Deadline's Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament (AKA The 10 Most Profitable Films of the Year) - 2023 Edition [UPDATE: Winner revealed!!]

[Koni]

Recently around spring of every year, Deadline Hollywood (better known as Deadline) publishes a series of articles over the course of several days listing the 10 most profitable movies of the previous year, according to their own estimates. Calculating movie profits isn't just a matter of looking at production budget versus theatrical gross, as there's other avenues to consider, such as prints and advertising, talent participations, residuals, as well as ancilliary revenues (VOD, DVD, TV, and most recently streaming). Deadline, known to have ties and connections to various movie studios, takes into account all of these when taking in data from "seasoned and trusted sources" and even makes a chart breaking down the revenue and costs for each movie featured in each article, so do check them out!

In addition to listing the most profitable movies, Deadline also publishes an article smaller movies that ended up making bank (which I have listed as Honorable Mentions), as well as an article listing the biggest financial bombs of the year (which I will have listed as Biggest Bombs - this article in particular is going to be VERY interesting this year).

Here's a chain featuring all of the articles the website wrote for 2022! Avatar: The Way Of Water won the tournament, bringing in an estimated $531.7 million in profit.

And now without further ado, the most (and least) profitable movies of 2023!

#10 - Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie ($114 million in profit)

‘PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie’: Kid Pic Barks Way Into No. 10 Spot In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie's ultimate ticket sales underscored the brand's power to pull in families with young kids.

deadline.com

Deadline curiously has a merchandise section in its table for Paw Patrol, with the reason for it coming down to the fact that the movie was greenlit based on its ability to spur merchandise sales. Indeed, the $50 million in merch sales ended up being the key factor in Paw Patrol making the list. Kim Kardashian being part of the cast also played a role, helping to attract moms in particular.

#9 - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($124 million in profit)

‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3’: James Gunn’s Last Ride At Marvel, At No. 9, Is Disney’s Only Pic In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

The James Gunn-directed 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' is one of the few Marvel movies to profit in 2023, making $124 million after costs.

deadline.com

This is Disney’s only movie in the Top 10, a far cry from the 4 movies they had last year. Apart from Avatar: The Way Of Water, which won the whole dang thing, the other three movies that made the cut were also from the MCU - those being Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness ($284 million in profit), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($259 million in profit) and Thor: Love and Thunder ($104 million in profit).

#8 - Five Nights At Freddy's ($161 million in profit)

‘Five Nights At Freddy’s’ Defies Theatrical Day-And-Date Odds, Is No. 8 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

'Five Nights at Freddy's' defied theatrical day-and-date box office prospects as the widest viewed movie ever on Peacock and $161 million in profits.

deadline.com

This was a rare theatrical day-and-date release that was successful on both fronts. The TV and streaming revenue alone was enough to cover both the production and advertising costs of the film and leave $20 million to spare. Then the movie outperformed expectations in the box office while simultaneously becoming the most watched title ever on Peacock. This is all without an IMAX release.

#7 - Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour ($172 million in profit)

‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ Writes Her Name As No. 7 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

AMC's theatrical release of 'Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour' concert film made $172 million in net profit.

deadline.com

This movie has zero participation expenses, likely due to essentially just being a Taylor Swift concert on video. Most interestingly, AMC, along with a few other companies, sidestepped studios entirely and distributed the movie themselves. The massive success of The Eras Tour in the wake of both COVID and the writers and actors’ strikes has the theatre chain looking into concert films as an additional source of revenue so as to not completely rely on studios.

#6 - Wonka ($182 million in profit)

‘Wonka’ Reawakens The Movie Musical To Land At No. 6 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

Timothée Chalamet's Warner Bros musical Wonka net $182 million after all costs and box office.

deadline.com

The financial success of both this film and Dune: Part Two has led to Warner Bros. Hammering out a first look feature film deal with Timothée Chalamet. Deadline partially attributes the Wonka’s success to Warner Bros hiding the fact that it was a musical in the film’s advertising and then letting audiences decide when they’re in the theater - a strategy that is currently being tested again with Joker: Folie a Deux.

