Disney lost over $400 million on 3 major box office flops in 2022

2022 wasn’t the greatest year for Disney, which is why Bob Chapek was asked to step down, and Bob Iger was rehired as the CEO of the company. The company failed to succeed on multiple fronts as Disney+ wasn’t turning the kind of profits that were expected, and the number of blockbusters in the year had reduced drastically.

Disney’s animated divisions also suffered as the company lost a lot of money with films produced under their Pixar and Walt Disney Animation banners. Overall, the Mouse House lost over $100 million each on Strange World, Amsterdam, and Lightyear and turned in the three biggest flops of 2022.

A breakup of budget and revenue of Disney's three biggest flops of 2022

Strange World and Lightyear (Image via Disney)

Deadline’s new report revealed the five biggest box office failures of 2022, out of which the Mouse House produced the top three movies. The following list shows all the major losers at the box office in 2022 and the losses they incurred:

Strange World (Disney Animation) – $197.4 million

Amsterdam (20th Century Studios) – $108.4 million

Lightyear (Pixar) – $106 million

Devotion (Sony) – $89.2 million

Babylon (Paramount) – $87.4 million

In the past, movies like John Carter and The Lone Ranger have both lost over $200 million for the Mouse. So, Strange World isn’t the company’s biggest box office flop to this date. But it does join the list of the company’s biggest bombs by costing a similar amount.

The financials of Strange World, Amsterdam, and Lightyear

Strange World was produced on a budget of $180 million. $90 million was spent on prints and ads, while other costs included residuals of $8 million, video costs of $7 million, and interest and overhead costs of $32.4 million. So, its total expenses came up to $317.4 million.

Compared to the cost, the film earned $73.5 million at the worldwide box office and kept $35 million out of that as revenue. Other revenues came from home entertainment ($30 million) and television/streaming ($55 million). So in total, the film generated a revenue of $120 million. Hence, the net loss of $197.4 million.

Amsterdam cast (Image via 20th Century Studios)

Amsterdam’s production budget was $80 million, and the studio spent $70 million on prints and ads. Other expenses included video costs of $2 million, residuals of $5 million, and interest and overheads of $14.4 million. So, its total expenditure came up to $171.4 million.

As for its revenue, the movie made $31.1 million globally and kept $13 million out of it as theatrical revenue. Then, $15 million came from home entertainment, and $35 million came from television/streaming. So, its total revenue was just $63 million, which incurred a net loss of $108.4 million for the Mouse House.

Chris Evans as Buzz Lightyear (Image via Pixar)

At number three in the biggest flops of 2022 was Chris Evans’ Lightyear, which had a massive budget of $200 million, and $110 million was spent on prints and ads. Added to that are residuals of $14 million, video costs of $13 million, and interest and overhead costs of $36 million, which bring the total expenditure up to $373 million.

However, Lightyear also turned out to be a losing bet by incurring a loss of $106 million as its total revenue was just $267 million. Out of the global intake of $226.4 million, the Mouse took home $112 million as theatrical revenue. The remaining $60 million came from home entertainment, and $95 million came from television/streaming.

With all these flops, Bob Iger came back into the mix and announced sequels for what has already worked for Disney in the past.