If the alarm bells weren’t ringing at Disney headquarters already, they surely will be now after a recent report offered that the Mouse House is in danger of losing close to a billion dollars across its most recent projects.
It’s not secret that the almighty corporation has been suffering more misses than hits recently, with Strange World and Lightyear both conspiring to lose upwards of $100 million each right before Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and The Little Mermaid severely under-performed, while not even Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is looking like it’ll stem the tide.
However, what makes it all the more incredible is that this isn’t even the first time Disney has endured such a miserable commercial run in recent history, with the glaring failures of the early 2010s threatening to be outshone by its most recent spate of catastrophic flops.
Between the summers of 2010 and 2013, audiences largely rejected almost every high-profile blockbuster backed by Mickey and the gang that was sent their way, and who knows how things could have turned out had Marvel not been acquired right around the same time to guarantee that there was always a smash hit lurking just around the corner.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time may have spent six years as the highest-grossing video game adaptation of all-time, but it didn’t turn a single penny of profit by the time it exited the multiplex, with The Sorcerer’s Apprentice crashing and burning just weeks later, and not even $400 million in ticket sales could drag Tron: Legacy out of the red.
Mars Needs Moms lost close to $150 million the following year, before it was swiftly outdone by both John Carter and The Lone Ranger, the two biggest money-losers in Hollywood history that bled an estimated $200 million apiece. That’s $550 million across those three alone, never mind the other disappointments that came and went on either side.
As a brand, Disney is still largely bulletproof, but the hits better start coming thick and fast or else the number-crunchers will be left tearing their hair out.