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

[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 December 12, 2025

Weekend Domestic Box Office Chart for the weekend of December 12, 2025

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 December 12, 2025

Weekend Domestic Box Office Chart for the weekend of December 12, 2025

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.

 

[Disney Irish]

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.

While that may have helped, its actually more an awards play than anything else. Its been rumored to be in the running for many of the industry Guild awards like SAG as well the critic awards.

 

[Prince-1]

Ella is DOA. If it gets any noms I would be surprised. Went to see with my wife on Friday and it was exceptionally average

 

[TP2000]

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.

Is that why they did that? To give an executive a money-losing vanity project in order to woo them back for a marketable movie? Seems wasteful, but then who has ever said that Hollywood was a sustainable industry that's kind to the planet?

Ella is DOA. If it gets any noms I would be surprised. Went to see with my wife on Friday and it was exceptionally average

I kept getting commercials for it on YouTube all last week, and it seemed to be a RomCom but without any Rom, or any man for the pretty/perky/artsy heroine to end up kissing in the rain on a busy New York sidewalk at the end of the movie. So I'm not sure who the film was for exactly, and thus it face planted with only a few million in its debut weekend when nothing else debuted.

I'd expect it ends up with $10 to $15 Million globally by the end of January, which means with its $35 Million production budget it will have lost at least $35 Million for Burbank. Oof.

 

[Comped]

While that may have helped, its actually more an awards play than anything else. Its been rumored to be in the running for many of the industry Guild awards like SAG as well the critic awards.

Only reason it would get any awards at this point given the middling to terrible reviews is as a nice little send off for many of the Hollywood elders involved. When the NYT, LAT, WSJ, and Boston Globe, among others, both agree on how bad a movie is... It's not going to get award wins. Maybe nomination or two but I really really doubt it.

 

[DKampy]

Ella is DOA. If it gets any noms I would be surprised. Went to see with my wife on Friday and it was exceptionally average

Yeah I passed on Ella this week after seeing the reviews… saw Hamnet instead… I am happy with my decision

 

[Prince-1]

Yeah I passed on Ella this week after seeing the reviews… saw Hamnet instead… I am happy with my decision

Hamnet was a great movie that definitely will get multiple nominations.

 

[coffeefan]

I do believe WB will keep releasing movies in theaters so long as they remain viable.

 

[Disney Irish]

I do believe WB will keep releasing movies in theaters so long as they remain viable.

There is a "but" in there, and its a HUGE "but".

"My pushback has been mostly in the fact of the long exclusive windows, which we don’t really think are that consumer friendly"

“I wouldn’t look at this as a change in approach for Netflix movies or for Warner movies,” he said. “I think, over time, the windows will evolve to be much more consumer friendly, to be able to meet the audience where they are quicker…I’d say right now, you should count on everything that is planned on going to the theater through Warner Bros. will continue to go to the theaters through Warner Bros., and Netflix movies will take the same strides they have, which is, some of them do have a short run in the theater beforehand. But our primary goal is to bring first-run movies to our members, because that’s what they’re looking for.”

Netflix Says Warner Bros. Movies Will Remain in Theaters but ‘Windows Will Evolve to Be Much More Consumer Friendly’

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos promised that Warner Bros. movies will get a theatrical release, but 'windows will evolve.'

variety.com

So yeah they commit to keep "theatrical" verbally but not in writing, and its all about smaller theatrical windows, think less than 17 days on average like they do with the rest of the Netflix theatrical releases. Not the roaring support that many are looking for when talking about keeping theatrical, not especially when in the same breath they talk about their primary goal still being streaming. If they really were committed to theatrical they would come out with a number of movies they will release each year and a specific theatrical window they will use in writing, Paramount has.

Remember its really only Disney who committed to kept the longer theatrical window, typically 45+ days. Whereas all other studios have ranged from 17-30, and now Netflix talking about "evolving" windows if they acquire WB.

 

[DKampy]

There is a "but" in there, and its a HUGE "but".

"My pushback has been mostly in the fact of the long exclusive windows, which we don’t really think are that consumer friendly"

“I wouldn’t look at this as a change in approach for Netflix movies or for Warner movies,” he said. “I think, over time, the windows will evolve to be much more consumer friendly, to be able to meet the audience where they are quicker…I’d say right now, you should count on everything that is planned on going to the theater through Warner Bros. will continue to go to the theaters through Warner Bros., and Netflix movies will take the same strides they have, which is, some of them do have a short run in the theater beforehand. But our primary goal is to bring first-run movies to our members, because that’s what they’re looking for.”

Netflix Says Warner Bros. Movies Will Remain in Theaters but ‘Windows Will Evolve to Be Much More Consumer Friendly’

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos promised that Warner Bros. movies will get a theatrical release, but 'windows will evolve.'

variety.com

So yeah they commit to keep "theatrical" verbally but not in writing, and its all about smaller theatrical windows, think less than 17 days on average like they do with the rest of the Netflix theatrical releases. Not the roaring support that many are looking for when talking about keeping theatrical, not especially when in the same breath they talk about their primary goal still being streaming. If they really were committed to theatrical they would come out with a number of movies they will release each year and a specific theatrical window they will use in writing, Paramount has.

Remember its really only Disney who committed to kept the longer theatrical window, typically 45+ days. Whereas all other studios have ranged from 17-30, and now Netflix talking about "evolving" windows if they acquire WB.

I also wonder if this is being said right now…. Because they have to honor the contracts of films already in production.,, but after that…. Who knows

 

[BlindChow]

Ella is DOA. If it gets any noms I would be surprised. Went to see with my wife on Friday and it was exceptionally average

It's a massive critical bomb. Usually those types of movies don't get nominations, unless there's an older supporting actor/actress they want to throw a "lifetime achievement" bone.

