As incredible as it may seem, 2023 marked the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company. Yes, it has been one hundred years since Walt Disney moved to Southern California with nothing but a suitcase and a dream. Together with his brother Roy, the two men completely changed the entertainment and theme park industries.
As part of the company’s 100th anniversary celebration, Walt Disney Animation Studios released a brand-new film, Wish (2023).
Related: Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Disney’s Wish
Wish starred Ariana DeBose (Hamilton) as Asha, a young woman who lives in the Kingdom of Rosas, a place where wishes come true. Asha gets the chance to work for King Magnifico, the sorcerer who rules Rosas and protects the wishes of his people.
However, Asha learns that Magnifico is not who he portrays himself to be. She makes a powerful wish on a star, asking for help in showing the people what Maginifico is doing to them. Her wish is so powerful, a star (named Star) comes down to help her.
Wish was released in theaters nationwide on November 22, 2023, but sadly, it didn’t perform the way Disney was hoping. Wish had a terrible opening weekend, only grossing $19.7 million at the domestic box office, much less than Disney anticipated. And the animated film only grossed $31 million over the Thanksgiving weekend.
After months of waiting, Disney finally launched Wish on its streaming service, Disney+, on April 3. And, unlike its theatrical performance, the animated film is dominating the streaming charts.
According to a report from Variety:
Wish reached 13.2 million views in its first five days on Disney+, where it debuted on April 3 after a November 2023 theatrical release.
That makes the film the No. 3 most-viewed streaming premiere for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film, trailing Encanto, which debuted in theaters in November 2021 before streaming on Disney+ that December, and Frozen 2, which released theatrically November 2019 an arrived on streaming the following March. Exact viewership data for those titles is unavailable.
Wish is not Disney’s first movie to underperform in theaters but come out on top in streaming. Disney and Pixar’s Elemental was released in theaters in June 2023 and also underperformed, despite its rave reviews. However, when the film was released on Disney+ in September 2023, it also shot to the top of the charts.
Wish was the longest Disney+ subscribers had to wait for a Disney film to go from theaters to Disney+. Subscribers typically only had to wait a few months to watch a movie on Disney+, but with Wish, they had to wait over 130 days.
Related: Disney’s Wish Will Break Streaming Record Upon Release
In addition to Ariana DeBose, Wish also stars Chris Pine (The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, 2004) as King Magnifico, Alan Tudyk as Valentino (Asha’s goat), Angelique Cabral as Queen Amaya, Victor Garber as Sabino (Asha’s grandfather), and Jennifer Kumiyama as Dahlia (Asha’s best friend). The film was written by Jennifer Lee, Allison Moore, and Chris Buck. It was directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn.
Did you watch Wish on Disney+? Let us know in the comments!
Saw it in the cinema and Disney plus