Superheroes weren’t so super at the box office last year.
Deadline reports that four Disney films ranked in the five films with the highest studio net loss for 2023, or what they deemed their “annual bombs section.”
While the outlet reported that the Mouse House typically “owns a majority of the year’s top 10 most profitable films thanks to Marvel movies,” this was not the case for 2023.
According to their calculations, the Brie Larson-starring movie The Marvels had a studio net loss of $A358 million. Deadline reported at the time that the film earned the franchise $71 million at the box office in its opening weekend, the franchise’s lowest numbers to date.
Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed the film’s box office blunder at The New York Times’ Dealbook Summit in November 2023, noting that the film was “shot during Covid,” and that “there wasn’t as much supervision on the set, so to speak, where we have executives [that are] really looking over what’s being done day after day after day.”
Months prior to The Marvels’ theatrical release in July 2023, Iger claimed that Marvel’s mass of content on Disney+ was contributing to the franchise’s failure at the box office, telling CNBC’s David Faber that “it diluted focus and attention.”
Iman Vellani, who starred in the film as Ms. Marvel, told Yahoo! Entertainment in November that in terms of the movie’s box office struggles, “I don’t want to focus on something that’s not even in my control, because what’s the point?”
“That’s for Bob Iger,” she added.
While The Marvels was followed by The Flash — a Warner Bros. and DC production with a $234 million studio net loss — in Deadline’s list, three other Disney films ranked just below the two films: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (-$216 million), Wish (-$198 million), and Haunted Mansion (-$117 million).
Nonetheless, all four Disney films are currently streaming on Disney+.
This article originally appeared in Decider and was reproduced with permission.