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

[wtyy21]

If you include every new movie released by the Big 5 Hollywood studios since January 1st, 2023, you get the following profit/loss tally for them as of August 1st box office data.

Universal, 8 movies: Production $743, Marketing $372, Global Box Office $2,898, Box Office Take $1,449 = $334 Million Profit
Sony, 11 movies: Production $382, Marketing $191, Global Box Office $1,465, Box Office Take $697 = $169 Million Profit
Warner's, 7 movies: Production $475, Marketing $238, Global Box Office $1,468, Box Office Take = $21 Million Profit
Paramount, 5 movies: Production $698, Marketing $349, Global Box Office $1,525, Box Office Take $762 = $285 Million Loss
Disney, 6 movies: Production $1,192, Marketing $596, Global Box Office $2,272, Box Office Take $1,136 = $652 Million Loss

Even when you include every movie released from these studios, Disney is still far and away the biggest money loser of calendar year 2023, to the tune of $652 Million so far. To be fair, Haunted Mansion is a massive flop, but should get that huge Disney loss closer to only $600 Million by the end of September.

Universal's 8 new movies in 2023 so far are: Super Mario Bros., Oppenheimer, Fast X, M3GAN, Cocaine Bear, Knock at the Cabin, Renfield, Ruby Gilman Teenage Kraken

Sony's 11 new movies in 2023 so far are: Spider-Verse, Insidious, No Hard Feelings, Missing, 65, The Pope's Excorcist, The Machine, Suzume, Love Again, Big George Forman, Knights of the Zodiac

Warner Bros. 7 new movies in 2023 so far are: Barbie, The Flash, Evil Dead Rise, Shazam, Magic Mike's Last Dance, House Party, Mummies.

Paramount's 5 new movies in 2023 so far are: Transformers, Mission:Impossible, Scream 6, Dungeons & Dragons, 80 for Brady

Disney's 6 new movies in 2023 so far are: The Boogeyman, Guardians 3, Little Mermaid, Elemental, Indy 5, Haunted Mansion

Distributors Movie Breakdown for 2023

Distributors Movie Breakdown for 2023

www.the-numbers.com

While Disney still dominated box office markets this year, it's Universal that's the most profitable studios this year after all, thanks to Mario and Oppenheimer. The release of The Meg 2 may possibly adding WB's box office profitability aside from Barbie.

Meanwhile, Disney is deseperated to recoup post-pandemic box office loss this year, because of flops of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny that may become Disney's biggest box office bomb ever since John Crater.

 

[Casper Gutman]

While Disney still dominated box office markets this year, it's Universal that's the most profitable studios this year after all, thanks to Mario and Oppenheimer. The release of The Meg 2 may possibly adding WB's box office profitability aside from Barbie.

Meanwhile, Disney is deseperated to recoup post-pandemic box office loss this year, because of flops of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny that may become Disney's biggest box office bomb ever since John Crater.

The studio earning the most bucks back for every dollar spent is Sony. Folks keep forgetting that Uni has some of the biggest bombs of the year - without Mario, it’s doing worse than Disney, even with Oppie. Paramount’s struggling the most, which is terribly unfair, since they’ve put out good stuff, and TMNT seems like it will continue that trend.

 

[TP2000]

The studio earning the most bucks back for every dollar spent is Sony. Folks keep forgetting that Uni has some of the biggest bombs of the year - without Mario, it’s doing worse than Disney, even with Oppie. Paramount’s struggling the most, which is terribly unfair, since they’ve put out good stuff, and TMNT seems like it will continue that trend.

You could play that game all day with every studio. "Without Indy 5, Disney wouldn't be losing so much money".... "Without Barbie, Warners would actually be losing money".... "If Disney had spent less on Mermaid marketing, they wouldn't have lost as much".

But the fact remains, and it's why this thread exists, Disney is the biggest money losing Hollywood studio in 2023. By a landslide.

Universal, 8 movies: = $334 Million Profit
Sony, 11 movies: = $169 Million Profit
Warner's, 7 movies: = $21 Million Profit
Paramount, 5 movies: = $285 Million Loss
Disney, 7 movies: = $721 Million Loss

But... Disney could make it all back and turn 2023 into financial triumph with The Marvels and Wish this holiday season.

 

[TalkingHead]

That’s Sony who wisely avoided jumping into the streaming gutter.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

That's the problem, if you only look at the top 30 you don't see all the actual losers for all these other studios. Which makes this whole "analysis" dishonest.

For example Sony lost $80M-100M or so for Knights of the Zodiac, Love Again and No Hard Feelings.

So if you're really going to do this comparison you best get all the data points so it can be seen what all studios are going through, not just Disney vs some cherry picked movies.

This is not to say Disney is performing better or is not have a worse time this year, they are having a worse time, but its about being honest about what is happening to the whole industry.

