Every Fox Movie That Has Bombed Under Disney (And How Much They Lost)

Dark Phoenix: the cinematic equivalent of throwing cash down the toilet.

Ad Astra Brad Pitt
Disney

While there are a lot of understandable concerns among movie fans about just how many entertainment brands Disney now owns, if you look at it from the company's point of view, there were a ton of good reasons for the Mouse House to push ahead in their decision to purchase Fox.

Not only did they acquire movie franchises like X-Men and Planet Of The Apes, but they also got TV juggernauts like The Simpsons and Family Guy, with Fox's vast library of content giving Disney an insane amount of stuff to put on its recently-launched streaming service, Disney Plus.

However, it's not all good news. By taking over Fox, Disney also took over all of the studio's in-development movies, many of which have now been released, and many of which have bombed at the box-office.

From Dark Phoenix to The Call Of The Wild, Fox's leftovers have performed so poorly that Disney actually reported a $170 million loss in its third quarter last year, and things haven't looked much better recently, either.

So, let's take a look at these floundering releases, using the information we have at our disposal to estimate how much they might've lost for the almighty Disney.

7. Dark Phoenix ($100+ Million Loss)

Ad Astra Brad Pitt
Fox

Production Budget: $200 million | Worldwide Gross: $246 million

Fox's last hurrah for their long-running X-Men movie series, pretty much everybody could sense that Dark Phoenix was in trouble after it endured months of bad buzz and a deeply troubled production schedule.

However, its box-office performance was worse than even the most conservative of industry projections. Immediately after its disappointing opening weekend, Deadline wrote that it was set to earn between $300 million and $325 million worldwide, but it actually capped out at a staggeringly low $246 million.

In that same article, the outlet also noted that the film was headed for a loss of over $100 million, and as its box-office run continued to disappoint, that prediction soon became a grim reality (that $170 million loss we mentioned in our introduction was largely driven by Dark Phoenix).

Crucially though, a $100 million loss was only if it hit $300 million worldwide, as per Deadline's projection. With the movie only managing to reach $246 million globally, its total losses will be much higher.

Contributor
Contributor

WhoCulture Channel Manager/Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture. Can confirm that bow ties are cool.