"...no studio lost more money on a film this year than Disney on Dumbo..."
And yet, only by a hair. With a budget of $170-million and a global take of $352-million, "Dumbo" only lost slightly more than "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" which had the same budget and a global take of $384-million. However, "Dumbo" made more domestically, so the actual profit/loss will be slightly different, depending on the percentages of the sales that go into the respective studio pockets.
There's also an old adage: "you need to spend money to make money" (which is so universally true that the origin of this quote can be traced back to the Roman playwright Titus Plautus). Or, "with great risk comes great reward" (originally quoted by Thomas Jefferson). Does that mean that every plan will work every time? No... but if one looks at the results, just this year alone:
Disney has tracked nine films in 2019, with an average domestic take of $241-million and 35% market share
WB has tracked 23 movies in 2019, with an average domestic take of $39-million and 15% market share
Universal has tracked 17 movies in 2019, with an average domestic take of $49-million and 14% market share
That means that, per film, Disney is bringing in five to six times as much in domestic sales as their two closest competitors... and that doesn't even include the share of the total sales Disney will take in their split with Sony for "Spider Man".
So, yes... Disney does have a tendency to produce high budget movies, and when one misses it can hurt the bottom line, just as "Dumbo" did, or "Godzilla" for WB. And, at least with both of those, the total global take was more than the production costs (yes, I know that they still lost money, as the studios only get a percentage of the total take, and there are advertising costs, as well), so that softens the blow, somewhat. One must truly feel for Universal, however, with the colossal flop that was "Mortal Engines", which didn't even make back its production cost of $100-million (with only an $84-million INTERNATIONAL take). If you want to use the 2.5x multiplier to calculate the estimated amount a movie must make to move into profit territory, then "Mortal Engines" lost Universal $166-million. Using the same formula, "Dumbo" would have only lost Disney $73-million.
So, you are correct, in a way. Disney does put a lot of money into their movies. But, in the grand scheme, the payoff for those expenses generally is worth it, as their dominance at the box office proves. Half way through this year, the top four films are all Disney-produced, and the number five film is one that they will be sharing in the profits in.
Criticize all you want... but I will take that business model any day of the year!
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QueenFanUSA (3374)
5 years ago
Jambo, I actually agree with much of your post concerning this year. So far, they've only had one money loser while last year they had at least 4...nearly half their slate!
I don't think Godzilla is a good comparison, though, as WB is only on the hook for 25% with Legendary's 75%. In regard to Spider Man...it's my understanding that Marvel receives very little of the theatrical gross.
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