It’s been a busy day today. There are stories that I’m putting off for multiple days just because of the stack of information I’ve been receiving and have received over the past 48 hours. That said, this one story needs to come out today without delay. And before I start, let me say: this article is not about the merits or the substance of the films in discussion. This is solely about the financial reality of these films and the narratives surrounding them.
We now have confirmation of a story that I did as the second article I wrote for That Park Place. Back in July, I talked about how the box office was not looking good and that both Space Jam and Black Widow were on track to lose money. There were harsh criticisms for any idea that Black Widow would actually take a loss. Now, however, based on the latest Disney Quarterly Earnings Report, we can confirm that not only did Black Widow lose money for Disney, but so did Shang-Chi.
Hollywood Heading for Hard Times According to the Box Office
Things are really starting to add up for why we’ve been hearing that Bob Chapek is unhappy with Kevin Feige and Kathleen Kennedy. If Black Widow and even Shang-Chi are financial flops for the company, what sort of a loss is The Eternals about to whallop Burbank with? Like I said, I’m currently inundated with stories to write… there’s more Eternals news I plan to drop tomorrow. On top of these movies being financial flops — not just low profits, but no profits — the films have actually harmed The Walt Disney Company is more ways.
For Black Widow, the company was sued by Scarlett Johansson in a court filing that could have opened up their Disney+ private info into the public sphere. The company took a PR black eye with influential celebrities and Hollywood moguls threatening to stop work with Disney. It furthermore created a schism between Chapek, his people, and the Iger holdovers.
For Shang-Chi, Disney was stuck with controversy with China and racist comments being made by Chinese moviegoers in regards to the Canadian lead actor.
And when it comes to The Eternals, boy do they ever have a problem. You’ve got the movie banned completely in China, Angelina Jolie is calling countries “ignorant”, Gulf countries are banning the film, Disney is going back on their word by striking same-sex romance scenes from the film, and there’s more to come out tomorrow.
These are not just financial flops; these are blunders at multiple levels and in multiple spaces.
Some might try to say that no films in 2021 are making money, but that’s also not true. And just look at some of the headlines that would have led you to believe absolutely nonsense, all to feed a narrative that isn’t based on reality:
Shang-Chi Soars on Yahoo! News
Black Widow Sets Pandemic Record on NBC News
Black Widow Sets Records on Pop Culture
Guess what none of these articles and access media companies did? They didn’t tell you that Black Widow was a financial flop, a loser, a dud, and destined to cost the company major money. Meanwhile, Quiet Place 2 was making a profit. That Park Place did tell the truth — you can see I was calling this from the very beginning. That’s not to be self-sanctimonious, but rather to point out that there are people out there running a false narrative as a pattern. You’ll have to ask yourself why that might be.
At least it wasn’t Space Jam 2. That movie is likely the largest loss in the history of film. And even though The Eternals is almost certainly going to cost Disney big time, not even it can catch Lebron James’ hundreds-of-millions floptacular.
I guess one has to wonder: how much longer is Bob Chapek going to put up with this before untouchables like Kevin Feige are feeling the pressure? And is that already happening? It’s hard to believe that Marvel movies are now regularly losing money, but The Eternals is looking to be strike three.
Who would have thunk it?
