Disney (and others) at the Box Office - Current State of Affairs

[Casper Gutman]

Yes, that dud was his, as were all the Marvel hits prior to 2019 when he was forced out, there’s been a distinct shift at Marvel since 2019 and it hasn’t worked out very well for them at the box office, people hated the guy but the reality is they need an old grump in the room to point out “that’s not going to work with half the world” or they risk half the world not showing up.

Perlmutter was a small, odious, vindictive person who was rightfully sidelined and ignored by the people building the MCU - that’s why he was so angry at Feige. He had next to nothing to do with the successful run of films.

The MCU hit rougher waters when Feige stepped back from day-to-day involvement.

 

[WorldExplorer]

In other box office drama news, did you know there's a whole world of Looney Tunes drama going on?

Over at Warner Brothers, which is regularly ticking off the fans, there's a guy named David Zaslav, who has managed to gain a reputation as not just a generally incompetent person, but also a Looney Tunes hater (a sad, bizarre title to have).

He's blamed for shelving Coyote vs. ACME (and frankly I think it looked like crap, so I can't blame him) and trying to can the made-for-TV movie The Day the Earth Blew Up. The latter was bought by a small distributor and managed to go to theaters, but they don't have a big marketing budget, so it's made like six million in three weekends. It cost fifteen million to make and no one knows how much it was bought for, so people are still rooting for it.

Now, the funny part is that Zaslav personally greenlit a project called Alto Knights, which has apparently been written and floating around for a long time but no one wanted to actually make it (it's a ganster movie and those aren't exactly popular at the moment).

The punchline is that Alto Knights is failing miserably to the point where it's set to make LESS than The Day the Earth Blew Up.

If there's a lesson to be learned here it's that, if you love something old, both Disney AND Warner Brothers are likely to screw it up. Hope Paramount grabs it, I guess.

(The internet talked me into seeing TDtEBU and now I'm invested.)

 

[Trauma]

For those voicing suspicion about the occupied seats being on the sides, perhaps this comparison will make you think again:

View attachment 849425

This movie bombed even worse than Snow White.

What a shame.

 

[LittleBuford]

This movie bombed even worse than Snow White.

What a shame.

That wasn’t the point I was making, but yes, neither has done at all well.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Perlmutter was a small, odious, vindictive person who was rightfully sidelined and ignored by the people building the MCU - that’s why he was so angry at Feige. He had next to nothing to do with the successful run of films.

The MCU hit rougher waters when Feige stepped back from day-to-day involvement.

Feige became chief creative officer of Marvel in 2019, on top of already being President of Marvel, he has complete control of it. He’s still the producer for all the Marvel movies, including all those releasing this year.

How has he stepped back?

 

[Trauma]

That wasn’t the point I was making, but yes, neither has done at all well.

Yeah I missed the last few pages but I think maybe there was some back and forth about Disney buying seats?

That is ridiculous and is not happening.

Snow White will make all its money when Disney buys it from itself to put on D+.

 

[LittleBuford]

Yeah I missed the last few pages but I think maybe there was some back in forth about Disney buying seats?

That is ridiculous and is not happening.

Indeed—based on the notion that any seats along the sides couldn’t possibly be for paying customers.

I agree it’s ridiculous and not happening (and two of our fellow forumites have confirmed that some people actually want such seats).

 

[MagicMouseFan]

‘Snow White’ Bashful With $87.3M Global Bow; ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Crosses $400M WW – International Box Office​

‘Snow White’ Bashful With $87.3M Global Bow; ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Crosses $400M WW – International Box Office

Disney’s live-action take on Snow White has come in with a global launch of $87.3M, including $44.3M from international box office markets

deadline.com

 

[Trauma]

I still think Disney has a Burbank bubble problem, they are surrounded by like minded people so they think thats how everyone thinks. The echo chamber needs more dissenting voices to say “that’s not going to go over well in middle America”, or “that’s not going to work with the Asian market”, without those voices the movies they make appeal to a far smaller audience than they need to to be profitable.

