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though what was with Luke saying "if you've been clamoring for a definitive version of The Nutcracker, you're lying"?! Jerk! Don't you think he's a jerk for that? I wanted a definitive version of The Nutcracker!

Disney, meanwhile, just got served its worst domestic opening in two years with “Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” which opened to just $20 million domestic from 3,766 screens and $58.5 million worldwide against a $130 million budget. It’s the weakest start for Disney outside of its DisneyNature documentaries since the $18 million start for “The BFG.”

As fate would have it, Disney suffered a major miss over the weekend as the big-budget The Nutcracker and the Four Realms bombed with $20 million in the U.S. after costing $125 million to produce. It is Disney's lowest nationwide debut in more than two years, excluding nature docs. Nutcracker fared better overseas, earning $38.5 million from its first 45 markets for a global start of $58.5 million.

"We were obviously looking for a stronger start," says Disney distribution chief Cathleen Taff. "The Nutcracker is a holiday tradition for many, and we'll see how the film plays out the next several weeks."

Disney is hoping the classic Christmas tale is able to pick up steam as it heads into the holidays. “Obviously, it’s not the start we were looking for, but it’s a great family friendly option,” said Cathleen Taff, Disney’s president of domestic distribution. “Sometimes it doesn’t connect as broadly as we want it to.”

Disney’s $120M priced family film opened in 45 material markets this session for 72% of the overseas footprint. It did $38.5M across those, a higher number than we were seeing ahead of the weekend, but the UK was very soft at just $2.1M. Disney’s President Theatrical Distribution, Franchise Management and Business & Audience Insights, Cathleen Taff, tells me the movie “opened where we wanted it to be in most other territories.” It did $12M in China to land No. 1 and a very solid $5.5M in Italy, making it the 5th biggest opening weekend of 2018 there.

The movie also took advantage of the All Saints Day holiday in some markets. Taff says, “The Nutcracker is part of a holiday tradition for a lot of people so we’ll look to how it plays ahead.” Nutcracker’s top 5 markets this weekend were China ($12M), Italy ($5.5M), Germany ($2.7M), Mexico ($2.3M) and Spain ($2.2M). Key future openings include Australia, France, Japan, Korea and Russia.

Lasse Hallstrom’s “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” topped the Chinese box office with a far from festive $12 million opening score. The romantic fantasy, presented by Disney in most international markets, topped the Chinese charts on all three days between Friday and Sunday. It played some 80,000 screening sessions per day on each occasion., according to data from Ent Group.

Even though it’s their third bomb this year after Solo and Wrinkle in Time, Disney put their best foot forward: They saw a high concept in E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1816 holiday short story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King; it was in their princess wheelhouse, and with an awards pedigree filmmaker and below-the-line team, the studio felt it was definitely worth the spend. But unlike the alchemy of Bohemian Rhapsody which is a nostalgic roller coaster rider for all generations, Nutcracker‘s elements didn’t make for a great chemistry. After a trailer was flatly received at the studio’s fan convention D23, Disney reportedly ordered another 32 extra days of reshoots with director Joe Johnston stepping in for Lasse Hallstrom (both decided to share co-directing credit). Still, there are other negative factors which slowed down business this weekend.

Some blame the release date for being too early for a holiday film, arriving too soon after Halloween. However, Disney needed to space Nutcracker away from Ralph Breaks the Internet during Thanksgiving, and they certainly weren’t going to take a holiday film out at Christmas which is where they have Mary Poppins Returns. The marketing and the overall look of The Nutcracker also looked too similar to Beauty and the Beast. Not to mention, The Nutcracker screams ballet, which doesn’t necessarily sell to a mainstream family audience even though there’s not a lot of dancing in this movie. The movie has a darker tone than we’re used to (not for under 7-year-olds who came out at 6%) and has little in it for boys (girls out-number them 60% to 40% under 12). Reviews, which complain about the pic’s slow pace and lack of dance, hurt those mothers who otherwise would have taken their kids (without the nag factor) for nostalgic reasons. Disney is reporting a 57% female turnout for Nutcracker, 57% over 25 with families repping 43%, adults 50% and teens 7%. 2D repped 82% of business, 3D 18%.

As for overall, it’s very clear this movie was one thing and was changed to something else midway through production.

If you pay attention, you can clearly see the seams holding two different movies together. It’s very odd, and very disorienting at times.

I can't tell if the movie's under-cooked or overcooked because it had two directors (with opposing visions, I assume)

the end after all is done and Clara becomes queen or something along those lines. She’s wearing her silver dress and she talks to the regents of the realms and then walks forward down a hall toward what I’m assuming is a crown of people we never see? And it cuts to her back in her party dress leaving. It makes no sense. You have no idea what she was doing or why she was dressed up or what on earth was taking place that day. Just another odd casualty of the directors switching I’m assuming?

Some blame the release date for being too early for a holiday film, arriving too soon after Halloween.

I'm glad they're acknowledging Fantasia even if its connection to the movie is tenuous.

The scene didn't need exposition though. It was distracting, unnecessary, and diminished the impact of what was happening on stage.

