The Marvel Cinematic Universe isn’t the only place where Tom Holland and Chris Pratt collaborated. Spider-man and Star-Lord voiced the characters of two elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot in Disney’s and Pixar’s 2020 release Onward.
A story of a magical journey of the two brothers racing against time to bring back their dead father for 24 hours, the movie received fairly positive reviews and even led the box office during its theatrical release in the country. However, it suffered over $58M in losses and was even banned in 4 countries. Despite the initial hardships, the movie fared too well upon its streaming debut.
Tom Holland’s Box-Office Flop Was Banned In 4 Countries
Tom Holland voiced the character of Ian Lightfoot, an elf teenager who desperately wants to meet his dead father, while Chris Pratt voiced the character of Barley, the older elf brother. Despite a pretty interesting storyline, animation, and cast, it ended up losing millions.
Currently having a rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, it was even leading the domestic box office during its release (via Variety). However, the high audience ratings, generally positive reviews, and box office leads could not save the movie from loss since it was a time when the box office all over the world was heavily affected by the pandemic.
Onward cost about $200 million to produce and market, but only managed to gross about $142 million worldwide, leading to $58 million in losses to Disney (via Box Office Mojo). Furthermore, it was banned in the four countries of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia due to a dialogue referencing a supporting character’s lesbian relationship (via Variety).
While it wasn’t banned in other Middle Eastern countries, the loss of box office in four countries coupled with the aftereffects of the pandemic seems to have the movie hard. However, even though it bombed during its theatrical run, the movie was a hit upon its streaming debut.
Tom Holland And Chris Pratt’s Onward Was A ‘Streaming’ Hit
It is a feat generally seen that movies underperforming on the big screen, sometimes manage to make it big upon their streaming release. And so it happened with Tom Holland’s Onward. Although it is difficult to predict or even know the success of movies on streaming platforms, the Google trend numbers help in predicting how successful movies are up to a certain extent.
As soon as the movie was released on Disney+, the trend numbers for the movie seemed to have increased drastically. Since the COVID-19 pandemic was still high and strict measures were in place, a streaming release allowed for the family movie to become the perfect staple for people hungry for hope and magic in desperate times.
Onward can be streamed on Disney+.
