Four of the biggest box-office bombs of 2023 belonged to Disney (2025)

With major franchises such as Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar under its roof, Disney typically finds itself on the top of the box-office heap, but that wasn’t the case last year. The company had more than a few failures which found its fortunes falling, and Deadline reports that four of the five biggest box-office bombs of 2023 belonged to Disney.

First up, and least surprising, is The Marvels, the Captain Marvel sequel starring Brie Larson, Iman Vellani, and Teyonah Parris. As its predecessor grossed $1.1 billion, it was hoped that the sequel would equal that number, but the film turned out to be a bomb of epic proportions, grossing just $206 million worldwide. The film reportedly found Disney taking a loss of $237 million. Yikes.

Next up, and the one that hurts the most, is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Fans had hoped for more from Harrison Ford’s final outing as Indiana Jones, but the film grossed just $384 million worldwide, with the studio taking a loss of $143 million. That’s a little more than was previously reported.

Disney also didn’t have any luck with Wish, the animated movie meant to celebrate the studio’s 100th anniversary. Audiences weren’t keen to wish on this falling star, as the film grossed $253 million worldwide and prompted a loss of $131 million.

Coming in last was Disney’s latest attempt at transforming the Haunted Mansion attraction into a theatrical franchise. Boasting an all-star ensemble cast which included LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jared Leto, the supernatural comedy didn’t win over critics or audiences as it grossed just $117 million worldwide. It happens that the net loss of the picture was also $117 million. If you’re wondering what the fifth movie was, that would be Warner Bros.’ The Flash, which brought in $271 million worldwide and found the studio taking a loss of $155 million.

Universal Pictures was the highest-grossing studio of 2023, generating $4.907 billion at the box-office thanks to hits such as Oppenheimer and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Although Disney had a few major box-office bombs, you shouldn’t feel too bad as they still came in second with $4.827 billion.