Pixar animated comedy Lightyear which premiered in cinemas on June 17 is coming to streaming service Disney+ at lightspeed, touching down on August 3.

Just as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness which began streaming on June 22 after its May 6 cinema release.

When it arrived on streaming we were stunned by the awfulness of Doctor Strange, but it performed moderately well in cinemas.

So its rush to streaming wasn't motivated by low box office takings.

On the other hand, with a US $200 million budget, Lightyear only brought in $213 million in ticket sales.

How much of that is profit?

A studio might make about 60% of a film's ticket sales in the United States, and around 20% to 40% of that on overseas ticket sales.

Lightyear likely lost Disney a lot of money.

There is considerable online debate about why Lightyear flopped.

Releasing just a few weeks later, animated comedy Minions: The Rise of Gru with an $80 million budget brought in $533 million.

It's not that people are just staying at home because of COVID or not interested in animated comedy films.

We'll make the same point we did in relation to Doctor Strange's solid but lower than predicted ticket sales.

Some Disney+ subscribers who previously saw Disney films in cinemas might now wait for them to arrive on streaming to get maximum value out of their subscription.

A significant portion of the real value of Disney films might now lie in how much value Disney+ subscribers see in them.

Lightyear arrives on Disney+ on August 3 when we'll be able to judge that value for ourselves.

[ Main Image: Lightyear. Credit: Disney via IMDb.com. ]

References

Disney+ [@disneyplus] (July 19, 2022). Get ready to blast off with Disney and Pixar’s #Lightyear, streaming August 3 only on #DisneyPlus. Twitter.

Wikipedia. Lightyear (film). (viewed July 20, 2022)

Wikipedia. Minions: The Rise of Gru. (viewed July 20, 2022)

Zipin, Dina (October 18, 2021). How Exactly Do Movies Make Money? Investopedia.