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

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Ran across this today, in an attempt to understand why Netflix would spend so much money to acquire a theatrical movie studio if they don’t intend to make theatrical movies, and found it very interesting.

Interesting to see parallels between how the studios combined with the big TV networks decades ago and how the same thing is happening again with streaming.

 

[BlindChow]

Netflix certainly has a LOT of not-so-great content but I think they see the value in having at least a few flagship quality shows. Stranger Things fits that bill. They brought in David Fincher on House of Cards and that was a quality show that generated real buzz in it's first two seasons.

Yeah, there's some serious revisionism/intentional blindness in this thread regarding Netflix's "consistently garbage" content (though that's mostly from one demagogue with a weird grudge).

Netflix has released a ton of critically-acclaimed movies and shows. Disney and WB get a pass for their "occasionally interesting" content, but I guess the following Netflix films just don't exist:

Roma, Marriage Story, Power of the Dog, Mank, His Three Daughters, Train Dreams, The Irishman, Wallace and Grommit, just to name a few off the top of my head. I could go on, as there is a large list of Netflix films that received near-universal acclaim.

Though I'm sure some people in this thread will insist these somehow don't count, despite being exclusively Netflix content...

 

[Casper Gutman]

Yeah, there's some serious revisionism/intentional blindness in this thread regarding Netflix's "consistently garbage" content (though that's mostly from one demagogue with a weird grudge).

Netflix has released a ton of critically-acclaimed movies and shows. Disney and WB get a pass for their "occasionally interesting" content, but I guess the following Netflix films just don't exist:

Roma, Marriage Story, Power of the Dog, Mank, His Three Daughters, Train Dreams, The Irishman, Wallace and Grommit, just to name a few off the top of my head. I could go on, as there is a large list of Netflix films that received near-universal acclaim.

Though I'm sure some people in this thread will insist these somehow don't count, despite being exclusively Netflix content...

Yes, Netflix will occasionally fund a big director.

What kind of theatrical release did those films get? What kind of cultural footprint did they leave?

Netflix and the traditional studios are in different businesses. The traditional studios use theatrical releases, with large ad campaigns, to try and establish films in the zeitgeist and thus create or reinforce a property that can be continually leveraged across platforms. Netflix doesn’t care about any of that. They run a volume business. No one film needs to rise above the others or leave an impression. What matters is the steady flow of content.

The vast, vast majority of Netflix’s output is stuff like Red Notice, Electric State, Thunder Force, The Last Thing He Wanted, The Old Guard 1 and 2, Power Plan, etc. It’s all meant to merge, one piece of content, nothing standing out, all of it running in the background while you browse your phone.
The company’s STATED STRATEGY was quantity over quality.

 

[BrianLo]

Wait it’s only the third movie this year? What a bad year for the box office.

You're not suggesting that a small number of successful tent pole performers can prop up the entire industry, are you?

I’m confused how you pulled that out of his comment, if anything he said the opposite.

Did you quote the wrong post?

 

[Andrew C]

I’m confused how you pulled that out of his comment, if anything he said the opposite.

Did you quote the wrong post?

Was that post i responded to not sarcasm? If not, apologies!

 

[Disney Analyst]

Was that post i responded to not sarcasm? If not, apologies!

No I’ve been paying little attention this year.

 

[DKampy]

Yeah, there's some serious revisionism/intentional blindness in this thread regarding Netflix's "consistently garbage" content (though that's mostly from one demagogue with a weird grudge).

Netflix has released a ton of critically-acclaimed movies and shows. Disney and WB get a pass for their "occasionally interesting" content, but I guess the following Netflix films just don't exist:

Roma, Marriage Story, Power of the Dog, Mank, His Three Daughters, Train Dreams, The Irishman, Wallace and Grommit, just to name a few off the top of my head. I could go on, as there is a large list of Netflix films that received near-universal acclaim.

Though I'm sure some people in this thread will insist these somehow don't count, despite being exclusively Netflix content...

No one ever said Netflix never releases anything of quality….. I said myself usually there is 2 or 3 actually decent… and most of the time it is just aiming for bragging rights during award season… but it is not a great track record when Netflix usually releases over a hundred films a year…most of which drop to little notice

Take The Electric State… The production budget was over 300…. That is one that people did talk about the week it was released for all the wrong reasons….then people forgot about it the very next week… if that was Disney people here would scream flop

 

[Casper Gutman]

No one ever said Netflix never releases anything of quality….. I said myself usually there is 2 or 3 actually decent… and most of the time it is just aiming for bragging rights during award season… but it is not a great track record when Netflix usually releases over a hundred films a year…most of which drop to little notice

Take The Electric State… The production budget was over 300…. That is one that people did talk about the week it was released for all the wrong reasons….then people forgot about it the very next week… if that was Disney people here would scream flop

Pick a year and look at the Wikipedia listing of Netflix original films. Count how many you’ve even heard of, let alone seen.

Netflix is not in the film or even the TV business. They are in the content business.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Ran across this today, in an attempt to understand why Netflix would spend so much money to acquire a theatrical movie studio if they don’t intend to make theatrical movies, and found it very interesting.

Interesting to see parallels between how the studios combined with the big TV networks decades ago and how the same thing is happening again with streaming.

Hey, I was going to post that. Useful Charts is great!

