Box Office Analyst Estimates That Disney Has Lost $890 Million on Last Eight Studio Releases, Including Woke Little Mermaid and Elemental

Box office analyst and YouTuber Valliant Renegade has estimated that the Walt Disney Co. has lost $890 million on the last eight studio releases, including the woke Little Mermaid remake and Elemental, an anti-racism animated film featuring a non-binary character.

The films contributing to the losses include “Lightyear,” “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Strange World,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “Elemental.”

Valliant Renegade said that the eight films cost roughly $2.75 billion but only brought in $1.86 billion.

“That can’t go on forever. It’s just simple numbers, folks,” Valliant Renegade said in a video about his estimate. “That’s where we are. The Walt Disney Company is just making all the wrong decisions not only creatively, but in the distribution channels as well.”

[b][i]I am NOT snickering with delight. I just thought of something amusing.[/i][/b]

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robingoodfellow · M

Black Panther Wakanda forever has made something like 1.2 billion dollars.

stratosranger · M

@robingoodfellow Final projections put it at over 800 million world wide. For a film that cost 250 million to make (not including post production costs and advertising) it did not meet it’s 1 billion dollar expectations. Yes they recouped on their investment and a bit more. Was it an overwhelming success financially? No. Not a failure but not the resounding success it was projected to be.

Richard65 · M

@stratosranger Hollywood has a long history of creative accounting in order to claim blockbuster movies weren't quite so profitable. Warner Bros paid out $212 million in distribution fees for the Harry Potter franchise, which it marked in its debit columns, despite the fact it was Warners who actually distributed the movies and effectively paid itself the $212 million. Thus "Order of the Phoenix" made $940 million at the international box office, but officially made a loss of $167 million.

stratosranger · M

@Richard65 Interesting. Why would Disney shoot itself in the foot that way?

Richard65 · M

@stratosranger to hide their true profit margins and minimise their tax burden. Some also do it to evade paying residuals to actors, as Dave Prowse found out when Lucasfilm notified him that he wouldn't be paid residuals for Return of the Jedi because the movie had never gone into profit. Most major corporations do this. It's all about keeping as much money as they can, even if they have to pretend a blockbuster was actually a flop.

robingoodfellow · M

@stratosranger I think the number I saw reflected streaming and home video sales as well. Regardless, to me it seems like if you've got to depend on a billion dollar box office to be completely successful then you're setting yourself up for failure. In Hollywood a movie needs to earn 3x it's cost to be considered a modest hit. Mermaid cost 250 million. Doesn't feel realistic for it to earn at least 3/4 of a billion dollar at the box office in an age where less people go to the movies. And quite frankly these mega budget CGI spectacles have become mundane. They all look and feel the same and they're churned out factory style. It's not like it used to be when a film like the original Star Wars or Raider of the Lost Ark came out, when big movies were an event and everyone ran out to see them to join in the conversation.

trollslayer · 46-50, M

@Richard65 interesting comments here. Thanks.