#5 - Oppenheimer ($201.9 million in profit)

Oscar Best Picture Winner ‘Oppenheimer’ Is No. 5 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

Oppenheimer saw a profit of $201.9 million after the Oscar winner's home entertainment, box office and production costs.

deadline.com

The $175 million paid in participations to basically everyone involved is likely the big reason as to why the pic did not land higher on the list, though Nolan walked away with a figure lower than the “wildly exaggerated” $100 million that was initially rumored from his deal. The $170 million in prints and advertising, between the initial marketing and the awards campaign - both of which have proven to be very successful, also likely played a role.

#4 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutent Mayhem ($204.5 million in profit)

‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Shockingly Slays Way To No. 4 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

In a summer 2023 box office dominated by Barbie, Mutant Mayhem ended its run at $118.7 million stateside and $181.9 million worldwide.

deadline.com

Deadline once again has a merchandise section for TMNT, as the film being greenlit was apparently contingent on it. In this case, merchandise generated $135 million in revenue, which is ultimately how the movie reached the profit numbers it did. The film also benefitted from lower print and advertising costs due to the strikes, as well as a lack of any participation expenses.


Honorable Mentions
Anyone But You - $103 million in profit
Insidious: The Red Door - $92 million in profit
The Nun II - $85 million in profit
Scream VI - $60 million in profit
Evil Dead Rise - $46 million in profit

Small Movies, Big Profits: Sydney Sweeney And Glen Powell’s Rom-Com, Horror Hits Among Overachievers In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

Anyone But You, Scream VI and more were inexpensive movies to make but made big bucks for their studios.

deadline.com

Biggest Bombs
The Marvels - $237 million loss
The Flash - $155 million loss
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - $143 million loss
Wish - $131 million loss
Haunted Mansion - $117 million loss

Disney Detonates Four Bombs In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

Disney's The Marvels, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Haunted Mansion and Wish, and DC's The Flash were big movies that lost out on profits.

deadline.com

#3 - Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse ($328 million in profit)

‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’ Conquers Superhero Fatigue At No. 3 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' conquers superhero fatigue at no. 3 in Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament.

deadline.com

The film had tons of global brand partners - from Nike to Burger King to even Hyundai - yet despite this, prints and advertising costs amounted to a fairly low $90 million. Both participations and residuals also amounted to only $60 million combined. In terms of revenue, Spider-Verse also benefitted from a pay-one deal between Sony and Netflix, which helped boost it's television and streaming revenue to $160 million.

#2 - Barbie ($421 million in profit)

‘Barbie’ Struts To No. 2 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

Barbie become the highest-grossing movie in Warner Bros history with $1.44 billion, overtaking Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

deadline.com

The film accrued over $1 billion in revenue, with $200 million coming from television and streaming. Not counted here are merchandise sales related to the movie, which would've added an extra $150 million to the total. Major expenses came in the form of $175 million in prints and advertising, mostly due to promotional partnerships and an awards campaign, and $175 million in participations, $100 million of which went to Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling alone.

#1 - The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($559 million in profit)

‘The Super Mario Bros Movie’ Levels All The Way Up To Win Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

The Super Mario Bros Movie is the highest-grossing Illumination film of all time with $1.36 billion at the global box office.

deadline.com

This is Illumination's most profitable movie according to Deadline, beating out Minions's $502 million. While the movie generated $50 million less than Barbie in terms of revenue, Mario benefitted from slightly lower prints and advertising costs (at $150 million), as well as significantly lower participation costs (at $90 million).

An epilogue to the tournament focused on streaming movies will be released, so stay tuned!

 

[Turkey]

I'd guess the next 4 would go something like

#4 Sound of Freedom
#3 Across the Spider-Verse
#2 Barbie
#1 Mario

SoF mainly for stupidly low budget/partecipation costs. Mario over Barbie because I assume Robbie made a ton off it.

 

[Koni]

I'd guess the next 4 would go something like

#4 Sound of Freedom
#3 Across the Spider-Verse
#2 Barbie
#1 Mario

SoF mainly for stupidly low budget/partecipation costs. Mario over Barbie because I assume Robbie made a ton off it.

