Puss in Boots: The Last Wish made it to no. 8 in Deadline’s 2022 Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament

Deadline’s Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament took a break during the pandemic, when theaters were closed for most of 2020-2021 and theatrical titles became more common on both the big screen and studios’ respective streaming platforms. Returning from that side, studios have largely returned to their theatrical release models and the downstream monetization they can bring. Not to mention their strength in launching IPs around the world with huge global marketing campaigns. When it comes to evaluating the financial performance of top films, it’s not about how much a film costs at the box office. The real story is told when production budgets, P&A, talent royalties and other costs collide with box office and spin-off revenues from VOD to DVD and TV. To get closer to that mysterious end of the equation, Deadline is recapping our Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament for 2022, using data from experienced and trusted sources.

THE MOVIE

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Universal/DreamWorks Animation

DreamWorks Animation has always wanted to make a sequel to the 2011 Oscar nominee Shrek turnoff cat in boots. But the leadership changes got in the way. The original was made under Jeffrey Katzenberg’s regime, which was known for lavish budgets. Only the latest iteration of the Margie Cohn-led animation studio saw a sequel, written by Paul Fisher and Tommy Swerdlow. The selling point: Puss finds himself on his ninth life, his last chance, in a story that takes him from hero to zero and back again. Also of interest to hardcore fans, Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek returned to play Puss and Kitty Softpaws. Cohn pushed director Joel Crawford and co-director Januel Mercado to use more unique tools to tell the story, and the duo added a graded animation style to the film for the fierce anime-like fight scenes. It also gave the film a hyperfantastic sensibility. This technique was opposed to CGI for the more grounded scenes, i.e. when Puss connects with Kitty Softpaws. The sequel received a better rating from audiences than the first film, A vs A-, as decided by Academy voters Puss in Boots: The Last Wish was worthy of an Oscar nomination for Animated Feature.

THE BOX SCORE

IT COMES AFTER

Similar to last year at Universal sing 2 arrived as a counterprogramming of the holiday fund Spider-Man: No Way Home, The studio bravely went along Puss in Boots: The Last Wish on the second weekend of Avatar: the way of water during a blizzard-laden Christmas weekend. The weather was a little crazy, but it wasn’t a disaster. This led to a slower start for Puss in Boots: The Last Wish than that of enlightenment sing 2, with a lower five-day debut of $18.5 million versus $39.6 million. But then The Last Wish launched as the only choice for families in the first four months of 2023. Universal’s policy for films priced under $50 million is to show them at home on Premium VOD after 17 days. But it didn’t hurt cat in boots: The Last Wish‘s ticket sales, as the film earned an additional $107 million at the domestic box office when available on PVOD.

The film finally landed on Universal’s Peacock streaming service on March 10. Speaking of success: Puss in Boots: The Last WishThe domestic gross of $184.9 million surpassed the original 2011 film’s US gross of $149.2 million. Not only that but Puss in Boots: The Last Wish in its total domestic run and $478.7 million worldwide gross surpassing the total run of sing 2, which earned $162.7 million domestically and $408.3 million worldwide. Interestingly, the sequel’s production cost per source is $110 million, which is higher than Illumination Minions: The Rise of Gru(largely made from this studio’s offices in Paris) due to overhead on the Glendale, CA campus. Global home entertainment is resilient and poised to hit $100 million, while the $130 million worldwide streaming/TV revenue includes not only money Universal pays for the film’s pay window on Peacock, but also streaming revenue Puss in Boots: The Last Wish on Netflix during the middle 10-month portion of an 18-month pay-one affiliate window. Total net profit after all items is $120.2 million. We may not have heard the last of this cat story.