Disney Is 'Bleeding Out' Big Time - Here's How Much Money Company Has Lost in Last Year: Financial Analyst
You go woke, you go broke.
According to Valliant Renegade, a YouTube account that focuses on the business of Hollywood, the Walt Disney Company’s finances are bleeding red ink.
In a video released Friday, with the apt title “Disney Is Bleeding Out At The Box Office | Here’s How Much They’ve LOST,” the account estimated Disney has incurred nearly $1 billion in losses during the release of eight movies from June 2022 to June of this year.
The movies, from Disney or Disney-owned Pixar and Marvel Studios, are “Lightyear,” “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Strange World,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “Elemental.”
According to Valliant Renegade, these movies cost $2.75 billion to produce and market but only brought in $1.86 billion, resulting in a loss of $890 million.
The House of Mouse has faced a series of challenges and controversies in 2022 and 2023, Fox News reported in February, which have contributed to financial problems and instability within the company. In February, Disney announced significant layoffs, cutting 7,000 employees.
Additionally, the streaming service Disney+ experienced a loss of 2.4 million subscribers, with a decline in the Disney+ Hotstar service in India and Southeast Asia being a major factor, according to Fox.
Disney’s remake of “The Little Mermaid,” which featured a black actress in the starring role of the iconic red-headed Ariel, did so abysmally in China that Disney tried to obscure the race of the actress in the movie posters for the Chinese market, according to Inside the Magic, a website that focuses on Disney news.
Disney claims to be about diversity, but hides the race of the star of the live action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, because China has an issue with the color of her skin. You can’t claim to be one way, and act another way. That’s 100% hypocrisy. pic.twitter.com/u3DmJ9amA6
— Shaun Stackhouse 🎶🎸🎶 (@ShaunStackhouse) May 22, 2023
Another major disappointment for Disney was the release of “Lightyear,” the latest installment in the “Toy Story” franchise. The decision to replace Tim Allen, a politically independent actor, with Chris Evans, a liberal activist, for the character of Buzz Lightyear generated controversy.
The film also featured a same-sex kiss and faced criticism related to Disney’s stance on parental rights laws. “Lightyear” bombed at the box office and became the lowest-grossing film in the franchise, according to Fox.
Disney’s “Strange World” was yet another bomb with approximately $147 million. The movie included an openly gay teenage character.
Disney lost $200M on its Strange World cartoon with its biracial, openly gay teenager. And the bleeding isn’t ending. @Sultanknish https://t.co/H0DgqfvrnL
— e.Diane (@Dianestraley) June 21, 2023
And the newest Disney movie, “Elemental,” doesn’t seem like it will have a “happy ever after” either, bombing with a $29.6 million domestic debut, the worst three-day weekend start in the company’s history behind Pixar’s first release.
According to The Washington Times, the movie, in which characters are based on the elements, tells the story of a “a ‘fire’ “immigrant” named Ember Lumen whose family is fighting discrimination as they climb the socio-economic ladder and falls in love with water-being Wade Ripple, who has a nonbinary sister named Lake.”
It seems like Disney will never learn.
It’s apparent that Disney is betting on its history of well-beloved movies for kids to continue enticing children and parents into movie theaters.
But at the end of the day, it all boils down to what the viewers actually want to see.
And what Disney has yet to understand is that despite the company’s best efforts, most kids (and parents) still want the prince to end up with a beautiful princess– not a drag queen.
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