According to new data, Raya and the Last Dragon underperformed on Disney+ compared to the live-action Mulan. Disney is one of many Hollywood studios that had to endure a challenging year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. For over a year now, the theatrical distribution business has been heavily impacted. For most of 2020, major theater chains like Regal and AMC had to close their doors. Even the theaters that were open at the time were restricted by low capacity limits. As a result, the box office has suffered immensely. Faced with a dilemma, Hollywood was forced to rely on streaming to release its movies.
While theaters have been closed, Disney has been using this time to experiment with different release strategies with its streaming service, Disney+. The company started by releasing Artemis Fowl directly onto Disney+ at no extra charge last June. Disney did this again when it took Hamilton off its theatrical release date and released the film on Disney+ in July, again for no extra cost. However, Disney started experimenting with its Premier Access feature with the release of the 2020 live-action remake of Mulan last September. With this new strategy, Mulan released exclusively on Disney+ in the U.S. for a $30 fee, allowing users to watch the film a full three months before it became available to all subscribers. Some assumed that perhaps the film did not do well enough on the service when the studio announced it would be releasing the Pixar movie Soul to Disney+ at no extra cost in December. However, this March, Disney tried the Premier Access strategy again with Raya and the Last Dragon. This time, though, it released to both Disney+ and in open U.S. theaters.
Now, according to Business Insider, data from analytics company Antenna shows Raya and the Last Dragon received 20% fewer purchases on Disney+ in the U.S. during its opening weekend than Mulan did during the same amount of time. In fact, according to the data, there was a 30% decline in U.S. signups for Disney+ during Raya‘s first weekend compared to the four before that. This is a harsh comparison to Mulan, which doubled the signups in the same time period.
Disney has not responded to this data, however, Raya and the Last Dragon continues to be a disappointment at the box office. The film only opened with $8.6 million in the U.S., which is roughly 60% of what Warner Bros.’ Tom and Jerry had opened with just the prior week. To date, Raya and the Last Dragon has only pulled in about $87 million dollars globally, which is not great for a film that cost over 100 million to make. Of course, it’s worth noting the box office continues to be affected by the ongoing pandemic, and the hybrid release strategy for Raya and the Last Dragon may have impacted its performance in both theaters and on Disney+.
Nevertheless, Disney is continuing to push forward with the Premier Access model. The company just announced both Cruella and Black Widow will be released in theaters and on Disney+ Premiere Access later this year. Disney must be hoping the Premier Access strategy works out for them again after Raya and the Last Dragon. It will be interesting to see if this becomes a common release model for the company, even post-pandemic.
