The Walt Disney Co.’s self-inflicted tailspin continues. The Disney movie “Elemental,” a Pixar animated effort that features the first “non-binary” character from the studio, bombed with the worst box office opening weekend in Pixar’s history.
Elemental took in only $29.5 million in U.S. ticket sales over the three-day Juneteenth weekend, the website reported. That was about $10 million less than the previous record low, posted by the 2020 film “Onward.”
“Elemental” cost $200 million to make.
But the disaster of “Elemental” at the box office is just the tip of a large fiscal iceberg that has ripped open a gaping hole in Disney’s once-vaunted money-making machine.
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Breitbart News reported on Saturday that, including “Elemental,” Disney has lost nearly $900 million on the last eight movies it has released.
“Disney could see even more red ink since these titles are all destined for the Disney+ streaming service instead of other streamers, like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, where they could generate additional revenue,” Breitbart noted.
Including “Elemental,” Disney’s seven other recent flops include films heavy on the wokeism: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”; “Thor: Love and Thunder”; “Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania”; “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3”; “Strange World”; “Lightyear”; and “The Little Mermaid.”
The analysis of Disney’s recent woes came from YouTuber Valliant Renegade, who noted in a video explaining his projection that Disney also suffers because of its willingness to keep movies in-house — perhaps because it has no choice.
“The Walt Disney Company is just making all the wrong decisions not only creatively, but in the distribution channels as well,” Valiant Renegade said.
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The analyst noted that Disney’s losing streak could continue and push its collapse past $1 billion if “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which opens Friday, follows its predecessors.
Disney has been going downhill financially for more than a year, since the company opened a feud with Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
After maintaining its silence, Disney eventually weighed in on Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law. The 2022 statute prohibits school districts and classroom teachers from launching lesson plans in grades K-3 that are rooted in sexual orientation or gender ideology.
Disney complained that the law should never have passed, and vowed to get it repealed in the Legislature or overturned in the courts.
The law remains in effect. Meanwhile, Florida has stripped Disney of its special tax district after nearly 60 years as part of the battle.
Breitbart noted that Disney is in the process of axing 7,000 jobs in a bid to save $5.5 billion.
Its stock price as of Friday was $88 a share, one of the lowest points in the last five years.
That is $109 a share less than Disney’s recent peak of $197, which it reached in March 2021.
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