Box Office : Will the leaked video from A Dog's Purpose affect its box office?

http://ew.com/movies/2017/01/18/dogs-purpose-peta-boycott-video-alleged-abuse/

The movie is currently rated a 1/10 on here. Not that it was going to be huge or anything, but boxoffice.com predicted 16m OW/65m total. Will this have any effect or will it just be another "controversy" that mainstream moviegoers largely ignore?

It could, even the smallest issue involving an animal (well not an animal a short list of no-no, dogs being at the very top), seem to be the worst you can do in the US, maybe better to have someone die in a accident from a bad production than a video involving an animal.

Specially that the actual movie is about watching dogs doing tricks, anyone that have heard of the situation could have is pleasure diminish and dog lovers were probably the target audience.

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It could

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Or not at all.

Yes, even if there's a credible explanation. You can film an anti-war movie in a dictatorship with government troops and choppers (and if you're Coppola, use real rebel corpses as props as well), you can have stuntmen die or crew maimed and no-one will bat an eyelid and you'll not lose a dime at the boxoffice, but cause a dog distress and you're dead in the water.


"Security - release the badgers."

I think it's having video that seals it. Had this been just reports, even credible ones, with no picture or video I think it would have been a marginal effect.

With video of the dog clearly not wanting to do the stunt and then going under water, even with no harm done at all, it's gonna hurt.

It shows a dog being encouraged to face his fear. No sign of the trainer forcing the dog at all. Its like taking your pet to the vet. They will not like it at first but 1. They will overcome their fear and 2. Its cruel to shelter your dog. If anyone is being abused its the trainer by liberals still mad clinton lost.

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If anyone is being abused its the trainer by liberals still mad clinton lost.

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People bringing liberals/Trump into this situation (that happened in Canada, a while ago), just show how they can bring current politic giant divide into anything, even something that is obviously not partisan.

It looks like a regular training session. Other films have dogs being encouraged into water and no crap was given there.

Its not like the trainer threw the dog into the water.

And peta loves animals only in the same way democrats love blacks. They enslave and loathe pets in the past while conservatives are the true friends even back then. Yet liberals act like everything is cool.

Uh oh, we got a troll here.

Skipping page long posts for over a year now.

Um.
1. You just compare blacks to animals.

2. If only the poor kid knew his history properly

We definitely got a troll on our hands here, :P

Looks like a huge disaster in the making, but I'm sure if they can try hard to attach PETA's name to the leak, they can get the public to side with them.

according to the yahoo comments i read under the article, several people who were planning on seeing it are now going to boycott it

Supposedly the video was chopped up and it seemed like abuse but it really wasn't? Regardless, the damage is done.






http://flickr.com/photos/55196522@N05/sets/72157625135851207/detail/

I sure hope so. **** this movie. Why in the hell didn't they just use cgi dogs???

And talk about alientating you core audience. Animal Lovers, who were obviously a key target audience,will now not touch this film with a ten foot pole.
What gets to me is that the producers/director thought they could get away with this.

It doesnt look like abuse despite the poorly edited in comments from tmz in the video. Looks like a dog overcoming his fears as well as the trainers pulling him out when he refused.

Watch electrouction of an elephant. THATS cruelty right there.

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What gets to me is that the producers/director thought they could get away with this.

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The thing is, I bet you most movies that use dogs do this kind of thing. These guys were just unlucky enough to have it filmed.

I agree. Who's got time to go find a compliant dog.

I'm inclined to think it was a craftily-edited video designed to stir up hysteria, but DAMN am I glad to see this film get negative press. It looks awful.

Exhibitors may not want to be connected to the movie and if the distributor pulls it completely here's a cynical (and not very realistic) way to recoup some money:

Edit in some product placement and then "leak" a high quality copy to torrent sites.

If it was A movie that was did not revolve around a cute dog, it might blow over.But given the whole selling point of the movie was look at the cute dog,this indicent makes it DOA. And it looked like a crappy movie anyway.

Because the grandma's who were going to see "A Dog's Purpose" are totally the same type of people to torrent videos online.