Yeah, the consensus has been either John Wick 4 or Sound of Freedom, but I can see the latter making it in more.

Tbh I'm more surprised Spider-Verse seems to be pretty high, I wonder where all of that profit came from. Will be itneresting to see.

As for Mario and Barbie, on one hand like you said Margot Robbie probably made a ton of bank and I'm wondering what the marketing spend was but on the other hand, I presume Nintendo's making a 50% cut of the profits the Mario movie makes, so I wonder if Anthony'll factor that in...

 

[Turkey]

Yeah, the consensus has been either John Wick 4 or Sound of Freedom, but I can see the latter making it in more.

Tbh I'm more surprised Spider-Verse seems to be pretty high, I wonder where all of that profit came from. Will be itneresting to see.

As for Mario and Barbie, on one hand like you said Margot Robbie probably made a ton of bank and I'm wondering what the marketing spend was but on the other hand, I presume Nintendo's making a 50% cut of the profits the Mario movie makes, so I wonder if Anthony'll factor that in...

I don't think Deadline cares about the Illumination/Nintendo split. It's just money for the studio(s), how they split it is not a concern. Maybe I'm wrong, though.

And for spiderverse, I assume they account for a good amount made off streaming and even ancillaries, and then a not particularly high partecipation column (probably not super low since this is a sequel, but I don't think the names involved can command super high cuts).

 

[Lelouch0612]

Honorable Mentions
Anyone But You - $103 million in profit
Insidious: The Red Door - $92 million in profit
The Nun II - $85 million in profit
Scream VI - $60 million in profit
Evil Dead Rise - $46 million in profit

Honorable mentions or should we call it, the Horrir category

 

[Gimmick]

Man, I would love to see comparisons from movies to games, like seeing how much money Nintendo earns, like the Super Mario movie Vs. Super Mario Wonder.

 

[Koni]

Honorable Mentions
Anyone But You - $103 million in profit
Insidious: The Red Door - $92 million in profit
The Nun II - $85 million in profit
Scream VI - $60 million in profit
Evil Dead Rise - $46 million in profit

Honorable mentions or should we call it, the Horrir category

Yeah, horror had a really good year. XD

It makes sense: horror movies as we know are generally quite cheap to produce, so the bar to making a profit is noticeably lower. On one hand, it’s way easier to get more experimental and creative in that field compared to others. On the other hand, it also means that you’re more liable to get away with things such as, I dunno, slapping popular IP that recently hit the public domain onto a generic movie and making a profit off of people’s curiosity.

So, give and take. XD

 

[Mekanos]

Wow I completely forgot Sound Of Freedom was a thing.

Also after how Disney treated Gunn, it sure is something that he made the only profitable movie for them that year.

 

[Koni]

Oh, this one is actually quite shocking:

#4 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutent Mayhem ($204.5 million in profit)

‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Shockingly Slays Way To No. 4 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

In a summer 2023 box office dominated by Barbie, Mutant Mayhem ended its run at $118.7 million stateside and $181.9 million worldwide.

deadline.com

Deadline once again has a merchandise section for TMNT, as the film was apparently contingent on it, only in this case merchandise generated $135 million in revenue. The film also benefitted from lower print and advertising costs due to the strikes, as well as a lack of any participation expenses.

The common consensus was that this position would go to either Sound of Freedom or John Wick Chapter 4, so to see Mutant Mayhem of all movies get it is interesting. We also have 100% confirmation that Barbie and Mario are higher up, and that merchandise will not factor into the equation for their profit estimates:

You’ll notice when we get to Barbie and The Super Mario Bros Movie it’s absent, as those movies weren’t contingent on merchandise sales.

 

[Koti]

Oh, this one is actually quite shocking:

#4 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutent Mayhem ($204.5 million in profit)

‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ Shockingly Slays Way To No. 4 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

In a summer 2023 box office dominated by Barbie, Mutant Mayhem ended its run at $118.7 million stateside and $181.9 million worldwide.

deadline.com

Deadline once again has a merchandise section for TMNT, as the film was apparently contingent on it, only in this case merchandise generated $135 million in revenue. The film also benefitted from lower print and advertising costs due to the strikes, as well as a lack of any participation expenses.

