The Walt Disney Company’s latest animated film, Wish, collapsed at the Thanksgiving box office failing to hit even the lowest of the low projections for the film.
BEST WISHES – Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Wish” is set in Rosas, a magical kingdom where wishes really do come true. The film introduces Asha, a sharp-witted idealist who’s invited to see first-hand where King Magnifico keeps the wishes of those who’ve entrusted him with their deepest desires. Featuring the voices of Academy Award® winner Ariana DeBose as Asha and Chris Pine as Magnifico, the all-new musical-comedy is helmed by Oscar®-winning director Chris Buck (“Frozen,” “Frozen 2”) and Fawn Veerasunthorn (“Raya and the Last Dragon”), produced by Peter Del Vecho (“Frozen,” “Frozen 2”) and co-produced by Juan Pablo Reyes (“Encanto”). “Wish” opens only in theaters on Nov. 22, 2023. © 2023 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
Through Friday the film has only grossed $20.2 million over the Thanksgiving weekend. It took in $2.3 million on Tuesday during previews. On Wednesday before Thanksgiving it only raked in $8.3 million.
Thanksgiving day it took in $3.9 million and on the Friday after Thanksgiving it took in $8 million.
WISHES DO COME TRUE – In Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Wish,” Asha (voice of Ariana DeBose) is a sharp-witted idealist who lives in Rosas—a kingdom where wishes really do come true. Helmed by Oscar®-winning director Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, “Wish” features original songs by Grammy®-nominated singer/songwriter Julia Michaels and Grammy-winning producer, songwriter and musician Benjamin Rice. The epic animated musical opens only in theaters on Nov. 22, 2023. © 2023 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
RELATED: Wish Review: Disney Is Grasping at Stars
Box office analyst Luiz Fernando notes the film will likely only gross between $30 million and $35 million in its 5-day Thanksgiving weekend and only between $18 million and $23 million in its 3-day opening.
He wrote on X, “The ghost a disastrous #3 place keeps haunting Wish which underperforms industry’s projections over Thanksgiving long weekend at US box office, as the Disney animation grossed 8M on FRI, up +125% from THU Thanksgiving day (vs Encanto 11.1M, Strange World 5M, Elemental 11.7M) for a 20.2 cume.”
“Eyeing a 30-35M 5-day Thanksgiving opening & a 18M-23M 3-day weekend,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, the ghost of a disastrous #3 place keeps haunting #Wish which underperforms industry’s projections over #Thanksgiving long weekend at US #BoxOffice, as the #Disney animation grossed 8M on FRI, up +125.2% from THU Thanksgiving day (vs #Encanto 11.1M, #StrangeWorld… pic.twitter.com/51JjZUkdLp
— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) November 25, 2023
Early box office projections from Box Office Pro at the end of October predicted the film would have an opening 3-day weekend between $45 million and $65 million.
The outlet also noted the film would bring in between $64 million and $94 million in its 5-day Thanksgiving day holiday opening.
SPINNING A YARN – In Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Wish,” sharp-witted idealist Asha (voice of Ariana DeBose) makes a wish so powerful, it’s answered by a cosmic force—a little ball of boundless energy called Star. Asha’s new ally communicates in creative ways, making captivating use of a magenta ball of yarn. Helmed by Oscar®-winning director Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, “Wish” features original songs by Grammy®-nominated singer/songwriter Julia Michaels and Grammy-winning producer/songwriter/musician Benjamin Rice. The epic animated musical opens only in theaters on Nov. 22, 2023. © 2023 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
Box Office Pro would decrease those predictions week over week. At the beginning of November its 3-day projections had declined to between $40 million and $60 million. It’s 5-day Thanksgiving projections were down to between $57 million and $86.8 million.
On November 21st, the outlet would lower their projections again. This time they claimed the film would bring in between $35 million and $44 million in its 3-day opening weekend. They noted it would gross between $49 million and $66 million in its 5-day opening.
The film’s box office projections have declined nearly 50% from Box Office Pro’s November 21st projections to what Luiz Fernando is now projecting the film will gross in its 3-day opening weekend. The 5-day Thanksgiving projections have declined by nearly 40%.
