In a major blow to the Walt Disney Company, recent box office figures reveal staggering losses of approximately $900 million across eight studio titles.
Report: Disney has lost nearly $900 million at box office due to its recent woke flops! https://t.co/F6JQODBSGZ
— Not the Bee (@Not_the_Bee) June 26, 2023
Box office analyst Valliant Renegade disclosed that these films, including notable releases such as “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,” incurred significant financial losses during their theatrical runs.
According to Renegade, the combined production and marketing costs for these eight films amounted to $2.75 billion. However, their total earnings only reached $1.86 billion, resulting in a massive loss of $890 million for Disney. Notably, “Strange World” suffered a loss of $197 million, while “Lightyear” faced a setback of $106 million.
Critics attribute these underwhelming financial performances to the incorporation of socially progressive narratives in recent Disney movies. For instance, “Strange World” depicted a same-sex romance, while “Lightyear” featured a scene depicting lesbian characters sharing a kiss.
Additionally, “Elemental” explored themes of xenophobia and introduced Disney’s first non-binary character. Valliant Renegade highlighted an additional aspect impacting Disney’s revenue streams, stating, “Disney consumes all of its own content post-theatrical.”
Previously, Disney licensed its content, including the immensely popular Marvel Cinematic Universe, to platforms like Netflix, generating substantial revenue. However, with the shift in strategy, these lucrative third-party contracts have been abandoned, potentially resulting in substantial economic opportunity costs.
Its disappointing box office performance coincided with a period of strategic restructuring at Disney. In November, Bob Iger took over as CEO from Bob Chapek, and the company announced a series of cost-cutting measures, including 7,000 job cuts aimed at achieving approximately $5.5 billion in savings.
Of this amount, $2.5 billion was allocated to non-content costs, with $1 billion already in circulation since February. Apparently, Disney is looking to reduce its non-sports content costs by $3 billion annually over the next few years.
That being said, the media mogul’s recent decision to make and release movies eroticizing children has not only caused immense controversy but it also serves as a reflection of the political landscape. Other companies that have recently promoted LGBTQ themes have all faced major financial setbacks in an attempt to go woke.
