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

[BrianLo]

To what extent is that “softening” on the parks and to what extent is it a growing concern for his physical legacy? And are those different?

We differ in our interpretation on this. Spending promissory is a lot higher than it has ever been and in earnings calls the focus on capital expenditures in the parks is higher than it has ever been. Very consistently for a couple years now.

Parks being sold as growth vehicles is a new position he has taken. That doesn’t mean he ‘likes’ the parks, but he has grown softer on them. I think it’s fair to say Iger is very much a media guy through and through. His preference has always seemed to gravitate towards hob knobbing creatives. Which he is generally good at. Output be damned, there is a clear consistency that creatives seem to like him.

He’s been in all of the parks for non photo op buisness a lot more than he has ever been.

I think softening is a meek word to use, mild pivot. I’m not suggesting this is a come to Jesus moment, but we have a different Iger in 2025 than 2005, who frankly surrounded himself with people caustically antagonistic to the parks as a real growth businesses in the past.

He’s definitely not softened on Parks being their own independent form of art. But his IPing is more a consistency across the board strategy for him that’s fairly unflinching.

 

[BrianLo]

To what extent is that “softening” on the parks and to what extent is it a growing concern for his physical legacy? And are those different?

I misunderstood your post, but I’ll let the other one stand. Ya maybe some is about physical legacy? But I felt that’s why we saw so much output from him at the end of his last run. He definitely was trying to suddenly go out on that high note. With Shanghai through Galaxies Edge, etc.

He seems to have returned with that desire for legacy.

 

[Disney Irish]

I’d like to counter on your end of the argument that offense would most likely be reflected in approval ratings. Which is 45%, so it is closer to half of the broader country still. Whether people actually voted or not.

Edit - though that would assume that full batch even knew about it, but I admit it has gotten more air time than expected. Though many people can be pretty dense on the news cycle.

Problem with approval ratings though is they are such a small sample size, in the thousands compared to the millions who may actually have an opinion one way or the other.

 

[BrianLo]

Problem with approval ratings though is they are such a small sample size, in the thousands compared to the millions who may actually have an opinion one way or the other.

I would have figured American polling standards were stronger than that. Admittedly, I don’t know… or care

Disapproval in Canada is now 80%, support heading for single digits, so we should have been revenge watching Snow here to pull up those domestic numbers.

But we started Spring, so Snow is probably a turn off.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

66% drop. 100m domestic is off the table.

Minecraft comes out next weekend...

 

[TP2000]

Here we go, gang! The first pass at weekend box office is out.

The drop for Snow White is rather brutal at 66% from last weekend, while still maintaining all 4,200 theaters nationwide. It came in second to an action movie.

The Numbers - Weekend Box Office Chart for September 5, 2025

Weekend Domestic Box Office Chart for the weekend of September 5, 2025

thenumbers.com

 

[Disney Irish]

View attachment 850844
66% drop. 100m domestic is off the table.

Minecraft comes out next weekend...

I wouldn't say its completely off the table, but yes it makes it harder with more family films coming out in the coming weeks.

 

[Disney Irish]

I would have figured American polling standards were stronger than that. Admittedly, I don’t know… or care

Disapproval in Canada is now 80%, support heading for single digits, so we should have been revenge watching Snow here to pull up those domestic numbers.

But we started Spring, so Snow is probably a turn off.

Not to go off on even more of a tangent, but Polls in the US over the past decade have been notoriously inaccurate in both directions. So I never put too much credence into them, and even less into their predictive importance.

 

[TP2000]

66% drop. 100m domestic is off the table.

Wow. You think? Maybe... just throwing it out... it has a second week of children on Spring Break and gets towards $85 Million by its third weekend? Then it could possibly get to $125 Million by the time it leaves theaters at the end of April.

I dunno, it does look bleak. We had gone into this box office discussion 10 days ago with a downgraded assumption it would get $150 Million domestic and around $300 Million globally, and that number was disastrous. Now we're talking $250 Million or less domestically?

This failure is going to dig a hole for Burbank's break even point for the rest of the year. They'll need some really big hits to climb out of a $250 Million crater left by Snow White. Ah, Miss Zegler... your box office talents know no bounds it seems!

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Lets do some glorious wrongly rounded, arm wavingly BSed calculations!

$14,200,000 for the 3 day weekend -> (3 days)
$4,733,333 per day -> (4,200 theatres)
$1,127 per theatre per day -> (lets use 3 screen average since I've noticed the multiplexes have cut the # of screens they're wasting on Snow)
$375 per screen per day -> (~$11.50 USA average movie ticket price)
33 people per screen per day -> (say... what... 4 average showings per screen per day??)
~8 people per showing

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Problem with approval ratings though is they are such a small sample size, in the thousands compared to the millions who may actually have an opinion one way or the other.

It also assumes that people would be ok with her comments if they disapprove, I loathe our neighbors Gov but there’s a difference between saying he’s an idiot and saying I hope Californians never know peace, I have a ton of friends in CA, many who voted for him, but they’re still my friends and I don’t wish ill on them, so even though I disapprove of the person I’d still take offense to the comment as repulsive.

 

[Agent H]

Wow. You think? Maybe... just throwing it out... it has a second week of children on Spring Break and gets towards $85 Million by its third weekend? Then it could possibly get to $125 Million by the time it leaves theaters at the end of April.

I dunno, it does look bleak. We had gone into this box office discussion 10 days ago with a downgraded assumption it would get $150 Million domestic and around $300 Million globally, and that number was disastrous. Now we're talking $250 Million or less domestically?

This failure is going to dig a hole for Burbank's break even point for the rest of the year. They'll need some really big hits to climb out of a $250 Million crater left by Snow White. Ah, Miss Zegler... your box office talents know no bounds it seems!

