Box Office trackers are predicting that Disney’s upcoming Wish film will only bring in around $50 million in its opening weekend, with at least one predicting it could do even worse.
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.
Box office tracking website Box Office Pro reported at the end of October that the upcoming Disney princess film will only bring in between $45 million and $65 million in its opening weekend.
The outlet goes on to project that the entire domestic gross will be between $185 million and $289 million.
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.
Since their original predictions, the box office expectations for the film have declined. Their most recent projections have the film grossing between $40 million and $60 million on opening weekend .
The entire domestic gross has declined on the lower end to $165 million. However, the upper end remains the same at $289 million.
Deadline reported at the beginning of this month that the film is only expected to gross over $50 million in its opening weekend.
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.
These box office projections are much lower than the most recent Disney princess film, Frozen II. The film released on November 22, 2019 and raked in $130.2 million in its opening weekend.
The movie went on to gross $477.3 million at the domestic box office.
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.
Moana, which released on November 23, 2016 had an opening weekend of $56.6 million. It had a 5-day opener of $82 million and went on to gross a total of $248.7 million domestically.
In 2013, Frozen had an opening weekend of around $93 million. It went on to gross $400.9 million at the domestic box office.
2012’s Brave grossed $66.3 million in its opening weekend and $237.2 million total.
Going back to 2010, Tangled had a $48.7 million opening weekend. The movie grossed $200.8 million total at the domestic box office.
I’M A STAR – 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. 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.
The big issue that Wish will have is the film’s massive production budget. TheWrap reports the movie has a production budget of $200 million. If that is the case the film needs to gross around $500 million to break even.
That means Disney will need the movie to nearly double the upper end of Box Office Pro’s domestic box office projections at international box offices. That’s definitely a possibility as all the aforementioned films had higher international grosses than domestic grosses.
Tangled’s international gross was $381.6 million. Moana raked in $380.8 million. Brave brought in $317.3 million. Frozen II grossed an enormous $976.3 million and the first film did $876.9 million.
RULER OF ROSAS – Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Wish” is set in Rosas, a magical kingdom where wishes really do come true. The ruler of Rosas, King Magnifico, is the sole keeper of hundreds of wishes entrusted to him by people from all over the world. Featuring the voice 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.
However, times have changed and grosses from Japan and China which hauled in hundreds of millions of dollars for Frozen, and Frozen II, as well as $45 million for Moana are not as strong markets as they once were.
Case in point, the most recent Pixar release, Elemental only grossed $18.4 million in Japan and $15.8 million in China.
2022’s Strange World brought in less than a $1 million from Japan. It did not even get a release in China.
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.
What do you make of these box office predictions for Wish? What are your projections?
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