What is the budget of Wish?

"Wish," a animation released in 2023, was directed by Fawn Veerasunthorn, Chris Buck and stars Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine. The production budget was $175,000,000, placing it in the blockbuster range for animation productions of its era.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

While specific budget breakdowns are not publicly available, typical cost drivers for a animation production like this include:

Animation Production Pipeline: The bulk of an animated film's budget funds the multi-year production pipeline: storyboarding, character modeling, rigging, animation, lighting, rendering, and compositing.
Voice Talent: Celebrity voice casting has become standard for studio animation, with A-list actors earning $5 to 15 million for voice roles.
Music, Songs & Sound Design: Original songs and orchestral scores are central to animated storytelling. Sound design for animated worlds must be created entirely from scratch.
Casting: On September 9, 2022, during the 2022 D23 Expo, Ariana DeBose and Alan Tudyk were announced to have been cast in the leading roles of Asha and Valentino, respectively.

What were the major cost factors in Wish?

Several factors contributed to the overall production costs of "Wish."

Animation Production Pipeline: Animation Production Pipeline is one of the primary cost drivers in animation productions of this scale.
Voice Talent: Voice Talent is one of the primary cost drivers in animation productions of this scale.
Music: Music, Songs & Sound Design is one of the primary cost drivers in animation productions of this scale.

How Does Wish's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

At $175,000,000, Wish sits in the blockbuster range. Here is how it compares to productions with a similar budget:

47 Ronin (2013): Budget $175,000,000, Worldwide Gross $151,783,839
Cars 3 (2017): Budget $175,000,000, Worldwide Gross $383,925,276
Coco (2017): Budget $175,000,000, Worldwide Gross $814,641,172
Dolittle (2020): Budget $175,000,000, Worldwide Gross $251,410,631
Evan Almighty (2007): Budget $175,000,000, Worldwide Gross $174,440,724

The median budget for wide-release animation films in the 2020s ranges from $30 to 80M for mid-budget to $150M+ for tentpoles.

Wish Box Office Performance

"Wish" earned $63,973,821 domestically and $254,997,360 worldwide at the box office. Against a production budget of $175,000,000, the film showed modest profitability in theatrical release.

A film typically needs to earn approximately twice its production budget to cover marketing and distribution costs. For "Wish," that break-even threshold was roughly $350,000,000. With worldwide earnings of $254,997,360, the film fell short of that threshold but recouped its production costs in theatrical release.

Production Budget: $175,000,000
Worldwide Gross: $254,997,360
Net Return: $79,997,360
ROI: approximately 45.7%

At 45.7%, "Wish" returned its production investment but margin was tight after marketing and distribution costs.

Wish Production History

On September 9, 2022, during the 2022 D23 Expo, Ariana DeBose and Alan Tudyk were announced to have been cast in the leading roles of Asha and Valentino, respectively. On April 26, 2023, at CinemaCon, it was announced that Chris Pine would voice King Magnifico. Lee said of Pine "as the most powerful person in the kingdom, King Magnifico needed to be played by someone who could give all the charm, cleverness and charisma to this magnanimous character, and Chris is beautifully bringing all of that and then some".

Julia Michaels was announced to write lyrics and partial music to original songs for Wish at D23 Expo in September 2022. Work on the songs began the year before during the COVID-19 pandemic. By April 2023, Dave Metzger was confirmed to compose the film's score, while Benjamin Rice joined Michaels to write the songs by contributing additional music.

Awards and Recognition

1 win & 22 nominations total

Critical Reception

It was the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film to be classified as "Rotten" on the site since Chicken Little (2005). Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 47 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews, becoming the lowest-rated Walt Disney Animation Studios film on the site. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it a 71% overall positive score.