The Disney Box Office thread - Recession edition

[estefan]

To be honest, the only movie where the Xerox look bothers me is The Aristocats. The Xerox is so rough in that one, the film looks unfinished.

[Jules]

I too was always baffled as to why the animation drawings were left so "rough" up to the photocopying process in Aristocats, whereas in earlier Xerox films (e.g. Dalmatians, Jungle Book) lines were much cleaner.

What are the odds it was a stylistic choice?

[Disney's Divinity]

Xerox is terrible and I'm so happy that Walt hated it too.

It's stylized. But it's not surprising to me that avid fans of Disney's classic style don't get it.

What is there to "get"? It isn't drawn any differently, and isn't a style--it's a process. And I don't think Disney would've hated because he was an avid fan of the classic style--maybe he just thought it was ugly.

[ajmrowland]

^what there is to get is that some movies-101 Dalmatians specfically, which introduced the process-were given a very graphic flat style that's comparable to what the Proud Family would later do on tv: detailed backgrounds painted simply with colors not having much in the way of borders.

[Disney's Divinity]

^what there is to get is that some movies-101 Dalmatians specfically, which introduced the process-were given a very graphic flat style that's comparable to what the Proud Family would later do on tv: detailed backgrounds painted simply with colors not having much in the way of borders.

But I didn't think that was tied to the film being Xerox? Did all the films done by Xerox have that same style (I don't remember Sword in the Stone being like that...?).

[ajmrowland]

^if it isnt, I can only assume a lot of people think that. Also the rough animation drawings.

[PatrickvD]

^what there is to get is that some movies-101 Dalmatians specfically, which introduced the process-were given a very graphic flat style that's comparable to what the Proud Family would later do on tv: detailed backgrounds painted simply with colors not having much in the way of borders.

But I didn't think that was tied to the film being Xerox? Did all the films done by Xerox have that same style (I don't remember Sword in the Stone being like that...?).

Sword in the Stone also had highly stylized background art. In some scenes even more than any other Disney film from the 60s in my opinion. The opening in the woods boats all kinds of rough lines, crazy shapes and colors.

[estefan]

I thought it would be interesting to look at what Disney films have been the most profitable. This is taking into account box-office grosses from the film's entire run (including re-releases). I didn't include a film, if I couldn't find entire grosses and for those where I couldn't find the budget, I just estimated what it might have been based on the other films made around their release.

So, here is how much profit Disney has either gained or lost from their theatrical releases (all numbers in millions):

The Lion King: $430.5
Aladdin: $224
Beauty and the Beast: $187
Bambi: $132.6
Pocahontas: $118
One Hundred and One Dalmatians: $103.5
The Jungle Book: $95.5 (guesstimate)
Tarzan: $94
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: $90.5
Mulan: $82
The Little Mermaid: $65.5
The Hunchback of Notre Dame: $62.5
Lilo & Stitch: $56.5
Dinosaur: $47
Lady and the Tramp: $42.5
Hercules: $41
Peter Pan: $39.5
Pinocchio: $39.4
Fantasia: $35.7
Tangled: $35
The Rescuers: $34.3
The Princess and the Frog: $28.5
Brother Bear: $25 (guesstimate)
The Fox and the Hound: $19.5
Sleeping Beauty: $19.5
Oliver & Company: $17 (guesstimate)
Chicken Little: $7
The Great Mouse Detective: $5
Bolt: $4.5
Winnie the Pooh: $-13.5
The Emperor's New Groove: $-15.5
Meet the Robinsons: $-15.5 (guesstimate)
The Rescuers Down Under: $-23.5
Atlantis The Lost Empire: $-27
The Black Cauldron: $-33.5
Fantasia 2000: $-35
Home on the Range: $-58.5
Treasure Planet: $-85.5

And here are the most profitable Pixar releases:

Finding Nemo: $366
Toy Story 3: $331.5
The Incredibles: $223.5
Up: $190.5
Ratatouille: $161.5
Toy Story 2: $152.5
Toy Story: $150.5
Monsters, Inc.: $147.5
Cars: $110.5
Wall-E: $80.5
Cars 2: $79.5
Brave: $79
A Bug's Life: $61.5

By the way, if you're curious how I calculated these numbers, I simply divided the overall gross by 2, then subtracted the budget.

Example from The Lion King: 951 ÷ 2 - 45 = 430.5

[Victurtle]

I don't think you can calculate comparable profit without having it adjusted for inflation... (separately for each re-release too).

[PatrickvD]

Wreck-it Ralph had an estimated $13,5 million opening friday. On target for a $50 million+ weekend. Breaking Tangled's disney opening weekend record.

[estefan]

With the talk of Wreck-It Ralph's opening weekend numbers, I was curious to see how it ranks when you adjust the other Disney Animation openings by inflation. Since the opening weekend records only go back to 1982 on Box Office Mojo, these are only from The Black Cauldron upwards. I also went by the first wide weekend, with the exception of Fantasia 2000.

