The Walt Disney Co. and Pixar marked a rare miss at the box office this holiday weekend, with the animated kids film “Lightyear” falling short of estimates in what was supposed to be a triumphant return to theaters.
The film — a kind of origin story for Buzz Lightyear, the astronaut of “Toy Story” fame — brought in an estimated $51 million in the US and Canada. That trailed Boxoffice Pro’s prediction of between $76 million and $105 million and was one of the worst domestic openings against expectations for a Pixar film. It failed to knock “Jurassic World: Dominion” out of first place at the box office, data tracker Comscore Inc. reported.
“Lightyear” was an important test for Disney as its first animated kids movie released exclusively in theaters in more than a year, after mostly opting to debut films on its Disney+ streaming service during Covid-19 lockdowns. While Disney on Sunday emphasized it views the film as a long play that will draw in families over the summer, analysts said that doesn’t ease the initial disappointment.
“This was definitely an unwelcome surprise for what has traditionally been a trifecta of very reliable brands in Disney, Pixar, and ‘Toy Story,’” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice Co. “It’s certainly not the way their big summer box office comeback was written up on paper.”
The film may not be much of a catalyst for Disney shares. The stock has fallen 39% so far this year, to $94.34 as of June 17, and has dropped in all but two weeks since late February.
“I‘m not sure we can pinpoint one factor behind the misfire, but rather quite a few,” Robbins said. Those circumstances range “from a competitive market of male-skewing theatrical releases to genuine questions about how Disney marketed ‘Lightyear’ to audiences and what negative impact their straight-to-streaming strategies for recent Pixar movies might have had.”
The film also faced bans abroad and ire from conservative political figures in the US who say the fictional space inhabitants in a same-sex relationship couldn’t naturally produce children and the portrayal violates their religious beliefs.
However, Disney will still consider other sources of revenue when it comes to determining whether “Lightyear” was a flop, according to Jeff Bock, a senior media analyst at Exhibitor Relations. The entertainment giant can still make money off merchandise tied to the film and streaming success, he said.
