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

[Miss Rori]

That is pretty specific. I think that is highly unlikely outside of a one off grandma buying the dvd for their grandkids. Wish is old news and kids really don't buy toys based on movie ip anymore.

Yeah, but it's the best attempt I can make to figure out why Disney's dragged its feet on getting this to streaming rather than just doing a Christmas Day drop as soon as the first weekend's take came in. On the one hand, yay to longer theatrical windows if that business is going to keep going, on the other hand, once the film didn't become the next Elemental slow burn qualified success, they might as well have cut their losses (especially when it became clear Wonka was going to run and run with the Wish target audience).

 

[LittleBuford]

Encanto is the only film I can think of offhand, Disney or otherwise, that disappointed theatrically and blew up on streaming to the point that the merchandise sold. So I don't see where Wish's financial redemption is going to come from.

From Disney+, as with Encanto. I’m not saying it’s going to happen—I don’t think it is—but I do expect it to do a bit better on streaming than it has at the box office.

 

[Miss Rori]

See, I do think there will be some interest on Disney+ but it's not going to be a financial generator just through streaming. This is a movie that people (well, adults) who don't like it don't just dislike but feel insulted by. Having seen more clips from it now that it is available for digital rental/purchase, I'm more and more amazed that Disney thought people would love it.

 

[erasure fan1]

See, I do think there will be some interest on Disney+ but it's not going to be a financial generator just through streaming.

There's going to be interest for sure. But I agree, I don't see it all of a sudden selling merch or the songs start topping the streaming charts. It could happen, I would just be extremely surprised if it does. Unless Disney decides to sell the broadcast rights, they aren't going to make up near the difference.

 

[TP2000]

Box Office is out for Thursday, which previews how this upcoming 3 day Presidents Day holiday weekend will pan out.

Poor Things is in 12th place, and Turning Red is in 18th place. And Turning Red still has 1,500+ theaters but is only making $24 per theater. Clearly, there was a belief in Emeryville that they were going to need 1,500+ theaters for this re-release concept, when it appears these re-releases were best left on Disney+ for free.

With Turning Red at #18 using 1,560 theaters to get there. Very odd!

The Numbers - Daily Box Office Chart for Friday August 29, 2025

Daily Domestic Box Office Chart for Friday August 29, 2025

www.the-numbers.com

 

[DKampy]

I have a feeling Box Office results are not the be all end all some want it to be… Yes studios are hoping their films do gangbusters in theaters, but they also have the PVOD format at $20.00 a pop…We do not have the data for that, but I can only assume it is working well for the studios…as they all partake and keep utilizing that format while films are still in theaters

One example I have is I saw The Holdovers over thanksgiving… my theater was packed and the film seem to be doing well with good word of mouth…then the studio cut the film off it’s legs by putting it on PVOD and it was pulled from my theater…so there must be some profit to be had there… cause there has to be a reason because I believe The Holdovers could of made more money in theaters over the holidays especially given what the themes of the film were

 

[Phroobar]

I have a feeling Box Office results are not the be all end all some want it to be… Yes studios are hoping their films do gangbusters in theaters, but they also have the PVOD format at $20.00 a pop…We do not have the data for that, but I can only assume it is working well for the studios…as they all partake and keep utilizing that format while films are still in theaters

One example I have is I saw The Holdovers over thanksgiving… my theater was packed and the film seem to be doing well with good word of mouth…then the studio cut the film off it’s legs by putting it on PVOD and it was pulled from my theater…so there must be some profit to be had there… cause there has to be a reason because I believe The Holdovers could of made more money in theaters over the holidays especially given what the themes of the film were

Then there is FNAF that was released both to theaters and Peacock on the same day. I actually saw it at both the theater and at home. It still made a huge profit.

 

[MrPromey]

No sharks, thanks.

Yeah, time to shake it up.

They should go with snakes instead.

... and give SLJ a cameo.

 

[TsWade2]

BUT with that much money earned globally, it is definitely going to make a profit eventually. We don’t need to get into all the films that didn’t initially recoup at the box office and then went on to recoup and profit later. That’s just a fact. And Wish is lined up to make more money in the future.

Pay no attention to these philistines! They just love to gloat at Disney because they‘re being a bunch of haters and not being true fans. Anyway, I think Moana 2 will be a box office success. I guess WDAS will have to do sequels for awhile.

 

[erasure fan1]

but they also have the PVOD format at $20.00 a pop…We do not have the data for that, but I can only assume it is working well for the studios…

Unfortunately you are right, we can only assume, and that's part of the issue. Box office is still what is focused on most. If studios were more transparent with how the other revenue streams were doing, box office wouldn't need to be the main focus. But I have to believe that if movies were doing great through the other channels, the studios would be bragging about it. They could easily change the narrative, but they don't. If I had to guess, I think box office is still extremely important to studios. They want to make as much cash as possible. I just can't see a scenario where any studio is happy a film didn't profit at the box office. Does every film need to make 100% profit and make over a billion dollars? Absolutely not. But getting squarely into profit so everything after is pure gravy, is I would guess, expected.

 

[Disney Irish]

Unfortunately you are right, we can only assume, and that's part of the issue. Box office is still what is focused on most. If studios were more transparent with how the other revenue streams were doing, box office wouldn't need to be the main focus. But I have to believe that if movies were doing great through the other channels, the studios would be bragging about it. They could easily change the narrative, but they don't. If I had to guess, I think box office is still extremely important to studios. They want to make as much cash as possible. I just can't see a scenario where any studio is happy a film didn't profit at the box office. Does every film need to make 100% profit and make over a billion dollars? Absolutely not. But getting squarely into profit so everything after is pure gravy, is I would guess, expected.