It's currently rated at 38 on Metacritic, which is "Sony Spider-Man Villain Movie" territory.

 

[coffeefan]

 

[Disney Irish]

We'll see if Paramount comes back with a higher bid or if they just wait and try to pick up the Discovery Global spin-off.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

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!

I find it interesting the international market (China specifically) hasn’t seen the same theater drop off we have, international seems to be becoming a bigger factor in whether a movie hits a billion than it used to.

Zoo2 has already outperformed Zoo1 but they’ve done it entirely on international, Zoo1 was 33% Domestic, 67% Intl, Zoo2 is currently sitting at 23% Dom and 77% Intl. Stitch was 60% intl, without a solid international market movies really struggle to even break even.

I would have bet big that Wicked 2 would outperform the first and despite doing well domestically it’s struggling, unless an intl audience starts showing up it’s going to struggle to even hit $500m. It’ll be interesting to see if the studios start catering to the foreign market more.

 

[TP2000]

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.

View attachment 897360

Ella McCay

www.boxofficemojo.com

Apparently IMDB just guesstimates the overseas box office, and in the case of Ella McCay they wildly missed the mark. It's apparent that IMDB isn't the most trustworthy or accurate for box office tracking, they appear to just throw out AI guesses at first and then clean it up a few days later.

I would suggest that you use "my" site (that "I" apparently own and operate out of my Global Command Center), The Numbers. They had the most factual information this past Sunday when I posted it, and they continue to have the most factual information today.

IMDB has just today finally caught up, and they've fixed their bad data on Ella McCay, and are now reflecting the actual data from overseas box office for this flop: $282,805 thus far.

And for the two or three people still tracking this Burbank Bomb, here's the overseas box office data from "my" website The Numbers and the countries that have reported on Ella McCay; which is mainly the dying remains of the British Commonwealth.

Ella McCay (2025) - Box Office and Financial Information

Financial analysis of Ella McCay (2025) including production budget, domestic and international box office gross, DVD and Blu-ray sales reports.

www.the-numbers.com

 

[Disney Irish]

Apparently IMDB just guesstimates the overseas box office, and in the case of Ella McCay they wildly missed the mark. It's apparent that IMDB isn't the most trustworthy or accurate for box office tracking, they appear to just throw out AI guesses at first and then clean it up a few days later.

I would suggest that you use "my" site (that "I" apparently own and operate out of my Global Command Center), The Numbers. They had the most factual information this past Sunday when I posted it, and they continue to have the most factual information today.

IMDB has just today finally caught up, and they've fixed their bad data on Ella McCay, and are now reflecting the actual data from overseas box office for this flop: $282,805 thus far.

View attachment 897730

And for the two or three people still tracking this Burbank Bomb, here's the overseas box office data from "my" website The Numbers and the countries that have reported on Ella McCay; which is mainly the dying remains of the British Commonwealth.

View attachment 897731

View attachment 897733

Ella McCay (2025) - Box Office and Financial Information

Financial analysis of Ella McCay (2025) including production budget, domestic and international box office gross, DVD and Blu-ray sales reports.

www.the-numbers.com

Apparently so, I stand corrected.

Just interesting that 3 out of the 9 international regions where its released has reported numbers. So something tells me the reporting is behind in the other 6.

Also I been using Numbers long before you ever started tracking this stuff. So I'm well aware of it.

 

[Phroobar]

Apparently IMDB just guesstimates the overseas box office, and in the case of Ella McCay they wildly missed the mark. It's apparent that IMDB isn't the most trustworthy or accurate for box office tracking, they appear to just throw out AI guesses at first and then clean it up a few days later.

I would suggest that you use "my" site (that "I" apparently own and operate out of my Global Command Center), The Numbers. They had the most factual information this past Sunday when I posted it, and they continue to have the most factual information today.

IMDB has just today finally caught up, and they've fixed their bad data on Ella McCay, and are now reflecting the actual data from overseas box office for this flop: $282,805 thus far.

View attachment 897730

And for the two or three people still tracking this Burbank Bomb, here's the overseas box office data from "my" website The Numbers and the countries that have reported on Ella McCay; which is mainly the dying remains of the British Commonwealth.

Ella McCay (2025) - Box Office and Financial Information

Financial analysis of Ella McCay (2025) including production budget, domestic and international box office gross, DVD and Blu-ray sales reports.

www.the-numbers.com

 

[TP2000]

Just interesting that 3 out of the 9 international regions where its released has reported numbers. So something tells me the reporting is behind in the other 6.

That's standard practice for all movies for overseas box office, and The Numbers site does it really well.

You get the big countries, especially the English speaking ones like UK and Australia, reporting out first and instantly accounted for. Then the others all get lumped into "Rest Of The World", and it takes a few more days to find out that Ella McCay made $3,405 in Finland and $4,239 in Greece or someplace in the "Rest Of The World".

For example, Zootopia 2 still has over $50 Million from "The Rest Of The World" for this past weekend, as of Tuesday evening. Within a few more days, that $50 Million figure will decline as those dollars are moved into specific countries (again, usually smaller or obscure nations).

I imagine this reporting delay has something to do with the exchange rates of various countries that have minor currencies; the Norwegian Krone or the Vietnamese Dong, and what have you. It takes awhile for Dollars to Dongs, which is fun to say.

Also I been using Numbers long before you ever started tracking this stuff. So I'm well aware of it.

Yeah, it's really good and very accurate. They don't guesstimate or let AI just post something for posting sake, they just stay quiet until they know what the real data is. Even though it's "mine", you should use it more often.

The Numbers - Where Data and the Movie Business Meet

The Numbers provides detailed movie financial analysis, including box office, DVD and Blu-ray sales reports, and release schedules.

www.the-numbers.com