Pixar finally has its first box-office bomb
After 16 movies, it looks like "The Good Dinosaur" is the company's first real box-office failure.
The film opened with a soft $39.1 million following less-than-stellar reviews (even a critically mixed Pixar movie like "Brave" opened with $66 million) and then in its second weekend only made $15.5 million, a 60% drop in sales, which is unheard of from a Pixar movie.
Things won't get any better for the movie, which looks at an Apatosaurus dinosaur on a journey to reunite with his family, as competition for eyeballs will only increase. And not just from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" coming in two weeks, but for kids there's "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip," and "The Peanuts Movie" is still going strong.
According to Variety, the film's production budget was $200 million, and roughly $150 million was pumped into marketing. Adding in other costs, that means Disney, which releases Pixar movies, would have to make back $500 million to break even. This could happen with the help of foreign sales and home entertainment, though analysts are projecting that the movie will earn under $400 million worldwide.
Just earlier this year, Pixar had a major success with "Inside Out," which earned over $850 million worldwide. This could have led to the audience being a little burnt out from emotionally-charged Pixar movies for the rest of the year.
If "The Good Dinosaur" doesn't pick up the pace, it will be Pixar's lowest-grossing film since 1998's "A Bug's Life," which made $363.4 million worldwide.