An argument could be made that the reason studios aren’t transparent about other revenue streams post-theatrical is not because they aren’t profitable, but because they are. And that by revealing just how profitable it really would open them up to having to share more of that profit.

There is a reason why SAG was fighting for more transparency in the streaming numbers in the recent strike. It’s so they can have deals structured around larger profit sharing.

The BO is just a distraction. Focus on just the BO numbers, don’t worry about what is happening over here with post-theatrical. It’s why studios can claim they lost money on a movie even if it becomes a hit out of theaters, they never have to provide what is made post-theatrical.

Or another way to look at it, notice how even though 2023 had almost all Disney movies said to have lost money…. Why has none of them been written down, ie reported on as a real financial loss in the quarterlies? It’s because none of them really were, all parties involved were made whole by post-theatrical revenue.

 

[Tha Realest]

Or another way to look at it, notice how even though 2023 had almost all Disney movies said to have lost money…. Why has none of them been written down, ie reported on as a real financial loss in the quarterlies? It’s because none of them really were, all parties involved were made whole by post-theatrical revenue.

They have been reported as financial losses in quarterlies. Since 2022.

 

[DKampy]

Unfortunately you are right, we can only assume, and that's part of the issue. Box office is still what is focused on most. If studios were more transparent with how the other revenue streams were doing, box office wouldn't need to be the main focus. But I have to believe that if movies were doing great through the other channels, the studios would be bragging about it. They could easily change the narrative, but they don't. If I had to guess, I think box office is still extremely important to studios. They want to make as much cash as possible. I just can't see a scenario where any studio is happy a film didn't profit at the box office. Does every film need to make 100% profit and make over a billion dollars? Absolutely not. But getting squarely into profit so everything after is pure gravy, is I would guess, expected.

Yeah… I am not sure what the answers are, but I was wondering if the reason studios don’t brag about it is cause they don’t want to draw attention to the ability to watch movies that are still in theaters at home… as they want to still make as much money in theaters as they can… as I don’t usually even see any promotion most of the time for PVOD… for example I was surprised to see Wonka is available on PVOD already

 

[Disney Irish]

They have been reported as financial losses in quarterlies. Since 2022.

View attachment 768903
View attachment 768904

Where’s the write down? Having an operating loss is not the same as taking a write down. For example they wrote down ~$190M for Lone Ranger back in 2013, but nothing recently. Btw, that was done by Rasulo, just as an aside.

 

[brideck]

Poor Things is going to be outside the Top 10 this weekend, so there's no industry projection for what its take will be that I can see, but it did manage to skip past the pace of The Favourite last weekend, continuing to stretch its advantage day over day. It's remaining domestic success will largely be predicated on how many awards it manages to score in 3 weeks.

 

[Tha Realest]

Poor Things is going to be outside the Top 10 this weekend, so there's no industry projection for what its take will be that I can see, but it did manage to skip past the pace of The Favourite last weekend, continuing to stretch its advantage day over day. It's remaining domestic success will largely be predicated on how many awards it manages to score in 3 weeks.

View attachment 768909

Poor Things has more than 2x the budget of The Favourite, and not sure your chart accounts for the substantial increase in inflation over the last 6 years, so …

 

[Tha Realest]

Where’s the write down? Having an operating loss is not the same as taking a write down. For example they wrote down ~$190M for Lone Ranger back in 2013, but nothing recently. Btw, that was done by Rasulo, just as an aside.

The OP suggested there were not any real losses sustained for these films, which is demonstrably untrue.

 

[Disney Irish]

The OP suggested there were not any real losses sustained for these films, which is demonstrably untrue.

You missed the point. The reason why a film is written down by studios is to get a tax break in order to lessen the burden of the loss. This is only done when they can no longer make any money off the film as they have to adjust the value of the asset in order to take the write down. You don’t do that if the film has post-thearical revenue to earn.

So yeah they had an operating loss during those quarters for BO but they aren’t writing down the value of the films as they still get revenue from other sources post-theatrical, ie it’ll end up with a profit.

Perfect example of this is Batgirl, WBD wrote it down prior to release. As such it can’t be released ever otherwise WBD is on the hook for the full amount they wrote down.

 

[erasure fan1]

So yeah they had an operating loss during those quarters for BO but they aren’t writing down the value of the films as they still get revenue from other sources post-theatrical, ie it’ll end up with a profit.

Perfect example of this is Batgirl, WBD wrote it down prior to release. As such it can’t be released ever otherwise WBD is on the hook for the full amount they wrote down.

There's always money to be made post theatrical. Batgirl isn't really at all comparable in my opinion. That will never see the light of day. Disney wouldn't deep six wish, or any of the others, as while it didn't do well in theaters. Missed profitability by a whole lot. It will get views on D+, it will still sell some merch in the parks... So it still has a value to Disney. Batgirl, not so much. I won't pretend to know how studio tax financials work. But I would assume they can take a loss for that segment as a whole, and not have to Batgirl or willow stuff.

 

[brideck]

Poor Things has more than 2x the budget of The Favourite, and not sure your chart accounts for the substantial increase in inflation over the last 6 years, so …

I'm not sure I care about either of those things. I never once stated that Poor Things would make more of a profit than The Favourite. When I initially started posting versions of this chart, it was to combat the lunacy that the $2 million it made in its first two weekends was all the money it was ever going to see. Then people doubted that Oscar bumps were a thing, etc. etc. I'm sure you were here for the whole thing.

Now it serves as a convenient yardstick to show its trajectory towards undeniable profitability; if it exceeds The Favourite in the end and you assume roughly a 2x multiplier for overseas BO, then it's pretty much there. Despite all this, we continue to this day to have people making foolish posts about what a flop it is. Can't we just let a movie be both critically acclaimed and manage to not lose a pile of money at the same time and just call it good?