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

[TP2000]

Not really. The stench of this production forced a recalibration of this film, as well as Disney’s entire “live action” adaptation pipeline. How many more “live action” adaptations are to come in the coming years? The studio’s champion of these films, Sean Bailey, was forced out in 2024:

View attachment 850342

Well, that would seem to be very good news for Burbank's box office in the latter half of the 2020's.

Bob Iger was right to order a course correct, but I hope the correction goes far enough to fix the damage already done.

 

[DKampy]

Every film can't be a blockbuster. But a big studio should be able to get a majority of its movies to at least break even.

And when you are spending north of $300 Million to remake the famous icon movie that created your studio in the first place, you can't screw that one up. You need to be better than what Burbank is doing now. The company depends on it.

Heck, even this young 21st century theme park waiter owes his job to that princess named Snow White.

So tell me again how Disney was at a loss due to the film slate in 2024

Also my comment was more referring to people citing that the Hollywood craft services were in trouble due to the box office results of one movie… as if Hollywood has not had a failure ever in it’s over 100 years of existence

 

[Tha Realest]

People were bound to understand it as problematic swipe at Gadot. I myself can’t help suspecting it was.

Of course it was. When the trailer dropped there were the predictable outrage given Gadot’s association with this film and a bunch of vile anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli comments flooding social media. Zegler chose that moment to demonstrate her alliance with those expressing their disgust and dismay at Gadot’s involvement in the film.

 

[TalkingHead]

NYT piece on WB and Zaslav mentions Snow White production/marketing cost was “at least $350 million.”

 

[Disney Irish]

NYT piece on WB and Zaslav mentions Snow White production/marketing cost was “at least $350 million.”

There is a lot of context missing there. As it just spouts off a number without actually saying if that is before or after reshoots, before or after the tax breaks, etc.

So just like every other media outlet that spouts off a number without any further details, take it with a huge grain of salt and don’t rely on it.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

There is a lot of context missing there. As it just spouts off a number without actually saying if that is before or after reshoots, before or after the tax breaks, etc.

So just like every other media outlet that spouts off a number without any further details, take it with a huge grain of salt and don’t rely on it.

I’ve seen so many conflicting reports I’ll be shocked if we ever know. All we know for sure is what England reported as part of the tax incentives, which I believe was $255 million before the rebate.

I think it’s safe to speculate the breakeven point is somewhere between $500-600 million but even that is speculation.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Of course it was. When the trailer dropped there were the predictable outrage given Gadot’s association with this film and a bunch of vile anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli comments flooding social media. Zegler chose that moment to demonstrate her alliance with those expressing their disgust and dismay at Gadot’s involvement in the film.

Zegler should not have said what she said. It probably was a dig at Gadot. She should have been reprimanded. A lot of unfair, ugly hatred was directed at Gadot.

People are going out of their way to put the worst imaginable spin on Zegler’s comments while putting absurdly positive spin on the two years of hateful comments directed at Zegler or ignoring them altogether. She was not “allying” herself with anti-semitism.

This issue ties into a much larger and more relevant one. I won’t go into my own thoughts on the conflict other than to say they are not Zegler’s. Having said that, a great deal of speech sympathetic to Palestine is being aggressively and unconstitutionally suppressed right now. As part of this, legitimate comments are being labeled anti-Semitic (which helps to mask real and growing anti-Semitism). I disagree with an overwhelming majority of this speech, but its repression strikes at the heart of this nation’s ideals.

 

[TalkingHead]

There is a lot of context missing there. As it just spouts off a number without actually saying if that is before or after reshoots, before or after the tax breaks, etc.

So just like every other media outlet that spouts off a number without any further details, take it with a huge grain of salt and don’t rely on it.

It’s Brooks Barnes who Burbank has called on before. The “at least” is him doing Disney a favor.

 

[Disney Irish]

I’ve seen so many conflicting reports I’ll be shocked if we ever know. All we know for sure is what England reported as part of the tax incentives, which I believe was $255 million before the rebate.

I think it’s safe to speculate the breakeven point is somewhere between $500-600 million but even that is speculation.

I agree, which is why for better or worse you just have to take what the recognized trades say is the budget which is $269.4M.

