"When a guy like [Brad Bird] comes to you with an original idea, and [George] Clooney is part of the package, you’ll take the swing," an unnamed studio executive told THR. And you can’t argue with that. And given Bird’s pretty much impeccable track record, Disney‘s "Tomorrowland"—on paper at least—seemed like a slam dunk. Of course, the results were much, much different.
READ MORE: Watch: A New Trailer For Brad Bird’s ‘Tomorrowland’ Takes You On An Epic Journey
Following mostly muted reviews, lackluster box office both at home and abroad, the trade reports that Disney is set to lose between $120 and $140 million on their live action gamble. With a production cost of $180 million plus another $150 million for marketing, the film’s expected worldwide gross is expected to come in under $200 million, and will certainly miss the mark that the studio was looking for.
So, what’s the fallout? Well, it isn’t quite the disaster of the $200 million flop of "John Carter" (which also went over budget) and with Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm movies all slated to be released in the next six months, and likely to do tremendous business, Disney is still going to come out looking pretty golden this year. That said, one does wonder if Brad Bird is finally talking about making "The Incredibles 2" because he wants to have a surefire hit the next time out, and Disney’s unplugging of "Tron 3" certainly suggests they are taking a look at anything that might be potentially risky or a project that won’t perform to its fullest potential. And that’s not to mention Disney’s incessant drive to turn animated movies into live action blockbusters sees them sticking to proven formulas rather than roll the dice on original ideas. And that might be the game plan for the foreseeable future.
Fear not, everyone, Star Wars will cure all ills for Disney.
when a guy like [damon Lindelof] is part of the package, you pass"
Though I love George Clooney, and think he\’s a wonderful director as well as an actor, the mentality, which engulphed Hollywood, and came from:"Biggest is better" school, is not heaslthy for Hollywood, again it doesn\’t mean that big budget movies should be obsolete, but please take care of trivialities like for example story, character development, plot, these negligible factrs, which, at least to an old Trex like me, makes a movie. That\’s my opinion , but like I said, who want to listen to an old timer? And I\’m cynical of course. Let the bright boys keep falling flat on their asses, and not notice the ingredients, I mentioned earlier.
Maybe it\’s a sign to stop making movies based on theme park rides. Oh, and their idea of making the \’Night On Bald Mountain" sequence from "Fantasia" into a live action film is just dumb, dumb, dumb!
Part of the problem is that the live-action branch of Walt Disney Pictures hasn\’t earned audience\’s trust or confidence like other Disney properties- Pixar, Marvel- have. Many Disney animated films were flops during the early 2000s, but once Disney earned back the audience\’s confidence with great films like Princess & The Frog, Tangled, and Wreck it Ralph, people noticed and the studio hit bit (Heard of Frozen?). They should turn focus to its live action department, because without Pirates and the animated remakes, it really doesn\’t have much to go on.
I agree that this one was a bummer. I actually liked the movie quite a bit, but being a Disney Geek there was a lot in it to like. I thought it sort of fell apart in the last act (A lidelof specialty) when they got to Tomorrowland, but liked the cornball ending.
So, the failure of this was at least partially that it wasn\’t all that great a movie, but there are worse movies that have done better at the box office. The scary thing is everytime a movie like this bombs – the likelyhood of studios giving us anything original becomes less and less. It seems all Disney\’s disasters are original ideas, which doesn\’t lend credence to originality outside of the animated sandbox. And that\’s pretty sad.