
Disney’s Strange World is in trouble. The new film, which has been the subject of controversy, isn’t doing well. In fact, it’s failing. The film is currently banned in several countries which doesn’t help its disappointing box office performance but even among those who have seen the film, it currently has the lowest audience score ever for a Disney animated film. This feels like a good time to remind you that Home on the Range exists, and this film scores lower.
The Rotten Tomatoes score is 75% which is pretty bad for a Disney movie. However, the audience score is downright embarrassing. It scores a B. No Disney film has ever scored a B by audiences at CinemaScore. While the rubric for the grade isn’t scientific, it is telling. The score is derived by asking audiences their thoughts directly after they leave the movie so the score reflects real time reaction.
For reference, here are the grades for films that have received a score (which began in 1991 so Beauty and the Beast is the first Disney film to be rated in this manner):
- Beauty and the Beast: A+
- Aladdin: A+
- The Lion King: A+
- Pocahontas: A−
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame: A
- Hercules: A
- Tarzan: A
- Fantasia 2000: [No data]
- Dinosaur: A
- The Emperor’s New Groove: A
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire: A
- Lilo & Stitch: A
- Treasure Planet: A–
- Brother Bear: A
- Home on the Range: A–
- Chicken Little: A–
- Meet the Robinsons: A–
- Bolt: A–
- The Princess and the Frog: A
- Tangled: A+
- Winnie the Pooh: A–
- Wreck-It Ralph: A
- Frozen: A+
- Big Hero 6: A
- Zootopia: A
- Moana: A
- Ralph Breaks the Internet: A–
- Frozen 2: A–
- Raya and the Last Dragon: A
- Encanto: A
- Strange World: B
In addition to its poor audience score, the film just isn’t performing up to par from a box office standpoint. The Thanksgiving holiday is usually a big day for movie goers but ths far it has only picked up $4.2 million bringing the 5-day gross earnings to a disappointing $24 million. For a film with a $180 million budget, that’s…not good.
The sci-fi film wasn’t marketed well and had the unfortunate luck to be released during the run of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The Marvel film has received the bulk of advertising and merchandising effort leaving Strange World to languish on its own. Unsurprisingly, the Black Panther sequel is also dominating the box office grossing $63 million which has handily beat all competition.
The controversial film has been widely criticized by parental and religious group for its LGBTQ+ representation. An animated feature without parental support is usually doomed but there is still time for Strange World to pick up sales and elevate itself from the “Disney failure” pile. If sales pick up over the next few weeks it could eek out enough profit to be considered a moderate success.