of the slate, or, where will you be 5 years from today?

From Marvel
Black Panther (2/16/18)
(and look for a new comic book series from Marvel)
Ant-man and the Wasp (7/6/18)
(a sequel to Ant-man)
Captain Marvel (3/8/19)
(the Carol Danvers version)

From Pixar
Cars 3
Coco (11/22/17)
(I still am not sure what this one is about, but . . .?! They must be expecting big things from it, as that is a prime date to release a film)
Toy Story 4 (6/15/18)
(rumor has it that it is a Woody and Jesse prequel, but . . .?! Buzz is in it. So, who knows?)
Incredibles 2 (6/21/19)
and 2 more in 2020.

From Walt Disney Animation Studios
Gigantic (3/19/18)
a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk
and 1 from Disney Toon Studios in (4/19)
(which is the studio within the studio, as they normally do the straight to DVD and TV animation)
and 1 more in (11/20)

from Walt Disney Live Action
The Jungle Book (4/16)
(a remake combining live action and animation)
Alice Thru the Looking Glass (5/16)
(a sequel to Alice in Wonderland)
Pete's Dragon (8/16)
(another remake)

Rumor has it that they want to do 15 live action films based on their animated films. Including those 3 and excluding Mary Poppins, Too, that is a dozen more films.
4 in 2017
1 in 2018
and 2 in 2019

Which would include . . .
Aladdin
Beauty and the Beast
Maleficent 2
Mulan
Pinocchio
Prince Charming
(we have heard her side of the story. Now, it's his turn.)
Some more further along than others.

As for Mary Poppins, Too
A sequel that takes place 20 years after the original. Hopefully, the '20's and not the '30's, where the Depression was as bad as in the U.S., if not worst. Jane and Michael Banks are now grown up and have children of their own.

Miscellaneous
Riley's First Date
(an animated short featuring the characters from Inside Out, and if Riley's date looks familiar, he is based on Harry Styles of 1 Dimension.
(and look for a new or 2nd new series of comic books from Marvel featuring the Star War characters. The 1st in this series takes place between Episodes IV and V.)

Next time: the 10 most popular Star War toys for Christmas and then a little myth busting.

[BoyScoutKevin]

So, all can beat the rush. Here are the top 10 Star Wars toys for 2015, excluding Star Wars : Battlefront.

Yoda doll
(or, what my brother-in-law says, when I tease him about his collection of G.I. Joe dolls. "It's not a doll. It's an action figure.")
Risk : Star Wars edition.
(also Star Wars editions of Monopoly and Battleship. I can hear it now. "You sank my Millennium Falcon!")
Nerf Storm trooper Blaster
Lego's Millennium Falcon
Kylo Ren Light saber with cross-guard
Kylo Ren doll with motion detector
Jedi Master Light saber kit
Furbacca
(Furby + Chewbacca)
BB8 Sphero toy

With prices ranging from $30.00 to $149.06, they and the other Star Wars toys are expected to bring in $1 billion in 2015 and 2016, and that is domestically. They are expected to bring in another $4 billion internationally. And with Disney/Lucas getting 10% of the total sales, that's $100 to $500 million for Disney/Lucas.

A couple more surprises.

While the new characters will never match the appeal of the original characters, they have caught the appeal of today's audiences, especially Kylo Ren, who is becoming the 2nd greatest villain in the Star Wars Universe, next to Darth Vader.
And here, where I live, it must be pent up demand. It is not even December, and already the parking lots are full, and lines to check out are out the door.

Next time: a little myth busting, and then, she is an 150 years old this year, but she does not look a day older than 149.

[BoyScoutKevin]

I said I'd give all some myth busting, but . . .?! As that is in the past, I want to put that off and get this out, as this is the future.

Within the next decade
2016 - 2026
We'll see what may be one of the greatest decades e'er from Hollywood.
For . . .

From Disney/Lucas
shooting now - in London
Rogue 1
pre-production
Episode VIII
a Boba Fett film
an young Han Solo film

From Disney/Marvel
17 films
+ 5 TV shows
The TV shows are what interest me, because we know about "Iron Fist," we know about "Luke Cage," but . . .?!  what are the other 3 shows to be?

From Warner
a Godzilla-King Kong mash-up
a Tarzan film. (Where's his loincloth?)

From Warner/DC
12 films

From Paramount Viacom
at least 1 Transformers film

From Universal NBC
a monster mash-up featuring . . .
Dracula + the Monster + the Mummy + the Wolf Man
(Why don't they just re-release "Monster Squad?")

