Disney Lost Over $1 Billion in 2023

Movies

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Disney is the Biggest Box Office Loser of 2023

There is no denying that every movie studio has struggled to make profits since the draconian restrictions due to COVID-19 and the massive increase in the prices of basic foods and services. It must also be stated, however, that much of the financial struggle is due to overspending on budgets, marketing, and a failure to adapt to the priorities of modern audiences that are much more careful with how they spend their money. The studio that struggled the most in 2023 is, without question, Disney due to poor content, oversaturation of the market, and a massive spending problem that has been ongoing for many years now.

Key Initial Points for Understanding

First, when it comes to Disney’s financial losses, we are speaking specifically of the theatrical releases of which they had a hand in financing the budget. There are several movies and shows that streamed exclusively on Disney+, were only distributed by Disney, or were films from their subsidiaries that did not have reported budgets. The movies used in this article are only part of the massive cash used by Disney for content in 2023, and this means that their losses are likely much higher. In Disney’s favor, however, this article does not include any numbers from films in 2023 to which they may have sold the distribution rights. It also does not include any other revenue streams, such as merchandise, marketing deals, etc. These numbers are not included because without having direct access to Disney’s books, it is impossible to know what they made or lost in those areas. The last thing to mention is that the marketing costs have been calculated using the standard 1.5x the budget. Though some films may have had higher costs in marketing, until all of the information has been confirmed, it is mostly speculation. With all those caveats out of the way… let’s dive into the numbers.

Disney Lost Roughly $1.3 Billion in 2023

If the budget for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness teaches us anything, it is that over the next year or so, there is a strong chance that the amount of money spent on budgets is likely going to be much higher than those mentioned here. Without such knowledge at this time, we can confidently say that Disney spent at least $1,960,000,000 on the budgets for their theatrical releases and about $2,940,000,000 in total costs when you include typical marketing spend. Of the ten movies they produced and released theatrically, only one of them potentially made any money: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which, at best, made $3,997,189 in profits. It should be noted that if the cost of that movie is even only slightly higher than reported, the film will end up being a box office loss. When you account for the roughly $3 billion they spent on these movies and the $3,486,397,902 Disney made in total box office grosses, they still end with a net loss of $1,346,255,349. This means that Disney ended the year over $1 billion in the red for their theatrical releases. Here is the charting with further data:

Even if you were to take away the losses from The Creator, which was co-financed by a company that Disney has 20% ownership of (Regency Enterprises), they would still be well over $1.2 billion in the red and still incredibly close to $1.3 billion in losses.

The Bottom Line

At the last few Disney earnings calls, there has been a lot of smoke and mirrors by Bob Iger and company to paint a rosy picture of how the studio did in 2023. Even if an argument could be made that they did great with their parks and are getting close to profitability with Disney+ (which is hard to believe with a recent loss of 1 million subscribers), the fact remains that compared to all other movie studios, Disney saw the greatest overall losses. It is even worse when you realize that every franchise or big brand movie lost money, and some of them lost over $100 million. With Iger recently confirming they are shifting to focus more on established franchises moving forward, and when you look ahead to what 2024 has in store, the chances of Disney repeating as the biggest loser this year are still very high. At the end of the day, someone deserves to be fired for the dumpster fire that was Disney 2023 in film.

If you want further analysis on these or any other films, check out the full charting I do over at my website. Have a wonderful rest of your day, and as always, God bless!

(If you ever want further insight into my methodology, see my previous articles HERE and HERE.)