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

[TsWade2]

Based on the results of Elio, I guess it’s either the end of Pixar or the end of the originals! It’s sequels forever! I’m afraid Pixar will have to cancel all the originals and stick to sequels!WDAS has Zootopia 2 coming later this year, so they’re safe for now. But I think they should end originals as well. Nobody likes originals anymore! What is this world coming to?

 

[Disney Irish]

Based on the results of Elio, I guess it’s either the end of Pixar or the end of the originals! It’s sequels forever! I’m afraid Pixar will have to cancel all the originals and stick to sequels!WDAS has Zootopia 2 coming later this year, so they’re safe for now. But I think they should end originals as well. Nobody likes originals anymore! What is this world coming to?

Pixar literally has an original movie releasing on March 6th 2026 called Hoppers. So no it’s not the end of Pixar or originals no matter what happens with Elio.

 

[TsWade2]

Pixar literally has an original movie releasing on March 6th 2026 called Hoppers. So no it’s not the end of Pixar or originals no matter what happens with Elio.

Hoppers might flop too! So maybe Disney and Pixar will just have to stick sequels to survive. I know fans will not like it, but there’s no other choice! The originals that’s in the works must be cancelled!

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Box Office Pro has Elio tracking for $35-$45 million in its first weekend

As a comparison, Elemental opened to $29.6 million and Lightyear opened to $50.5 million

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Box Office Pro has Elio tracking for $35-$45 million in its first weekend

As a comparison, Elemental opened to $29.6 million and Lightyear opened to $50.5 million

So really has an uphill climb if that holds true

A good movie can overcome…so there’s that

 

[TsWade2]

Box Office Pro has Elio tracking for $35-$45 million in its first weekend

As a comparison, Elemental opened to $29.6 million and Lightyear opened to $50.5 million

And because of that, all the originals must be cancelled! I’m sorry, but Pixar and WDAS have to do sequels from now on to survive! If nobody wants to see originals anymore, then I guess we have to let them go for the sake of the company!

 

[DKampy]

The second part started filming after Maverick, but before Dead Reckoning One’s mediocre financial performance. Mediocre for the production spend at least. I guess they had gone too far to change course.

That’s true…. However the spend is ridiculous for both movies from the get go...considering Mission Impossible has never been a billion dollar franchise…

 

[Disney Irish]

Hoppers might flop too! So maybe Disney and Pixar will just have to stick sequels to survive. I know fans will not like it, but there’s no other choice! The originals that’s in the works must be cancelled!

No offense but you’re being overdramatic.

 

[Ghost93]

What I find funny is that no one has mentioned that M:I8 has basically cratered and is looking to be one of the biggest flops of 2025 if not of all time compared to its budget. All of Disney's recent flops look like successes compared to it.

If it doesn't improve over the coming weeks Paramount/Skydance looks to lose between $300M-$500M depending on how much they paid for marketing.

With a $400 million budget, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning will struggle to break even.

And honestly, I can't say I feel to bad too for the movie. Unlike Dead Reckoning — which was a legitimately great action film that was unfortunately overlooked due to the Barbenheimer phenomenon, "the Final Reckoning" is a mess. In fact, I would go as far as to say it's the worst Mission Impossible film.

Over the past two weeks I binged the previous 7 Mission Impossible movies — most of which I've seen only once. Overall, I think they hold up pretty well. But Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning is nearly ruined by terrible and forced exposition (the kind of ham-fisted exposition we saw in the first third of Captain America: Brave New World) and CONSTANT and intrusive flashbacks to previous movies. The flashbacks ruined the movie's pacing and tried too hard to spoon-feed everything to the audience. It was kind of insulting.

I also didn't like how overly serious it was an how they tried to turn Ethan Hunt into a sacrificial Jesus-type character.


Still, I think the Final Reckoning is still worth a watch if you are a fan of the series. There's an underwater sequence in a submarine that is one of the best parts of ANY Mission Impossible movie.

My personal ranking of the series would be:

1. Mission Impossible: Fallout
2. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning
3. Mission Impossible III
4. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
5. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
6. Mission Impossible II **
7. Mission Impossible
8. Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning.

** The original Mission Impossible is objectively a better movie than MI2, but MI2 — with John Woo's highly stylized directing — is SO cheesy and dated and over-the-top that I think it's more entertaining in a "it's so bad its good" kind of way. I understand that unintentional camp is not what most Mission Impossible fans are looking for, but I personally found it amusing and rather hilarious.

 

[Disney Irish]

And because of that, all the originals must be cancelled! I’m sorry, but Pixar and WDAS have to do sequels from now on to survive! If nobody wants to see originals anymore, then I guess we have to let them go for the sake of the company!

I’m not sure where this panic you have is coming from, did you watch another Pro YouTube video? Told you to stop watching that hack. Anyways take a deep breath, everything will be fine.

 

[TsWade2]

I’m not sure where this panic you have is coming from, did you watch another Pro YouTube video? Told you to stop watching that hack. Anyways take a deep breath, everything will be fine.

Not this time. But you’re right, I’ll try to calm down. But I’m not liking what I’m seeing for Elio. I blame either Bob Iger or maybe those writers are being political!

 

[Ghost93]

Elio has an unfortunate release date. Would have been much better if it had come out in March, when there was less competition for family audiences.

