Disney Lost Over $250 Million On Lightyear & Strange World

Whenever  you used to hear the word “Disney” associated with an animated feature you would usually expect to hear phrases like “record breaker” and “smash hit”. But 2022 wasn’t a very good year for the company as every animated feature released under their banner that year lost them money.



According to a recent report via Deadline highlighting 2022’s biggest box office bombs both Pixar’s Lightyear and Disney’s own animated feature Strange World lost the company a combined total of $260.2 Million at the global box office.

If you added on the budget for Pixar’s straight-to-streaming film Turning Red (which had an estimated budget of $175 Million) that would be $435.2 Million.



Pixar’s summer film Lightyear, with an estimated $200 Million budget, made around $226.4 Million worldwide. However, with the costs of advertisements bringing the total cost of the film up to $373 Million the film lost the studio around $106 Million.

The film, while loved by critics, was heavily criticized for the drastic changes from the character many have come to know and love. The idea that this was the same Buzz Lightyear that Andy fell in love with in Toy Story didn’t resonate with audiences. It would have made more sense to do a modern take on Buzz Lightyear of Star Command from 2000.



Current Pixar head Pete Doctor thought that audiences just “didn’t get it”, while former head John Lasseter reportedly hated the film. The changing of the guard definitely affected how Pixar approaches its films.



Strange World was Disney’s big Thanksgiving release of 2022. It had an estimated budget of $180 Million but only made $73.6 Million at the global box office. However, adding advertising costs brought the total budget to $317 Million, leading to an estimated $152.4 Million loss.



Strange World was seemingly dumped into theaters without much marketing backing the film. While also liked by critics those who saw the film didn’t entirely know what to make of it. Many people didn’t even know the movie was out during its original release. 



Some have speculated that then Disney CEO Bob Chapek had a hand in its downfall as he was heavily pushing his “direct to consumer” strategy at the time. But that is all hearsay at the moment.

With NBCUniversal crushing it at the box office with Illumination and DreamWorks Animation many believe that Disney will need to go back to the drawing board with new and creative ideas if they wish to regain their title of animation king. But that probably won’t be until after they finish Bob Iger’s order for multiple sequels.

Source: Deadline