‘Strange World’ Loses $147M: Why Theater Was The Best Decision For Doomed Toon – Not Disney+ – As Bob Iger Takes Over As CEO From Bob Chapek

Death, taxes and movies bomb the box office.

That’s life in Hollywood, and at the end of the day, it’s appreciated $147 million Loss expected for Disney Animation strange world is no spilled milk to cry for the entertainment conglomerate.

Bombing Thanksgiving family title with $28 million worldwide opening amid Netflix’s theatrical experiment with Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery At $13.3 million over 5 days, this weekend sparked a debate about what’s really best for theater and what’s really ideal for streaming. no If you ask about it, Netflix is ​​leaving money on the table with its $400+ million investment knife out franchise with a week-long release in theaters before streaming stops on December 23rd.

However, Disney is no slouch when it comes to committing to a worldwide theatrical release, even if it isn’t full. strange world. which will be released on Disney+ around Christmas.

Why did Disney go to theaters with a movie they knew had poor viewer diagnostics and not stream? (I spoke to someone who saw it strange world at an early test screening in August who thought Disney should have kept the film). Why not Hocus Pocus 2 Do you go to the theater with its attention to Disney+ and cult fandom? Why did disillusioneda sequel to a three-time Oscar-nominated hit that grossed more than $340 million worldwide in streaming?

Such questions will be easier to answer in the post-Bob Chapek Kareem Daniels era. Iger’s move to put sales and P&L decisions back in the hands of the studio’s creative minds, the people who actually drive a product like this, clearly shows that smarter creative and financial decisions are at hand.

Disney has not commented on whether fewer films will go straight to Disney+ if Iger takes over. Industry sources indicate that more expensive theatrical films are coming to theaters and significantly lower budget films without much screen potential will find their way to the service. We feel that there is no more behind lavish features to attract subscribers, which is a similar philosophy to Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav when it comes to feature films and HBO Max. Disney’s turn to Iger and the deportation of Chapek and Daniel are to many a sign that the entertainment conglomerate wants to feed Wall Street’s thirst for profit with streamers, not subscriptions.

So if Disney knew strange world, with its problematic title, was a dud, why didn’t it go straight to streaming?

Disney has released an animated family title for Thanksgiving in the past. This is what the public expects. This alone is of great reputational value to Disney and meets the demands of their fans. If Disney pulled another movie from theatrical releases and sent it to stream (a typical Chapek move), especially around Thanksgiving, there would be a lot of excitement at the show, and they’ve already taken a lot of beating to pull it off Mulan, etc., of the release schedule, not to mention their controversial daily experiment with Marvel’s black widow etc.

would have had strange world Going straight to Disney+ would be a PR nightmare for the studio, especially after Chapek’s Florida swamp Don’t Say Gay. A strict Disney+ release for strange world would suggest that the Burbank, California studio offers a lower release and profile for a major motion picture with a gay character compared to a worldwide theatrical release.

Also a direct release for Disney+ strange world would be another slap in the face for the animation team, who for years have seen their life’s work, destined for full theatrical productions, go to streaming, i.e. to Pixar soul, blush, Luca, and Disney’s Raya and the last dragon. Iger’s return should also boost Disney creative morale in the wake of the binary and pea-counting Chapek era. Company”, able to make a profit in every division he managed.

While Netflix is ​​sure to fuel excitement for the December 23rd release knife of 2, The true barometer of the film’s success on the service is not viewership, but the retention and addition of subtitles after the release of the sequel directed by Rian Johnson. Which Netflix won’t have in terms of money when it’s released glass onion its solid home entertainment downstream businesses in global home entertainment, global free and pay TV. That’s what financial analysts say meeting which alone these tools, including current rotations, are intended to deliver strange world just close 90 million dollars, and this is due to a global BO failure of $85 million WW and combined manufacturing and global marketing costs of $274 million.

Money didn’t even count in Deadline’s P&L strange world is the merchandising of the photo and the actual cost that Disney itself pays for licensing the photo on Disney+. Yes, a major fail for Disney for an original animated title. But this is the best worst case scenario for the film financially.

In addition, the huge success of the Disney theater record is in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar: the way of water will more than make up for that lack of animation that has appeared from time to time in Disney history Home on the track, Black Cauldron, and dear planet, A 2002 Thanksgiving box office flop that opened to $16.5M in 5 days, grossed $38.1M in the US and $109.5M in WW.

Why didn’t Disney go to the theater back then? Hocus Pocus 2 and Disappointed? Like the late Andy Rooney, I receive mail and a message from a rival studio executive wagging his finger at me for violating Universal’s theatrical day-and-date decision. Halloween ends (which grossed $64 million in the United States and opened well below forecasts) and celebrates the good harvest straight after the streaming success of Hocus Pocus 2, who might have made a lot of dollars for exhibitions during a fall when they were starving. Place well struck, and in the end the theatrical day-and-date and direct-to-stream on wannabe blockbusters is a money-sucking, window-shattering affair, period.

I heard that in connection with Hocus Pocus 2 that the film was always destined for Disney+ in terms of budget and talent compensation. Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, Sean Bailey held a test screening and the film was tested to the limit. However, there was nothing to be done about Daniël’s decision regarding a dynamic form of theatrical distribution. Also, talent contracts would have to be reversed for a theatrical release, a path the studio did not want to take. recognize when Hocus Pocus 2 Given the green light during the pandemic, the return of female-twisted family moviegoers remained in doubt, according to several follow-up studies.

disillusioned must be theatrical. But because of the pandemic, it went straight to stream. The ultimate viewer temperature on the sequel by Amy Adams (56%) and even Hocus Pocus 2 (51%) said Disney is on track, especially with its sub-ten pole budget. Maybe next time, under the newly reformed sales creative restructuring, Hocus pocus 3 and Enchant 3 Go to the theater, just like school musical 3 did to make that transition from television to the big screen, grossing nearly $253 million for WW on a production cost of $11 million.

During the Iger era, a former Disney executive told me that the studio historically made its best and worst decisions when it came to a film’s ultimate fate. Let’s hope it comes back in the new Iger era in terms of distribution.