Add those in and Disney is still the biggest loser at the BO by a lot…as in secretariat at the Belmont.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

You could play that game all day with every studio. "Without Indy 5, Disney wouldn't be losing so much money".... "Without Barbie, Warners would actually be losing money".... "If Disney had spent less on Mermaid marketing, they wouldn't have lost as much".

But the fact remains, and it's why this thread exists, Disney is the biggest money losing Hollywood studio in 2023. By a landslide.

Universal, 8 movies: = $334 Million Profit
Sony, 11 movies: = $169 Million Profit
Warner's, 7 movies: = $21 Million Profit
Paramount, 5 movies: = $285 Million Loss
Disney, 6 movies: = $652 Million Loss

Not great numbers…unless I use “pixie math”

But... Disney could make it all back and turn 2023 into financial triumph with The Marvels and Wish this holiday season.

I think you got one hard flop there and one that may underperform in the mermaid kinda class

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

That’s Sony who wisely avoided jumping into the streaming gutter.

Selling the stuff seems to be the safer play all the way around

 

[Casper Gutman]

You could play that game all day with every studio. "Without Indy 5, Disney wouldn't be losing so much money".... "Without Barbie, Warners would actually be losing money".... "If Disney had spent less on Mermaid marketing, they wouldn't have lost as much".

But the fact remains, and it's why this thread exists, Disney is the biggest money losing Hollywood studio in 2023. By a landslide.

Universal, 8 movies: = $334 Million Profit
Sony, 11 movies: = $169 Million Profit
Warner's, 7 movies: = $21 Million Profit
Paramount, 5 movies: = $285 Million Loss
Disney, 6 movies: = $652 Million Loss

But... Disney could make it all back and turn 2023 into financial triumph with The Marvels and Wish this holiday season.

I don’t know how you got these numbers - I see Disney at a 492 loss, Paramount at a 406.5 loss, and WB still in the red by 76.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Selling the stuff seems to be the safer play all the way around

Yup, selling to an outside monopoly… genius! Vertical integration never worked for the film industry anyway.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Yup, selling to an outside monopoly… genius! Vertical integration never worked for the film industry anyway.

Well…you can sell to outlets and get 100% free money for stuff you’ve already paid for…

Or you can wait for the trillions of in-house streaming profits after you’re done launching those expensive internet satellites on the space shuttle…
…in the magical year of 2024…of course

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I don’t know how you got these numbers - I see Disney at a 492 loss, Paramount at a 406.5 loss, and WB still in the red by 76.

He put all the numbers

Where do your numbers come from? Team Disney’s CCTV scroll?

 

[MisterPenguin]

Magic 8-Ball and Polly Pocket movies? Real cinema is saved!!!

I'm looking forward most of all to The Pog Wars.

 

[Casper Gutman]

He put all the numbers

Where do your numbers come from? Team Disney’s CCTV scroll?

Well, according to Wikipedia, Paramounts global box office on those 5 films is $1.299 million, not $1.525 million.

And he’s included Haunted Mansion, which has been open for less then a week, but not Ant-Man.

And he’s including films like Suzume, that Sony distributed in certain markets where the film made little money.

PS: Also, his WB production total seems about $65 million low (not sure where he got the budget for House Party)

 

[DKampy]

You could play that game all day with every studio. "Without Indy 5, Disney wouldn't be losing so much money".... "Without Barbie, Warners would actually be losing money".... "If Disney had spent less on Mermaid marketing, they wouldn't have lost as much".

But the fact remains, and it's why this thread exists, Disney is the biggest money losing Hollywood studio in 2023. By a landslide.

Universal, 8 movies: = $334 Million Profit
Sony, 11 movies: = $169 Million Profit
Warner's, 7 movies: = $21 Million Profit
Paramount, 5 movies: = $285 Million Loss
Disney, 6 movies: = $652 Million Loss

But... Disney could make it all back and turn 2023 into financial triumph with The Marvels and Wish this holiday season.

How much profit has Warner lost on canceling the release of Batgirl despite being a finished product?

 

[MisterPenguin]

How much profit has Warner lost on canceling the release of Batgirl despite being a finished product?

Batgirl was made for streaming.

It's cancellation was part of Zaslav's policy of not making movies for streaming, which he saw as a financial losing proposition, but only for theatrical release where it can earn money first. (Tho, they can still make new series for streaming.)

Also, they thought it was bad. Which is why they didn't switch it to theatrical release, but wrote it off.

The people that worked on the film disagreed.

 

[Disney Irish]

Add those in and Disney is still the biggest loser at the BO by a lot…as in secretariat at the Belmont.

No one was claiming otherwise. You are so quick to bring up this point without even realizing this was already said and acknowledged.

 

[TP2000]

I don’t know how you got these numbers - I see Disney at a 492 loss, Paramount at a 406.5 loss, and WB still in the red by 76.

I don't know how you got those numbers.

Disney's loss includes Haunted Mansion as of Tuesday, which is why I said Disney's loss will narrow towards only $600 Million-ish by Labor Day.