Of course, Disney had Snow White come out in March and they probably wren't expecting it to bomb as hard as it did. Still, with all the pre-release controversy of Snow White, I think in retrospect it may have been better for Disney to have that movie to have come out in June instead of Elio. Because so many other blockbusters are being released in June, there would be less focus in the media on Snow White flopping. Snow White bombed when there was hardly any competition, and there was a lot more press coverage about it, because there was nothing else to talk about. And the lack of competition made its poor performance all the more embarrassing.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Based on the results of Elio, I guess it’s either the end of Pixar or the end of the originals! It’s sequels forever! I’m afraid Pixar will have to cancel all the originals and stick to sequels!WDAS has Zootopia 2 coming later this year, so they’re safe for now. But I think they should end originals as well. Nobody likes originals anymore! What is this world coming to?

I’d like to correct people in general misusing that word. What is not original about Zootopia 2? Has that movie been made before? Has that story been told before? Was Empire Strikes Back not original?

It’s brand new material. It’s their own IP. It’s original.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I have never seen any mission impossible movies, and have no interest. I watched the original television series when it was out.

With that said, keeping this group consistent:

Much like the Disney movies made during the same time, including Snow White, the budget for this latest Tom Cruise project was not planned to be as high as it became. The strikes and the pandemic drastically raised their costs.

Also, much like we say about Disney films, more money will be made on the back end. It may not break even for this particular film, but you’ll recall I posted something a few pages back explaining how this film increases the reach and profitability of the entire franchise, which brings in tens of millions every year.

 

[Disney Irish]

Not this time. But you’re right, I’ll try to calm down. But I’m not liking what I’m seeing for Elio. I blame either Bob Iger or maybe those writers are being political!

Not sure what about Elio is making you think its "political" as it doesn't give me that vibe at all. But yes calm down, everything will be fine. As said many times before, even if Elio doesn't perform well its not the end of WDAS or Pixar. Both will still be fine.

Remember everything is a cycle, even if they end up doing sequels for awhile they will come back to more wholly original stories in the future.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Does any place post the daily numbers earlier than box office Mojo?

Most sites post around the same time (full daily numbers between 12-2pm PST) as its when the studios and other outlets provide them the information. So both The Numbers and BoxOfficeMojo update within an hour or so of each other.

I’m waiting!

 

[Disney Irish]

I have never seen any mission impossible movies, and have no interest. I watched the original television series when it was out.

With that said, keeping this group consistent:

Much like the Disney movies made during the same time, including Snow White, the budget for this latest Tom Cruise project was not planned to be as high as it became. The strikes and the pandemic drastically raised their costs.

Also, much like we say about Disney films, more money will be made on the back end. It may not break even for this particular film, but you’ll recall I posted something a few pages back explaining how this film increases the reach and profitability of the entire franchise, which brings in tens of millions every year.

No doubt, but trying to overcome a $300M-$500M deficit (my suspected loss on it) is a huge mountain to climb. Paramount/Skydance may not be able to fully breakeven on this one.

 

[Disney Irish]

I’m waiting!

Mojo is sometimes slower on updating theirs, but Numbers is usually updated by this time. It seems to also be the go to site for everyone here so I've just sort of defaulted to it.

The Numbers - Daily Box Office Chart for Sunday December 14, 2025

Daily Domestic Box Office Chart for Sunday December 14, 2025

www.the-numbers.com

 

[TP2000]

What weakness exactly is this based on? It’s currently 50/50 and domestic had a holiday.

Based on some of the most popular live action remakes from Disney the past few years.

Lilo & Stitch's foreign box office is currently at 98% of its domestic box office. That's not good. Barely over half what it should be doing, compared to other recent popular live action remakes. (I think we can all agree to never use Rachel Zegler's Snow White as a normal comparison to anything, except potential future massive bombs)

Mufasa's foreign box office was 184% of its domestic box office.
Aladdin's foreign box office was 193% of its domestic box office.
BatB's foreign box office was 151% of its domestic box office.

The closest analogy so far for Lilo & Stitch was the foreign box office for The Little Mermaid, which was only 91% of its domestic box office. This was often assumed to be due to racism in many foreign countries, especially the nations of East Asia, Central America and South America who statistically had no desire to go see The Little Mermaid in theaters.

The point about Lilo & Stitch debuting on a holiday weekend in the USA is valid, but it probably only accounts for a small amount of that box office discrepancy in foreign lands. Probably just the extra $20 Million or so it got on Monday in the US, compared to the non-holiday Monday overseas.

As it stands now, Lilo & Stitch is underperforming overseas as a percentage of domestic box office almost as badly as The Little Mermaid did. That's an Oof!, especially in Scandinavia's box office.

https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Lilo-and-Stitch-(2025)

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Mojo is sometimes slower on updating theirs, but Numbers is usually updated by this time. It seems to also be the go to site for everyone here so I've just sort of defaulted to it.

The Numbers - Daily Box Office Chart for Sunday December 14, 2025

Daily Domestic Box Office Chart for Sunday December 14, 2025

www.the-numbers.com

That’s what I wanted to see - still hanging close to 10 mil. Consistency. Let’s see how the weekend goes. I’m optimistic.

This is unusual to see how many showings of Stitch were “sold out” today. That remaining 8:30 slot has mostly just the first two (too close) rows open, plus a few scattered seats.

The 8pm showings of Karate Kid and MI are both around half full.

I think Stitch obviously keeps the top spot with $55-$80 million+ and Karate/MI2 battle it out for 2nd place in the $25-$35 million range.

I blame all of you for getting me to the point of reading all of this like a racing form!