The common consensus was that this position would go to either Sound of Freedom or John Wick Chapter 4, so to see Mutant Mayhem of all movies get it is interesting. We also have 100% confirmation that Barbie and Mario are higher up, and that merchandise will not factor into the equation for their profit estimates:

Idk I feel like merchandise shouldn't be included cuz it's a list of most profitable "film". The profit should come from the film alone.

 

[Jbone916]

Yeah, it’s really hard to take this list seriously at all now tbh. Including merchandising on some films but not others because of contingencies feels like a cheat.

 

[Mekanos]

Look, I want a sequel to Mutant Mayhem as much as anyone, but let's not pad the numbers this much

 

[Koni]

Idk I feel like merchandise shouldn't be included cuz it's a list of most profitable "film". The profit should come from the film alone.

Yeah, it’s really hard to take this list seriously at all now tbh. Including merchandising on some films but not others because of contingencies feels like a cheat.

It's... interesting, alright. On one hand, Paw Patrol and TMNT are franchises whose financial lifeblood come from their merchandise sales, so I can see where this comes from, but on the other hand Barbie and Mario also sell plenty of merch yet those won't be counted at all - the article even mentions this. According to Deadline, it seems as if they only took into account merch sales directly tied into the movie, if that helps?

I mention Paw Patrol and TMNT because they both have merchandise as part of their profit calculations, and both are franchises owned by Paramount - which, interestingly enough, is just about ready to be sold off to the highest bidder. So I wonder if this is Paramount meddling with things... either way, the Top 3 should be pretty much set at this point.

 

[Gartooth]

It's kind of ridiculous to include merch for TMNT to pump it up to #4 but not to do so for Barbie which is a genuine toy brand IP.

I dunno it is hard to see the legitimacy in this ranking now because it feels motivated by some Hollywood accounting style bias to put a movie so high up at over $200 million in profit that didn't even cross that amount worldwide at the box office.

Even on merch you'd have to question if this was TMNT toys specific to the movie or just any and all toys sold in that IP during the movie's window last year.

 

[WestEgg]

Yeah, there was also a ton of Mario movie specific merchandise last year and over the holidays, so that feels very selective. Starting to think Spider-Verse might not have made the list unless it did exceptionally well on streaming and home releases, given it only made 690M in theaters.

 

[Koni]

Yeah, there was also a ton of Mario movie specific merchandise last year and over the holidays, so that feels very selective. Starting to think Spider-Verse might not have made the list unless it did exceptionally well on streaming and home releases, given it only made 690M in theaters.

It SHOULD be #3 on the list because it won't be in the Top 2 for obvious reasons and there's nothing else that could feasibly have made enough money. We'll see though.

Kinda miffed that the moment I do a thread on this topic, Deadline pulls this. I know the site's a mouthpiece for various studios and theater chains but this is ridiculous. xDD

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Yeah, the consensus has been either John Wick 4 or Sound of Freedom, but I can see the latter making it in more.

We actually have an article that goes about as much details as we'll ever get as normal onlookers.
This comes about as part of the CEO's interview with Deadline.

Spoiler: Table with Numbers

Sound of Freedom
Theater Access Costs $129,557,374 (52% of total box office revenue)
Tax Withholding	$18,962,401	(8%)
P&A and Distribution Costs	$47,584,354	(19%)
Payment to Filmmakers	$35,578,712	(14%)
Angel Studios	$17,804,356	(7%)
Total Box Office	$249,487,197	(100%)
Global Pay-it-Forward Receipts	$26,075,511
Pay-it-Forward Ticket Redemptions*	-$21,794,657
Marketing Costs to Pay It Forward	-$6,417,669
Third Party Ticketing Fees	-$1,125,854
Total Pay-it-Forward Cash Flow	-$3,262,668
Total Tickets Paid Forward Globally	1,827,634
* included in total box office

Kinda miffed that the moment I do a thread on this topic, Deadline pulls this.