Nah, the story is getting huge play in all the media. It's on the Three Networks, it's on CNN, It's on Fox News, It's all over. It started on a website, but it has gone mainstream.
This story has done huge damage to the film. ANybody who thinks otherwise is living in La La Land.

You didn't click reply on the right message I think.

Yeah, it's toast.

If I were the studio, I would delay it and quietly dump it in August or September later in the year.

I already have enough weird friends as it is.

http://deadline.com/2017/01/a-dogs-purpose-premiere-press-junket-cancelled-controversy-dog-video-1201890282/

Universal cancelled the press junket for this weekend and the premiere on Monday. They say they will release it next week as scheduled (probably too late to change that), but sounds like they might be dumping it now.

Which is a wise move when you are facing a cluster- situation . That is a low budget film and was a minor release anyway makes throwing it under the train an even more logical move.

That's a real shame. I thought it looked like a cute and heartwarming movie and I was going to give it a chance.

And I thought it looked like bunch of sentimental "Ah,Look at the cute dog" trash. I admit to being a diabetic when it comes to movies.it does not much sugar to send me into shock.

So far, it's making good money.

Last Films seen:
Split(2017)- 8/10
Manchester by the Sea(2016)- 9/10

It is opening number one in the new release, over resident evil by 5 million !

Once again putting large doubt in the importance of any online # for movie box office, that audience was maybe one particularly not into Twitter (versus the audience Birth of a nation would have had), but still.

I think there was some canny media management that cut the legs from under PETA. While holding off the premiere and press junket looked bad, it gave them the ability to say they weren't going to make a statement until they'd investigated it properly and the fact that PETA edited two separate videos quite heavily and, most damningly, both they and whoever sold it to them had so much concern for the dog that they didn't make the edited tape public for 15 months made it look like a stitch up. Having the American Humane Association seal on it - and their own third party investigation - put PETA and its 'only CGI animals in movies and we don't care if no real animals are harmed' agenda on the defensive.

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/a-dogs-purpose-video-american-humane-response-robin-ganzert-1201969941/

The film probably would have opened bigger without the scandal, but it's an impressive bit of public relations that turned around a potentially catastrophic situation, and one that I think will be used as an exemplary 'how to' case study in the classroom for years to come.


"Security - release the badgers."

PETA destroys anything it touches. The members are abrasive, hypocritical, self-righteous and sometimes violent. You don't get anyone to stop eating meat by calling them a murderer. Any positive work they do is always overshadowed by their nonsense and extremism, and I say that as an animal lover.

So much for it being dead in the water

"Winners focus on winning. Losers focus on winners."

You're so adorable when you're trolling, Chrispy.

http://deadline.com/2017/01/dogs-purpose-split-resident-evil-gold-box-office-1201895463/

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Distributors are divided as to whether the box office for A Dogs Purpose was dinged by fallout over the TMZ video showing a German shepherd being forced to perform against his will in artificial rapids. Some argue that such controversies do not weigh on moviegoers minds and dictate ticket-buying habits. Certain tracking services saw A Dogs Purpose opening as high as $27M four weeks ago, and now the pic looks to be coming in (based on Friday night ticket sales) just under $20M If controversy truly kills A Dogs Purpose, then well see it next week, because canine titles have long legs

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"Security - release the badgers."

http://www.americanhumane.org/press-release/independent-investigative-report-on-a-dogs-purpose-finds-edited-video-mischaracterized-what-happened-on-the-set/

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American Humane is at the forefront of combatting cruelty to animals through our rescue efforts, support of anti-cruelty raids, and work to improve conditions for animals around the world, said Dr. Kwane Stewart, the veterinarian who heads American Humanes No Animals Were Harmed program. It is disappointing that the public was misled by a manufactured controversy promoted by a radical organization like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals with a mission to remove animals from films and other parts of our lives. We are the first to address and fight cruelty and abuse, and no such things happened on the set of A Dog Purpose.

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"Security - release the badgers."

Yeah, saw that. A little late to change how the movie turned out but good that it did. It's been "big news" in my little city because the movie was filmed here.