How could two movies that are still considered flops crack the top 10 at the global 2023 box office? That is the contradictory state that Disney finds itself in as both Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Elemental can now boast such an accolade. However, that may be more of an indictment of Hollywood’s biggest problem today than it is any sort of compliment.
On paper, it seems like an absolute win that the two films have reached such a threshold, with Elemental, in particular, surpassing the likes of both The Flash and Creed III.
In fact, the Pixar animated film has even surpassed the latest caper from the fedora-wearing archeologist. While Dial of Destiny holds the number 10 spot at $302 million, Elemental is now enjoying one rank above that at number 9 with $312 million, according to Box Office Mojo. That would seem like two back-to-back successes for Disney so why are people still calling both films box office flops?
The answer lies in a systemic problem that has been plaguing Hollywood, in general, lately: out-of-control production budgets. You see, the higher the budget is for a movie the more money it must rake in with ticket sales to actually see any kind of profit. For both Elemental and Dial of Destiny, each film has not reached the break-even mark, according to most estimates.
In the case of Dial of Destiny, production costs reportedly reached about $295 million. Though estimates vary about how much it would require to break even when you consider the additional expenses incurred from marketing, it ranges from $600 million on the low end (per Collider) to $750 million on the high end (per Screen Rant).
Elemental has a much shorter runway, relatively speaking, for reaching the break-even point. The budget for Elemental was reportedly $200 million, meaning it would likely need to make $400 million or more at the box office in order to stay in the black.
It is entirely possible that both Dial of Desinty and Elemental will climb out of their financial holes once digital and rentals help to even the playing field. However, these are both likely disappointing to Disney in terms of their box office performance. In each case, it illustrates that inventive storytelling, rather than throwing money at the problem, should be what Hollywood is focused on in order to draw audiences in.
Take Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, as a counter-example, for instance. The film represents one of this year’s most critically-acclaimed and highest-grossing movies, sitting comfortably at the number 4 spot on the top 10 2023 global box office list with $663 million. That’s the kind of profit that Dial of Destiny surely envies, yet Spider-Verse had only one-third of its budget at a relatively reasonable $100 million, according to The Numbers. Though Spider-Verse had its own flavor of controversy with allegations of crunch culture surrounding it from animators, the principle of its relatively low-cost approach is still worthwhile to examine.
It just goes to show the age-old adage coined by Hollywood legend Orson Welles is true to this day: “The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.” In other words, even with an unlimited budget, the final product of a movie could easily be subpar without consideration for the basic tenants of storytelling, such as having strong characters and a decent plot. In fact, confining one’s self to a more limited cost behind the lens could lead to more clever ways of telling your story and audiences may even show up in droves to witness such a feat, just like they did for Spider-Verse or even last year’s Everything Everywhere All at Once.
