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

[Disney Irish]

That's a valid point, and it's where it gets tricky. I think we can all agree that if a Jungle Cruise Skipper started his launch off from the dock and turned to his boatload of tourists and said what Rachel Zegler said on TikTok, that kid would be fired and thrown out on to Harbor Blvd. by the time he returned from his second trip.

I think many of us are just dumbfounded that Rachel Zegler, who sells her skills to a broad American audience, would be such an idiot as to go on TikTok (or that planned union protest she made questionable comments about Disney at) and say the things she said out loud. It's baffling, but at least it's also given us a few chuckles.

Just FYI, it wasn't on TikTok, it was on Instagram.

Also she is not infallible, she is 23. I know plenty of 23 year olds who make worse mistakes and are forgiven with a snap of a finger. I personally have known people in their 60s that have lost companies Millions and said the most vile things and are still employed. We live in an imperfect world.

Despite the mistakes, I think she has handled the criticism and constant barrage negativity with grace and even a bit of humility. She has admitted her mistakes and is trying to move on from it. Even TMZ tried to get her to comment on the things as she came back from Spain, and she ignored the question. So obviously she has also learned from the whole situation.

Hopefully once the movie is released this can pass and it won't be a thing anymore.

True. And something tells me Disney won't be seeking out Rachel Zegler for another project again.

Maybe, Maybe not. She is rumored to be up for several parts in future Disney projects. So never say never.

 

[LittleBuford]

When you are a company owner with a last name like Musk, or Ford, or Bezos, or Disney, you can say and do whatever you want because you built the company yourself and you own every success and failure that you create.

You have your priorities all wrong.

 

[Tha Realest]

You have your priorities all wrong.

How does staying a normative viewpoint on the ability, or responsibility, or consequences, of freedom of speech and ownership/employment, particularly involving publicly traded companies reflect a “priority”?

These are not subtle distinctions. FWIW, Disney has quite famously fired people who have said or written terrible things. Heck, the next thread in this sub forum is about the live action Lilo & Stitch, which is a film where the original actor for David was replaced after a tweet posted years before he was cast was unearthed. And I’m fine with that!

 

[coffeefan]

Have they considered that Disneyland is unsafe?

Rachel Zegler Skips 'Snow White' Promotion At Disneyland After Gal Gadot's Spain Absence

The speculated tension between "Snow White" co-stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot continues with more solo appearances.

www.yahoo.com

Are costars required to do all promo together?

Anyway, Rachel Zegler was at WDS.

 

[Disney Irish]

FWIW, Disney has quite famously fired people who have said or written terrible things. Heck, the next thread in this sub forum is about the live action Lilo & Stitch, which is a film where the original actor for David was replaced after a tweet posted years before he was cast was unearthed. And I’m fine with that!

And had all this happened before filming began she may not have been kept on in the role. Or if it was a TV show she could have been written off or just had the part not continue as has been the case with other actors recently.

This is a film role that was already finished with production before any of this happened, so its not the same.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I saw that too. Apparently that oddly specific number of $269,400,000 is from the British tax documents from 2023, as reported by Forbes, and is before the $55 Million rebate check from the British government is backed out of the total. Which brings the production cost down to a post-rebate amount of $214 Million as of late 2023.

Yet that was before Snow White was shelved for over a year to undergo rewrites and post-production reworking. If I were to guess, I'd imagine they tacked on at least another $25 Million, if not $50 Million, in the past 14 months of work. After the British rebate check, I'd guess the total for Snow White will come in around $250 Million.

Once again, you provide such a sound and stable informed opinion on this Box Office thread. Thanks!

I agree with you, none of us really know the real costs are to make and market any movie and we also know the income for a given movie does not stop at the box office.

The box office is still used as an indicator of success, and we all use is the budget amount provided by the access media along with the access media approved 2.5 multiplier to find the break even. Reality is some unknown number.

It just makes it easy and undisputable when a given movie breaks 1B at the box office because most of the time no matter what the real numbers are you can be somewhat sure the movie made money, no calculation needed. This is especially true with the super high budget Disney movies.

 

[LittleBuford]

How does staying a normative viewpoint on the ability, or responsibility, or consequences, of freedom of speech and ownership/employment, particularly involving publicly traded companies reflect a “priority”?

I don’t think it’s a normative viewpoint to expect higher standards of decorum from Hollywood actors than from the people who actually have power over our lives. But others here have made abundantly clear that they see the world differently, and that’s their prerogative, even if I think they’re wrong.

