I recently wrote a commentary on one of Disney's (NYSE: DIS) latest movie releases, Ladder 49. Although that film has a relatively decent (and I do mean relative here, considering Disney's previous movie problems) cumulative gross to date of more than $73 million, it didn't live up to my hopeful expectations. I thought it might have had a sliver of a chance of maybe reaching the century mark if a few four-leaf clovers were floating around the towers of the Magic Castle, but it wasn't to be. So goes the movie business. Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Viacom (NYSE: VIA), and General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal know all too well the fickle nature of the movie-going public.
National Treasure, on the other hand, is performing nicely. When I first heard about this historical mystery, back in the days when it was in the early stages of development, I didn't think much of the concept -- in fact, I felt it was going to be a snoozefest. Apparently, I missed the whole action angle that Jerry Bruckheimer intended on infusing into the project.
When I saw the trailer back in the summer, I was struck by how clever the film actually is, from a marketing standpoint. You take what could have been a dusty old code-breaking exercise, marry it with Indiana Jones, make sure that the ads feel like the visual equivalent of a mini roller-coaster ride, and voila -- people fill the theaters. Made this Mouse shareholder smile, I can tell you.
Although Pixar's (Nasdaq: PIXR) The Incredibles is doing well for itself, it was pretty much a given that it wasn't going to bomb (that's not to say that Jobs et al. should be complacent about the prospects of their properties, of course). I was more concerned about NationalTreasure and how the market was going to treat it, since Disney needs to rely on its own studio-branded reels of celluloid to drive long-term shareholder value (not that I'm complaining about the Pixar contribution, mind you). As of Monday, the film was closing in on $90 million after 11 days in theaters. It certainly wasn't a low-budget project, but I'd be willing to fathom that come next earnings report, it will be cited as a driver for the company's studio segment if it can go as far north of the triple-digit mark as it can.
National Treasure makes up for Mr. Bruckheimer's stumble back in the summer. There's a lesson to be learned here: Expensive talent/producers will not always guarantee growth in the movie business; it's just so hit-and-miss. That's why media conglomerates must continue to think of shareholder value when green-lighting star-driven vehicles.
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Fool contributor Steven Mallas owns shares of Disney and General Electric.
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