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Two of Disney’s biggest summer releases flopped hard at the box office. The company’s CEO doesn’t seem all that bothered.
Both The Mandalorian & Grogu and the live-action remake of Moana landed with a thud this summer, and Josh D’Amaro admitted as much during Disney’s Q3 earnings call. He called them “disappointments” — which, for two franchises with massive built-in fanbases, is putting it mildly.
Together, the films pulled in a combined $608 million worldwide. That number looks even worse next to the originals. The animated Moana made over $680 million a decade ago. Even Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker — a movie most fans actively disliked — crossed the $1 billion mark.
Disney’s not sweating it
So why isn’t D’Amaro panicking? Because the money’s showing up somewhere else.
He pointed to retail sales, theme park attendance, and gaming as the real winners here — even when the movies themselves underperform.
“Even when our franchise films don’t meet our box office expectations, as with The Mandalorian and Grogu and the live-action Moana, our investments in these core properties fuel other parts of our company,” D’Amaro said. “These franchise investments contributed to value creation beyond their theatrical releases.”
According to D’Amaro, The Mandalorian & Grogu gave Star Wars merchandise a real boost and drove more visitors to the updated Millennium Falcon ride at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. He also mentioned a jump in gaming engagement tied to the franchise.
As for Moana, Disney’s betting the live-action version will do well once it lands on Disney+ — leaning on the original’s status as one of the most-streamed movies ever made.
Not every Disney release struggled
It wasn’t a total wash for Disney this summer. Toy Story 5 has already crossed $1 billion globally, and that number’s still climbing.
Then there’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is on track to be one of the highest-grossing films ever made. Disney can’t really take credit for that one, though — not financially, anyway.
Here’s why: for solo MCU Spider-Man movies, Sony funds production and keeps most of the box office profits. Marvel Studios co-produces on the creative side and reportedly takes a 5% cut of first-dollar gross. Marvel’s real payoff comes later, through merchandise, theme park tie-ins, and licensing deals — not ticket sales.
Disney’s still got one major release left this year, and it might end up being the biggest of the bunch: Avengers: Doomsday, arriving in theaters on December 18.
