Disney Lost Hundreds of Millions on Just Two Films Last Year

in Marvel, Movies

Paul Rudd looking exasperated as Ant-Man

Credit: Marvel Studios

It’s no secret that before 2024, The Walt Disney Company was struggling at the box office. Since its epic 2019, Disney, Marvel Studios, Pixar Studios, and LucasFilms have struggled with audiences at the box office.

Wasp and Ant-Man looking scared and hurt in the Quantum Realm
Credit: Marvel Studios

When Disney CEO Bob Iger returned to the company in 2022, he prioritized fixing the Disney movie studio. However, he was too late to stop the disaster that was 2023.

Reports recently surfaced that the live-action Little Mermaid (2023) lost around $5 million, which seems quaint compared to some of Disney’s other films last year.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe continued to struggle in 2023, which caused Iger to pause some of the new films and send them back to the studio for more work. And now, we’re learning just how much those films struggled.

Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Credit: Marvel Studios

Walt Disney Studios does not release figures on how much its films lose at the box office, but to qualify for tax credits in the United Kingdom, the company has to release precisely how much the film cost and how much it made.

In a recent filing, Disney released the data on two of its biggest flops of 2023: Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania and The Marvels. The results were stunningly bad. Disney lost more than $250 million on those two Marvel Studios films. 

Disney had high hopes for both films; the Ant-Man films and Captain Marvel were both billion-dollar films. However, the budgets for both productions ballooned out of control, and the movies were not that good.

Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) glowing with energy in The Marvels
Credit: Marvel Studios

While Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania fared poorly, nothing could prepare Disney or Marvel for how The Marvels did at the box office. It had the lowest box office of any MCU movie in history.

Due to these massive losses, Disney CEO Bob Iger shifted Marvel’s focus away from mass production and toward making quality films. Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) became the only Marvel film released this year, and it has already surpassed $1 billion at the box office.

Monica Rambeau, Captain Marvel, and Kamala Khan looking up to the sky in 'The Marvels'
Credit: Marvel Studios

Never fear, though; there is a silver lining for The Walt Disney Company. By having at least 10 percent of the production in the United Kingdom, Disney qualifies for a massive tax break from the British government, even though both films lost money.

So, at least Disney can expect a small return on its investment through a tax break. Despite that, it’s hard to say that either of these Marvel films had anything else going for them.

What did you think of The Marvels and Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania? 

in Marvel, Movies

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