Despite its visuals and imagination, Disney’s Tomorrowland has sadly disappointed at the box office this summer, becoming a rare misfire for the studio goliath in financial terms. Time Magazine is today reporting that the Brad Bird sci-fi adventure is set to lose the studio anywhere in the range of $120 million and $140 million by the time it finishes its global release, and will be Disney’s biggest flop since 2013’s The Lone Ranger, which ended up with losses over $190 million (2012’s John Carter was also a flop with a loss of over $200 million)/
Costing upwards of $330 million for both the film’s production and marketing expenses, Tomorrowland was expected to light-up the summer box office with its array of talents, including star George Clooney and director Brad Bird, whose last film Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol brought in almost $700 million. Sadly, the film#s opening wasn’t stellar, with only $42.7 million grossed over the Memorial Day extended weekend, and so far has pulled in just $170 million worldwide.
SEE ALSO: Read our review of Tomorrowland
“Yes, they took a miss with Tomorrowland, but there are so many things working for Disney,” analyst Eric Handler of MKM Partners told TIME. “And coming up, there’s Inside Out (June 19), Ant-Man (July 17) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Dec. 18). Disney will do just fine this year.”
Once again, it’s sad to see an “original” concept such as Tomorrowland fall at the box office in amongst the properties made from existing material and sequels/prequels, similar to the fate that befell Tom Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow last summer. That said, other such films like this year’s Jupiter Ascending which has been one of the year’s biggest flops, have made a case that audiences aren’t too interested in anything they aren’t already familiar with.
Tomorrowland is out now in UK and US cinemas.
https://youtu.be/yIuEu1m0p2M?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published June 10, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
