Disney Studios Passes $7 Billion at the Box Office

[JeanGreyForever]

The difference is that the money from last year came from Marvel and Pixar, while this year everything they released was successful except Dumbo and Maleficent.

I feel bad for Dumbo. I wish Maleficent had been Disney's sole box office flop this year. It deserves that reputation.

[Sotiris]

Disney’s Global Box Office Year: Mouse Roars To $13.2B
https://deadline.com/2020/01/disney-glo ... 202819721/

[Farerb]

Most of the money Disney made last year is going down the drain.

[Patricier21]

The difference is that the money from last year came from Marvel and Pixar, while this year everything they released was successful except Dumbo and Maleficent.

I feel bad for Dumbo. I wish Maleficent had been Disney's sole box office flop this year. It deserves that reputation.

I Wouldn't' Call Maleficent II a flop. It made about $500m on $185 production budget. Its a least considered a moderate success and I hear it did pretty well in Home Media sales.

Dumb also broke even as it made a smudge more than double its $170m budget with $353m

[Sotiris]

How they mighty have fallen. From $13 billion in 2019, Disney is down to a measly $2 billion in 2021.

Disney Topping $2B WW For 2021
https://deadline.com/2021/10/no-time-to ... 234853488/

[estefan]

How they mighty have fallen. From $13 billion in 2019, Disney is down to a measly $2 billion in 2021.

Disney Topping $2B WW For 2021
https://deadline.com/2021/10/no-time-to ... 234853488/

There's obviously a massive asterisk attached to that and it's not fair to make the comparison between those two years. Every Hollywood studio took a hit.

With that said, even without covid, I do think Disney's 2019 would have been hard to top. That year, they scheduled so many of their most popular brands and acquisitions. In a non-covid world, I don't think 2020 and 2021 would have beat that number. I even predicted Warner Bros would have the highest market share of the studios in 2020, which didn't happen for obvious reason (curiously, it was Sony, largely thanks to Jumanji 3's continued success in January and Bad Boys for Life being a massive hit for the first few months).

Nonetheless, I still think Disney would have performed well in 2020 and 2021 in a non-pandemic world. 2019 just had the benefit of a massively anticipated Avengers movie, the fourth film in Pixar's most beloved franchise, a remake of their most popular animated film, another remake to a '90s animated classic, a sequel to a enormously successful animated movie and the finale to the space wizards series. That's all of the crowd-pleasing pieces coming together. Even Maleficent 2 performed better than everyone, including myself, thought it would.

[Disney's Divinity]

I don't feel sorry for their loss. Not after shutting down Blue Sky Studios because they were making a film with LGBT characters. Or for so many other things over the years for that matter. The wage-fixing scandal, killing hand-drawn animation and throwing out all those animators, letting the PIXAR trash in to domineer over WDAS employees, protecting Lasseter all those years, etc. etc.

[Sotiris]

Disney Claims $1.17B, While Sony Says $1B+: The Conundrum Of The 2021 Domestic Box Office Marketshare
https://deadline.com/2022/01/domestic-b ... 234904531/

Worldwide Box Office Climbed 78% In 2021 To $21.4 Billion Amid Covid Flux As ‘Spider-Man’ Brought The Year Home: Global Studio Rankings
https://deadline.com/2022/01/2021-world ... 234905569/

[Disney's Divinity]

I'm confused what that article speculates at one point. Are they saying they think it's possible Disney may close down their FOX acquisitions from making future films because of WSS's performance (among other films)?

[PatrickvD]

They basically acquired FOX for their content library and IP rights. To boost Disney+ subscriber growth worldwide. And that definitely worked. They do not per se need them to continue making content.

[Disney's Divinity]

I know that was their purpose and they didn't care so much about any new films FOX might make under them, but still… Killing off yet another company they acquired like that, and a much bigger one than Blue Sky Studios, would—I would think—put a major dent in the company's image. I mean, considering how much more of monopoly on the industry they're becoming, it’s not like they’d go out of business, but I imagine the criticism in the media over a decision like that one would be nonstop?

I mean, WDAS, for example, was so worried about being typecast as only making sequels that they still haven't announced Zootopia 2; I imagine the company doesn't want to be viewed as if they're buying up company after company only to put them out of business.

[estefan]

Disney did recently sign a distribution deal with New Regency.

Regency has produced several movies for 20th Century Fox for over twenty years, most of which are adult-targeted movies Disney was making less of. So that seems to indicate some interest in keeping 20th Century alive, other than IP-based titles.

I think what's hurting 20th Century Studios right now is that adult dramas haven't been grossing the box-office numbers they used to, because the target audience for those movies are shown to be the least interested in returning to theatres during the pandemic. There's a reason "Free Guy" did so well, because it fits right in with the kinds of movies teenagers and 20-somethings are interested in right now.

[Sotiris]

Disney Crosses $4 Billion At Global Box Office, Propped By ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’
https://deadline.com/2022/12/walt-disne ... 235203477/

Disney Rules The Box Office Around The World In 2022 With $4.9 Billion
https://deadline.com/2023/01/box-office ... 235210610/

[Disney's Divinity]

That is surprising news. I knew Disney couldn't be doing that bad in the scheme of things, although they've taken a few hits the past couple of years between the pandemic and the political bull's-eye put on them.

[Sotiris]

Disney, Despite ‘Indy’ & ‘Elemental’ Misfires, Leading 2023 Global Box Office With $3.4B
https://deadline.com/2023/07/disney-202 ... 235431049/

The 4 Flops of 2023 That Cost Disney $1 Billion
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinere ... 1-billion/

Disney Is Bleeding Out At The Box Office: Here's How Much They've Lost
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNgbuv6wVPc

[PatrickvD]

All this talk of Disney’s downfall and they’re still in first place…

Also, Elemental seems to have some legs and still has some territories to premiere in. While DWA’s anti-Little Mermaid movie (or whatever the aim was here) was their worst opening weekend in the history of the studio. Granted it looked like garbage but damn, what a mess.

Box Office is down and Disney's slate is still stuffed with terrible films, but they’re doing alright I’d say.

[Disney's Divinity]

Wish should get it to 4 billion. The Marvels and Haunted Mansion, maybe to 4.5-4.7, I would think? A far cry from the 13 billion of their last pre-pandemic year.

[Sotiris]

Only One 2023 Movie with a Budget Over $200 Million Has Made a Profit (So Far) This Year
https://www.indiewire.com/news/box-offi ... 234928420/

No Disney Movie Will Cross $1 Billion At The Box Office This Year – And That's Bad News
https://www.slashfilm.com/1457249/no-di ... this-year/

Disney on Track to Lose Nearly $750 Million Across 13 Films in Historic Year of Box-Office Flops
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment ... -of-flops/

The Marvels & Wish Push Disney Losses Over $1 Billion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aZRXlbufeE

Wonka Starts Fine as Disney Loses Over $1 Billion for the Year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6UQAfdybJE

[carolinakid]

Love Breitbart, Sotiris!
Thanks for the link!
Great analysis!

[UmbrellaFish]

Disney on Track to Lose Nearly $750 Million Across 13 Films in Historic Year of Box-Office Flops
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment ... -of-flops/

… why are we sharing op-eds from Breitbart that repeatedly use the phrase “The Disney Grooming Syndicate”??? WTH???

His numbers are guesses— it’s no more newsworthy than reading r/boxoffice. And his writing clearly illustrates a pretty malicious bias against TWDC. Wish is losing money, but this article is garbage.