We all knew Disney had a shocker in 2023. We probably didn’t realize just how bad things were for them at the box office. Deadline resurrected its Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament and, while looking at the winners, it also cast an eye over the biggest losers.
Disney, unfortunately for the Mouse House, absolutely dominated that list. The tournament declares The Marvels as the biggest box office bomb of 2023.
According to the report, it was a net loss of $237 million for Disney. Their bloated budgets were the first issue. Marvel Studios paid out $270 million making the film, and a further $110 million marketing, then $21 million in residuals and distribution expenses, with $54 million in interest and overhead. That’s a total bill of $455 million.
Revenue-wise, the movie generated $206 million worldwide, then $40 million from rentals and purchases, and $90 million from streaming for a total of $218 million. A $55 million subsidy from the UK for filming there limits their loss to $182 million.
Second place on the list went to The Flash over at Warner Bros. a net loss of $155 million, actually lower than some thought.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was in third, as the focus swings back to Disney. This had a $143 million loss, hampered from the start by a $300 million production budget that pushed costs to $516 million overall. Ain’t no way a movie comes back from that.
Disney has yet more big bombs on the list, including Wish ($131 million loss) and Haunted Mansion ($117 million loss).
There is a famous phrase that springs to mind here…
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