Willow: Awkward Story Of Disney's $100 Million Flop
Even a huge budget couldn’t help to make a profitable show out of it.
Every studio has its own hits and its own flops. While some projects turn out great and make a lot of money at the box office, others don't, whether due to poor reception, a low budget, or a non-existent marketing campaign.
Usually, big studios like Disney just move on to the next project after canceling a failed one, but it's not so common to give up on something that cost more than $100 million to make.
As the studio itself revealed, they spent $105.9 million on Willow, only to cancel the show after six months. This either shows how bad Disney's analysis of the market was that they put so much into a show that ended up being scrapped, or how good the studio is at letting themselves waste all that investment that could have gone to other projects.
Many believe that Willow fell victim to Disney's reckless spending and sudden attempts to cut costs just months after the big content purge. Not only was the show not renewed for a second season after the very mild results of the first season, but it was removed from the streaming platform entirely.
While some very dedicated fans who live and breathe the idea of continuing the legacy of George Lucas' universe were genuinely disappointed by the decision to abandon Willow, others tried to deal with confusion. The majority of Disney Plus subscribers got very mixed signals from the whole situation and were left sacred for other shows.
The studio, which was about to spend a hundred million dollars on the lavish overseas production, gave up too easily on the end result. Considering the film's not-so-bad 84% critics score and 65% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Disney Plus could have easily continued production on a reduced budget.
Although Jon Kasdan, one of the writers and executive producers for the Willow mentioned that the show is not completely canceled but remains on pause for now, the hopes for it getting back are almost non-existent.
With the further crisis that WGA and SAG AFTRA strikes are able to bring to the studios, chances are Disney Plus will never come back to the idea of it again.
Source: Forbes