Disney Just Released Its 9th & Final Flop of 2025

Disney ended 2025 with another box office failure, making it their ninth unsuccessful movie of the year. While 2025 wasn’t a great year for movies in general, Disney’s struggles are particularly noticeable, as many of these films likely would have been successes before 2020. Their latest release didn’t generate much excitement and performed poorly in theaters, capping off a disappointing year overall.

While Disney’s Avatar: Fire and Ash is expected to perform well, it hasn’t been enough to balance out a year filled with disappointing movies. Their latest release, Ella McCay from 20th Century Studios, was a significant failure, earning only $2 million during its opening weekend. Even though expectations were low, the film underperformed and will likely be overshadowed by the many movies being released later in December and during the Christmas holiday.

Despite having a talented cast – including Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Rebecca Hall, and Woody Harrelson – this film became Disney’s ninth box office failure of 2025.

Disney’s performance at the box office in 2025 has been uneven, with some films doing well while others have been major disappointments. Despite these setbacks, Avatar: Fire and Ash is projected to earn over $1 billion by year’s end, following in the footsteps of other successful Disney releases like Lilo & Stitch and Zootopia 2. The biggest problems for Disney this year came from projects that were expected to be huge successes but didn’t meet expectations.

Every Theatrical Disney Flop of 2025

Snow White

Despite a famous title and a big budget, Disney’s 2025 film Snow White didn’t perform well at the box office. Directed by Marc Webb and starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, the movie faced problems from the start, including criticism of the casting choices, negative reactions to the reimagining of the classic story, and ongoing discussion about how the Seven Dwarfs were depicted.

Disney remakes usually seem like safe bets for success, but excitement for the new Snow White movie faded quickly after the release date was set, suggesting it might not perform well even before it came out.

The remake cost an estimated $270 million, but it didn’t make money in theaters and seemed like a waste of a beloved story – a decision Disney probably wishes it hadn’t made.

Captain America: Brave New World

So, I finally saw Captain America: Brave New World. Honestly, going in, there was a lot of baggage. It’s another Disney release, and it had been delayed and re-shot so many times, there was a real question of whether it would even be good. I was definitely curious to see if they’d pulled it off.

Despite hopes that Deadpool & Wolverine would build excitement for the year, a confusing development process – with five writers credited and a heavy focus on connections to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe – has lowered analysts’ expectations before the movie even comes out.

The film started strong domestically with an $88.8 million opening weekend, but that initial excitement didn’t last. Although it ultimately earned $415.1 million globally, it didn’t perform as well as hoped and wasn’t the big franchise success everyone expected.

Thunderbolts*

The 2025 film Thunderbolts was a surprisingly mixed success for Disney and Marvel Studios. Despite being well-received by audiences, it didn’t perform as well at the box office as expected.

The movie received great reviews from both critics and audiences, making its disappointing performance at the box office even more surprising.

Even though there was initial positive feeling about the movie, Thunderbolts only made around $382 million worldwide in theaters. Considering it cost about $180 million to make, the film barely made enough money to cover its costs.

I didn’t think Thunderbolts was a bad movie, honestly. It just felt like people weren’t really interested in superhero films in the same way anymore, and maybe the whole genre was starting to feel a little stale. It seemed less about the movie itself and more about where audiences are at right now – a sign of the times, really.

Elio

Pixar’s film Elio didn’t perform as well as expected, earning just over $154 million worldwide and becoming one of the studio’s lowest-grossing films released in many theaters.

Despite its initial struggles, the movie became very popular after it started streaming on Disney+, quickly becoming one of the most-watched titles in many countries.

Pixar’s recent movie performance shows a pattern: when a film doesn’t do well in theaters, it doesn’t always mean people are losing interest in Pixar. It seems the decision to release several Pixar movies directly to streaming during the pandemic changed how families watch them. They’ve become accustomed to seeing Pixar films at home instead of going to the cinema.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

Jeremy Allen White’s film, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, released by 20th Century Studios, didn’t perform well in cinemas. It earned only $22.6 million in the US, a result that industry experts had largely predicted for films released this autumn.

Although the film’s box office performance is a bit concerning, it’s important to remember that it wasn’t designed to be a typical, upbeat crowd-pleaser. Instead, it’s a more artistic and thoughtful look at Bruce Springsteen.

This film wasn’t as successful as Timothée Chalamet’s 2024 Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, which was widely enjoyed and made $75 million in the US.

Tron: Ares

Disney’s attempt to revive the Tron franchise with Tron: Ares didn’t go as planned. The movie earned only $73.1 million in the US and $69.1 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $142.2 million – a disappointing outcome considering its large budget.

Honestly, seeing how things played out really brought my existing concerns about Jared Leto as a leading man for a big franchise back to the surface. I’ve always wondered if he had that ‘it’ factor to truly carry a whole series, and this just made me question it even more.

However, Disney probably didn’t see Tron: Ares as simply a movie meant to make a lot of money at the box office. They likely used it to promote their popular TRON rides at their theme parks in Shanghai and Florida, which could have lessened any financial disappointment if the movie didn’t perform as well as hoped.

The Amateur

As a big movie fan, I have to say, Disney’s (through 20th Century Studios) The Amateur, starring Rami Malek, just didn’t quite connect with audiences. It was a bit of a disappointment, earning only $96 million worldwide despite costing $60 million to make. It’s one of those films that kind of slipped under the radar.

This movie was clearly made to showcase its star, aiming for a thrilling experience, but it felt old-fashioned. These days, that type of film is usually watched at home on streaming services, and with lukewarm reviews, it wasn’t a strong enough draw to get people into theaters.

The Roses

Despite a promising cast including Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman, the play The Roses didn’t achieve significant success in theaters.

Although the film received positive reviews and generated some awards-season excitement, it didn’t perform well in theaters, earning only $15.2 million in the United States.

2025-12-22 09:10