 

[Tha Realest]

I agree, which is why for better or worse you just have to take what the recognized trades say is the budget which is $269.4M.

* By the end of 2023.

Or are you of the belief another year of production (reshoots, SFX) was relatively minimal?

 

[Disney Irish]

It’s Brooks Barnes who Burbank has called on before. The “at least” is him doing Disney a favor.

I read the article, I'm aware.

But that still doesn't make what they put into the article any less out of context. Again its not listed as being before or after reshoots and before or after tax breaks.

For example if we say its after reshoots but before tax breaks, that brings it down to less than $300M.

 

[Disney Irish]

* By the end of 2023.

Or are you of the belief another year of production (reshoots, SFX) was relatively minimal?

I don't know how much the reshoots and post-production was, and neither does anyone here. There have been so many numbers floated out there for this movie that they all contradict either other. So in order to cut through all the noise we just use a number reported by the trades we use the $269.4M number.

And at this point the actual number doesn't matter anyways as its very likely not breaking even anyways. So why does it matter if we use a lower number than what NYT reports.

 

[LittleBuford]

I’ve seen so many conflicting reports I’ll be shocked if we ever know. All we know for sure is what England reported as part of the tax incentives, which I believe was $255 million before the rebate.

Sorry to be pedantic, but as a Brit, can I ask that England not be conflated with the United Kingdom!

 

[coffeefan]

 

[coffeefan]

 

[TP2000]

So tell me again how Disney was at a loss due to the film slate in 2024

Also my comment was more referring to people citing that the Hollywood craft services were in trouble due to the box office results of one movie… as if Hollywood has not had a failure ever in it’s over 100 years of existence

You realize that the Hollywood "industry" in SoCal is in an economic recession, dragging down the entire region, right?

You realize that multiple news sources, who are nothing but left-wing, keep talking about how dire the economic situation is for low level support workers, blue collar workers in the trades, and white collar cubicle drones in the movie industry, right?

The economy of greater Los Angeles is weakened and getting weaker, and the specific industry of show business is at the heart of that weakness. Which has led to Billion dollar budget deficits from LA to Sacramento. But sure, write off yet another mega-million Disney flop and pretend it doesn't matter to the little people. But it matters, and Hollywood's working class is paying the price.

Hollywood Workers, Still Reeling From Five Years Of Economic Turmoil, Turn To Collective Action In Wake Of L.A. Wildfires

In the wake of the L.A. wildfires, Hollywood's workers members have been helping their own with relief and recovery efforts.

deadline.com

Workers feel the pain as a post-streaming-wars Hollywood restructures

Contraction. Pullback. Market correction. However you want to describe what’s going on in the Hollywood economy right now, there are potentially brutal long-term consequences of the entertainment industry’s shrinkage.

www.latimes.com

Behind the stunning job losses in Hollywood: 'The audience has moved on'

After strikes by actors and writers last year, Los Angeles' entertainment economy is struggling to stage a comeback as production activity, employment and box office revenue are down.

www.latimes.com

California is gripped by economic problems, with no easy fix

Rising unemployment, a growing deficit and persistent outmigration are a painful trinity

www.economist.com

 

[Disney Irish]

You realize that the Hollywood "industry" in SoCal is in an economic recession, dragging down the entire region, right?

You realize that multiple news sources, who are nothing but left-wing, keep talking about how dire the economic situation is for low level support workers, blue collar workers in the trades, and white collar cubicle drones in the movie industry, right?

The economy of greater Los Angeles is weakened and getting weaker, and the specific industry of show business is at the heart of that weakness. Which has led to Billion dollar budget deficits from LA to Sacramento. But sure, write off yet another mega-million Disney flop and pretend it doesn't matter to the little people. But it matters, and Hollywood's working class is paying the price.