It just may be a little weird. It would not be like a movie scene. It would be like, well, stopping a movie to watch a ballet for a few minutes.

I think it would have been just fine. It's a a short scene, anyway. It's OK for movies to give the audience some breathing room and let them immerse themselves in the film's world. It's not necessary to constantly have dialogue or exposition. This scene doesn't need it. The concept of the four realms had already been explained before this scene so the ballet interpretation of that is self-evident.

If the characters in the Realms learn that Clara is Marie's daughter...they (or at least Phil(l)ip does!) recognize the last name Stahlbaum...would child Marie have had this name? Doubtful, unless she married someone with the same last name as her...So did Marie go back to the Realms as an adult?

The explanation for how Clara's mother created the realms (through "science", if I understood it well) wasn't believable. It would've been better if she had just discovered a magical world instead.

I thought the music was used excellently throughout the film

Clara's reaction to the whole journey is baffling as well, she kind of acts like adventures like these happen to her every day and I got no sense of wonder and amazement from her.

Clara has very little sense of wonder to this incredible world around her.

The biggest issue in the movie is Mother Ginger. She’s seen on screen for a whole 2 minutes before we realize she isn’t a bad guy. Even more so though is the fact that there’s no explanation how she was banished, how Sugar Plum convinced everyone she was bad, or how any of the fourth realm came to collapse and rot away.

There’s also a weird minor plot about shutting down the water flowing from the castle with no explanation as to why this needs to be done.

Structure wise the biggest issue is that the last half of the movie is really spent in the warehouse/lab where the villain twist goes down. It’s terrible looking and feels like a million other movies I’ve seen many times. We’re in this magical world, and instead the biggest things happen in a warehouse.

For those of you who already saw it, how full was your theater?

what was with Sugar Plum's stupid nonsesical motivation for doing what she did? If she just wanted to be queen, I would get it. But she felt abandoned?! And they cut her "Oh, sugar!" line?.

I know I tend to love films that others see as “flawed,” but I just couldn’t notice it feeling as 2 different films because of the director switch; I thought that it flowed smoothly. Do you mind giving examples of what you felt made it feel disjointed/like 2 films?

Nomad2010, you're very observant and seem to be quite right and smart about what's going on!

So the plot was majorly condensed, hence the plot holes with the water, the very little Mother Ginger we see until after she’s revealed to be a good guy, and the whole lack of how on earth Sugar Plum convinced the entire world Mother Ginger was evil.

Maybe it was gorgeous but didn't have enough excitement/action/tension? Would any of the screenplay have changed for the reshoot, do you think?

I just came back from it, and it was as amazing as I’d hoped it would be.

I actually liked that SPF was explaining to Clara...I mean, the explanations were brief, and I feel that if I were in Clara’s shoes, even if it might be self-explanatory, flowers, snowflakes, and sweets, I might still want a little explanation.

I know I need to see it again, and I haven’t read the expanded novel (but I will!), but I think not much explanation at all was given to how Marie created the realms, besides turning toys to living beings with the machine.

Blu-Ray & Digital HD:

• On Pointe: A Conversation with Misty Copeland – Copeland shares the thrill of portraying one of her favorite characters in a whole new way.
• Unwrapping “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” – Dive into the production design, sets, costumes and more that helped transform a beloved ballet into an adventurous movie.
• Deleted Scenes: The Stahlbaums Arrive – As the Stahlbaums enter the Christmas Eve ball, the butler attempts to announce them to the assembled guests.
• Deleted Scenes: Follow Your Ribbon- Drosselmeyer encourages a reluctant Clara to go find her gift.
• Deleted Scenes: Clara Asks About Her Mother – Sugar Plum gives Clara a tour of her mother’s bedroom.
• Deleted Scenes: Left Left, Left, Left, Left, Left – Wandering lost in the forest, palace guards Cavalier and Harlequin quarrel about which way to go.
• Deleted Scenes: Out with the Old – Sugar Plum makes sweeping changes to the palace decor.
• Music Videos: “Fall on Me” Performed by Andrea Bocelli Featuring Matteo Bocelli – Experience superstar tenor Andrea Bocelli and his son Matteo Bocelli performing their first duet together in this uplifting song.
• Music Videos: “The Nutcracker Suite” Performed by Lang Lang – Get swept up in a series of images from the movie, set to Tchaikovsky’s music and featuring world-renowned pianist Lang Lang.

Digital Exclusive:

• Unwrapped: The Visual Effects of “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” – View a reel that explores the layers of effects in sequences of the film.

Q: Why did A Wrinkle in Time and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms miss so badly?

Sean Bailey: A Wrinkle in Time was an ambitious swing. I'm grateful for Ava [DuVernay] and the cast. Ultimately my assessment is that it's a really hard piece of source material to adapt. We didn't quite get there. Nutcracker is another hard one. Neither the book nor the ballet really has a strong narrative throughline, so we tried to bring together the most beautiful global artists and thought that would be a really wonderful thing for families to go experience. We tried really hard, and we were wrong.