Disney’s newest animated feature “Wish” failed to place first at the box office over Thanksgiving weekend, making it one of the worst openings for a Disney movie in recent years.
The film, which was directed by Chris Buck, known for directing movies such as “Tarzan” and “Frozen”, and Fawn Verrasunthron in her directorial debut, was initially projected to gross $40- 45 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, according to Deadline.
However, after low openings both on its first day and on Thanksgiving, projections were lowered to $32 million, eventually earning $31.7 million despite a $200 million budget.
“Wish” ended up debuting in third place at the box office behind Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon”, and Lionsgate’s “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, which took the top spot at the box office for the second week in a row. Many critics believed that another animated movie “Trolls Band Together” ate into “Wish” ticket sales, according to CNBC.
“Wish” tells the story of Asha, a 17-year-old girl who journeys to save her Kingdom from an evil king by making a plea to the stars for help. The animated film stars Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique, and Victor Garber in starring roles.
“Wish” was recorded to have fallen behind the opening weekend gross of nearly every other film produced by Disney, except for movies like “Strange World” and “Raya and the Last Dragon”. This film was marketed as a celebration of 100 years of storytelling for Disney, making its underperformance more recognizable with fans.
The box office failure of “Wish” is also extending an unfortunate pattern for Disney, as many recent animated features from the company have been surpassed at the box office.
“The last several Disney films have been just fine,” said film student and Disney lover Eli Bourne. “Many people probably didn’t want to see it due to general audience fatigue.”
Many fans of the company and others have commented on “Wish” even before its release making the lackluster box office numbers expected.
According to Screen Rant, Disney’s marketing and reviews following the movie have been mediocre. Rotton Tomatoes rated the movie a 50%, claiming the film was predictable and boring, leaving too many people being uninspired to see “Wish” in theatres.
Other reviews, such as from Audrey Fox from Looper rated the film a 4/10, and explained that “the soundtrack was a hit-or-miss and the plot struggles with combining modern and traditional storytelling,” according to Looper.
Fans of Disney have also pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected the outcome of Disney’s animated movies, explaining that streaming has affected Disney’s marketing and box office numbers.
“Disney has watered down their reputation over the last few years,” Bourne added, “I think the general perception is heading towards ‘well the last few weren’t great, so I don’t know if I’ll see this one’”
Social media is also seen as a reason for the poor performance from “Wish” as many users commented on the animation and the songs of the film.
TikTok user @klaudiasays commented on the stylistic choice from song writers Julia Micheals and Benjamin Rice, both of who are successful writers for pop music, as opposed to musicals.
However, X (formerly Twitter) user @Triple Z_87 adored the animation, a combination of watercolor animation and computer animation, and the nod to past Disney works.
Disney’s “Wish” is playing in theatres now.
