Disney’s strategy is not paying off, the studios’ new animated film may not be profitable for the firm.
It is tradition. Even if we tended to forget it with the pandemic, the holiday season is a key moment for studios in Burbank. Disney is taking advantage of the holidays to unveil its new animated feature films, such as Encanto last year or Frozen 2 in 2019.
If the second largely benefited from this late release, Encanto had meanwhile experienced some difficulty in establishing itself at the international box office. It must be said that in 2021, Spider-Man: No Way Home crushed all competition in dark rooms. A year later, the market seems no less unfavorable to the release of an animated film on the big screen.
Just unveiled to the American public, Avalonia, the strange journey harvest only 19 million dollars on American soil for its first long weekend. If it rises to second place in the box office in the country, it fails to meet Mickey’s financial expectations. While Thanksgiving weekend is often a good time for this kind of family productions, the latest in the family is disappointing.
And it is not its exploitation beyond the American borders that will be able to save it. He harvested only an additional 9 million in 43 markets. With an estimated budget of 180 million dollars, the calculations are far from good. The firm could lose 100 million dollars with this exit. If the second weekend should also bring in a few million, it is historically less profitable than the first.
The fault of streaming?
In our green lands, it is on Disney+ that it will soon be possible to discover Avalonia. While the firm engages in a standoff with the CNC about the chronology of the media, this new production is deprived of theatrical release. For the first time, France is therefore the only market to be in this scenario. Disney cannot therefore hope for renewed public interest in France.
Moreover, Disney + could more widely explain the announced failure ofAvalonia, the strange journey. According variety, the model adopted by the company for its latest releases would be to blame. As the pandemic was in full swing in 2020, Disney and other studios made the controversial choice to offer certain films for simultaneous release on an SVOD platform and in theaters. While this is no longer on the agenda, theatrical exclusivity windows have largely been scaled back in the United States from 90 to only 40 days.
This practice would have largely favored a phenomenon baptized by the American media Gizmodo: “Wait for it to come home” understand “Waiting for him to come home.” The pandemic has had a real impact on our viewing habits, many have become accustomed to the comfort of their living room rather than that of dark rooms. Many American spectators would thus be waiting for a release on Disney+.
Nor should we rule out the possibility that some of them may obtain them through illegal means. This availability on the platforms only one month after the theatrical release encourages piracy, where it was necessary to wait for the DVD release before to see the first quality files flourish on the platforms of the genre.
Bob Iger, who has just taken over as CEO of the company, should have his work cut out for him. If this failure is confirmed, it is quite possible that a change of strategy is on the program.
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