I get it, your enthusiast was palpable in the OP.
It was most keenly felt when talking about the myriad of 2023 BOMBAs though

I know the site's a mouthpiece for various studios and theater chains but this is ridiculous. xDD

Speaking of which, there's an even greater chance in that list to have some shenanigans too considering the pedigree of who made/distributed those movies.

 

[Gartooth]

It SHOULD be #3 on the list because it won't be in the Top 2 for obvious reasons and there's nothing else that could feasibly have made enough money. We'll see though.

Kinda miffed that the moment I do a thread on this topic, Deadline pulls this. I know the site's a mouthpiece for various studios and theater chains but this is ridiculous. xDD

No worries haha. I paid attention to this series that Deadline would do in past years so I was looking forward to the 2023 edition of it given how many high profile movies released last year. But yeah TMNT at #4 absolutely feels like Paramount was feeding Deadline BS to try and puff themselves up.

 

[Koni]

We actually have an article that goes about as much details as we'll ever get as normal onlookers.
This comes about as part of the CEO's interview with Deadline.

Spoiler: Table with Numbers

Sound of Freedom
Theater Access Costs $129,557,374 (52% of total box office revenue)
Tax Withholding	$18,962,401	(8%)
P&A and Distribution Costs	$47,584,354	(19%)
Payment to Filmmakers	$35,578,712	(14%)
Angel Studios	$17,804,356	(7%)
Total Box Office	$249,487,197	(100%)
Global Pay-it-Forward Receipts	$26,075,511
Pay-it-Forward Ticket Redemptions*	-$21,794,657
Marketing Costs to Pay It Forward	-$6,417,669
Third Party Ticketing Fees	-$1,125,854
Total Pay-it-Forward Cash Flow	-$3,262,668
Total Tickets Paid Forward Globally	1,827,634
* included in total box office

I get it, your enthusiast was palpable in the OP.
It was most keenly felt when talking about the myriad of 2023 BOMBAs though



Speaking of which, there's an even greater chance in that list to have some shenanigans too considering the pedigree of who made/distributed those movies.

That article is really interesting! Nice to get full financials here so publicly.

And tbh, yeah. I'm honestly the more curious about the article featuring box office bombs than anything else because 2023 was an all-timer in that regard - so many blockbuster films crashed and burned and I'd absolutely love to see those loss estimatescause those are potentially record breaking. I hope Anthony writes that article, actually, as I can easily see it being skipped this year because it's gonna be embarassing. xDD

 

[Koni]

Oh my god, it's here. The madlads actually did it.

If you're a Disney fan, look away now.

Ahem:

Biggest Bombs
The Marvels - $237 million loss
The Flash - $155 million loss
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - $143 million loss
Wish - $131 million loss
Haunted Mansion - $117 million loss

Disney Detonates Four Bombs In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

Disney's The Marvels, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Haunted Mansion and Wish, and DC's The Flash were big movies that lost out on profits.

deadline.com

SOME NOTES:
- The Marvels is the biggest box office bomb Deadline has ever projected since the website began their Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament in 2013.
- The #5 biggest bomb on this list, Haunted Mansion, would've been #2 on the bombs list if it released in 2022.

 

[WestEgg]

Dear Lord, Disney .

 

[AuroraMusisAmica]

That's quite the way to celebrate your 100th anniversary.

 

[Ishaan]

I had no idea TMNT had been that profitable. Awesome to see that franchise still trucking along.

I haven't kept an eye on the Turtles in a while, but is the whole love for pizza still a major part of its/their identity? I could see that being the kind of thing that stands the test of time and helps reach kids today. (In addition to the whole "wise-cracking ninja" thing, obviously.)

 

[Gartooth]

Disney had 4 of the 5 biggest bombs of the year, and just 1 of those movies alone would wipe out all the profits of their only successful movie in GotG3.

Ouch

I had no idea TMNT had been that profitable. Awesome to see that franchise still trucking along.

I haven't kept an eye on the Turtles in a while, but is the whole love for pizza still a major part of its/their identity? I could see that being the kind of thing that stands the test of time and helps reach kids today. (In addition to the whole "wise-cracking ninja" thing, obviously.)