 

[MisterPenguin]

The vast, vast majority of Netflix’s output is stuff like Red Notice, Electric State, Thunder Force, The Last Thing He Wanted, The Old Guard 1 and 2, Power Plan, etc. It’s all meant to merge, one piece of content, nothing standing out, all of it running in the background while you browse your phone.
The company’s STATED STRATEGY was quantity over quality.

 

[Serpico Jones]

Paramount’s $54 Billion Debt Plays a Starring Role in Warner Bid

Even if Paramount Skydance Corp. manages to take over Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. against the company’s will, it faces another high hurdle: coping with the colossal $54 billion of debt it’s planning to take on.

www.bloomberg.com

 

[Alice a]

Yeah, there's some serious revisionism/intentional blindness in this thread regarding Netflix's "consistently garbage" content (though that's mostly from one demagogue with a weird grudge).

Netflix has released a ton of critically-acclaimed movies and shows. Disney and WB get a pass for their "occasionally interesting" content, but I guess the following Netflix films just don't exist:

Roma, Marriage Story, Power of the Dog, Mank, His Three Daughters, Train Dreams, The Irishman, Wallace and Grommit, just to name a few off the top of my head. I could go on, as there is a large list of Netflix films that received near-universal acclaim.

Though I'm sure some people in this thread will insist these somehow don't count, despite being exclusively Netflix content...

Wallace and Gromit existed for decades before Netflix purchased them.

My first watch was on PBS.

It’s a little disingenuous to give them credit for the quality, since it was established well before it became a Netflix property.

 

[BlindChow]

Wallace and Gromit existed for decades before Netflix purchased them.

My first watch was on PBS.

It’s a little disingenuous to give them credit for the quality, since it was established well before it became a Netflix property.

Yes, they even won an Animated Short Oscar.

The films I listed were an example of a high quality releases on Netflix. (Lots of studios make films using pre-existing content, and get credit accordingly.)

My response was to Gutman, who implied Netflix was incapable of releasing quality films with his statement contrasting their output to other studio's "occasionally" decent output. (He has since acknowledged that Netflix has in fact produced content of quality.)

 

[Casper Gutman]

Yes, they even won an Animated Short Oscar.

The films I listed were an example of a high quality releases on Netflix. (Lots of studios make films using pre-existing content, and get credit accordingly.)

My response was to Gutman, who implied Netflix was incapable of releasing quality films with his statement contrasting their output to other studio's "occasionally" decent output. (He has since acknowledged that Netflix has in fact produced content of quality.)

Where did I imply that? The closest comment I can find is saying a week or so ago, “On occasion they’ll bring in a big name director that can make something interesting but most of their content is soulless garbage.” This is… absolutely true. The point is that Netflix doesn’t particularly care about quality, something they’ve explicitly stated!

Your fandom for the company trying to kill theatrical film and physical media has led you to misrepresent what I’ve written.

 

[Nevermore525]

Zootopia 2 currently highest grossing MPAA film of 2025. Sits at an estimated $1.13B

‘Zootopia 2’ Overtakes ‘Lilo & Stitch’ to Become 2025’s Highest Grossing Movie With $1.13 Billion

"Zootopia 2" is the highest grossing movie of the year.

variety.com

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 will soon become the 5th horror movie this year to make over $100 million domestically

Sinners $279 million
Conjuring: Last Rites $177 million
Weapons $151 million
Final Destination: Bloodlines $138 million
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 $95 million (estimate to date)

 

[Disney Analyst]

 

[TP2000]

Box office first pass is in for this weekend, gang! Zootopia 2 continues to do well domestically, but is now over a Billion globally due to almost $500 Million from Communist China alone. Thanks for not banning that one, Beijing!

Ella McCay from Disney's 20th Century Pictures debuted and immediately face planted however. It only got $2.1 Million domestically, and $300,000 overseas, for a total of $2.4 Million. With a $35 Million production budget, if Ella McCay somehow claws its way to a final total of $10 Million globally, it will lose $38 Million for Disney. Oof.

The Numbers - Weekend Box Office Chart for February 27, 2026

Weekend Domestic Box Office Chart for the weekend of February 27, 2026

www.the-numbers.com

 

[Disney Irish]

Box office first pass is in for this weekend, gang! Zootopia 2 continues to do well domestically, but is now over a Billion globally due to almost $500 Million from Communist China alone. Thanks for not banning that one, Beijing!

Ella McCay from Disney's 20th Century Pictures debuted and immediately face planted however. It only got $2.1 Million domestically, and $300,000 overseas, for a total of $2.4 Million. With a $35 Million production budget, if Ella McCay somehow claws its way to a final total of $10 Million globally, it will lose $38 Million for Disney. Oof.

View attachment 897359

The Numbers - Weekend Box Office Chart for February 27, 2026

Weekend Domestic Box Office Chart for the weekend of February 27, 2026

www.the-numbers.com

Over half of the international locations for Ella McCay haven't opened yet, and won't until 2026.

In fact your Numbers site hasn't even reported all where it actually has opened, as its gotten more than $300k.

So far international is $3M.

Ella McCay

www.boxofficemojo.com

 

[Nevermore525]

Disney will accept whatever they get out of Ella McCay box office wise, don’t think they’re overly concerned about it there since they minimally released it. Gave Brooks his project so he would do Simpsons 2 for them later.