The Lion King: $78.5
Dinosaur: $57.8
Pocahontas: $54.4
Tarzan: $54
Chicken Little: $50.1
Wreck-It Ralph: $50
Tangled: $48.8
Lilo & Stitch: $48.7
Mulan: $38.9
The Hunchback of Notre Dame: $38.2
Hercules: $37.5
Aladdin: $37.3
Bolt: $29.3
Meet the Robinsons: $29.3
Atlantis The Lost Empire: $28.8
Brother Bear: $25.8
The Princess and the Frog: $25.5
Beauty and the Beast: $18.3
Home on the Range: $17.9
Treasure Planet: $16.7
The Emperor's New Groove: $14.6
The Little Mermaid: $12.2
The Black Cauldron: $9.4
Winnie the Pooh: $7.9
Oliver & Company: $7.8
The Great Mouse Detetive: $7
The Rescuers Down Under: $6.6
Fantasia 2000: $3.4

[Polizzi]

Bad news Disney fans. According to Box Office Mojo, Warner Bros. takes down Disney with $1,478,644,575 over $1,463,814,713. Disney is $14,829,862 behind Warner Bros. (no wonder why Disney is cancelling 3D re-releases for the future...maybe). "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" topped it off. But look at the bright side, Disney still makes the most average against Warner Bros. with $112,601,132 over $61,610,191, including against the rest of the movie studios. I bet the average that Disney made would be the most average in box office history.

Disney's 2012 Box Office Statistics
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/cha ... ESC&p=.htm

Warner Bros. 2012 Box Office Statistics
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/cha ... ESC&p=.htm

But for the record, Sony/Columbia made the most money of all with 1,721,377,597, but not the average. "Men in Black 3," "The Amazing Spider-Man" from Marvel (which Disney owns), "Looper," "Hotel Transylvania," and "Skyfall" topped it off.

Sony/Columbia Box Office Statistics
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/studio/cha ... ESC&p=.htm

[buffalobill]

I know it's not an animated (or any kind of) classic but I wonder what John Carter's numbers would be adjusted back for 1937 dollars?

[PatrickvD]

I know it's not an animated (or any kind of) classic but I wonder what John Carter's numbers would be adjusted back for 1937 dollars?

Probably minus $70 million.

[estefan]

According to Box Office Mojo, John Carter would be about $2 million in 1937 dollars. And the budget would have been the equivalent of about $7 million. Though no studio would consider green-lighting any project for that amount of money in 1937, considering $7 million was a lot back then. Not even Gone with the Wind cost that much.

[Disney's Divinity]

Bad news Disney fans. According to Box Office Mojo, Warner Bros. takes down Disney with $1,478,644,575 over $1,463,814,713.

When reading this--even though I know it's important from a business standpoint--I couldn't help thinking... "Poor Disney! They just barely missed 1.5 billion this year," while laughing to myself.

I wonder how much lower their profit might be next year when Disney's Frozen and Wizart's The Snow Queen go head to head.

[Polizzi]

Bad news Disney fans. According to Box Office Mojo, Warner Bros. takes down Disney with $1,478,644,575 over $1,463,814,713.

When reading this--even though I know it's important from a business standpoint--I couldn't help thinking... "Poor Disney! They just barely missed 1.5 billion this year," while laughing to myself.

I wonder how much lower their profit might be next year when Disney's Frozen and Wizart's The Snow Queen go head to head.

Disney would probably make more money than Wizart. Besides, Wizart is foreign, and Disney is homemade.

[blackcauldron85]

Worldwide Box Office Gross, 2000-2021, from smallest to largest:

Winnie the Pooh, 2011: $49,871,429
Raya and the Last Dragon, 2021: $54,488,062
Treasure Planet, 2002: $110,041,363
Soul, 2020: $115,262,421
Onward, 2020: $141,950,121
Home on the Range, 2004: $145,358,062
Meet the Robinsons, 2007: $169,333,034
The Emperor's New Groove, 2000: $169,661,687
Atlantis: The Lost Empire, 2001: $186,053,725
Brother Bear, 2003: $250,397,798
The Princess & the Frog, 2009: $267,045,765
Lilo & Stitch, 2002: $273,144,151
Bolt, 2008: $309,979,994
Chicken Little, 2005: $314,432,837
The Good Dinosaur, 2015: $332,207,671
Dinosaur, 2000: $349,822,765
Cars 3, 2017: $383,930,656
Cars, 2006: $461,991,867
Wreck-It Ralph, 2012: $471,222,889
WALL-E, 2008: $521,311,890
Ralph Breaks the Internet, 2018: $529,323,962
Brave, 2012: $538,983,207
Cars 2, 2011: $559,852,396
Monsters, Inc., 2001, $579,707,738
Tangled, 2010: $592,462,816
Ratatouille, 2007: $623,726,085
The Incredibles, 2004: $631,607,053
Moana, 2016: $643,350,998
Big Hero 6, 2014: $657,869,686
Up, 2009: $735,099,102
Monsters University, 2013: $743,559,645
Coco, 2017: $807,817,888
Inside Out, 2015: $858,071,350
Finding Nemo, 2003: $940,352,645
Zootopia, 2016: $1,023,792,558
Finding Dory, 2016: $1,028,570,942
Toy Story 3, 2010: $1,066,970,811
Toy Story 4, 2019: $1,073,394,593
Incredibles 2, 2018: $1,243,089,244
Frozen, 2013: $1,281,019,275
Frozen II, 2019: $1,450,026,933

Estimated Net Profit of the same films (obviously the budget numbers are rounded; some films' budgets were listed as "$100,000,000+" or $150,000,000 to $175,000,000;" these films with a scale are designated by "# to #"...)[So this is the estimate of total gross at the box office minus the budget amount. I HAVE NO IDEA IF I DID THIS RIGHT, SO THIS MAY BE WAYYYYY OFF...]

Raya and the Last Dragon, 2021: -$45,000,000 to -$70,000,000
Soul, 2020: -$34,000,000 to -$59,000,000
Onward, 2020: -$33,000,000 to -$58,000,000
Treasure Planet, 2002: -$29,000,000
Meet the Robinsons, 2007: $19,300,000
Winnie the Pooh, 2011: $19,800,000
Home on the Range, 2004: $35,300,000
Atlantis: The Lost Empire, 2001: $66,000,000
The Emperor's New Groove, 2000: $69,600,000
The Good Dinosaur, 2015: $157,200,000
Bolt, 2008: $159,900,000
The Princess & the Frog, 2009: $162,000,000
Chicken Little, 2005: $164,400,000
Lilo & Stitch, 2002: $193,100,000
Brother Bear, 2003: $204,300,000
Cars 3, 2017: $208,900,000
Dinosaur, 2000: $222,300,000
Wreck-It Ralph, 2012: $306,200,000
Tangled, 2010: $332,400,000
WALL-E, 2008: $341,300,000
Cars, 2006: $341,900,000
Cars 2, 2011: $353,800,000
Brave, 2012: $353,900,000
Ralph Breaks the Internet, 2018: $354,300,000
Monsters, Inc., 2001: $464,700,000
Ratatouille, 2007: $473,700,000
Big Hero 6, 2014: $492,800,000
Moana, 2016: $493,300,000 to $468,300,000
The Incredibles, 2004: $539,600,000
Monsters University, 2013: $543,500,000
Up, 2009: $560,000,000
Coco, 2017: $632,800,000 to $607,800,000
Inside Out, 2015: $683,000,000
Finding Nemo, 2003: $846,300,000
Finding Dory, 2016: $853,500,000 to $828,500,000
Toy Story 3, 2010: $866,900,000
Toy Story 4, 2019: $873,300,000
Zootopia, 2016: $873,700,000
Incredibles 2, 2018: $1,043,000,000
Frozen, 2013: $1,131,000,000
Frozen II, 2019: $1,300,000,000

(I was inspired to do this because this article was in my Google Alerts email today:
The Number One Movie in America: The Princess and the Frog
http://www.boxofficeprophets.com/column ... mnID=20335

I do have my spreadsheet, if anyone needs more info, budgets, or needs domestic/international breakdowns...

**(I used Box Office Mojo & occasionally Wikipedia for the grosses.) (I did not include Fantasia 2000 due to the way it was released.)[/size]

***Obviously numbers for Raya, Soul, & Onward are not complete reflections of their performances...

WALL-E is both the 22nd best grossing and 22nd most profitable film of this list.
Ratatouille is both the 16th best grossing and 16th most profitable film of this list.
Moana is both the 14th best grossing and 14th most profitable film of this list.
Coco is both the 10th best grossing and 10th most profitable film of this list.
Inside Out is both the 9th best grossing and 9th most profitable film of this list.
Finding Nemo is both the 8th best grossing and 8th most profitable film of this list.
Incredibles 2 is both the 3rd best grossing and 3rd most profitable film of this list.
Frozen is both the 2nd best grossing and 2nd most profitable film of this list.
Frozen II is both the 1st best grossing and 1st most profitable film of this list.

Some bigger variances:
Winnie the Pooh is the 41st grosser (in last place), but the 36th in profits (out of 41).
Brother Bear is the 32nd grosser, but the 27th in profits.
The Good Dinosaur is the 27th grosser, but the 32nd in profits.
Cars is the 24th grosser, but the 21st in profits.
Ralph Breaks the Internet is the 21st grosser, but the 18th in profits.
Tangled is the 17th grosser, but the 23rd in profits.

Like I said, I have the budgets/estimated budgets on my spreadsheet, along with domestic and international grosses. I spent so many hours on this but I may have done it wrong, besides my list of grosses. Help.

(Sigh- My goal was to show, Wow, these are the lowest-to-highest grossers since 2000, and wow, because of some crazy big or crazy small budgets [think >Tangled or Pooh<], some films ended up making a lot more $ than it seems, or made a lot less $ than it seems... I hope I'm making sense. It is way past my bedtime!)

[Disney's Divinity]

Wow, I didn't know that Frozen and Frozen II were ahead of TS4 and Incredibles 2. I actually wouldn't be surprised if Disney ends up pushing that franchise farther than #3 unless #3 sees a big drop.

I'm surprised Finding Dory didn't do more than it did.