Home Entertainment John Carter will make a $200 million loss, according to Disney

John Carter will make a $200 million loss, according to Disney

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Well this is a sad state of affairs. There has been much reported negativity around John Carter, with it being completely written off as a failure by some even before it had entered the race. Horrible and myopic advertising campaign notwithstanding though, Disney has not been the ones sprouting the defeatist rhetoric.

Well, until now that is. Take a look at this recently released statement from the House of Mouse and tell me if this sounds optimistic:

In light of the theatrical performance of John Carter ($184 million global box office), we expect the film to generate an operating loss of approximately $200 million during our second fiscal quarter ending March 31. As a result, our current expectation is that the Studio segment will have an operating loss of between $80 and $120 million for the second quarter. As we look forward to the second half of the year, we are excited about the upcoming releases of The Avengers and Brave, which we believe have tremendous potential to drive value for the Studio and the rest of the company.

Now some of you may naturally be wondering why this particular statement has got me (and quite a few other publications) all riled up. I mean, Disney is just being realistic about the film’s financial success, right?

Thing is, they’re reporting on the box office takings of a film after JUST 2 WEEKS. The film is still going to be on circuit for a while, not too mention the fact that it hasn’t even opened up in quite a few places yet, which means it’s definitely going to make more money. This is like storming out of the pub, drink in hand, declaring to everybody that you see that your team is going to lose when it’s only just 20 minutes into the first half. Trust me, nobody likes that tosser.

Also, take note of the wording: “…the studio segment will have an operating loss…”, meaning that despite the fact that the film will probably make a fair amount of cash on the DVD, Blu-Ray, Video on Demand and TV rights front, to Disney this is about as consequential as a fart in a hurricane.

The fact that they are already releasing statements like this while the film is still doing business, tells me that they just threw everybody involved in this under the proverbial bus. If I were Andrew Stanton or Taylor Kitsch or any of the other principal people behind this film, I’d feel like I just got kicked in the unmentionables. Again.

And remember that list of 10 films that were reported as massive box office failures, but actually weren’t? This right here is exactly how situations like that occur.

So what do you guys think, was Disney wrong to release a statement like this, when it’s probably going to result in an even more negatively skewed public perception about their film, or am I just a raging fanboy who hates to see a movie he enjoys go down in flames?

Source: Deadline

Last Updated: March 20, 2012

4 Comments

  1. Umm, I think you double-pasted the quote.
    Anycase, I think this is crap from the mouse peoples. The movie wasn’t awesome but still good, and still doing business. It will surely make more money.

    Reply

  2. Theunis Jansen Van Rensburg

    March 20, 2012 at 13:48

    They are lowering expectations and stating the loss way before the money rolls in so that the dividend on shares can be so much lower.

    Reply

  3. James Francis

    March 20, 2012 at 16:47

    Ouch, someone’s gonna lose their job over this…

    Reply

  4. Justin Hess

    March 20, 2012 at 17:51

    It’s a self fullfilling prophecy basically. Yeah, the film might make a loss, but they’re not helping any with such a defeatist attitude.

    Though, maybe they’re just not willing to appear as if they’re shoving their heads into the sand

    Reply

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