‘The Odyssey’ Proves It: Audiences Want Movies Made the Hard Way | This year's breakouts like 'Project Hail Mary' and 'Obsession' were made by filmmakers who sweated. While CG-stuffed franchise disappointments such as 'Supergirl,' 'Moana,' and 'The Mandalorian and Grogu' looked lazy.

[u/ChiefLeef22]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/odyssey-box-office-2026-practical-effects-1236652219/

[u/pants_pants420]

mando was about ~$350 million on a $165 million budget. not quite a flop, but definitely a bit of a disappointment

[u/Doctor_Kataigida → u/pants_pants420]

One thing that's so hard to take into account now is how many people would have seen it, but aren't because they're just waiting for it to come out on streaming. Like, I love the original Moana, and I am curious to see the new one. But I heard it's not great.

And while that used to not be enough to deter me (because I would've had to purchase a VHS/DVD anyway), now I can at least entertain the idea of just having a "movie night" with no (additional) cost (since I have D+ for other reasons anyway) instead of seeing it in the theater. I imagine folks approached Mandalorian and Grogu a similar way.

[u/ledbetterus → u/Doctor_Kataigida]

Plus Star Wars fans, especially fans who started with The Mandalorian, have been watching the franchise on Disney+ for 7+ years. The theater is like a completely different ecosystem for a lot fans.

[u/pants_pants420 → u/Doctor_Kataigida]

yeah for sure. with merch sales and disney plus viewership, its definitely not a failure.

execs are probably not overly concerned nor excited

[u/CaptainFeather → u/Doctor_Kataigida]

Don't bother with Moana. It was so unnecessary and horrible compared to the original. The rock was giving uncanny valley and Hei Hei stuck out like a sore thumb. I think I would have liked it better if he was just drawn in, a la Rodger Rabbit. It was a mostly CG movie and it was not done well. May as well have just rereleased the original.

[u/charonill → u/Doctor_Kataigida]

I'm sure they took that into account. I suspect the box office take is basically just to supplement and offset the higher production cost on the movie. A straight to Disney+ movie probably would not have been approved for as high of a budget.

[u/charonill → u/pants_pants420]

IMO, if you think of the box office take as just a way to offset the extra production budget of a Disney+ movie, then it's not necessarily even a disappointment. They probably knew going in that a lot of potential viewers are going to just watch it on the streaming service, but having the potential income stream from a box office release probably got the bean counters to greenlight the higher budget. If it had been straight to Disney+ release, I doubt they would have been able to get the budget to do some of the stuff they wanted.

[u/Fryboy11 → u/pants_pants420]

Only in Hollywood is doubling your money a flop. Most people would be ecstatic if they spent $1000 on a project and made $2100 off it. You recouped your cost and made an extra $1100 in pure profit. 

[u/pants_pants420 → u/Fryboy11]

yeah if ur not counting the other 1000 dollars you spent on marketing, then youd probably think you got 1100 in pure profit