Yeah its still a pretty big part of them. TMNT is constantly rebooting canon to try different things with the story and such but some traits of the series like their love of pizza has stayed consistent since the first cartoon.

 

[MysticGon]

Oh my god, it's here. The madlads actually did it.

If you're a Disney fan, look away now.

Ahem:

Biggest Bombs
The Marvels - $237 million loss
The Flash - $155 million loss
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - $143 million loss
Wish - $131 million loss
Haunted Mansion - $117 million loss

Disney Detonates Four Bombs In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

Disney's The Marvels, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Haunted Mansion and Wish, and DC's The Flash were big movies that lost out on profits.

deadline.com

SOME NOTES:
- The Marvels is the biggest box office bomb Deadline has ever projected since the website began their Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament in 2013.
- The #5 biggest bomb on this list, Haunted Mansion, would've been #2 on the bombs list if it released in 2022.

Just wait until Mufasa and Snow White are squatted out onto the charts. You haven't seen nothing yet...

 

[Pancracio17]

Disney had it coming. It took some exceptionally bad decisions to get to were we are with the MCU and their animated films.

 

[Turkey]

Huh, didn't have TMNT in mind but 135M merch looks really off, I can't imagine merch profits generated by the film in and of itself would be anywhere near that.

 

[Bodokoh]

TMNT in 4th place is really something that no one is going to believe.

 

[Lelouch0612]

Oh my god, it's here. The madlads actually did it.

If you're a Disney fan, look away now.

Ahem:

Biggest Bombs
The Marvels - $237 million loss
The Flash - $155 million loss
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - $143 million loss
Wish - $131 million loss
Haunted Mansion - $117 million loss

Disney Detonates Four Bombs In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

Disney's The Marvels, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Haunted Mansion and Wish, and DC's The Flash were big movies that lost out on profits.

deadline.com

SOME NOTES:
- The Marvels is the biggest box office bomb Deadline has ever projected since the website began their Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament in 2013.
- The #5 biggest bomb on this list, Haunted Mansion, would've been #2 on the bombs list if it released in 2022.

Wow

Some of it is due to pandemic inflating costs (hello Indiana Jones) but it it also a mix of subpar movies and bad franchise management (hello The Marvels and the MCU).

 

[Mekanos]

Disney must have blown through a lot of their 2019 era profits with those bombs. Hard to say it was undeserved, though.

 

[Pooroomoo]

Disney had it coming. It took some exceptionally bad decisions to get to were we are with the MCU and their animated films.

I believe the creation of the Disney Plus streaming service is the source of most of Disney's problems - almost every bad decision is either a direct or indirect result of its existence, imo.

 

[Gimmick]

What's so wild with the Disney movies, is that every one of them was easy to predict would struggle, maybe not bomb as hard as they did, but the decision-making at that company has failed on so many levels. The people in charge seem to have forgotten how to make good superhero movies in a matter of 5 years.

 

[WestEgg]

What's so wild with the Disney movies, is that every one of them was easy to predict would struggle, maybe not bomb as hard as they did, but the decision-making at that company has failed on so many levels. The people in charge seem to have forgotten how to make good superhero movies in a matter of 5 years.

Guardians 3 was good, they should get the guy who made that to do more stuff!

Oh…

 

[saicho]

Oh my god, it's here. The madlads actually did it.

If you're a Disney fan, look away now.

Ahem:

Biggest Bombs
The Marvels - $237 million loss
The Flash - $155 million loss
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - $143 million loss
Wish - $131 million loss
Haunted Mansion - $117 million loss

Disney Detonates Four Bombs In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

Disney's The Marvels, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Haunted Mansion and Wish, and DC's The Flash were big movies that lost out on profits.

deadline.com

SOME NOTES:
- The Marvels is the biggest box office bomb Deadline has ever projected since the website began their Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament in 2013.
- The #5 biggest bomb on this list, Haunted Mansion, would've been #2 on the bombs list if it released in 2022.

