Disney had a great year at the box office in 2022. The House of Mouse earned over $4 billion dollars at the worldwide box office headlined by James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water. However, not even Disney is immune to the occasional box office bomb.
A new report by Deadline suggests that the studio suffered the worst box office failure of 2022.
According to the report, Strange World incurred a nearly $200 million loss ($197.4 million, to be exact) after it only earned $120 million $73.5 million of which came from ticket sales. The report also said that the movie earned $30 million from home media sales and $55 million from television and streaming.
Disney reportedly spent a massive $317.4 million on the movie with an estimated production budget of $180 million. The movie had a huge marketing budget of $90 million.
To be fair, Strange World wasn’t a bad movie. If it had been released around two months earlier, then it may have performed much better. Strange World did much better in home media and streaming suggesting that the timing of the release just wasn’t right.
The movie was released on Thanksgiving which placed it in direct competition with the highly anticipated Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The movie didn’t have the marketing or the hype to go head-to-head with a big MCU film.
Other Disney box office bombs
Strange World isn’t the only stinker Disney released last year. The report also mentioned the period film, Amsterdam, and the Pixar animated movie, Lightyear, as the second and third-worst performing movies of the year, respectively.
Amsterdam had a massive all-star cast including Margot Robbie, Christian Bale, John David Washington, Taylor Swift, Chris Rock, Anya-Taylor Joy, and Rami Malek. However, the World War I-era comedy failed to live up to expectations and resulted in a loss of $108 million.
Fans were surprised when Lightyear ended up on the box office bomb list for 2022. Many expected the Toy Story spinoff to be a sure-fire winner for Disney. However, fans weren’t happy that Tim Allen did not reprise his role as Buzz Lightyear, the role went to Chris Evans instead.
The animated movie earned a total revenue of $267 million combined from the box office, digital media, and streaming. However, Disney reportedly spent $373 million to make and market the movie, resulting in a loss of $106 million.
Even with all the box office bombs, Disney still made it big in 2022. The studio has massive hits in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Avatar: The Way of Water. The second Avatar movie continued to dominate the box office well into 2023, earning a massive $2.3 billion from its theatrical run.
