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The last 5 Pixar films are all flops, and all signs point to leadership at Disney interfering with the creative process. > Also many bank acquisitions that pre

The last 5 Pixar films are all flops, and all signs point to leadership at Disney interfering with the creative process. > Also many bank acquisitions that prevent failure are obviously good. We wouldn't worry about bank failure if they weren't so big in the first place?

tzs 3y ago
> The last 5 Pixar films are all flops, and all signs point to leadership at Disney interfering with the creative process. 4 were flops in the sense that their theatrical releases did not cover their budgets, but only 1 of those (Lightyear) was because audiences didn't want to see it (and so could be blamed on the creative process). The other 3 did not cover their budgets with their theatrical releases because they didn't have domestic theater releases (other than very short runs in a handful of theaters probably to preserve eligibility for awards) and their foreign releases were in a much smaller number of countries than other Pixar movies. Domestically, and in countries that had Disney+, they went straight to streaming. In reverse order: • Elemental made nearly $500 million in its theatrical run. In no universe can that be considered to be a flop. • Turning Red did not have a domestic theatrical release, and a fairly limited foreign release. It was only in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. In those countries in which both Turning Red and Toy Story 4 (the last Pixar movie before COVID started tanking box office) Turning Red earned about half of what Toy Story 4 did. If we assume that ratio would have been similar in the countries Toy Story 4 was in that did not get Turning Red (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela) we get that Turning Red should have made around $420 million. It was the second most watched streaming film of 2022. • Similar for Luca. It's theatrical release was Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Hungary, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Türkiye, Ukraine, and United Arab Emirates. In those countries that had both Luca and Toy Story 4, Luca earned $39 million and Toy Story 4 earned $70 million. That extrapolates to a full theatrical release for Luca would have been around $560 million. It was the most watched streaming film of 2021. • Soul's theatrical release was Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Hungary, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia/CIS, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Montenegro, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. I don't have the Toy Story 4 comparison for that one, but its total foreign box office was about 2.4x that of Luca, suggesting that had it gotten a full theatrical release it would have have done quite a bit north of $600 million. Soul's release timing made it so its peak streaming straddled the year boundary so it didn't get near top spots on yearly streaming lists but was on top of weekly or monthly lists at the end of 2020 and start of 2021.
- compsciphd 3y ago
  Turning Red was released in 50+ countries - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8097030/releaseinfo/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8097030/releaseinfo/ I know it was released in at least one country not listed by you, because I have a photo of the movie poster from a theater (it stuck out to me as was using spanish language material, in a non spanish speaking country).
  - tzs 3y ago
    Note that list includes countries where it was only released on streaming. They are marked with "(internet)" and are more than half the list. Excluding all those (and one where it only was released for a specific film festival) there are 6 countries not on that list that weren't on mine. My source was Box Office Mojo. It looks like they are only including countries where they have box office data. Fortunately since that was where I got the Toy Story 4 data for comparison it doesn't seem like it affects the conclusions.

tzs 3y ago

> The last 5 Pixar films are all flops, and all signs point to leadership at Disney interfering with the creative process. 4 were flops in the sense that their theatrical releases did not cover their budgets, but only 1 of those (Lightyear) was because audiences didn't want to see it (and so could be blamed on the creative process). The other 3 did not cover their budgets with their theatrical releases because they didn't have domestic theater releases (other than very short runs in a handful of theaters probably to preserve eligibility for awards) and their foreign releases were in a much smaller number of countries than other Pixar movies. Domestically, and in countries that had Disney+, they went straight to streaming. In reverse order: • Elemental made nearly $500 million in its theatrical run. In no universe can that be considered to be a flop. • Turning Red did not have a domestic theatrical release, and a fairly limited foreign release. It was only in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. In those countries in which both Turning Red and Toy Story 4 (the last Pixar movie before COVID started tanking box office) Turning Red earned about half of what Toy Story 4 did. If we assume that ratio would have been similar in the countries Toy Story 4 was in that did not get Turning Red (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela) we get that Turning Red should have made around $420 million. It was the second most watched streaming film of 2022. • Similar for Luca. It's theatrical release was Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Hungary, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Türkiye, Ukraine, and United Arab Emirates. In those countries that had both Luca and Toy Story 4, Luca earned $39 million and Toy Story 4 earned $70 million. That extrapolates to a full theatrical release for Luca would have been around $560 million. It was the most watched streaming film of 2021. • Soul's theatrical release was Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Hungary, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia/CIS, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Montenegro, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. I don't have the Toy Story 4 comparison for that one, but its total foreign box office was about 2.4x that of Luca, suggesting that had it gotten a full theatrical release it would have have done quite a bit north of $600 million. Soul's release timing made it so its peak streaming straddled the year boundary so it didn't get near top spots on yearly streaming lists but was on top of weekly or monthly lists at the end of 2020 and start of 2021.

compsciphd 3y ago
Turning Red was released in 50+ countries - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8097030/releaseinfo/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8097030/releaseinfo/ I know it was released in at least one country not listed by you, because I have a photo of the movie poster from a theater (it stuck out to me as was using spanish language material, in a non spanish speaking country).
- tzs 3y ago
  Note that list includes countries where it was only released on streaming. They are marked with "(internet)" and are more than half the list. Excluding all those (and one where it only was released for a specific film festival) there are 6 countries not on that list that weren't on mine. My source was Box Office Mojo. It looks like they are only including countries where they have box office data. Fortunately since that was where I got the Toy Story 4 data for comparison it doesn't seem like it affects the conclusions.