Disney has been facing a bit of a slippery slope with the release of their latest big film, ‘Avatar: The Way of Water.’ When it released last weekend the film underperformed, coming in $95 million – $125 million below estimates. The early underperformance is being blamed for the Walt Disney Company’s stocks dropping to lows that haven’t been seen in decades.

Of course the excuses immediately started coming. Initially the blame became COVID and the Flu. I’m not saying those are not valid reasons, because the Flu is bad in the United States this year and COVID is bad in China right now, but Disney already knew about the issues in China when they got approval to run the film there. Plus, other films were released during higher risk times and still performed better. ‘Avatar’ doesn’t even have any real competition.

Now the movie may face a domestic issue that indeed could hamper it’s sophomore week–Winter Storm Elliott.

The latest winter storm has practically moved from coast-to-coast across the United States. Many areas have lost power, are facing bitter cold, a lot of snow, or even flooding. The upside is that the storm has moved mostly through the country, with the East Coast still caught up in it. For a lot of the country, it might be over enough for people to head to the movies today and on Christmas, but the film is likely going to take a financial hit for the week.

I can’t wait to see what the “issue” is going to be next week.

In the end I wouldn’t worry about the film too much yet. It will make money and I have no doubt it will go north of $1 billion in the long run. But it’s hitting some pretty big hiccups along the way.

What do you think? Comment and let us know!