It might sound strange, but even with Avengers: Endgame's massive box office earnings, The Walt Disney Company didn't have quite a good quarter on record recently falling $700 million short in projected revenues. Now, it looks like the company is putting the blame on X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
Disney just recently had corporate earnings call this week (via ComicBook.com), and it was revealed that the company came short in its revenues. This lackluster performance was blamed on the underperforming films under 20th Century Fox, including the box office flop, X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
"[The Fox] film studio had an operating loss in the third quarter of about $170 million which was driven by the underperformance of theatrical titles including ‘Dark Phoenix,' marketing for future releases, and development expenses," Christine McCarthy, Disney's CFO said during the call.
It might be a bit too much to put most of the blame on Dark Phoenix, but the film did lose a lot of money. Not only did the very last X-Men installment bomb among critics, but it only grossed $252 million at the worldwide box office which was just a little over the film's $200 million production budget. That's not accounting for the film's marketing and promotional costs.
Despite the $700 million fall, McCarthy did make sure to note that the entire slate under Walt Disney Studios banners performed pretty well. This includes films like Endgame, Toy Story 4, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Captain Marvel.
"On the other hand, I'll note that the performance of the Disney film studio continues to be incredibly strong," McCarthy said.
Perhaps the company is just in a period where it has to balance itself after a major acquisition. Let's wait and see.
Disney's next big release, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, is set for release on December 20, 2019.
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