Disney’s recent film flops have been attributed to an over-reliance on tired franchises like Indiana Jones, too many superhero films, and bloated budgets for the studio’s blockbusters.
Experts say the recent box-office successes of Barbie and Oppenheimer make Disney’s obsession with sequels particularly stale.
The most notable fiasco was Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. It is the fifth and final installment in the adventure series starring Harrison Ford, 81.
Dial of Destiny barely surpassed its $295 million budget by about $70 million after critics dubbed it a lazy “fake” version of the once-iconic character with fake-looking CGI and thanks to a new sidekick played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, snooty awoke .
Other notable failures this year include Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Little Mermaid. The latter grossed a respectable $542 million worldwide, but big Disney hits can easily top the $1 billion mark, with critics claiming that viewers love the live-action remakes of the studio’s classic 1980s and 1980s animated films. and fed up with the 1990s.
Embattled CEO Bob Iger admitted on Wednesday on Disney’s third-quarter financial results conference call that he was “personally committed” to reversing the box-office bombing — likely motivated by summer hits Barbie and Oppenheimer, which were recently released by rivals Warner Bros. and Warner Bros. were released Universal and
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny made just $369 million at the box office, despite costing Disney nearly $300 million to produce
Disney’s insistence on continuing to remake old classics, most recently The Little Mermaid, has made it difficult to win audiences back
Disney has also been involved in a series of heated controversies about LGBT issues in its children’s television shows and films.
But most critics agreed that toy story spinoff Lightyear, which starred a lesbian astronaut, failed simply because its plot was boring.
It’s no secret that the pandemic has been a disaster for the film industry, bankrupting several cinema chains while studios struggled with streaming services.
Recently, however, there have been signs of life: “Barbie” is the second film this year alongside the “Super Mario Bros.” film to break the billion dollar mark, which it did after just 17 days.
But while other notable hits, including last year’s “Avatar: The Way of the Water,” have netted rival companies fortunes, Disney’s duds have done the opposite.
After Indiana Jones: The Dial of Destiny grossed just $369 million at the box office, Mark Young, an expert at the School of Accounting at the University of Southern California (USC), said the problem was even worse than it was have the appearance.
“Keep in mind that of the $369 million, the studio will only collect about 60 percent, or $180 million,” he told Newsweek.
Disney CEO Bob Iger vowed in a key financial call this week that he would make “personal commitments” to ending his company’s blockbuster streak of fiascos
Critics dubbed 81-year-old Harrison Ford’s latest and final effort “Indiana Jones” and said it had become a cheap “fake” of the once-iconic character
“The studios need to be ahead of the curve and deliver something completely new,” he added, noting that while examples like the Avengers franchise have had great success, “things are now coming to a head.”
This was echoed by film producer and UCLA lecturer Tom Nunan, who said Disney has “overly relied on the familiar” as it continues to produce endless spin-offs of its Disney+ streaming service.
“When we see Warner Bros Studio’s Barbie and Universal’s Oppenheimer perform so well, the message seems clear: ‘Make original, refreshingly fresh films and audiences will come,’ he said.
After Antman’s recent flop despite a vigorous marketing campaign that likely cost the studio behind it millions, he said audiences are now suffering from “superhero fatigue” because these films tend to be very formulaic.
“By most standards, the bets they were making were considered reliable, and anyone in their position would probably have done the same.” expected.”
Disney has released countless sequels in recent years, including April’s Guardians of the Galaxy 3, leading critics to say the studio has relied too much on the familiar.
Elemental became Pixar’s worst-ever release in 28 years after starting at just $30 million in May
Harrison Ford stars in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984 when he was in his early 40s. The 81-year-old is pictured right in the fifth installment of The Dial of Destiny, with many critics saying the character shouldn’t have been revived
Diego Luna is pictured in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It’s one of countless hit films Disney has produced, and some Star Wars fans complain that the franchise has been monetized and dried up
At the peak of its popularity in the 2000s and early 2010s, Disney bought out several rival studios, which became effective cash cows for the company.
These included Marvel, which launched the Avengers franchise, and Lucasfilm, which allowed Disney to use the Star Wars universe to produce a slew of new releases.
But many Star Wars fans say too many films and spin-offs have been made. You feel like the cult franchise has been abused and cannibalized as a cash cow.
The parent company also bought Pixar in 2006, cementing Disney’s reputation as a family favorite with animated hits like “Ratatouille,” “Up,” and “Toy Story.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger admitted this week that he was “disappointed” by recent failures
However, Disney’s unsuccessful releases have also been seen in the children’s films — the most recent launch in May was Pixar’s least successful launch in 28 years, grossing just $30 million in the US.
According to Forbes, Disney has lost at least $1 billion overall to the company’s troubles — a free fall Iger addressed when discussing Disney’s poor third-quarter earnings Wednesday.
“The studio has had tremendous success over the last decade, perhaps the biggest success any studio has ever had, with multi-billion dollar hits … However, the performance of some of our recent films has definitely been disappointing, and we don’t.” not to be taken lightly,” he said.
“As you’d expect, we’re very focused on improving the quality and performance of the films we produce.”
“I’m working closely with the studio on that.”
While Disney’s big blockbuster of the summer, a hackneyed Indiana Jones remake, was a dud, the same cannot be said of Christopher Nolan’s biography Oppenheimer
Before the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, there had never been an opening weekend where one film, “Barbie,” grossed more than $100 million, and a second, “Oppenheimer,” grossed more than $50 million
Previously, Avengers: Endgame held the box office record at $402 million in April 2019, followed by Avengers: Infinity Wars at $314.8 million in April 2018 and Star Wars: The Force Awakens at $313.2 million in December 2015.
While Disney’s big blockbuster hope, a weary Indiana Jones remake, was a dud, the same can’t be said of two rival films credited with even saving the cinema.
After seemingly several years without a new iconic blockbuster, Christopher Nolan’s biopic Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s long-awaited Barbie broke all records.
The two films spawned the internet phenomenon “Barbenheimer,” which drew crowds to see both films, despite “Nolan’s” running time of nearly three hours.
Their opening weekend collectively grossed over $311 million domestically, which was the biggest box office since 2019.