 

[Casper Gutman]

We need to police every word a 23 year old actor says and ruin them if they put a consonant wrong.

The most powerful people in the world, including the one occupying the “bully pulpit,” can say any insane thing that crosses their mind - threatening allies, normalizing hate, tearing apart the founding principles of the country - and even though such statements have very real and often irreparable ramifications, we must ignore them because they’re just trolling LOL.

This is grotesquely sick. It’s the naked exercise of power devoid of principles.

Let’s just stick to the stupid box office stuff.

 

[Phroobar]

Are costars required to do all promo together?

Anyway, Rachel Zegler was at WDS.

I don't think she is singing that.

 

[Disney Irish]

I don't think she is signing that.

That's probably because she is "singing" not "signing".

 

[Stripes]

Regardless of the box office performance of Snow White, is there any doubt that Disney will be, by far, the most profitable studio of 2025?

 

[Disney Irish]

Regardless of the box office performance of Snow White, is there any doubt that Disney will be, by far, the most profitable studio of 2025?

Yes, it should be the top studio again.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Regardless of the box office performance of Snow White, is there any doubt that Disney will be, by far, the most profitable studio of 2025?

I think Disney will top the total BO list again but Universal could be competitive this year, with a Jurassic world movie and Wicked 2 they have a couple that should hit a billion+ dollars, HTTYD could also be a big number.

Disneys mid tier lineup is better though and will probably result in a bigger overall BO, most profitable will also likely go to Disney but I think it’s probably going to be closer than people expect though.

Unis mid tier list is less impressive but many also have < $50 millions budgets instead of Disneys typical > $150 million, Disney has the potential to lose a lot more on their non hits.

 

[Stripes]

I think Disney will top the list again but Universal could be competitive this year, with a Jurassic world movie and Wicked 2 they have a couple that should hit a billion+ dollars, HTTYD could also be a big number.

Disneys mid tier lineup is better though and will probably result in a bigger overall BO, most profitable will probably be closer though.

Universal has a strong slate and they will undoubtedly be number 2, but I think Disney wins the crown by a significant margin.

 

[Disstevefan1]

All the reviews for Snow are positive, the only negative is the CGI dwarfs (rightly so, they should have used little people as dwarfs)

I initially thought this was going to be a loser, but now I am changing my mind, I think this will bring folks in and more importantly parents and kids (more tickets sold).

No one knows how much the reshoots cost, no one knows how much this movie actually cost to make and market but I now think the box office will surpass the 269 * 2.5 = 672M (access media number) and make money.

 

[BrianLo]

Regardless of the box office performance of Snow White, is there any doubt that Disney will be, by far, the most profitable studio of 2025?

Most profitable? Maybe, but not certain. There are a few things that could go wrong and a few breakouts from other distributors that could surprise.

Highest grossing distributor? Maybe, good chance.

Highest grossing distributor with 20th century included? Definitely, Fire and Ash is this year. Spilling well into 2026 for good measure.

Just Walt Disney (not 20th) 2024 just had a 2017-like market share for the company. So I’m not sure why the internet feels the distributor is currently coming off a low. Maybe 2024 is a one-off? Or Maybe 2023 was.

 

[Disstevefan1]

I think Disney will top the total BO list again

Yes, as long as they are going by gross, not by net

 

[BrianLo]

If the company has two blockbuster movies it’s an acceptable year. It used to be great a decade ago, but they are generally a bigger company today and Iger has built more and more of a tentpole strategy. If the company has three blockbusters movies, it’s a very good year. If the company has four it’s a great to exceptional year. Likely there is no other distributor that is beating that.


Of course, they are chasing the unrealistic high when they did 7 (one of which was a total blowout). But I’m really not sure we’ll ever see that again, nor do I think any studio can ever kiss the highs of Disney 2019.

As far as I see it there are 4 good candidates this year and if one slips it still has the potential to be “a very good year”.

 

[Stripes]

One of the podcasts I watch.

 

[Ghost93]

One of the podcasts I watch.

Again, these are "early reactions" not reviews, and they are from a limited pool of people that Disney allowed to see the film. Think more along the lines of influencers than film critics. Disney allowed people to attend the premiere that it felt would be more inclined to give the movie a positive social media reaction.

Now the movie may very well turn out to be good, and the reviews might end up surprisingly positive. But I've been burned too many times in the past by bad movies with "rotten" Rotten Tomatoes scores that initially had a wave of positive "early reactions" that I will always take those early reactions with a grain of salt.