2021 Box Office Report Card: Disney used its status as Hollywood’s top dog to experiment with releasing strategies — but not without some major pushback
Disney remains the leader in the film industry, despite the pandemic. The studio utilized that status to test its 2021 film slate.
Even though the studio tried various streaming options such as streaming-only, theater releases and theatrical exclusives, Disney ended up topping the domestic box-office charts with $1.12B from 12 films. The Numbers. Thanks to the end of the year surge, Sony just beat that $1.1 billion figure. “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”(This article will be updated by Comscore numbers when end-of year data is available.
Armed with a Disney+ streaming service that grew to 118 million subscribers by year’s end, the studio streamed several of its theatrical titles via a “Premier Access”Subscriptions to the program were subject to an additional $30 surcharge This was a model that had just been launched. “Mulan”In 2020, it was used in films such as “Raya and the Last Dragon”In March “Cruella”In May “Jungle Cruise”In late July
Premier Access turned out to be a major problem. “Black Widow”Star Scarlet Johannson sued Disney over the promised bonuses based on her box office performance. Disney’s response to the suit, accusing Johannson of showing “callous disregard”The pandemic got Disney even more in trouble, with top industry figures like SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris, and CAA co-chair Bryan Lourd publicly slamming them. According to insiders, Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige was furious at Disney CEO Bob Chapek over how he handled a dispute involving one of his biggest stars.
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The hybrid theatrical/streaming strategy also inflamed theater owners — especially after Disney reported that $60 million of the $218 million worldwide opening for “Black Widow”Premier Access, and not ticket sales they would share, had been the source of their revenue. ”Combined with the lost theatrical revenue and forgone traditional PVOD revenue, the answer to these questions will show that simultaneous release costs Disney money in revenue per viewer over the life of the film,” NATO argued.
Disney worked to relieve tensions over the next two months. Chapek offered to help and the studio reached an agreement with Johansson. “reset”The company’s approach to talent deals in order to accommodate streaming and day/date releases. And after September’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”The film became the first COVID movie to gross more than $200 million domestically. Disney announced that all its films would be exclusively shown in theaters. The success of “Shang-Chi”This was particularly notable as, unlike Black Widow’s, it introduced a brand new superhero to the screen.
“Free Guy”(20th Century Studios).
Even with numbers diminished by the pandemic, Disney was back in a familiar spot at year’s end, with five films in the top 10 domestic charts for the year. In addition to three Marvel films — “Shang-Chi” ($224.5 million domestic), “Black Widow”($183.6 million). “Eternals” ($164.7 million) — there was a Dwayne Johnson led spinoff of the theme park ride “Jungle Cruise”Ryan Reynolds stars in an original comedy action with a budget of $1117 million “Free Guy” ($121.6 million).
This surprise hit also highlighted the mixed success of films from the 20th Century Fox, which Disney bought three years ago. After all, the division yielded two of last year’s biggest busts: Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel” (which grossed $30 million worldwide) and Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”($48 million in total), which both failed to make up their $100 million production budgets.
And while the studio’s animated films struggled like those of the rest of the industry — November’s “Encanto” was eclipsed by Universal’s “Sing 2,” earning just $91 million domestically — the stable of crowd-pleasing IP puts Disney in prime position to get back to business as soon as COVID allows.
“Turning Red” (Disney/Pixar)
For 2022, forecast
The 2022 slate is a clear indication that Disney expects to return to business as usual. The lineup features three Marvel films, including “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,”A sequel to the hit film that made $700 million in North America, and $1.3 billion globally.
But the animated side of the slate has been thrown up in the air again as Disney announced on Friday that Pixar’s “Turning Red”Following the lead of other original Pixar titles, this film will be removed from theaters and released on Disney+ “Soul”2020 “Luca”2021
Disney reserves the rights to modify its release plans on the basis of these information. “what is best for the consumer and our businesses” — meaning that Premier Access and moves to streaming have never been taken off the table — the fact that Disney made this move with “Turning Red”After trying out a theatrically exclusive animated version, I was hooked. “Encanto” shows that either Disney doesn’t feel that family turnout in theaters will be back to normal by spring or is making long-term changes to how it releases features from Pixar and Disney Animation.
We will find out more about Disney’s animated future with its other two feature releases: Pixar’s “Lightyear,”A spinoff of the famed “Toy Story” hero that comes out in June, and Disney Animation’s “Strange World,”An ode to classic pulp adventures novels, which will be released on Thanksgiving weekend
These are the same slots as those once held by “Star Wars”From its recent acquisition, Disney will be releasing two franchises. First, there will be “Bob’s Burgers: The Movie” on Memorial Day weekend and James Cameron’s much-delayed sequel to the all-time box office king “Avatar”December
Apart from the “Avatar”Disney currently has no 20th Century titles listed on its slate. There are only placeholders. This reinforces how Disney acquired Fox not for its future but for its past, using its catalog to bolster Disney+’s offerings. Many of the 20th Century projects that are in development for 2022 were steered to Hulu and Disney+. “Ice Age: The Adventures of Buck Wild,”Animation “Night at the Museum”film and the “Predator”Prequel “Prey.”
’s 2021 Studio Box Office Report Cards
Monday: How Warner Bros.’ HBO Max Experiment Led to Mixed Box Office Results Tuesday:Universal Mined Sequels and Flexibility in Streaming to Survive at the 2021 Box Office Wednesday: Inside Paramount’s Quiet Place at the Box Office, Sidelined for a Brighter 2022 Thursday: Sony Struck Box Office Gold With Spider-Man in 2021 – But Not Much Else Friday: Inside Disney’s Wild 2021 Box Office: Hybrid Releases, New Marvel Heroes and ScarJo Feud
