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‘Mulan’ on Disney+ Has Seemingly Made More Money Than ‘Tenet’ Has in Theaters Worldwide

posted 4 years ago by Satan2016 (26197)
2 replies | jump to latest

So much for that boycott! https://www.slashfilm.com/tenet-box-office-vs-mulan/

Today in news that isn’t good for theaters: Mulan has allegedly made more money on its premium Disney+ VOD run than Tenet‘s entire box office haul so far. The keyword here is “allegedly” since the numbers are a bit sketchy, but if reports are to be believed, it certainly looks like more audiences have plopped down their hard-earned cash to watch Mulan from the safety of their homes rather than venture out to a theater to see the latest from Christopher Nolan.

All summer, we heard the same story: Tenet will save movie theaters. Sadly, that didn’t happen. For one thing, Christopher Nolan’s latest cerebral blockbuster was unable to stick to its mid-summer release date. And when the movie finally did open this month, the results were not great, to say the least. Reports differ, but as of now, it looks like Nolan’s film made only $29 million domestically – which isn’t great for a film of this size. Worldwide, the total is around $207 million.

So how does that compare to Tenet? Well:

During the company’s last earnings report, Disney said that the streaming platform has amassed over 60 million global subscribers. Assuming that U.S. households make up 50% of that total base (Disney has not yet broken out the exact number of U.S-based subscribers)…data suggests that roughly 9 million users purchased the “Mulan” film for $30 a pop (29% of our estimated 30 million users.)…Under that scenario, net profits would pile up to $261 million for U.S. markets alone — and that’s on the conservative side.

[–] kukuxu (5409) 4 years ago

OK, this is an good example of how to fool people. What Disney has said was:

29% of U.S. households that subscribe to Disney+ purchased the $30 “Mulan” film through September 12th

The sentence is ambiguous, and it can be interpreted in two different ways.
1- 29% of Disney+ subscribers paid the $30 fee to watch Mulan.
2- 29% of people that subscribed to Disney+ during September 12th paid the $30 fee to watch Mulan.

Probably, it's on purpose. I guess the correct option is the 2nd one, it's not very likely 1/3 of subscribers paid those $30. However, friendly journalists or third parties will interpret it in the more convenient way to get the press boost, and once the time passes and the truth is known, it's enough to say "it was a misunderstanding"

[–] Keelai (36133) 4 years ago

Tenet is my type of movie, but all theaters are closed. Even when they open, I'm not going until covid is gone. I'll wait for the library DVD.

Disney charged $30 which bumps up the box office profits and they don't have to share that with theaters.