Disney has seen a number of varying results at the box office this past year. Now one such movie box office failure is apparently being pulled from its scheduled release date by Disney.
This unexpected decision follows the film’s underperformance at the United States box office. With a relatively low $35 million budget, it seemed like an easy task to make back its budget, but that has not been the case.
The 2025 political comedy drama has, as of this writing, only made $4 million at the box office. This is an incredibly low number when considering its $35 million budget. As such, a new report regarding Disney’s decision to pull the 20th Century Studios feature from its January 7 French release isn’t surprising.
It’s worth noting that there is no reason given for Disney’s decision to cancel the release of the movie in France. The common consensus, however, is that the studio just didn’t trust the movie to perform well. In fact, its underwhelming performance as mentioned above is considered to be one of the worst wide-release openings in the history of the United States.
Here’s what World of Reel shared:
“After 15 years away from directing, “Ella McCay” marks the return of James L. Brooks—once a great filmmaker who has had his latest film outright panned by critics. The film, currently in U.S. theaters, has just had its January 7 release canceled in France by Disney.”
James L. Brooks wrote and directed the feature which stars Emma Mackey as the titular character. Other cast members include Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Spike Fearn, Julie Kavner, Rebecca Hall, Albert Brooks, and Woody Harrelson.
It seems as though Ella McCay had good intentions behind it, with the long-awaited return of director James L. Brooks, and a solid cast as well. Ultimately, however, audiences and critics just didn’t want to support the endeavor – and now it looks like Disney is pulling the movie from its French release as a result.