I enjoyed The Marvels... it doesn't deserve bombing this hard.
The Flash was also ok. It's passable but I can't stand Ezra Miller.
Indy 5 and Wish are just awful. To celebrate 100 years of Disney and they released Wish?

 

[MadMax]

I enjoyed The Marvels... it doesn't deserve bombing this hard.
The Flash was also ok. It's passable but I can't stand Ezra Miller.
Indy 5 and Wish are just awful. To celebrate 100 years of Disney and they released Wish?

"Deserves got nothing to do with it"

 

[Digikiki]

I wonder how long it will take to steer the Disney ship around. With all these remakes and reboots being made in parallel with astronomical budgets, I'm sure there's a lot of panicked heads within the company desperately trying to think of what to do now that audiences are rejecting pretty much their entire output.

 

[Koni]

#3 - Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse ($328 million in profit)

‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’ Conquers Superhero Fatigue At No. 3 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' conquers superhero fatigue at no. 3 in Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament.

deadline.com

The film had tons of global brand partners - from Nike to Burger King to even Hyundai - yet despite this, prints and advertising costs amounted to a fairly low $90 million. Both participations and residuals also amounted to only $60 million combined. In terms of revenue, Spider-Verse also benefitted from a pay-one deal between Sony and Netflix, which helped boost it's television and streaming revenue to $160 million.

$328 million is actually insane, but not more insane than Sony taking a page from anime and literally finishing the movie right when it was about to make it's world premiere. Holy heck, no wonder animators were mad. Hopefully Beyond has a better production schedule.

Barbie and Mario are left! Who do you think'll win?

 

[Evilnemesis8]

#3 - Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse ($328 million in profit)

‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’ Conquers Superhero Fatigue At No. 3 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

'Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse' conquers superhero fatigue at no. 3 in Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament.

deadline.com

The film had tons of global brand partners - from Nike to Burger King to even Hyundai - yet despite this, prints and advertising costs amounted to a fairly low $90 million. Both participations and residuals also amounted to only $60 million combined. In terms of revenue, Spider-Verse also benefitted from a pay-one deal between Sony and Netflix, which helped boost it's television and streaming revenue to $160 million.

$328 million is actually insane, but not more insane than Sony taking a page from anime and literally finishing the movie right when it was about to make it's world premiere. Holy heck, no wonder animators were mad. Hopefully Beyond has a better production schedule.

$90M in P&A? They really relied on the first movie having done huge numbers on streaming.

I mean look at this game of hot potato here(Wikipedia):

In April 2021, Sony signed a deal with Disney giving them access to their legacy content, including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequels, to stream on Disney+ and Hulu and appear on Disney's linear television networks. Disney's access to Sony's titles would come following their availability on Netflix. Into the Spider-Verse had previously been available on Starz and FX.

Sony being mercenaries with streamers is really paying off for them.
Also, man Sony in general is really making bank with Spider-Man.
Movies are doing very well and Insomniac is also selling mad units.

Barbie and Mario are left! Who do you think'll win?

Really difficult to guess until we know what they plan to count in there.

 

[Koni]

Disney must have blown through a lot of their 2019 era profits with those bombs. Hard to say it was undeserved, though.

Well, if we go by Deadline again, then... not really. Far from it, actually. The profits from Infinity War alone are enough to cover the bombs listed here with about $200 million to spare.

That being said, in this era of capitalism, losing any sort of money on a film at all isn't something any company wants to do, let alone lose millions of dollars on multiple blockbusters, so Disney wil be panicking regardless.

 

[Xevross]

The Marvels is truly a historic bomb of epic proportions and it really was a bad year Disney.

Spiderverse did much better than I expected, mostly thanks to the very low marketing cost.

I'm also happy to see Wonka up in 6th, loved that movie.

 

[Lelouch0612]

Very notable but 2 movies in the podium are animation, and not even made by Disney.

I don't think this happened very often.

 

[WestEgg]

Guess my skepticism was unwarranted, Spider-Verse made bank. I’m shocked how low the costs were, $90M for ads seems ridiculously low and the overhead and participations are almost negligible.

 

[Danny]

The deal Nintendo signed with Universal was a pretty good deal for Universal. Because Nintendo only starts to get profit from the Mario movie after Universal have recouped their expenses from making the Mario movie.

