- Disney’s “Wish” failed at the box office over Thanksgiving weekend, grossing just $31.6 million over five days.
- It competed in ticket sales with “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” “Napoleon” and “Trolls Band Together.”
- Historically, it’s rare for Disney to underperform at the Thanksgiving box office, but since the pandemic, the company has struggled to inspire moviegoers to go to the theater to see the latest feature films.
Ariana DeBose plays Asha in Disney’s new animated film “Wish.”
Disney
Disney needs to go above and beyond with some stars to get out of their animation rut.
His latest animated film, “Wish,” billed as a celebration of 100 years of storytelling, tanked at the box office over Thanksgiving weekend. In the five-day period, the film grossed just $31.6 million, well below box office analysts’ expectations of $45 million to $55 million.
Lionsgate’s “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” took the top spot of the five-day holiday, bringing in $42.2 million in ticket sales. Apple and Sony’s “Napoleon,” an R-rated war epic from Ridley Scott, took second place with $32.75 million.
Historically, it’s rare for Disney to underperform at the Thanksgiving box office. The company has released top-grossing animated films during the Wednesday-Sunday period for more than a decade, and has even set records for the highest-grossing films at Thanksgiving screenings.
But since the pandemic, the company has found it difficult to inspire moviegoers to go to the cinema to see the latest films.
“A set-it-and-forget-it strategy based on past performance can no longer be used by any studio,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “As this confusing film market continues to rewrite the rules and viewers make their preferences known either through their presence or absence at the multiplex, some hard lessons need to be learned.”
“Wish’s” poor performance creates an unfortunate pattern for the company, which operates two animation studios — Walt Disney Animation and Pixar.
Much of Disney’s troubles stem from management’s decision to load up its fledgling streaming service Disney+ with content, overload its creative teams and send theatrical films straight to digital during the pandemic.
For parents who didn’t know when and where cartoons were coming to theaters, some Disney titles didn’t show up in theaters during the pandemic. And many of these films were not well received by those who did.
There’s also the added pressure of shareholders focused on Disney+’s profitability, tight marketing budgets and an audience that’s pickier about when and what they go to the movies.
Disney, which dominated the animation genre for decades, also faces stiff competition for moviegoers’ attention from Netflix, Universal, Sony and Warner Bros., among others. Just a week before “Wish” hit theaters, Universal animation studio DreamWorks released “Trolls Band Together,” the third installment in the popular Trolls series.
“Trolls Band Together” secured $25.6 million in ticket sales over the five-day Thanksgiving festival, just a few million less than “Wish.” Box office analysts believe “Trolls” ate into “Wish” ticket sales.
“Entering a market with an already well-known ‘Trolls’ film was a recipe for a less than stellar result for the company’s latest release,” Dergarabedian said.
However, the story of “Wish” is not over yet. Disney has enjoyed success over the course of its theatrical releases with films such as “Elemental,” which grossed just $29.6 million domestically when it premiered, but grossed nearly $480 million worldwide before its release.
Similarly, “Encanto” grossed $40.3 million for the five-day Thanksgiving period in 2021. Despite making less than $250 million worldwide during the pandemic, it found new life on Disney+. The film quickly became a fan favorite among children and adults alike, who were drawn to catchy tunes like “We’re Not Talking About Bruno.”
“‘Wish’ fortunately has the family movie theater corridor for the December holidays and, of course, a future on Disney+ to bolster its fortunes,” Dergarabedian said.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal distributed “Trolls Band Together.”