Disney has always pushed the boundaries, and I think they’ll continue to push them, but I think they’ve misjudged where the boundaries actually are, SoCal is far more progressive than the world is so if they’re making movies for the SoCal mindset they’re severely limiting their audience.

People celebrated when Perlmutter was forced out but the reality is they need more Perlmutters in the room to speak the realities of the world.

I don’t think this can be fixed. The rot is so deep what are they going to do?

Even if someone replaces Iger and tries to set a new tone, they will just protest, have walkouts etc.

 

[BrianLo]

Yes, that dud was his, as were all the Marvel hits prior to 2019 when he was forced out, there’s been a distinct shift at Marvel since 2019 and it hasn’t worked out very well for them at the box office, people hated the guy but the reality is they need an old grump in the room to point out “that’s not going to work with half the world” or they risk half the world not showing up.

It’s shocking to me how easily Perlmutter was able to rewrite his narrative. I’m not specifically trying to target you, just using it as a jumping off point.

I have almost no nice things to say about him and he had a really awful record in his position. He was controlling, arrogant and toxic amongst several other adjectives. Including just being generally a bad steward of the brand.

Based on how quickly people get retroactively sainted, I’m sure we’ll have individuals calling for Paul Pressler for CEO soon enough.

To the many posters who dislike Iger, be afraid of people like Perlmutter turning around their narrative in 5 years. Iger will be walking on water with the fandom shortly after he leaves.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

It’s shocking to me how easily Perlmutter was able to rewrite his narrative. I’m not specifically trying to target you, just using it as a jumping off point.

I have almost no nice things to say about him and he had a really awful record in his position. He was controlling, arrogant and toxic amongst several other adjectives. Including just being generally a bad steward of the brand.

Based on how quickly people get retroactively sainted, I’m sure we’ll have individuals calling for Paul Pressler for CEO soon enough.

To the many posters who dislike Iger, be afraid of people like Perlmutter turning around their narrative in 5 years. Iger will be walking on water with the fandom shortly after he leaves.

I’m not sainting him, at most I’m giving giving him some credit for being the grumpy old man shaking his stick at the kids and telling them to get off the lawn, those people are never popular but they do provide a benefit, they keep the lawn from being trampled to death by arguing with the people who’s good intentions are “just let the kids have fun”.

I don’t think anyone would sanctify Perlmutter, his vitriol is out there for everyone to see, I’m just pointing out I think he served a purpose as a dissenting voice.

 

[BrianLo]

I’m not sainting him, at most I’m giving giving him some credit for being the grumpy old man shaking his stick at the kids and telling them to get off the lawn, those people are never popular but they do provide a benefit, they keep the lawn from being trampled to death by arguing with the people who’s good intentions are “just let the kids have fun”.

I don’t think anyone would sanctify Perlmutter, his vitriol is out there for everyone to see, I’m just pointing out I think he served a purpose as a dissenting voice.

I think the point is valid that Kevin has been sidelined by a larger role and request for too much output. But Perlmutter was sidelined for the majority of peak Marvel. He was stripped of really any power of the theatrical MCU during Black Panther pre-production. 2015/2016, not 2019.

Phase 3 of the MCU is generally seen as the peak. When given his own independent TV portfolio at the time it was also the worst part of the MCU.

Phase 1/2 seemed to happen partially in spite of his presence, not because of it.

 

[Disney Rocks]

Is it a hot take to say that the Snow White movie is going to lose money primarily because the original movie isn't that relevant to modern audiences? I mean, I know we nerds love it, but I imagine it's pretty low on the ladder of little kids' favorite princess movies.

Of the pre-Renaissance remakes, Alice is the only one that turned a billion, and it's truly bizarre that Disney gave this one so huge a budget as if it was going to join that club. In terms of budgeting and expectations, they should have used the 2015 Cinderella as a benchmark. And then factored in the diminishing returns of people having remake fatigue.