Its a good deal for Nintendo as well, because they are dependant on having a good partner in Hollywood to have any success with taking their IP into movies, so for Nintendo they get solid profit from the movie as well as seeing a boost in merchandise and game sales due to the movie as well.

 

[Koti]

The deal Nintendo signed with Universal was a pretty good deal for Universal. Because Nintendo only starts to get profit from the Mario movie after Universal have recouped their expenses from making the Mario movie.

Its a good deal for Nintendo as well, because they are dependant on having a good partner in Hollywood to have any success with taking their IP into movies, so for Nintendo they get solid profit from the movie as well as seeing a boost in merchandise and game sales due to the movie as well.

Wait the deal was revealed?

 

[Danny]

Wait the deal was revealed?

Super Mario Bros.’ wild $377 million global 5-day opening (including $204.6 million domestic), a testament to the power of his Nintendo I.P. Per sources, the game company financed half the movie’s $100 million budget and gets 50 percent of profits after Universal (and its Illumination division) recoup their costs.

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[Gimmick]

.

Damn, 50% of the profits, that's a lot more than I expected. I was sure Nintendo was gonna see a lot less than that in return.

Hell, even if the movie just hit Sonic numbers I think Nintendo would be very happy.

 

[Ishaan]

Yeah its still a pretty big part of them. TMNT is constantly rebooting canon to try different things with the story and such but some traits of the series like their love of pizza has stayed consistent since the first cartoon.

Your reply reminded me I've owned this for a few years and never gotten around to reading it. Flipped through it very quickly this morning, and a couple of things stood out:

Spoiler: Picture

1. I'd completely forgottten that Nickelodeon took over the Turtles at one point. I remember seeing pictures of the CG show back in the day, but by then it had fallen off my radar. This looks so different, haha. I had no idea Shredder even had a daughter! But the art style very much looks like it would've hit the right tone for the Nick audience.

Spoiler: Picture

2. In a different part of the book, they credit IDW with knowing exactly what to do with their take on the TMNT comics, and bringing Kevin Eastman back to work on them. That's thrice now, that IDW has cracked the code with an '80s franchise, between Transformers, GIJOE, and TMNT. Their GIJOE books by Chuck Dixon are some of the best comic book writing ever. They're such an invaluable part of keeping this stuff alive. It kind of makes me wish someone would actually do something meaningful with GIJOE again! (And no, I don't mean Transformers crossovers or stuff just focused on Snake Eyes...)


3. Tried looking through the book for anything on pizza, but there was nothing there! Bit surprising, considering how big a part of their legacy it seems to be.

 

[Koni]

#2 - Barbie ($421 million in profit)

‘Barbie’ Struts To No. 2 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

Barbie become the highest-grossing movie in Warner Bros history with $1.44 billion, overtaking Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

deadline.com

The film accrued over $1 billion in revenue, with $200 million coming from television and streaming. Not counted here are merchandise sales related to the movie, which would've added an extra $150 million to the total. Major expenses came in the form of $175 million in prints and advertising, mostly due to promotional partnerships and an awards campaign, and $175 million in participations, $100 million of which went to Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling alone.

 

[WestEgg]

Looks like Mario takes number one then. I wonder if we’ll get a breakdown of Nintendo’s take in the financial update or Investor Update to corroborate whatever Deadline puts out.

 

[Necroxid]

#2 - Barbie ($421 million in profit)

‘Barbie’ Struts To No. 2 In Deadline’s 2023 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament

Barbie become the highest-grossing movie in Warner Bros history with $1.44 billion, overtaking Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

deadline.com

The film accrued over $1 billion in revenue, with $200 million coming from television and streaming. Not counted here are merchandise sales related to the movie, which would've added an extra $150 million to the total. Major expenses came in the form of $175 million in prints and advertising, mostly due to promotional partnerships and an awards campaign, and $175 million in participations, $100 million of which went to Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling alone.

Holy guacamolee, Mario stay winning!
Predictions on how much it did in profit? I'd say $600m minimum