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Chris Evans, who plays Buzz Lightyear in the latest Pixar film, Lightyear, is bashing critics of the gay kiss in the film “idiots,” adding that “those individuals” will “die off like dinosaurs.” The Disney-Pixar animated children’s film has been banned in Middle Eastern nations, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), due to a kiss between two female characters in one of the scenes.
Disney’s “Lightyear,” an origin story about the Star Command’s most famous space ranger, is expected to launch to $70 million to $80 million from 4,200 North American theaters, which should be enough to claim the No. 1 spot.
It is worth noting that when you compare that box office to other Pixar movies, the opening weekends are quite different from $70-$80M.
- Toy Story 4: $120.9M
- Finding Dory: $135M
- Incredibles 2: $182M
With “Lightyear,” which tells the story behind the movie that inspired Andy’s favorite toy, Disney is banking on nostalgia to bring in kids whose parents were fans of “Toy Story.” Family audiences have returned in fits and starts, but it’s a demographic that’s been largely absent since COVID.
But Pixar’s track record has already been spotty, according to the ThatParkPlace:
The last time Pixar brought out a movie to theaters, they were decimated. Onward failed miserably, and thankfully for Pixar, they were able to claim that the pandemic was the reason. That was mostly true, but it’s also true that Onward didn’t open well nor was it greatly received. It’s not sitting on the charts of Disney+ like Moana or Encanto. Now, after several years, Pixar is bringing Lightyear to the theaters and taking their chance to prove they still have that Pixar magic. But their new entry is heading for less than half of Incredibles 2 for its opening domestic weekend. Even worse, if this movie opens poorly, there’s no room to make it up. Minions: The Rise of Gru launches two weeks after Lightyear and it is competing with Lightyear directly. By every indication, The Rise of Gru is heading for a big start.
That means Lightyear has basically two weeks to do what it’s going to do. If it opens at $70-80 million domestically (maybe $130 million globally) and then it has a 50% drop in the next week, Lightyear is going to have a hard time getting over the $300 million mark. That’s 75% of Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s box office run, but Sonic had less than half of Lightyear’s budget. Lightyear cost an estimated $200 million in production, but we can easily assume it has an additional $100 million advertising budget. That brings the total cost for Lightyear to at least $300 million. Disney will get something around 60% of total revenues from movie theaters (most companies get 50% but Disney has sweetheart deals), which means it needs $500 million in gross global revenues to break even. If it opens at $130-150 million worldwide in the first weekend, I don’t see how it gets there with The Rise of Gru and Paws of Fury coming out after it this summer. That’s setting up a situation where Lightyear has a $100 million plus loss for its theatrical run.
Is Chris Evans’ decision to put critics on blast the same tactic Disney has been employing anytime they feel they have a dud incoming? And it’s worth remembering that the lesbian kissing scene was apparently cut from an early draft of the film, but was later reinserted in order to spite the Florida legislature for passing a Parents Rights in Education law that prevented gay indoctrination in public school grades kindergarten through third grade,
Notably, “Lightyear” is the first Pixar movie to play on the big screen in more than two years. During the pandemic, three Pixar movies — “Soul,” “Luca” and “Turning Red” — skipped theaters to land directly on Disney+ in an effort to prop up the company’s successful streaming service. Disney desperately needs “Lightyear” to succeed since the film cost $200 million to produce, not including pricey marketing efforts, so it needs to be a box office winner to turn a profit, and it has about two weeks to pull it off.
While mainstream press seems to be praising Chris Evans for attacking critics of the same-sex kiss in a children’s movie, it’s unknown if it will impact the film’s box office.
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