Enlarge image
Scene from »Strange World«
For a long time, Disney was considered a guarantee for box office hits among children's films.
Now, within a year, two animated films fell far short of expectations.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the production "Strange World" has grossed just $18.6 million since its release last Wednesday.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the film »Lightyear« was well below the forecast (70 million dollars) with sales of 51 million dollars in the first week in cinemas.
According to the Wall Street Journal, "Strange World" had Disney's worst theatrical release in ten years.
With one exception: In March 2021, "Raya and the Last Dragon" started with a turnover of 8.5 million dollars.
However, restrictions during the corona pandemic caused the number of cinema visitors to fall significantly overall last year.
"Strange World" was produced on a $180 million budget, according to industry platform Variety.
It will be difficult to recoup the costs at the box office in the coming weeks: if you add the production, marketing and distribution costs incurred, the film would have to bring in at least $ 360 million in total to be in the black.
The weak theatrical start is also noteworthy because "Strange World" was the first film since the beginning of the corona pandemic that Disney released exclusively in cinemas again.
The »Turning Red« production, on the other hand, celebrated its premiere on Disney plus, for example.
During the corona pandemic, Disney increasingly relied on streaming.
However, Disney boss Bob Chapek also announced in 2020 that he would continue to give cinema space.
In 2019, Disney earned more than 13 billion dollars with blockbusters such as »Avengers: Endgame«, »The Lion King« or »Frozen 2«.
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