Tim Allen Gets The Last Laugh As ‘Lightyear’ Flops Without Him

Last week, we reported on the backlash over Disney replacing Tim Allen, who originated the role of Buzz Lightyear, with Chris Evans in the new movie Lightyear. Now, Allen is getting the last laugh, as Lightyear has flopped at the box office after it came out on Friday.

But first, check out a trailer for Lightyear below.

Lightyear Flops

Though experts had expected Lightyear to make $70 to $85 million domestically, it only made a measly $51 million across the U.S. and Canada, according to NBC News. In contrast, Toy Story 4 made $120.9 million in its opening weekend when it came out in June of 2019. 

Variety reported that Lightyear wasn’t even able to beat Jurassic World: Dominion, which was the top movie of the weekend, making $58.6 million in North America. The production value of Lightyear was $200 million before marketing, so it has quite a ways to go before it even breaks even.

Related: Patricia Heaton Blasts Disney For Not Casting Tim Allen As Buzz Lightyear

Disney Replaces Allen

This came after Disney replaced Allen, who has been open about his conservative views in the past, with the “woke” leftwing star Chris Evans in the role of Buzz Lightyear. The film’s director Angus MacLane had previously tried to defend this recasting. 

“Tim’s version of Buzz is a little goofier and is a little dumber, and so he is the comic relief,” he said, according to Cinema Blend. “In this film, Buzz is the action hero. He’s serious and ambitious and funny, but not in a goofy way that would undercut the drama. Chris Evans has the gravitas and that movie-star quality that our character needed to separate” him and the movie from Tim’s version of the toy in Toy Story.”

Perhaps now he’s realized just what a mistake this really was! Lightyear producer Galyn Susman has also publicly given her thoughts on the recasting.

“Tim Allen is Buzz Lightyear the toy,” she said during a recent press conference. “We weren’t making a Toy Story movie. We’re making Buzz Lightyear’s movie. And so first and foremost, we just needed a different person playing that Lightyear, separate from the toy.”

Evans Sounds Off On Allen

As for Evans, he made an effort to honor Allen amidst the backlash. 

“The reason we’re doing this movie is because Tim Allen made such an iconic impact,” Evans told USA Today. “Not only would you be a fool to not take his interpretation because it worked so well, but the truth is this character is in fact the human version of that toy, so there does need to be overlap in terms of their cadence and nature.”‘

Related: Chris Evans Shares What It Was Like To Replace Tim Allen As Buzz

Evans had previously discussed replacing Allen when it was announced that he had been cast as Buzz Lightyear in December of 2020. 

“My team could barely contain their excitement when they told me that Pixar had a pitch for me. All they said was ‘Buzz Lightyear,’” he wrote on Instagram at the time. “I didn’t know what that meant, since Tim Allen is Buzz Lightyear, and no one could ever touch his performance. I needed to know how this character was different and why this story was worth telling. I can say 2 things with absolute confidence:

1. I didn’t stop smiling through the ENTIRE pitch. Ear to ear.
2. Everyone can rest easy. And get very excited.”

In the end, it’s clear that fans have no interest in seeing a Buzz Lightyear movie without Allen in it. Nice try, Disney, but this was an epic fail!

Read More: Patricia Heaton Blasts Disney For Not Casting Tim Allen As Buzz Lightyear