Lightyear’s Failure So Severe It Could Impact the Disney Parks

Pixar’s Lightyear is going to be a massive financial failure for Disney. We have already explained why, but it’s time to look at the ripple effect this is having on the company.

The movie had a $200 million production budget and a $100 million advertising budget. This indicates that the studio has to make about $600,000,000 to break even and start making money. You could wonder why the price is doubled. because the studios must pay fees and other taxes in addition to giving the theaters a 50% cut.

Unfortunately for the House of Mouse, Lightyear’s opening weekend international sales were barely $85 million for Disney. Accordingly, estimates for a standard six-week run come to about $168 million internationally. If that holds, the movie makes a pitiful amount of money. In other words, Lightyear will never gross $200 million globally when it is all said and done. This movie will be a massive loss for the Tragic Kingdom.

According to ThatParkPlace.com, Lightyear will set Disney back around $400,000,000. And now the stench of this bomb is affecting other sales streams.

When you have a movie that bad, with that sort of loss, other plans start to go out the window. A reader sent in a note to us stating that Target is already discounting toys related to the Lightyear movie by 30%. That’s not inspiring confidence. Well just like discounted toys and unsold movie seats are a painful thing for Disney, they have two Disney Parks issues that they’re going to need to address.

Indeed the damage to the Disney brand goes further than merchandise sales, it’s even impacting the parks. It turns out that Disney Parks was already in the process of updating legacy rides with Buzz Lightyear retrofits, but with a SPOILER ALERT twist in the movie, it turns out they’ve got ANOTHER big problem on their hands – one of their own making.

Lightyear Mountain

This one is the easier of the two. Surely it’s time to put this rumor to rest if you’re Disney, or at least just dismiss it in a round-about way. It has as much chance of being implemented as Solo: A Star War Story has for getting a sequel. Yet websites we like, such as WDWNT, are running articles talking about it. Now, if Disney doesn’t do something with a Space Mountain tie-in, people are going to be saying Lightyear is a failure. They’re right.

Space Ranger Spin

A much bigger problem for Disney is that they have an attraction that has guests shooting Zerg. It’s a popular ride in both Disneyland and Disney World. Now (spoiler alert for the movie), guests are going to know that when they’re shooting Zerg, they’re actually shooting Buzz Lightyear. Now that’s an interesting twist. So what kid is going to want to ride something where you shoot Buzz? Buzz is supposed to be the good guy! This reminds me of a tweet from That Park Place about the Chip and Dale movie:

Disney better wake up. This movie is just a slow motion train wreck at this point, and it’s all their fault. 

Bwah-hah-ha-ha-ha…!!!