Disney's sci-fi adventure film will end up losing around $140 million, marking the studio's biggest flop after 'The Lone Ranger' write-down.
- Jun 11, 2015
AceShowbiz - Disney's sci-fi adventure film, "omorrowland", stands to lose between $120-$140 million. It marks the studio's biggest flop since "The Lone Ranger" prompted a $190 million write-down back in 2013.
Starring George Clooney, "Tomorrowland" cost $180 million to produce and spend $150 million or more for marketing. It turns out that the Brad Bird-directed film could not reach the expected income. It only earned $76.4 million domestically and $93.5 million overseas for a global total of $169.9 million. The income is far from enough to cover the cost Disney has spent. The film also failed to garner people's interest in Chinese market as it was defeated in its debut there by a Japanese animated movie entitled "Stand by Me Doraemon".
This may not be a deadly problem for the studio as it has earned nearly $1.35 billion worldwide for Marvel's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" since its debut. "Yes, they took a miss with 'Tomorrowland', but there are so many things working for Disney," says analyst Eric Handler of MKM Partners. "And coming up, there's 'Inside Out (2015)', 'Ant-Man' and 'Star Wars [The Force Awakens]'. Disney will do just fine this year," he says, mentioning upcoming Disney tentpole movies.
Despite the flop, Disney's choice to team up Bird with Clooney was not a bad idea after all. "When a guy like that comes to you with an original idea, and Clooney is part of the package, you'll take the swing," says a rival executive.
