kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Box Office: Disney’s ‘Wish’ Fizzles, ‘Napoleon’ Beats Expectations as ‘Hunger Games’ Lands on Top Again
Disney's 'Wish' fell short of box office expectations over the Thanksgiving holiday as 'The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes' triumphed again.
variety.com
“Wish,” the studio’s newest animated adventure, was projected to land on top of box office charts over the Thanksgiving holiday. Instead, ticket sales fell short of expectations with a weak $19.5 million over the traditional weekend and $31.7 million over the five days, and the film tumbled to third place behind Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games” prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” and Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon.”
Heading into the weekend, the musical fable “Wish” was projected to earn $35 million over the traditional weekend and $45 million to $50 million in its first five days of release. Ticket sales weren’t as catastrophic as the studio’s 2022 flop “Strange World” ($12 million over the traditional weekend and $18 million through the five days), but it didn’t come anywhere close to 2021’s “Encanto,” which opened to $40.3 over its first five days when COVID was keeping families at home. And it’s a far, far cry from Disney’s pre-pandemic Thanksgiving releases, like 2019’s “Frozen II” ($123.7 million), 2018’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet” ($84.6 million) and 2017’s “Coco” ($71 million).
“Wish” also added $17.3 million at the international box office, opening in just 27 markets (about 40% of its eventual overseas footprint), bringing its global tally to $49 million. The film’s anemic initial turnout further illuminates that magic has been in short supply at Disney, a once untouchable force at the box office. Most of the studio’s 2023 slate, excluding “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” has dramatically underperformed in their theatrical runs. It’s a problem because Disney movies are expensive, usually costing around $200 million (and that’s before accounting for global marketing expenses).
---
This may become an even bigger flop for Disney than The Marvels. "Wish" had a $200 million production budget plus a sizable advertising budget and needs to make at least $500 million before before it even starts to make money from its theatrical release. But it made only $49 million in the US and overseas. Compare that to The Marvels, another BO disappointment, that at least made $110 million in its first weekend.
Yikes!
