Why Disney Had Such A Rough Time At The 2025 Box Office

In 2018 and 2019, Walt Disney Pictures reached an astonishing $3+ billion grosses domestically in each year. 2019 specifically brought in $3.74 billion, a haul reflecting Disney's various brands (Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Pixar, Disney Animation, etc.) at the peak of their prowess. Six years later, though, Disney's in a more precarious place. While the live-action "Lilo & Stitch" remake is currently the biggest American release of the year, the studio's current domestic cume stands at $1.6 billion. 

While end-of-the-year sequels "Zootopia 2" and "Avatar: Fire and Ash" should get the studio past $2 billion domestically, the company has produced too many major bombs this year to ignore, including "Snow White," "Elio," and "Tron: Ares." Even well-reviewed Marvel Cinematic Universe movies like "Thunderbolts*" haven't cut the mustard. All of this begs the question ... what's going on at the Mouse House that's kept its releases trapped in the box office doldrums for so much of 2025?

There are tons of reasons why Disney has had such a rough time at the 2025 box office, including the limited appeal of its many big projects and excessive budgets. Exploring these problems makes it apparent why Disney has had such a steep financial decline since its heyday of the late 2010s, a fate that not even The Grid and The New Avengers could reverse. 

One shocking element of the opening weekend of "Tron: Ares" was that it only scored 30% of its $33 million bow from folks under 25. Instead, moviegoers between the ages of 25 and 54 were the primary crowd for "Ares." That's a bizarre outcome for a movie preceded by Disney's castle logo, but it epitomizes how skewing too old has negatively affected the studio's 2025 output. 

While classic Mouse House blockbusters were catnip for families and teenagers, 2025 Disney has largely drawn in older audiences. February 2025's "Captain America: Brave New World," for instance, only scored 12% of its opening weekend from audiences under 18. Moviegoers 35 years and older accounted for 45% of "Brave New World's" bow. "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" skewed a little younger, but 31% of its opening weekend audience were made up of folks in the 35+ age bracket. Now, projects like "Freakier Friday" seek to score nostalgia from audiences 30 and up rather than youngsters, ensuring that many of Disney's 2025 movies came with an inherent ceiling. 

All-ages blockbusters used to be Disney's bread-and-butter. By only appealing to older audiences, it's hard to reach the heights of titles like "The Avengers" that resonated with everyone. Harsh realities, like the Pixar brand name not being essential for young audiences, are suppressing Disney's box office potential.

In the early 2020s, a trio of Pixar films, rather than embracing their original theatrical release plans, were sent straight to Disney+ as a way to bolster subscription numbers. "Soul," "Luca," and "Turning Red" generated strong viewership figures on Disney+, but also ensured audiences would associate Pixar features (particularly non-sequels) with at-home viewing. In the past, original works like "WALL-E" and "Brave" could stand toe-to-toe with big summer blockbuster sequels. In 2025, though, "Elio" absolutely cratered with a $154 million worldwide gross. One of the year's biggest flops, "Elio" reflected how far the Pixar brand had fallen in theaters.

Whether originals or sequels, Pixar was previously an essential ingredient to Disney's dominance. In previous years like 2004, a Pixar feature like "The Incredibles" could account for as much as 25% of Disney's annual box office gross. In 2010, "Toy Story 3's" immense $415 million domestic take made up roughly 30% of Disney's North American box office business. Pixar's lost luster alone illustrates why Disney is having a hard time in 2025. 

Back then, "Toy Story 3" or "Inside Out" could cover up the losses of "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" and "Tomorrowland." Now, new Pixar endeavors like "Elio" are weighing down Disney's box office reputation. Much like with Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm, short-term streaming gains proved fatal for the long-term success of Pixar and Disney.

In the 2010s, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, particularly its Phase Three installments, could crack $500+ million internationally without breaking a sweat. Certain titles like "Captain Marvel" and "Captain America: Civil War" could even exceed $700 million in overseas territories. "Avengers: Endgame" grossing a staggering $1.9 billion internationally was the ultimate testament to the MCU's global prominence.

Fast forward to 2025, and the MCU's more limited worldwide appeal has become glaringly apparent. "Captain America: Brave New World" only grossed $213 million overseas while "Thunderbolts*" topped out with a dismal $192.2 million. Even 2025's biggest MCU movie, "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," only grossed $246.36 million internationally, beneath "Ant-Man's" nearly $340 cume a decade earlier. These costly superhero films have gone from being royalty to paupers in the grander box office landscape. Similar struggles have plagued other 2025 Disney movies, with "Snow White" only grossing $118.47 million and "Elio" fizzling out at $81.14 million in non-American numbers, a shadow of what such tentpoles used to take in during the 2010s.

With foreign territories showing indifference to Disney's biggest franchises (Korean audiences aren't captivated by "Star Wars"), the worldwide box office hauls of the studio's blockbusters have drastically decreased. It's clear that once-essential overseas markets are now meeting the studio's output with increased indifference. 

Shortly after "Elio's" debut, allegations emerged that the film's costs had skyrocketed well beyond $200 million in the midst of the feature's countless production problems. Costing considerably more than $200 million would've made "Elio" the most expensive Pixar movie in history, far surpassing the costs of anticipated sequels like "Inside Out 2" and "Incredibles 2." The tormented Pixar flop wasn't the only 2025 Disney title to have a bonkers price tag, though.

Marc Webb's "Snow White" also had a bizarrely hefty $270 million budget. That would've made "Snow White" considerably costlier than past Disney Animation remakes like 2019's "The Lion King." Then there was "Tron: Ares," which chalked up $180 million in expenses for Disney. Compare that to 2025 phenomenon "Sinners," which cost only $90 million to make. Disney's cinematic exploits this year have been marked by extravagant budgets that ensured profitability remained a pipe dream.

Accusations of behind-the-scenes turmoil informing these heightened budgets only rubbed salt in their wounds. Failing to nail these films down creatively led to inflated budgets that were nearly impossible to recoup. Safe to say, a little more financial restraint and trust in their creative team would've gone a long way in diluting such struggles.

In the 2010s, cranking out new "Star Wars" or "Marvel Cinematic Universe" projects annually while bringing back semi-recent hits like "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles" was a recipe for financial success. In the 2020s, though, the Mouse House has struggled with seemingly "surefire" franchise fare. Resurrecting the "Indiana Jones" and "West Side Story" brand names, for instance, didn't produce box office hits, a problem that has only grown increasingly pervasive.

"Snow White," for instance, flopped nearly 90 years after the original animated "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" hit theaters. While modern kids, millennials, and Gen-Z audiences remain enamored with "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin," that initial 1937 feature is a whole other story. Trying to wring a modern box office hit out of such an arcane project proved a fool's errand. Then there was the October 2025 misfire "Tron: Ares," a sequel rooted in a 40+ year old sci-fi franchise that was never particularly popular to begin with, cementing its box office downfall.

Focusing so hard on brand names that have existed for ages, rather than coming up with new, relevant stories for a fresh crop of moviegoers, just isn't working out for Disney. In its obsession with the past, Disney has failed to produce modern box office smashes.