Disney’s recent movie ‘Strange World’ was off to a terrible start and could possibly lose over $100 million. With $11.9 million from 4,174 North American theaters over the weekend and $18.6 million over the five-day holiday frame, Disney\u2019s \u201cStrange World\u201d debuted dramatically behind expectations. The animated feature was expected to earn $30 million to $40 million between the five-day holiday frame before projections were revised downward. Even those figures would have been unspectacular to start.<\/p>\n
In modern times, inaugural ticket sales for \u201cStrange World\u201d now register as one of Disney\u2019s worst opening weekends arriving ever-so-slightly ahead of its pandemic-era release \u201cWest Side Story\u201d with $10.5 million, and significantly behind fellow family films like \u201cEncanto\u201d with $27.2 million over the traditional weekend and $40 million during the extended Thanksgiving holiday stretch, and \u201cLightyear\u201d with $51 million.<\/p>\n
A senior Comscore analyst, Paul Dergarabedian said that \u201cnormally this time of year, a Disney family film is the big draw.\u201d \u201cIt shows we\u2019re still recovering and adapting to the constraints of the pandemic,\u201d Dergarabedian added.<\/p>\n
Sources estimate that \u201cStrange World\u201d will lose at least $100 million in its theatrical run unless its business rebounds dramatically in the next few weeks. But given the film\u2019s moderate reviews, minimal buzz, and lackluster audience reception, that seems very unlikely.<\/p>\n
It will be very difficult to get the big-budget film into the black, box office experts suggest, even with proper attention on Disney+ and home entertainment platforms. Sources say that the film needs to gross roughly $360 million to break even, as \u201cStrange World\u201d cost them $180 million to produce and tens of millions more in global marketing and distribution fees.<\/p>\n
For \u201cLightyear,\u201d which ended its theatrical run with $226 million worldwide, those levels were unattainable, as well as for \u201cEncanto,\u201d which ended its theatrical run with $256 million worldwide, despite the fact that those films notched bigger opening weekends.<\/p>\n
It is believed by rival studios that \u201cStrange World\u201d will be lucky to hit $45 million by the end of its domestic run, as, for example, \u201cLightyear\u201d generated $118 million in the states, while \u201cEncanto\u201d earned $96 million in North America.<\/p>\n
David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, said that \u201cthis is a weak opening by Disney animation standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a cost of $180 million, plus marketing expenses, the film will finish in the red, even with good ancillary income,\u201d Gross added.<\/p>\n
At the international box office, \u201cStrange World\u201d was similarly jilted with $9.2 million from 43 markets. Due to geopolitical tensions, \u201cStrange World\u201d won\u2019t play in China or Russia, like most Hollywood films in the past few years.<\/p>\n
And because the movie features a gay character, Disney decided to not submit \u201cStrange World\u201d to several smaller markets, such as the entire Middle East, Malaysia, and Indonesia. In those territories, films with LGBTQ references have been targeted regularly, and Disney was not willing to cut out parts of the movie to comply with their guidelines. The character also turned off most American movie-goers, as the poor numbers suggest.<\/p>\n
But as every film that opened, including \u201cDevotion,\u201d or expanded nationwide – \u201cThe Fabelmans\u201d and \u201cBones and All\u201d – did not go well at the box office, it was a very weak Thanksgiving holiday for Hollywood overall.<\/p>\n
But for Disney it was not all bad, as the studio\u2019s Marvel adventure \u201cBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever\u201d filled over box office charts for the third weekend in a row, adding $64 million over the five-day stretch. In North America, the superhero sequel has grossed $367 million so far, and an impressive $675 million globally.<\/p>\n
For Disney\u2019s animated offerings, which have long been considered the gold standard, \u201cStrange World\u201d continues a bleak streak, yet the studio, which made Pixar movies like \u201cSoul\u201d and \u201cLuca\u201d available to watch on Disney+ during the pandemic, has not been able to properly reacquaint those audiences with theatrical releases.<\/p>\n
The studio may have inadvertently made families get used to watching new movies on its popular streaming service in the comfort of their homes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Disney’s recent movie ‘Strange World’ was off to a terrible start and could possibly lose over $100 million. With $11.9 million from 4,174 North American theaters over the weekend and $18.6 million over the five-day holiday frame, Disney\u2019s \u201cStrange World\u201d debuted dramatically behind expectations. The animated feature was expected to earn $30 million to $40 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20064,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendingviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendingviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendingviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendingviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendingviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trendingviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendingviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendingviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendingviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendingviews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}