Hollywood Workers, Still Reeling From Five Years Of Economic Turmoil, Turn To Collective Action In Wake Of L.A. Wildfires

In the wake of the L.A. wildfires, Hollywood's workers members have been helping their own with relief and recovery efforts.

deadline.com

Workers feel the pain as a post-streaming-wars Hollywood restructures

Contraction. Pullback. Market correction. However you want to describe what’s going on in the Hollywood economy right now, there are potentially brutal long-term consequences of the entertainment industry’s shrinkage.

www.latimes.com

Behind the stunning job losses in Hollywood: 'The audience has moved on'

After strikes by actors and writers last year, Los Angeles' entertainment economy is struggling to stage a comeback as production activity, employment and box office revenue are down.

www.latimes.com

California is gripped by economic problems, with no easy fix

Rising unemployment, a growing deficit and persistent outmigration are a painful trinity

www.economist.com

Your concern for the little guy is heart warming, it really is.

Funny how this never got brought up until now. Wasn’t really brought up during the strikes last year even though Disney had a banner year. Wasn’t brought up during Disney’s no good really bad year of 2023, but other Studios were doing ok. Wasn’t brought up during 2021 or 2022 when almost all Studios were struggling. Heck it wasn’t even really brought up too much during 2020 when everything was shutdown and many of us discussed how theaters might be closing permanently.

No it’s only brought up now after a producers son mentions it, which doesn’t even apply to the film it was being attributed to since it was done in the UK.

So as heart warming as it is, forgive me for not shedding a tear since it’s never been something anyone cared about before.

 

[brideck]

You realize that multiple news sources, who are nothing but left-wing, keep talking about how dire the economic situation is for low level support workers, blue collar workers in the trades, and white collar cubicle drones in the movie industry, right?

Not in the movie industry writ large, though. You're talking specifically about the situation in SoCal. Others are talking about the industry as a whole, so ya'll are talking at cross purposes.

Disney didn't make Snow White in the LA area, so nothing you're talking about is pertinent to the discussion about that movie and its blue collar workers. Disney, in fact, hardly makes any of their live-action stuff in SoCal as far as I'm aware. (Anyone can feel free to correct me, I have no desire to look up what facilities have been used for every movie.) They shoot a lot in the UK, they shoot a lot in Georgia, etc. In short, they chase the tax credits that incentivize where movies and TV get made. As I'm sure you're aware, California is considering bumping their credits (https://variety.com/2025/biz/news/california-film-credit-35-percent-animation-sitcoms-1236348602/) in order to compete with the rest of the market, so maybe that will entice Disney to make more there.

 

[TP2000]

Your concern for the little guy is heart warming, it really is.

Funny how this never got brought up until now. Wasn’t really brought up during the strikes last year even though Disney had a banner year. Wasn’t brought up during Disney’s no good really bad year of 2023, but other Studios were doing ok. Wasn’t brought up during 2021 or 2022 when almost all Studios were struggling. Heck it wasn’t even really brought up too much during 2020 when everything was shutdown and many of us discussed how theaters might be closing permanently.

No it’s only brought up now after a producers son mentions it, which doesn’t even apply to the film it was being attributed to since it was done in the UK.

So as heart warming as it is, forgive me for not shedding a tear since it’s never been something anyone cared about before.

It was brought up because the Jonah Platt Instagram spat, and his valid points, made headlines in the past 24 hours.

He has a good point. Rachel Zegler already got her multi-million payout for Snow White, flop or hit. But the little guys need a Hollywood that is making more hits than flops to pay their rent.

The Hollywood economy, and the broader LA County economy, is weak right now and not looking bright. Rachel Zegler might try to remember that before she Tweets again in the future on her next mega-budget project.

 

[Disney Irish]

It was brought up because the Jonah Platt Instagram spat, and his valid points, made headlines in the past 24 hours.

He has a good point. Rachel Zegler already got her multi-million payout for Snow White, flop or hit. But the little guys need a Hollywood that is making more hits than flops to pay their rent.

The Hollywood economy, and the broader LA County economy, is weak right now and not looking bright. Rachel Zegler might try to remember that before she Tweets again in the future on her next mega-budget project.

And as I mentioned before and @brideck just echoed none of this has anything to do with Snow White or Zegler. Platt’s comments are shallow at best and self serving at worst being the son of a producer who’s actual livelihood depends on the success of the films he produces, not the Hollywood “little guy” who have no actual stake in how a film does.

So as touching as this faux outrage you have is, if you really were concerned for the Hollywood “little guy” you’d be out every weekend going to the movies and supporting all those thousands of worker you claim to be concerned about.