While the company tends to have a reputation for making money hand-over-fist, Disney‘s wretched run at the box office doesn’t quite come out of the blue.
Sure, the company has the likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Pixar, and other subsidiaries to keep the cash rolling in, an abominable 2023 has seen the Mouse House rack up box office disasters like they’re going out of fashion. In fact, if Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny continues its current trajectory and does end up in the red somewhere in the region of $200 million, then seven of the 10 biggest money-losing misfires in the history of cinema will belong to Mickey’s empire.
In terms of total theatrical losses, John Carter remains at the head of the pack by way of a $200 million write-down, with last year’s Strange World just behind at $197 million. Infamous flop The Lone Ranger speaks for itself, while sending Turning Red to Disney Plus ended up costing an eye-watering $167 million.
Jungle Cruise and Tomorrowland also make the cut, with literary adaptation Mortal Engines, egregious historical mishap King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and completely pointless board game blockbuster Battleship set to be the only features on the all-time Top 10 that don’t come armed with Disney branding should Dial of Destiny perform as everyone is already expecting it to.
There were corporate and boardroom reshuffles the last time the house that Walt build endured such misery on a successive basis, so who’s to say that it won’t happen again when the cash simply isn’t rolling in?