{"id":622693,"date":"2026-08-06T00:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/622693\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T00:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:02:17","slug":"disney-ceo-admits-star-wars-the-mandalorian-and-grogu-and-moana-underperformed-at-box-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/622693\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney CEO Admits ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’ and ‘Moana’ Underperformed at Box Office"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disney CEO Josh D\u2019Amaro admitted on the company\u2019s latest earnings call that \u201cStar Wars<\/a>: The Mandalorian and Grogu<\/a>\u201d and the live-action \u201cMoana<\/a>\u201d remake both underperformed at the box office this summer, although he maintained that both titles were not outright busts for the studio as they contributed to merchandise sales, drove people to theme parks and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when our franchise films don\u2019t meet our box office expectations, as with the \u2018Mandalorian and Grogu\u2019 and the live-action \u2018Moana,\u2019 our investments in these core properties fuel other parts of our company,\u201d D\u2019Amaro said.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018The Mandalorian and Grogu\u2019 drove healthy growth in retail sales for the \u2018Star Wars\u2019 franchise and drew guests to the updated Millennium Falcon attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and led to significant engagement in gaming as well,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd the live-action \u2018Moana\u2019 is expected to be a strong title on Disney+, building on the success of the original film, which is one of the most-streamed movies of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disney summed up its outlook on these box office disappointments by writing in its earnings release: \u201cThese franchise investments contributed to value creation beyond their theatrical releases.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mandalorian and Grorgu\u201d opened over Memorial Day Weekend and earned $81 million at the domestic box office during its debut, an underwhelming start for a \u201cStar Wars\u201d movie. The film went on to earn $345 million worldwide, far below the billion-dollar grosses of the previous \u201cStar Wars\u201d film releases \u201cThe Rise of Skywalker\u201d and \u201cThe Last Jedi.\u201d<\/p>\n

The live-action \u201cMoana,\u201d which featured Dwayne Johnson returning as Maui, opened last month and has only earned $262 million worldwide on a reported production budget in the $250 million range. Variety reported the movie<\/a> stands to lose $100 million in theaters for Disney.<\/p>\n

Disney CFO Hugh Johnston echoed D\u2019Amaro\u2019s views on these box office disappointments by saying: \u201cTheatrical performance is important to us, of course, and we certainly aspire to deliver consistent financial results for our films. But the nature of the film industry is such that it is more of a portfolio game. The good news for us is our diversified business helps us basically cover the volatility that comes out of the film business\u2026 the theatrical window in a lot of ways is just one data point, and the real value of that IP is the cumulative benefit of decades-long storytelling and our ability to take that IP and lay it into the entirety of the Disney flywheel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Love Film & TV?<\/p>\n

Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

On the earnings call, D\u2019Amaro pivoted from addressing Disney\u2019s box office failures this year to praising the record-breaking success of \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day.\u201d Disney-owned Marvel Studios shares the Spider-Man character with Sony Pictures. While Sony is behind the release of \u201cBrand New Day,\u201d the movie is a part of Disney\u2019s Marvel Cinematic Universe. D\u2019Amaro said the movie\u2019s success bodes well for Disney\u2019s \u201cAvengers: Doomsday<\/a>\u201d later this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations to Sony, Kevin Feige, and the Marvel Studios team. It\u2019s an unbelievable result, and it\u2019s one more example that audiences will turn out in force for great theatrical experiences,\u201d D\u2019Amaro said. \u201c65 years after his debut, Spider-Man remains one of the most popular characters through consumer products, parks, and streaming. And this weekend, it\u2019s a great reminder of just how much strength this franchise still has. And it goes without saying that the success of Spider-Man bodes well for our upcoming and highly anticipated \u2018Avengers: Doomsday\u2019 film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAvengers: Doomsday\u201d arrives in theatres Dec. 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Disney CEO Josh D\u2019Amaro admitted on the company\u2019s latest earnings call that \u201cStar Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[6724,18,117,19,17,104496,327,8127,87463],"class_list":["post-622693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-avengers-doomsday","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-moana","tag-movies","tag-star-wars","tag-the-mandalorian-and-grogu"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117045635072819139","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}