Well I’m betting on at least 3 big hitters so I don’t think they’ll have a problem.

 

[TP2000]

First pass estimates are in for Snow White's overseas performance on her second weekend. As a reminder, Snow White opened in all international markets on the same Thursday/Friday that it did in the USA. There's no overseas markets left to open.

Judging by the second weekend drop in foreign lands, it does appear Snow White is headed much less than $300 Million globally. Maybe $250 Million if they're lucky? That's an... Oof.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

First pass estimates are in for Snow White's overseas performance on her second weekend. As a reminder, Snow White opened in all international markets on the same Thursday/Friday that it did in the USA. There's no overseas markets left to open.

Judging by the second weekend drop in foreign lands, it does appear Snow White is headed much less than $300 Million globally. Maybe $250 Million if they're lucky? That's an... Oof.

View attachment 850848

Did better internationally than domestically this week, that should help in the long run. I was starting to question if it would be a 50/50 split and struggle to even break $200 million but now that it’s starting to look a little more normal (40/60) on the dom/intl breakdown I think $250 is still realistic.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

Wow. You think? Maybe... just throwing it out... it has a second week of children on Spring Break and gets towards $85 Million by its third weekend? Then it could possibly get to $125 Million by the time it leaves theaters at the end of April.

I dunno, it does look bleak. We had gone into this box office discussion 10 days ago with a downgraded assumption it would get $150 Million domestic and around $300 Million globally, and that number was disastrous. Now we're talking $250 Million or less domestically?

This failure is going to dig a hole for Burbank's break even point for the rest of the year. They'll need some really big hits to climb out of a $250 Million crater left by Snow White. Ah, Miss Zegler... your box office talents know no bounds it seems!

I'm just commenting on the whisperings of the internet... they always go lower... and lower... and box office peeps who make a hobby of it are now saying 100m domestic is extremely out of the question. The conversation seems to be that with Minecraft coming... kids will obsess over it (regardless of its quality) and there'll be zero interest for Snow moving forward...

 

[TP2000]

Per The Hollywood Reporter this morning, just before they slipped off to brunch in Silver Lake, the steep drop in box office for Snow White its second weekend has changed some of the phrasing industry sources are using to describe it.

Snow White reporting is no longer using the F word (flop) to describe it, it's now using the even worse B word (bomb).

That's a notable change for Hollywood industry sources to shift to on its second week.

Box Office Upset: Blue-Collar Drama ‘A Working Man’ Beats ‘Snow White’ With $15M Opening

The dismal performance of 'Snow White' in its second weekend is more bad news for Disney and puts the live-action pic in official bomb territory after falling off a steep 66 percent.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Disney Irish]

It also assumes that people would be ok with her comments if they disapprove, I loathe our neighbors Gov but there’s a fine line between saying he’s an idiot and saying I hope Californians never know peace, I have a ton of friends in CA, many who voted for him, but they’re still my friends and I don’t wish ill on them.

That also though makes the assumption that she was wishing harm, or ill as you say, on people, which I do not make that assumption. Never know peace can also mean to wrestle with ones decisions, and that is what I take her post to mean. Because I don't think she was actually wishing harm on anyone, no matter how dumb it was to post anything at all.

I know we've been trained over the last decade or two to just automatically find hate in the "other sides" comments, but I wish that wouldn't be the first knee jerk reaction by everyone.

 

[LittleBuford]

I’m not sure why some here are treating it as hush-hush or newly emerging news that the film has flopped spectacularly. We all know it has; absolutely no-one is suggesting otherwise.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

What is Disney's contract with theaters? I recall hearing that Disney was particularly brutal with theaters requiring they show their movies for a longer period than other studios. I wonder a couple things-

1) What is this period? I assume that as soon as that point hits that theaters will drop it like a stone.

2) I wonder if Disney's recent performance will allow theaters to fight this when contracts renew (not like the theatres have anything to stand on).

Per The Hollywood Reporter this morning, just before they slipped off to brunch in Silver Lake, the steep drop in box office for Snow White its second weekend has changed some of the phrasing industry sources are using to describe it.

Snow White reporting is no longer using the F word (flop) to describe it, it's now using the even worse B word (bomb).

That's a notable change for Hollywood industry sources to shift to on its second week.

Box Office Upset: Blue-Collar Drama ‘A Working Man’ Beats ‘Snow White’ With $15M Opening

The dismal performance of 'Snow White' in its second weekend is more bad news for Disney and puts the live-action pic in official bomb territory after falling off a steep 66 percent.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

It has been noticed online that certain Disney 'friendly' organizations are no longer using Dumbo as a comparison in their articles. Because it's now underperforming Dumbo.

I’m not sure why some here are treating it as hush-hush or newly emerging news that the film has flopped spectacularly. We all know it has; absolutely no-one is suggesting otherwise.

No one is treating anything as hush-hush about the film flopping horrifically and no one has said anyone has suggested otherwise. I'm here to discuss the thread topic. Care to partake?

 

[TP2000]

I’m not sure why some here are treating it as hush-hush or newly emerging news that the film has flopped spectacularly. We all know it has; absolutely no-one is suggesting otherwise.

It was already a flop 10 days ago when it was heading to $150 Million domestically and $300 Million globally.

This afternoon, after a second weekend of box office has been freshly reported, it's now a "bomb" that is heading to less than $125 Million domestically and maybe $250 Million globally. That's disastrously bad box office, which merits the new title of "bomb" instead of merely being a flop.

Snow White Bombs as Jason Statham’s A Working Man Explodes | Cosmic Book News

Snow White crashes at the box office while Jason Statham’s A Working Man surprises with strong numbers and action-packed thrills.

cosmicbook.news