Disney Headlines for April 21st, 2023
This past week, we learned that while Disney claimed the box office crown in 2022, their track record proved far from perfect.
Meanwhile, Disney has undergone another round of casting criticism, a topic that seems impossible to avoid today.
The anti-Disney crowd attacked the company for both its hirings AND its payment for one star!
We will bring you up to speed on all of it in this week’s set of Disney Headlines!
Disney Lost at the Movies While Winning
As MickeyBlog’s Justin Hermes reported the other day, Walt Disney Pictures experienced an odd, pandemic-impacted 2022 box office campaign.
Disney became one of only three studios to claim box office of more than $1 billion during the calendar year.
That’s crazy-low, as demonstrated by how Top Gun: Maverick alone grossed nearly $1.5 billion. Top Gun 2…was the exception, not the rule.
For its part, Disney cleaned up with Avatar: The Way of Water, which earned $2.3 billion at the box office.
Despite this fact, Disney as a whole managed “only” $1.9 billion. That’s because Avatar 2 earned a significant portion of its business in early 2023.
As a reminder, many theaters remained closed or operating with COVID-19 restrictions throughout 2022, which discouraged widespread attendance.
We’re already in better shape at the 2023 box office than at any point since 2019, to which Disney executives are thinking, “Thank the heavens above!’
I say this because Deadline recently used what I consider questionable methodology to determine the biggest box office hits of the year.
Disney has performed well on this list, thanks to blockbusters like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder.
However, this past weekend, Deadline posted a list of the five biggest box office bombs of 2022. Disney also dominated this list…to an alarming degree.
According to Deadline, the three least successful films of 2022, the ones that lost the most money, were all Disney titles.
Deadline singled out Amsterdam, Lightyear, and Strange World as the only 2022 releases to lose their studio more than $100 million.
According to the fuzzy math, Amsterdam cost Disney $108.4 million, while Lightyear set back the studio $106 million.
The calculations on Strange World were even more savage, suggesting that the film lost $197.4 million.
Can Disney Recover?
I recently appeared on the MickeyBlog podcast to discuss Disney’s 2023 theatrical releases. You can see my ridiculous beard here:
MickeyBlog’s regular podcast crew asked whether fans should worry. My answer has remained the same throughout the pandemic.
Disney faced unprecedented circumstances and did the best that it could.
During 2020 and 2021, the studio faced withering criticism because it primarily chose to release animated titles on Disney+.
Sometimes, Disney offered day-and-date options in theaters, but it utilized streaming more than ever.
Those 2022 box office results reinforce Disney’s decision. Few moviegoers proved willing to try new intellectual properties in theaters in 2022.
No new franchise/brand finished in the top 10 in either domestic or global box office in 2022.
So, Amsterdam and Strange World always faced an uphill battle. As for Lightyear, many questioned the need for a standalone Buzz Lightyear adventure.
In short, nothing surprising happened here. Disney officials recognized earlier than most that their titles would struggle.
For this reason, the studio cut its losses and spent less on marketing the titles than usual.
Had Disney adopted this approach, the box office numbers might look better, but the films in question would have lost even more money.
The Deadline math I question argues otherwise. It suggests Disney averaged $90 million in marketing each of these titles. To that, I counter with links like this one.
Disney didn’t employ its typical marketing strategies during the pandemic, which led to some epic box office failures.
In 2023, Disney’s film slate is exceptional. We’re talking about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Little Mermaid, Haunted Mansion, and The Marvels for starters.
I could list several more. The point is that happenstance and circumstance wrecked Disney’s film lineup in 2022…and the studio still won the box office year easily!
The Disney Movie Complaint
Disney recently cast the role of Nani in the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch.
Ascending actress Sydney Agudong has gained the vital role in this story of an older sister trying to take care of her much younger sister in the wake of their parents’ death.
For Agudong, a native of Kaua’i, Hawaii, this role will make her career. On Disney’s part, you’d figure that the producers are fist-bumping.
They somehow discovered two ideal candidates for the roles of Nani and Lilo, both of whom happened to be Polynesian.
Alas, that’s not enough for some. Critics have questioned the casting of Billy Magnussen and Zach Galifianakis in yet-unnamed roles.
I’d gently remind people that several other non-Polynesian characters appear in this film, some of them ACTUAL SPACE ALIENS.
So, I find the criticism largely baseless. However, Disney chronically faces this perception.
When the company cast Naomi Scott as Jasmine, some questioned why Disney selected a British woman rather than someone with Persian roots.
The Disney Movie Complaint Part 2
Remarkably, that’s not the only frustration coming from Disney fans right now.
According to a generally reliable Star Wars source, Disney tried to shortchange Pedro Pascal for his early work in The Mandalorian.
The company allegedly offered him payment as a voice actor on the series rather than as its star.
To his credit, Pascal held out for more money and eventually a typical salary for the star of a streaming series.
Pascal also earns $600,000 per episode for his role as the star of The Last of Us. If he’s not getting that for The Mandalorian, he will be soon.
The show frequently finishes in the top 10 in Nielsen’s streaming TV ratings.
During a recent week, The Mandalorian earned a massive 1.1 billion minutes watched. That total made the series the third-most watched streaming program overall!
Yeah, Disney better pay The Mandalorian what he’s worth.
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