‘Nutcracker’ Makes Box Office History — The Bad Kind

Ever since Disney determined The Jungle Book needed to be done in “real-life” style, the home of the mouse has been recycling its classics for what would be good for profits… eh, families.

Beauty and the Beast was acclaimed and did not disappoint. Next year, we will see The Lion King, which looks like it will equal the animated version of greatness. The verdict is still out on Aladdin thanks to an underwhelming trailer. But first, we find ourselves looking at The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. 

It was bad enough this movie was made a real version, but to jack with it (and make sure the homeless Samuel L. Jackson finally gets some work) was a skosh overboard. It was hitting theaters with the highly anticipated (suck it, critics) Bohemian Rhapsody, but this is Disney. Surely, it will impress.

Yeah, not so much.

While Bohemian Rhapsody is outperforming all the haters at $50M for a nice opening weekend, the Nutcracker just got kicked in its nuts with a paltry $20M opening. And when you consider that’s a $130M budget, this is not one of Disney’s best gambles.

In fact, if you look at introspective articles like this one in ‘The Wrap,’ it’s already being considered one of Hollywood’s loudest flops. Like, up there with Ishtar, Gigli, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, and another Disney banner Treasure Planet. 

“Obviously, while we try to put all our films in the best position to succeed, some might not connect as much as we hope,” said Disney domestic distribution head Cathleen Taff.

This will certainly mark the tote boards at Disney, as this was the biggest fart-and-fall-down moment in more than two years with the $18M opening of The BFG. Well, that and if you want to consider Solo, the worst-performing movie in the history of the franchise with only $392M globally.

So, what’s a studio to do?

Yes, they own Lucasfilm and Marvel so cash cows will continue mooing. They’ll be fine, but Disney may want to think about the movies they choose to altar. Not all movies need a reboot, a sequel, or a live-action version. Sometimes, believe it or not, certain films are better left untouched.

Just ask the girl-power Ghostbusters, Psycho from 1998, Robocop in 2014, and maybe Rob Zombie’s Halloween. You get the point.