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Beginning with Lightyear in June 2022 and covering eight films through Elemental in June 2023, Disney invested a staggering $2.75 billion in production and global marketing. Despite these enormous expenditures, the revenue generated from theatrical rentals — the portion of box office gross returned to Disney — paints a bleak picture.

The combined theatrical rentals from these eight films amounted to just $1.86 billion, resulting in an overall loss of approximately $890 million. This discrepancy underscores a critical problem: Disney spent nearly three billion dollars on these movies, yet the return on investment barely covers half of that.

The Cost Breakdown: Production and Marketing Expenses

Breaking down the costs further reveals multiple issues: