Disney Was Responsible For the Three Biggest Box Office Bombs Of 2022
Although Disney continued to be the most successful studio at the box office in 2022, the company was no stranger to failure.
More-so than any year in recent memory, Disney animation struggled with multiple films under-performing.
Photo: Disney
Now that the time has passed, we have gotten more perspective on just how bad some of Disney’s films have failed. In fact, Disney was responsible for the three biggest box office bombs of 2022.
Amsterdam (Lost $108.4M)
Let’s start out with a film that Disney was only partially involved in- Amsterdam.
Photo: Variety
The star-studded historical drama starred Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, John David Washington, Taylor Swift and Chris Rock.
While filmmakers may have been trying to capture the success of American Hustle, the movie bombed at the box-office managing to gross a lowly $31.2 million dollars.
Photo: Variety
Distributor Disney, along with Regency, is said to have spent an estimated $70 million on global promotion, making this film a big loser.
Lightyear (Lost $106M)
Next up, we have the largely underwhelming Lightyear.
Pixar
A spin-off of the Toy Story Franchise, Lightyear attempted to tell the story of the “real” Buzz Lightyear.
After back to back releases on Disney+, Lightyear represented Pixar’s return to the big screen.
Despite the controversy surrounding both Chris Evans assuming the role of Buzz Lightyear, and the film’s same-sex kiss, Lightyear’s problems were more general.
The public simply didn’t care about a live-action version of the iconic Toy Story toy.
Pixar
In the end, Lightyear was a movie nobody was asking for, and nobody went to see.
While Disney defenders tried to hype up Lightyear’s success on Disney+ as validation for the film, Lightyear was a disaster for Disney and Pixar.
In total the film earned $226.4 million dollars in theaters, which meant that Disney lost $106 million on the project.
Bob Iger has subsequently announced that the Toy Story franchise will be returning to the realm of, you know, toys, for the next release.
Strange World (Lost $152.4M)
Last, but not least, we have the box office bomb of all box office bombs- Disney’s Strange World.
Photo: Disney’s Strange World
The film to the story of the Clades, a legendary family of explorers.
Although Disney gave the film a coveted Thanksgiving release, Strange World was plagued by two things that have previously caused Disney films to fail.
Photo: D23
The first, was that the film was an animated science fiction movie. Previous Disney box office disasters, such as Treasure Planet and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, did not deter Disney from attempting science fiction again.
Disney also failed to promote Strange World as heavily as other major animated releases, leading some to speculate that the company knew the film would flop.
The other issue surrounding Strange World, was the film’s inclusion of a gay character, which some have suggested hurt the film.
Photo: Disney
In the end however, Strange World’s genre and the lack of recognizable characters, may have further alienated audiences.
Reasons aside, Strange World was the biggest box office bomb of the year, bringing in a paltry $73.6 million, and losing Disney over $150 million.
Photo: Cnet
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