SORCERER KING – In Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Wish,” King Magnifico has the magical ability to grant wishes. But when 17-year-old Asha is compelled to challenge the powerful sorcerer, Magnifico turns to a forbidden resource. Featuring the voices of Chris Pine as King Magnifico and Academy Award®-winning actress Ariana DeBose as Asha, the epic animated musical “Wish” hits the big screen on Nov. 22, 2023. © 2023 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
Not only is the film completely collapsing at the box office, but the collapse means The Walt Disney Company is going to lose even more money than expected.
The film has an estimated production budget of $200 million. That means the film needs to gross at least $500 million in order to cover the costs of marketing as well as the split that theaters take from the box office grosses.
Given these disastrous box office returns over the Thanksgiving weekend, it’s unlikely the film will even sniff that $500 million mark.
EVERYONE HAS A WISH – In Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Wish,” Asha’s pet goat, Valentino, is among the first to experience the magic of Star, a little ball of boundless energy inadvertently summoned by Asha. Featuring the voices of Academy Award®-winning actress Ariana DeBose as Asha and Alan Tudyk as Valentino, the epic animated musical “Wish” hits the big screen on Nov. 22, 2023. © 2023 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
As for why the film is performing so poorly, while the film has received an A- CinemaScore that score is poor for an animated feature.
Fernando explained to a questioning X user, “An A- CinemaScore isn’t as good for PG animations, unfortunately. It’s like a PG-13 film receiving a B+, so Wish’s performance might most likely be closer to Lightyear’s legs than Encanto’s, for instance.”
An A- CinemaScore isn’t as good for PG animations, unfortunately.
It’s like a PG-13 film receiving a B+, so #Wish’s performance might most likely be closer to #Lightyear’s legs than #Encanto’s, for instance.— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) November 24, 2023
The film has also received poor user reviews at IMDb. It currently has a 5.9 out of 10. It currently has a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes when looking at the All Audience score. It has an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars.
It’s likely the film is just not very good. In fact, WDW Pro reviewed the film earlier this week on That Park Place and described the film as “Disney propaganda that they likely believed was nostalgia or homage.”
VERY VALENTINO – In Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Wish,” Asha’s pajama-wearing goat Valentino follows her wherever she goes. Adorable and wise, Valentino could teach humans a thing or two about perseverance. And when his wish to speak comes true—everyone is surprised, especially Valentino. Featuring the Alan Tudyk as the voice of Valentino, the epic animated musical opens only in theaters on Nov. 22, 2023. © 2023 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
While people reviewing the film are assumed to have actually gone to it and seen it, the box office grosses reflect that people aren’t even spending their money to go and see it. And one of the reasons they might not be going to see it is because American families are boycotting The Walt Disney Company.
The Walt Disney Company even admitted in a recent Form 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchanges Commission that it “faces risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences for entertainment.”
Specifically, it noted, “Consumers’ perceptions of our position on matters of public interest, including our efforts to achieve certain of our environmental and social goals, often differ widely and present risks to our reputation and brands.”
It’s not hard to imagine that many American families no longer view The Walt Disney Company as a family-friendly company given the company’s promotion of homosexuality, transgenderism, abortion, and more. Thus they are finding other means to spend their money rather than on Disney movies.
THIS WISH – In Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Wish,” Asha is invited to see where King Magnfico keeps all of the wishes given to him by those in his kingdom. Featuring the voices of Academy Award®-winning actress Ariana DeBose as Asha and Chris Pine as King Magnifico, the epic animated musical “Wish” hits the big screen on Nov. 22, 2023. © 2023 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
What do you make of Wish’s disastrous box office failure? Why do you think it is so bad?