And I think people underestimate the effect that star power has on box office. People wanted to see Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, Will Smith as the Genie, Emma Watson as Belle, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter (in 2010 anyways). Were they expecting the same fervor for Wonder Woman as the Evil Queen?

I know the culture war aspect will be mentioned often in the obituary for this thing, but that feels like only a piece of the puzzle.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Theres no doubt this was a combination of issues culminating in this disaster.

 

[erasure fan1]

Iger will be walking on water with the fandom shortly after he leaves.

As dumb as it sounds, you're 100% right.

 

[Agent H]

It’s shocking to me how easily Perlmutter was able to rewrite his narrative. I’m not specifically trying to target you, just using it as a jumping off point.

I have almost no nice things to say about him and he had a really awful record in his position. He was controlling, arrogant and toxic amongst several other adjectives. Including just being generally a bad steward of the brand.

Based on how quickly people get retroactively sainted, I’m sure we’ll have individuals calling for Paul Pressler for CEO soon enough.

To the many posters who dislike Iger, be afraid of people like Perlmutter turning around their narrative in 5 years. Iger will be walking on water with the fandom shortly after he leaves.

Sounds a lot like what happened with Eisner after he left….

 

[choco choco]

I still think Disney has a Burbank bubble problem, they are surrounded by like minded people so they think thats how everyone thinks. The echo chamber needs more dissenting voices to say “that’s not going to go over well in middle America”, or “that’s not going to work with the Asian market”, without those voices the movies they make appeal to a far smaller audience than they need to to be profitable.

Disney has always pushed the boundaries, and I think they’ll continue to push them, but I think they’ve misjudged where the boundaries actually are, SoCal is far more progressive than the world is so if they’re making movies for the SoCal mindset they’re severely limiting their audience.

People celebrated when Perlmutter was forced out but the reality is they need more Perlmutters in the room to speak the realities of the world.

Nobody inside Burbank wants to make these stupid live-action remakes. No one making these remakes wants to make these remakes, that’s why they are so terrible. Everybody is just collecting a paycheck without putting a single ounce of passion or care into it.

If Iger were so smart, he would realize that making creatives do for-hire work has lead to terrible products, both artistically and financially. But Iger is the leader who has become the dotard old stubborn fool. It’s basically King Lear at this point….

 

[TP2000]

Here we go, gang, the first pass at weekend box office is in!

Snow White didn't make its latest revision downward of opening at only $45 Million for the weekend. It got to $43 Million, but the final tally down to the dollar will be in tomorrow. Tellingly, it opened overseas in all major markets this weekend too, and it didn't do well at all; pulling in just $44 Million from all overseas markets combined.

Foreigners must also be controlled by the Hate NetworkTM that's being run out of a few podcast studios in the Midwest.

The Numbers - Weekend Box Office Chart for October 3, 2025

Weekend Domestic Box Office Chart for the weekend of October 3, 2025

thenumbers.com

 

[TP2000]

And here's some freshly cherry-picked data that gives us an idea how Rachel Zegler's Snow White and its $43 Million opening weekend fares in comparison to the past decade of live-action remakes.

Because most of these movies are pre-pandemic, the inflation adjustment toggle was activated on The Numbers website. It looks as though the recent comparison to Dumbo six years ago will have the elephant coming out the winner, barring some sudden box office boom for Snow White by weekend #2. The comparisons to the others aren't even close, really.

 

[Joel]

I think what’s important… and this is very important…
You must let everyone know the prompt used.

You just now decided that's very important after all the other purely AI posts you've made?

Exactly, I’m the opposite. I find it fascinating and love doing deep dives.

You aren't doing a "deep dive". You're giving an AI tool a short prompt and posting its output verbatim, with no commentary of your own and, I can only assume, no time spent verifying that any of the facts it spit out weren't merely hallucinated.

No one here is scared of technology just because they don't want an already crappy thread further crapped up with walls of zero-effort machine-generated text.