Disney has faced a challenging period marked by several high-budget films underperforming at the box office, a trend that saw the studio delivering significant bombs in the mid-2010s, including titles such as Tomorrowland, The Lone Ranger, and John Carter. This pattern of financial disappointment has seemingly re-emerged, with 2025 shaping up to be one of Disney's most difficult years, characterized by numerous major underperformers that even the billion-dollar success of Lilo & Stitch has struggled to offset.

A notable example from a previous era of struggle is The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, released in 2018. This fantasy film reportedly resulted in losses amounting to $65 million for the studio, following an infamously tumultuous production. The difficulties behind the scenes were so substantial that the original director, Lasse Hallström, agreed to share credit for extensive reshoots with his replacement, Joe Johnston. Despite both filmmakers being seasoned studio hands with experience on numerous big-budget projects, their combined efforts could not salvage The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. The film featured an impressive ensemble cast, reuniting Pride & Prejudice stars Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, alongside Mackenzie Foy, Helen Mirren, and Morgan Freeman. The talent extended behind the camera as well, with Oscar-winning Linus Sandgren as cinematographer and James Newton Howard composing the score, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Produced on a reported budget of $130 million, the movie ultimately grossed around $170 million worldwide, a figure that highlights its financial struggles given the substantial budget and marketing costs.

Fast forward to the present, Disney is grappling with the massive failure of Tron: Ares. The long-awaited sequel, starring Jared Leto, is currently performing in territory comparable to The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, signaling a dire financial outcome. After approximately two weeks in theaters, the science-fiction film has only managed to gross around $57 million at the domestic box office, just exceeding The Nutcracker and the Four Realms' final domestic run of $54 million. Globally, Tron: Ares has reached a haul of $106 million against a reported budget as high as $220 million, indicating that it has yet to surpass the worldwide gross of The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Industry reports suggest that the movie is projected to lose over $130 million, further contributing to Disney's challenging year.

This significant setback for Tron: Ares comes amidst a wave of other underperforming titles from Disney in 2025, including Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Snow White, and Elio. The media juggernaut still holds hope for upcoming releases such as Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash to stabilize its financial performance and navigate through what has proven to be a particularly rough year at the box office.