(AP Photo/Walt Disney Studios)
Congratulations – you’re witnessing history in the making! “Mars Needs Moms” – the 3-D animated Disney disaster that came out last weekend – has had one of the worst opening weekends… ever.
The film earned $6.8 million in its opening weekend… but it cost about $150 million to make. Most movies break even within a few weeks of release and then – ideally – start to turn a profit. Not so for this tribute to the power of moms. Though it brought in some revenue, it wasn’t enough to cover the cost of producing the flick.
Disney distribution president Chuck Viane says the problem is simple: “Not enough people came to see the movie.” (Um, duh.) One possible reason is that there were a lot of other animated movies in theaters this weekend, and Earth moms weren’t about to shell out $20 for 3D tickets to all of them.
So were the dismal box office numbers a product of poor timing or a cruel twist of fate?
Perhaps the movie’s budget directors should have taken Budgeting 101?
What’s up with 3-D movies anyway? Are you paying to see them? Tell us.