Disney’s Biggest Animated Bomb in Twenty Years: How ‘Strange World” is Set to Lose $100Million

On Sunday “Strange World” The opening estimate for this five-day event is $18.6 Million against an estimated $135,000,000 budget. It’s about half what was made on the holiday weekend last year, which amounts to $40.5M. “Encanto,” The studio was expecting to have trouble with the film due to the unwillingness of family audiences, as well as its impending release on Disney+ (where the movie became a cultural success).

In 2002, “Treasure Planet” arrived in theaters as the most expensive traditionally animated film at the time with a $140 million budget, or approximately $230 million in today’s dollars. It was released at a time of post-Disney Renaissance films such as “Mulan,” “Tarzan” And “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” did not make a lot of money at the cinemas. The Sci-Fi adventure made a significant difference. “Treasure Planet” opened to a paltry $16.6 million over Thanksgiving weekend, before topping out at $109.5 million worldwide — and costing Disney $74 million from its theatrical release.

“Strange World” Even worse. However, “Treasure Planet” The film won the approval of all those that saw it. “Strange World” The first Disney animated movie to not earn an A or a- has received a B.

In 43 countries, the grossing was less than 10 million “Strange World” is tanking even harder overseas and at this point would be fortunate to hit $75 million worldwide given the imminent arrival of Disney’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” and Universal’s “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” In mid-December

There are many commonalities between them. “Treasure Planet” And “Strange World,” Both of these are sci-fi tributes made to classic literary works from decades past. “Treasure Planet” was a space-faring take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island,” While “Strange World” This is an extended tribute to the pulpy, adventure comics of the 1930s such as “Doc Savage.”

Marketing challenges were faced by both films, which was made worse by the lack of A-list recognition for their cast. Emma Thompson, 21 years old, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 21, highlighted the cast. “Treasure Planet,” Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Dennis Quaid are leading the cast of “Strange World.”

Also, the film lacks a beautiful heroine. “Frozen” Oder “Moana” or fantasal characters, “Wreck-It Ralph” Oder “Zootopia.” With the exception of the amoeba-like Splat, all the film’s characters are humans, with the posters featuring protagonist Searcher Clade (Gyllenhaal) with his boisterous father (Quaid) and adventure-loving grandson (Jaboukie Young-White).

Disney tried to make up for that by marketing both films around the visuals, but that wasn’t enough. Although “Treasure Planet” Although the steampunk-stylized images of 18th-century ships flying through space gained Disney enthusiasts a large following, most mainstream viewers dismissed it as bizarre. At the time, family audiences were gravitating to CG-animated films like DreamWorks Animation’s “Shrek” that shaped the tastes of moviegoers in the 2000s by thumbing its nose at the heart-on-sleeve earnestness that defined many Disney films, while Disney’s biggest box office hits came from the rising Pixar with films like “Toy Story 2” And “Monsters Inc.”

Similar, you will find the vibrant setting of “Strange World” wasn’t enough to win over audiences, especially as it competed with Disney’s two blockbuster sequels on the release slate. Both “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” And “Avatar: The Way of Water” Additionally, they have seen bigger marketing campaigns and seem to have attracted more people with better-developed worlds that are already well known to them.

CinemaScore surveyed moviegoers to understand why. “Strange World” The film is currently flopping. While audiences under 25 — namely kids — gave the film an A-, parents and general audience adults lowered the average to a B.

The film’s plot, built around themes of climate change and generational conflicts between parent and child, failed to resonate with grownups at a time when most films that explore real-world issues are getting ignored in favor of films with pure escapism. And yes, it is possible that an LGBT subplot involving 16-year-old Ethan Clade’s crush on another teenage boy drew the ire of some conservative parents.

It’s also possible that general audiences may be outgrowing their interest in feature-length cartoons that aren’t sequels to established hits. Over $500 million was the last animated film that made a profit. worldwide was Pixar’s “Coco,” That was five years ago.

Pixar has enjoyed multi-billion dollar results since that time. “Incredibles 2,” “Toy Story 4” And “Frozen II,” but the original offerings that they have put out over the past two years have either had their results skewed by the pAndemic and the studio’s streaming-first release strategies or outright bombed.

Meanwhile, the most successful post-shutdown animated films have been part of franchises like Universal/Illumination’s “Sing 2” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” and the 2023 titles expected to be the biggest animated hits are more of the same: Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and DreamWorks Animation’s “Trolls 3.” “Encanto” While Disney+ subscribers may be up, theaters still need to find the first post-COVID animated film that will appeal to families as well as general audiences.

That’s a worrying trend for Disney, whose animated slate next year consists of two more original projects — Pixar’s “Elemental” and Disney Animation’s “Wish.” Bob Iger, Jennifer Lee and the rest of the Disney brain trust will have to find a way to get audiences to embrace their studios’ fresh new ideas again, not just on streaming but at the movie theater as well.