I “wish” Disney would go out of business
I think you hit the nail on the head. People are just fed up with creatively bankrupt, corporate pandering with regard to societal issues that really have no place in entertainment. I want to see a well written, well animated, worth-the-money film that sweeps me off of my feet, and causes me to forget the woes of everyday life, not a film that constantly reminds me of times long past, or societal conflicts, or the obvious agenda of the Hollywood writers/directors/producers. I think that the drama surrounding the recent creative direction of Disney’s MCU (The Marvels, Secret Invasion), and the recent live action Snow White drama also hurt Wish at the theatre, because both the disastrous 2023 MCU and the Snow White problem reminded audiences of everything they dislike about modern Disney just before the film Wish landed in theatres for Thanksgiving.
In short, the American public (and the Chinese market, clearly) have just lost all faith in Disney, and don’t want to waste what little money they have to see a film that will undoubtedly underwhelm. Honestly, people have lost all faith in Hollywood in general, and will continue to snub both straight to streaming productions and theatre releases until Hollywood starts producing the original (or loyal to the source material), thoroughly creative, well written and agenda-free content that audiences crave. Until then, I anticipate dozens more bombs hitting theatres and streaming in the foreseeable future. Disney has lost a billion (!!!) dollars at the theatre recently, and around another billion on their underwhelming streaming platform Disney+, so without a huge change, the company could genuinely be headed for financial ruin. I mean, Disney has lost more than 50% of their market value since the summer of 2021, so in a little over 2 years, Disney stock has fallen by more than half, and with both The Marvels and Wish recently failing disastrously at the theatre, I anticipate even more financial trouble for the company moving into 2024. If I were a Disney shareholder right now, I’d be fuming. The company was on top of the world just a couple years ago, and all they had to do was stay their course, but instead, they chose the path of DEI destruction, ruining both their public image and their brand’s value, and losing the trust of consumers all over the world. Disney Marvel is an affront to God, Disney Star Wars content is so predictably terrible that its become meme at this point (“Put a chick in it! Make her gay and make it lame!), and Disney’s originals are a shell of their former selves.
Disney’s downfall should be studied in business and marketing courses by future generations as a warning – you can be the most beloved brand in the world, and still destroy your business in just a couple of years by filling your company with incompetent people who always make their personal agenda the top priority, as opposed to the creation of a high quality product that will align with the values and desires of the general public.
What do you make of Wish’s disastrous box office failure?
grandparents refuse to take grandchildren to see it.
Why do you think it is so bad?
i have not seen it (the movie).
it is bad marketing, though.
John Trent — In your video, you mentioned John Lasseter leaving Disney Animation, and somewhat speculatively opined about others leaving.
I just watched Chris Gore and Alan Ng (Film Threat) discuss Wish. Alan gave Wish a scathing review, particularly about the quality of animation, being VERY sub-par. Alan Ng has even attended Disney animation ‘classes’ offered to the public. According to him, Wish doesn’t even do the ‘basic’ things correctly! And Chris seems to understand the various types of animation technology that are in use. They all felt that the ‘framing’ of shots, the quality, the inability to animate the legs of a horse, etc. were clear evidence that Disney animation has fallen far, and hard.
Because of the bad quality of Wish, the two of them have gotten an earful from their many Hollywood contacts, presently employed and who have left over the years, from Disney Animation and Pixar.
Apparently the information is highly detailed, about both the employment practices and the type of animation being done at present. Chris could not give details on YouTube to protect the identity of those disclosing, but the general overview was damning.
I suggest that you talk with either of them to get some background, since they have a wealth of information about Disney Animation and Pixar, and what has happened to the staff, past, present and future, as well as the quality going out-the-door as disgruntled personnel (far beyond John Lasseter) have left.
Watch their YouTube review, (Wish was a disaster in the Making | Film Threat Exclusive Rants) then give them a call, and get more details. They have access to backroom production H’wood sources that you may not have.
Their information would put you on firm ground to bring these key factors up when discussing the problems across Disney Animation and Pixar in print and on the air in future. As Editor-in-Chief, you need details and facts so you can express your views with confidence.
Congrats on your new position… (But will B into C’s survive?)
James French
[…] RELATED: Disney’s ‘Wish’ Collapses At The Thanksgiving Box Office, Underperforming Even The Worst Proje… […]