The Disney Grooming Institute had the worst box office year imaginable in 2023. Couldn’t happen to a nicer den of thieves of children’s innocence.
After losing $106 million on Lightyear (2022) and another $152 million on Strange World (2022) — both of which featured prominent gay plotlines aimed at little kids — the Disney Grooming Syndicate roared into 2023, hoping for a much better year. But…
Thanks to Disney’s cratered reputation and string of terrible movies where good storytelling and relatable characters took a backseat to divisive politics, 2023 was an even bigger disaster.
According to my imperfect but good-faith estimates, only one Disney movie went into the black.
The budgets below are the reported production budget plus my estimate of publicity costs. I added a conservative $75 million estimate for publicity for big movies like Indiana Jones and The Marvels. For smaller movies, I estimated smaller publicity budgets. These estimates are in good faith. Break-even is widely considered to be double the production and publicity budget because theaters take an average of half the global gross.
The “profit/deficit” is the global gross (how much the movie made) divided by two (which removes the theater cut) minus the budget (what the movie cost).
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – February 17, 2023
- Budget: $275 million
- Break Even: $550
- Global Gross: $476 million
- Deficit: -$37 million
Chevalier – April 21, 2023
- Budget: Unknown
- Global Gross: $4.147 million
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – May 5, 2023
- Budget: $325 million
- Break Even: $650 million
- Global Gross: $846 million
- Profit: +98 million
The Little Mermaid – May 26, 2023
- Budget: $325 million
- Break Even: $650 million
- Global Gross: $570 million
- Deficit: -$40 million
The Boogeyman – June 2, 2023
- Budget: $55 million
- Break Even: $110 million
- Global Gross: $82 million
- Deficit: -$14 million
Elemental – June 16, 2023
- Budget: $250 million
- Break Even: $500 million
- Global Gross: $497 million
- Deficit: -$1.5 million
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – June 30, 2023
- Budget: $350 million
- Break Even: $700 million
- Global Gross: $384 million
- Deficit: -$158 million
Haunted Mansion – July 28, 2023
- Budget: $200 million
- Break Even: $400 million
- Global Gross: $118 million
- Deficit: -$141 million
A Haunting in Venice – September 15, 2023
- Budget: $100 million
- Break Even: $200 million
- Global Gross: $122 million
- Deficit: -$39 million
The Creator – September 29, 2023
- Budget: $120 million
- Break Even: $240 million
- Global Gross: $104 million
- Deficit: -$68 million
The Marvels – November 10, 2023
- Budget: $275 million
- Break Even: $550 million
- Global Gross: $250 million (estimate)
- Deficit: -$150 million
Next Goal Wins – November 17, 2023
- Budget: $25 million
- Break Even: $50 million
- Global Gross: $10 million (estimate)
- Deficit -$20 million
Wish – November 22, 2023
- Budget: $250 million
- Break Even: $500 million
- Global Gross: $150 million (estimate)
- Deficit: -$175 million
My public school math shows that the Disney Grooming Syndicate lost $745.5 million with its theatrical releases this year.
My estimate is far from perfect, but it is reasonable.
Yes, Disney will make up some of these losses on what are known as ancillary markets: home video, TV sales, foreign TV sales, etc.
But let’s be real here… When you release three Marvel movies, an Indiana Jones movie, a Pixar movie, and a 100th-anniversary animated movie (Wish), you’re not supposed to lose $745.5 million. You’re supposed to net $745.5 million.
You only lose $745.5 million when you’ve lost the goodwill of your core audience (decent parents), and your movies stink because you put identity over storytelling and token characters over relatable characters.
Finally, there are the incalculable down-market losses: toy sales, theme park attractions, and above all, reputation. Going into 2023, Disney already had a reputation as a danger to small children. After this disastrous year, Disney has a reputation for being a danger to kids and making lousy movies.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.