Coming off its biggest year at the box office yet, Disney might have its first dud of the year in The Call of the Wild. The Harrison Ford vehicle based on Jack London’s classic novel is shaping up for a fairly hefty $50 million, according to industry insiders. In a new a report from Variety, The Call of the Wild reportedly cost a whopping $125 million to make, which means it’d need to gross between $250 million and $275 million at the box office to break even, thanks to the wonders of Hollywood accounting. The flick has earned $79 million through Saturday, its second weekend in theaters.
The release of the flick comes at a time of uncertainty in international markets over the coronavirus outbreak, which has caused the closure of most public facilities — including movie theaters — in big box office markets such as China and Japan. Despite walking away with an A- CinemaScore, The Call of the Wild settled with a much more subtle 62 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. According to the review-aggregating site, the movie is “undermined by distracting and unnecessary CGI.”
By August 2019, Walt Disney Studios had five movies to gross over one billion dollars worldwide. That number eventually increased to seven movies by the end of the year, thanks to late releases in Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The House of Mouse ended up grossing over $11 billion on the year, surpassing the industry-wide record of $7.6 billion it set in 2016.
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