Now that we've added in Ant Man's $68 Million loss thanks to your sharp eye, that loss has grown to at least $650 Million by Labor Day.

Paramount's loss is based on its five films and their production budgets + half that in marketing, minus the 50% take of the global box office; Transformers $195 production & $414 box office, Mission:Impossible $290 production & $694 box office, Scream 6 $35 production & $169 box office, Dungeons and Dragons $150 production & $208 box office, 80 for Brady $28 production & $40 box office.

Warner Bros. profit is based on its seven films and their production budgets + half that in marketing, minus 50% take of the global box office; Barbie $100 production & $803 box office, The Flash $200 production & $268 box office, Evil Dead Rise $19 production & $146 box office, Shazam $125 production & $132 box office, Magic Mike's Last Dance (And I love that this was apparently an actual movie) $7 production & $56 box office, House Party $12 production & $10 box office, Mummies $12 production & $53 box office.

Box Office Performance for Warner Bros. Movies in 2023

Box Office Performance for Warner Bros. Movies in 2023

www.the-numbers.com

Box Office Performance for Paramount Pictures Movies in 2023

Box Office Performance for Paramount Pictures Movies in 2023

www.the-numbers.com

Box Office Performance for Walt Disney Movies in 2023

Box Office Performance for Walt Disney Movies in 2023

www.the-numbers.com

 

[TP2000]

Well, according to Wikipedia, Paramounts global box office on those 5 films is $1.299 million, not $1.525 million.

I used The Numbers site that is updated daily. I have no idea who is editing Paramount's Wikipedia page, or how often.

And he’s included Haunted Mansion, which has been open for less then a week, but not Ant-Man.

It turns out when we add Ant Man into the list, it makes things worse. Ant Man lost about $70 Million for Disney this past spring.

But I figured out how Ant Man got missed by me earlier...

Earlier this evening in my rush against a rising King Tide to get to a pre-dinner gab fest and a bar tab that turned out to be still (alarmingly) my own responsibility to pay, I just cut and pasted the earlier Disney summer summary I did a day or so ago here. I'm sure you know what it's like to get yourself spruced up and rush out the door to a fun evening. But the result of my careless rushing is that summary did not include Ant Man, which obviously is a real movie (that I had no idea about). I will add it and back-edit all the posts from the past few hours.

Ant Man had a production budget of $200 Million, and a global box office of $464 Million. It lost $68 Million for Disney.

Those edits including Ant Man get us...

Disney, 7 movies: Production $1,392, Marketing $696, Global Box Office $2,734, Box Office Take $1,367 = $721 Million Loss

And he’s including films like Suzume, that Sony distributed in certain markets where the film made little money.

I included Suzume because it was released in the USA and did over $10 Million in box office here. Most of its box office came from overseas though, but officially it is a movie in wide release from Sony in calendar year 2023. But I agree it was small and rather obscure film compared to summer tentpoles, like House Party or 80 for Brady from other studios, or The Boogeyman from Disney.

The information leading to each of the films included in the major studios 2023 releases can be found in the link to The Numbers that I included in my original post with all that data. Here it is again for you...

Distributors Movie Breakdown for 2023

Distributors Movie Breakdown for 2023

www.the-numbers.com

 

[TP2000]

Well, according to Wikipedia, Paramounts global box office on those 5 films is $1.299 million, not $1.525 million.

I just double checked for you. Yup, my math is pretty damn good. No wonder that high school diploma hangs proudly on my wall.

Paramount's total global box office for their five films in calendar year 2023 as of Tuesday, August 2nd is $1,524,825,526.

I hope you don't mind I rounded that up to $1.525 Million. Again, I was rushing to get spruced up and out the door to a fun dinner.

And honestly, what's $174,474 between good friends?

Movie Comparison: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) vs. Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) vs. Scream VI (2023) vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) vs. 80 for Brady (2023)

Domestic box office comparison between Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) and Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) and Scream VI (2023) and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) and 80 for Brady (2023)

www.the-numbers.com

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Well, according to Wikipedia, Paramounts global box office on those 5 films is $1.299 million, not $1.525 million.

And he’s included Haunted Mansion, which has been open for less then a week, but not Ant-Man.

And he’s including films like Suzume, that Sony distributed in certain markets where the film made little money.

PS: Also, his WB production total seems about $65 million low (not sure where he got the budget for House Party)

So paramounts number comes down

That changes everything

Haunted mansion full on flopped.

And before you say: “How do you know if you didn’t see it?”
I just saw it. It wasn’t gonna cover if people were flocking to the theaters like they were giving out free iPhones.

So “bank” that one too.


This seems like the 5,999th attempt at “but, but, but…” for just one studio on this thread…
…but…but…but…nothing changes the math for them.

Elemental has done better than expected early on…so that’s a positive.

Antman is an MCU failure…small but certain

Mermaid is…well…what it is

Indy flopped, bounced six times and rolled into the storm drain

Haunted mansion is a pretty sizeable write down.

That’s where we are with two films left for the year