Will all be successful? - No
How long will this last? - No one really knows.
Original? - No
But . . .?! There have been 4 great changes in films.
1st. From silent to sound.
2nd. From black-'n'-white to color.
3rd. Change in viewing format from theater to TV to other media formats.
4th. What people want to see. More and more people do not want to see individual films, they want to see films in a series. And if film studios do not change, as well, they'll go under.

And where will we all be 10 years from now?

This may or may not have anything to do with the above, but . . .?!
Steven Spielberg in conjunction with the Walt Disney Studio is adapting Roald Dahl's "BFG" for the big screen, for release in 2016, and while the Walt Disney Company has distributed Steven Spielberg's previous films, this is the 1st time that Spielberg has made a film for the Company.

Next time: she is 150 years old this year, but . . .?! she does not look a day past 149.

[ER]

If you could remove the spaces between its molecules, Earth could be reduced to the size of a baseball.

[BoyScoutKevin]

If you could remove the spaces between its molecules, Earth could be reduced to the size of a baseball.

Get the team from "Fantastic Voyage" on this right away. Isn't this how they were able to shrink everything to miniature size in the 1966 film?

[BoyScoutKevin]

She's 150 years old this year, but . . .?! She doesn't look a day past 149.

Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" was published 150 years ago this year in 1865. And that's not all, since the 1880's, except for the 1890's, there has been at least one adaptation of his book every decade, and the number seems to be increasing.

1880s 1 -- 1890s 0 -- 1900s 1 -- 1910s 2 -- 1920s 1 -- 1930s 6 -- 1940s 2 -- 1950s 3 -- 1960s 9 -- 1970s 6 -- 1980s 11 -- 1990s 11 -- 2000s 25 -- 2010-2015 (to date) 15 -- total 93.

The 1st film adaptation was in 1903. The 1st American stage adaptation was in 1932. 49% of the adaptations have been film. 40% of the adaptations have been TV with anime or animation making up 54% and live action 46% of that. And 11% of the adaptations have been stage.

The next stage adaptation was this year or 2015 and was a musical in London (England.) The next film adaptation is next year or 2016 and is based on the book's sequel "Alice Through the Looking Glass."

I am surprised there have been so many adaptations of something that is so difficult to adapt, which may be why the most successful adaptation was Tim Burton's film in 2010 of which the 2016 film is a sequel to it.

Cost of the 2010 film $200,000,000. Opening weekend $116,101,023. Gross U.S. receipts $334,185,206. Gross receipts (U.S. + international) $1,025,467,110. U.S. 32.5% International 67.5%. Which is why we are having a sequel next year or 2016, and why international box office is so important for the success of an American film.

As for the book . . .?! I suggest reading it. It is short. I read it and its sequel 1st as a child, then after seeing the 2010 film, I re-read it, and while a lot of books claim to be unique, Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" is one of the few books that I have read that is truly unique. There was nothing like it ere, and there has been little like it after.

Next time: a little myth busting.

[BoyScoutKevin]

A little myth busting.

After 14 seasons on TV, "Myth busters" has come to a close. During that time it investigated 1015 myths.

548 busted (false) 53.79%
251 confirmed (true) 24.73%
216 plausible (maybe) 21.28
total 100%

There are 2 things that surprised me about those figures.

1st. Not that so many were proved to be false, but . . .?! So many were proved to be true or plausible. Almost 50%

2nd. How many people still held on to myths that were proved to be "false." And I wondered why till I saw the busted myth that driving and talking on the phone is as safe as driving and not talking on the phone, and the controversy that resulted, and the people that disagreed with that conclusion. Because many of these people are the same ones that you see driving and talking on the phone at the same time. But . . .?! One does not need the Myth Busters to bust that myth. Just look at the traffic studies on accidents, or, at least, some of the studies, which now show that talking on the phone  and driving now causes more accidents than drinking and driving. If there is any good out of those studies, it is that everyone's efforts to prevent drinking and driving is having some effect in reducing it.

Next time: dapper days : the French edition
and in a separate thread: Q : what's upcoming in 2016 and the decade thereafter

[BoyScoutKevin]

Dapper Days : the French edition

Dapper Days is an unofficial day in which hundreds of men, women, and children get dressed up in their finest retro fashions and meet at a Disney theme park in California or Florida. Though, the one in California has now expanded to 2 days and last year included a classic car show.

As for retro fashions, that is men's, women's, and children's fashions from the 1st half of the last or 20th century, or approximately from the 00's to the 60's.

There is also an European version which is held at the Disney theme park near Paris. Though there are differences between the American and European versions, the fashions are much the same, except . . .

1st You'll see people come in military uniform. That is Allied, not Axis, military uniforms.
2nd You'll see more children in costume.
3rd You'll see more groups of men in costume.

Next time: why I have joined the 3%.