D23 reveals Disney’s 3 biggest box office bets: More Remakes, Pixar and Ant-Man

While Disney has still been a key figure with several of Marvel’s hits, the studio has been bolder in experimenting with streaming releases. While CEO Bob Chapek has boasted about Encanto’s success on Disney+ and claimed his company could launch a beloved new non-theatrical franchise, Pixar suffered a rare box office bomb with its summer release Lightyear — while its critically acclaimed Turning Red ‘ skipped theaters entirely for a streaming release, where it also attracted large numbers of Disney+ subscribers.

Disney is expected to be the biggest player again this holiday season, with Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever following in November and 20th Century Avatar: The Way of Water in December, but the studio’s plans over 2022 was a blur until then D23 Expo – which offered some reassurance to cinemas still facing deep financial troubles.

Pixar could become a big player again — if it doesn’t stream movies first instead

Along with the leaked announcement of a sequel to Inside Out – one that will be a likely contender to hit $1 billion worldwide when it comes out in June 2024 – Pixar spent much of its presentation on two original projects: ” Elemental” next summer. and a newly announced Spring 2024 alien story called Elio.

While none of these films are likely to make nearly as much money as The Incredibles 2 or Finding Dory, they represent Pixar’s first attempt at a theatrical release without a sequel/spinoff since Onward, the fantasy film that was just starting Weekend before COVID closed cinemas in March 2020.

To find an original Pixar film that smashed at the box office, you’d have to go even further back to November 2017, when “Coco” grossed $210 million domestically and $807 million worldwide. “Elemental” or “Elio” might have just as much chance of wowing audiences worldwide and releasing those kinds of box office numbers, but only if Disney doesn’t rip them out of theaters to boost Disney+ subscriptions, like it did in mid-2012 year was the case. pandemic Pixar features like Luca and Turning Red.

Turning Red could have given theaters a big boost, considering the eventual success of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Minions: The Rise of Gru fueled interest in family cinema-going and acclaim from critics and the Audiences for Domee Shi’s story featured a changing Asian teenage girl. Turning Red certainly garnered more public attention than Lightyear, which attempted to capitalize on the popularity of Toy Story but was ignored by audiences because it strayed too far from Pixar’s flagship series. (The film grossed just $118 million domestically and $226 million worldwide.)

For now, Disney insiders insist that Elemental and Elio are headed for a theatrical release exclusive, but Chapek’s Disney has been extremely flexible when it comes to how it releases individual titles. As other animation studios like Illumination, DreamWorks, and Sony Pictures Animation add their own big titles over the next two years, the box office really needs another big moneymaker from Pixar to restore pre-pandemic ticket sales.

Nothing is stopping the remake train

There is perhaps no other Hollywood exec who makes online film fans gnash their teeth more than Sean Bailey. During the D23 presentation, Walt Disney Pictures’ head of live action announced several upcoming episodes of the studio’s remake series of animated classics, many of which were scathingly blasted on social media with phrases like “Unimaginative dumpster fire” and “Malicious disdain for animation.”

But Disney won’t be stopping these remakes anytime soon, and live-action versions of Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King have all grossed well over $1 billion worldwide. Although some of the remakes, like the recently released (and widely popular) Pinocchio and David Lowery’s Peter Pan and Wendy, stream direct, Rob Marshall’s remake of The Little Mermaid is targeting another $1 billion-plus remake , when it comes out on Memorial Day weekend 2023.

Led by a relative newcomer in Halle Bailey, along with stars like Melissa McCarthy and Javier Bardem in key supporting roles, The Little Mermaid will have to contend with the second weekend of Universal’s Fast X when it hits theaters little Reason to believe that the genre will no longer produce successful tentpoles.

The studio’s marketing plays with a mix of nostalgia and youthful appeal, with fresh Gen Z faces reviving familiar songs and imagery. Disney just released a teaser trailer of Bailey singing a snippet of “Part of Your World” while D23 attendees were able to watch the entire number. When it comes time to market the remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, expect West Side Story star Rachel Zegler and DC veteran Gal Gadot to take center stage in the trailer as Snow White and the Evil Queen, respectively will stand.

The fate of the MCU rests in Ant-Man’s hands

Discussing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania star Paul Rudd teased that the film would be unlike anything Marvel fans Ant-Man have seen before. For the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the film needs to sell tickets like no other Ant-Man film.

Among Marvel Studios’ 29 theatrical releases, “Ant-Man” ($519 million worldwide) and its 2018 sequel “Ant-Man and the Wasp” ($622 million worldwide) are two of the lowest-grossing films on the planet MCU list and are generally considered fun but immaterial. But Quantumania aims to introduce Marvel’s next big villain, Kang the Conqueror, and usher in the MCU’s next multi-year arc, which will culminate in 2025 with two Avengers movies.

Given that Marvel had two movies that grossed over $750 million worldwide that year, it’s premature to say the studio peaked after the release of Avengers: Endgame. But there’s no denying that last fall’s “Eternals,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” and “Thor: Love and Thunder” didn’t deserve the rave reviews that Marvel movies typically get from fans, and it there’s a certain uneasiness in the MCU true to where this franchise is going.

Quantumania may not need to hit $1 billion to be successful, but it needs to get fans excited for what’s to come with Kang and the Marvel Multiverse in order to hit another $600-650 million in box office will not suffice. It’s odd that the future of the biggest blockbuster series in history should be dictated by one of its “smallest” stars, but that’s how Marvel Studios designed it.