The Walt Disney Company expected big things from “Strange World”, their new animated movie. This was the first film to feature openly gay teens. Disney hired high-profile Hollywood stars to voice the roles of Jake Gyllenhaal and Gabrielle Union. The extended Thanksgiving weekend is when Hollywood releases some of the most anticipated movies. Disney’s “Strange World” was released. Early box office results indicate that “Strange World”, however, is a failure.
According to Deadline, “Strange World” had its world premiere Wednesday. However, Disney decided to not release the animated film in more than 20 countries because of its LGBTQ+ content.
The movie stars Jaboukie Young-White, 27, who is most well-known for his work as a correspondent on “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah.” Young-White plays the role of Jaeger, a 16-year-old gay character who has a crush on Daizo.
Variety described a scene from the Disney movie as “Walt Disney screened three scenes from ‘Strange World.” Ethan is seen flirting with Diazo, his heartthrob, while classmates from school watch, laughing and teasing. Ethan is not happy that Searcher, his father, joins the fray, making him look a little too eager to accept.
Since opening this week, “Strange World,” has had a difficult time at the box office.
Variety reports that the film earned $2.4 million in North American theaters from Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday, despite a difficult opening day of $4.2 million on Wednesday. Weekend estimates for Strange World have been slightly revised with its $6.7 million total over the two-day period. The movie will end its five-day run with approximately $26 million. This is a terrible result considering the $180 million budget.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, which has been playing in theaters since Nov. 11th, brought in $8.1 Million on Thanksgiving and is expected to bring in as much as $63 million during the five-day period.
Variety reported that “Encanto, Disney’s musical fantasy, earned $40.3 million in the extended holiday period in 2021.” Box office watchers were more lenient in assessing these ticket sales, as young children were still being vaccinated at that time.
According to the outlet, previous Disney movies released on Thanksgiving had “significantly bigger opening weekends,” with 2019’s Frozen II at $123.7 million, 2018,’s Ralph Breaks the Internet at $84.6 million, and 2017,’s Coco at $71 million.
As if the poor box office numbers weren’t bad enough, Strange World is the lowest-rated Disney film in 31 years.
CinemaScore gave “Strange World” a “B” rating. CinemaScore is a market research company that polls audiences to rate movies. CinemaScore started rating Disney animated films in 1991 with “Beauty and the Beast” and since then, all Walt Disney Animation Studios films have received at least an “A-” rating according to ScreenRant.
After a conscious decision to include a scene of a lesbian kissing scene within the animated cartoon movie, Disney’s “Lightyear,” was also a failure at the box office.
