Despite getting favourable reviews, Strange World, the first Disney movie with an openly gay lead character, flopped at the box office.
The release of wildly popular animated films is nothing new for the House of Mouse.
Over $1 billion was made globally by the motion pictures Frozen, Frozen Two, and Zootopia.
While movies like Coco, Encanto, and Inside Out have also received positive reviews and performed well financially.
However, it appears that Disney’s most recent animated picture may be its least popular in a very long time.
The synopsis for Strange World reads: “The Clades are a legendary family of explorers whose differences threaten to topple their latest and most crucial mission into uncharted and treacherous territory.”
The lead character, Searcher Clade, is voiced by Jake Gyllenhall (Nightcrawler), while his illustrious father, Jaeger Clade, is portrayed by Dennis Quaid (The Parent Trap).
In the movie, Jaboukie Young-White (Only Murders in the Building) plays Searcher’s openly gay 16-year-old son Ethan.
According to director Don Hall, the movie was influenced by “classic adventure stories” like Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”
According to Matthew Huff of AV Club, “Strange World feels like a new rendition of Disney, one that is more thoughtful and inclusive without sacrificing any of the humour or joy.” The reviews for Strange World have been very excellent.
Since its November 23 release, the movie has flopped at the box office despite earning a tonne of accolades.
Strange World was expected to make between $30 million and $40 million during its opening weekend, which would still rank as one of Disney’s worse box office debuts, according to Variety.
On the other hand, despite having a $180 million budget, it has only made $27.8 million in five days of theatrical release.
According to Variety, this implies that Disney might lose $100 million on Strange World.
Fans continue to like Strange World and have praised it on social media despite the movie’s lack of significant box office success in comparison to previous Disney movies.
One person wrote: “I thought it was really fun and creative, ignore the anti-woke people and go enjoy this movie for yourselves!”
Another person commented: “I LOVED THIS MOVIE. Ethan is such a good example of how I like to see Black and LGBTQ characters – LOVED.
“I NEVER thought I’d see the day where I saw myself in a Disney character, representation is so so beautiful.”
Strange World is available to watch exclusively in cinemas.
