Global Courant 2023-05-31 00:10:10
Disney’s (DIS) live-action “The Little Mermaid” has grossed $118.6 million in its 4-day opening weekend debut, according to the latest studio estimates. That’s just shy of the $120 million forecast, but still a solid start to the summer box office season and the fifth-highest total for any Memorial Day weekend on record.
The film’s success marks a win for Disney, which has struggled to make serious profits at the box office outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Last summer, Pixar’s “Toy Story” prequel “Lightyear” fell short of expectations, making just $51 million in its domestic debut before bringing in just $118 million in theaters ahead of a Disney+ fast-track release.
More recently, the “Strange World” animated movie, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quad, reportedly cost the company $200 million after it opened to dismal reviews during Thanksgiving week. one of the worst flops from 2022.
Industry viewers blamed poor marketing plans and public confusion over which titles were theatrical exclusives and which were streaming-only releases on the company’s Disney+ platform.
Others have suggested an overall animation slowdown, though the strong performance of competitor titles disproves that theory with Universal’s (CMCSA) “Minions: The Rise of Gru” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” shattering expectations.
‘The Little Mermaid’ (Courtesy of Disney)
Disney CEO Bob Iger referred to “The Super Mario Bros.” during the company’s latest earnings call, suggesting greater benefit for his own theater company.
“Allow me to digress for a moment to congratulate Universal on the tremendous success of ‘Super Mario Bros.’,” Iger said during the phone call. “It certainly proves that people like to be entertained in theaters around the world, and it gives us reason to be optimistic about the movie world.”
Still, Disney has said it will be more strategic when it comes to the content it produces, particularly content that lives on Disney+, where streaming losses narrowed in the last quarter despite a missed net subscriber addition.
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“We are reviewing the content of our DTC services to align it with the strategic changes in our approach to content curation,” said CFO Christine McCarthy on the call, adding: “Going forward, we are of plan to produce smaller amounts of content in line with this strategic shift.”
Iger added that the company “will be much more surgical in what we’re making” and that high-performing theatrical tentpoles like “The Little Mermaid” could serve as a catalyst for future subscriber growth.
“This is part of the maturation process,” said the director. “As we grow into a business we’ve never been in before, we’re learning a lot more about it. In particular, we’re learning a lot more about how our content behaves on the service and what consumers want.”
Disney has reiterated plans to cut $5.5 billion in costs, including $3 billion in content costs. The company confirmed that it will collect between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion after removing multiple series and specials from both Disney+ and Hulu.
Several titles, including Disney+’s “Willow,” “Big Shot,” and “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers,” along with Hulu’s “Dollface” and “Y: The Last Man,” were released. Reportedly removed from their respective services on May 26.
The move comes amid greater cost-cutting and restructuring plans after the media giant previously announced it would cut 7,000 jobs in February. The company went through its first round of layoffs at the end of March. The second and largest round took place at the end of April and a third round took place last week.
Disney’s stock is down about 20% compared to this point last year.
Alexandra channel is Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, Linkedin, and email her at [email protected]
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