'Strange World' Disney's 2022 Animated Film

[TP2000]

All kidding aside never heard of the movie until this site.

If not for this site, I still wouldn't have heard of it.

Don't worry, it's not just you.

Is Disney's Strange World Being Set Up To Fail?

With the lack of promotion for Disney's upcoming animated film Strange World it seems that Disney is setting the film up to fail.

www.piratesandprincesses.net

 

[RobWDW1971]

Which means either the Burbank executive team just forgot to market their latest $180 Million film at Thanksgiving, or they purposely decided not to market their $180 Million film at Thanksgiving.

I'm thinking there's more to the story than those two options, however.

The causation is backwards. The film was screened endlessly for preview audiences and once Disney realized they had a catastrophe on their hands, they tried to balance launching the film with hedging the financial pain.

The B CinemaScore shows that they were right and the film was rejected by audiences (especially adult men, which is a problem when you're pushing a father/son adventure story).

They are not releasing their marketing spend so we only have anecdotal evidence, but I saw endless commercials on TV during the Thanksgiving weekend (parades, NFL games, etc) and drove by no less than a half dozen billboards and bus shelters here in LA over the past couple of days.

So this idea that the movie bombed because of a passive marketing campaign is backward. The movie received a passive marketing campaign because they knew audiences were going to reject the film (for some reasons we cannot discuss here).

The record low CinemaScore, its historic post-opening drop, and lack of buzz once audiences saw it only reinforces their decision.

 

[TwilightZone]

I was watching the Big 3 of Thanksgiving programming (Macy's parade, dog show, and NFL) and the ads were running nonstop.

I saw that too! But after that...

maybe its cause I don't watch kids channels, but I know for a fact I saw more commercials for Lightyear overall (just for recent frame of reference) than Strange World.

 

[TwilightZone]

Expect that to change with the new Ad tier.

Is it weird I'm excited for the ad tier just cause of Disney channel nostalgia?

 

[Disney Irish]

Is it weird I'm excited for the ad tier just cause of Disney channel nostalgia?

I don't know what ads they will play, if it'll be product ads or Disney specific ads to start, as I don't have the Ad tier. If yourself or someone has the Ad tier can report back on what ads they play that would be cool.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Don't worry, it's not just you.

Is Disney's Strange World Being Set Up To Fail?

With the lack of promotion for Disney's upcoming animated film Strange World it seems that Disney is setting the film up to fail.

www.piratesandprincesses.net

It's hard to imagine a more clueless article.

"Set up to fail" implies a reason for the set-up, but the article doesn't provide a reason, nor actual proof it was set-up. It's a conspiracy without a plot.

Not to mention there was merchandise for SW, just not for McDonald's.

Not to mention: "There have been very little adds on television..." Little. Adds.

Not a site known for original reporting. It's just echoing -- poorly -- for their subscribers general chatter.

 

[TP2000]

"Set up to fail" implies a reason for the set-up, but the article doesn't provide a reason, nor actual proof it was set-up. It's a conspiracy without a plot.

I imagine the reason for the set-up is the exact reason that we aren't allowed to discuss here for some bizarre reason. It's the ultimate The Emperor Has No Clothes scenario, where we all know it but no one is allowed to say it. If the author of this article did come out and say it, he'd be blasted as a hate-monger and horrible bigot who must be fired from his blogging job immediately and cancelled from polite society forever.

Not to mention there was merchandise for SW, just not for McDonald's.

Which is the part I find the most damning. They designed and manufactured toys, books, and children's clothing for Strange World. Then purposely didn't send all that merch to stores at Christmas, and only offered it online in backwater search tabs. That's really weird!

I'm going to go out on a limb and risk having my post deleted or "reported" by someone with hurt feelings and say that the plot and story arcs of the main Strange World characters, namely Ethan and how his family responds to him, was shoehorned into the story a couple years ago after the story had already been developed. Then the Ethan character and all the supportive pablum the other characters heap on him doomed this movie with test audiences.

So Disney had no choice but to bury the film and take the loss. Pull the children's merch from distribution, run only a few ads in the few days before opening, and hope to God no one makes a big deal about it.

The fact that male audiences over age 25 hated this movie is proof that a big mistake was made with the story development for Strange World. This should have been the ultimate father/son adventure guy movie! The 2020's version of Cars and a big money maker in merch and boys t-shirts and a sequel. But obviously, it is not.

So in Burbank's defense, this is perhaps the best last minute scenario they could come up with for this film.
I don't envy them though.

 

[Phroobar]

Well the bright side is Strange World has made more money than Marcel the Shell. It is still trying to pass Plan 9 from Outer Space. (adjusted for inflation)

 

[ILoveWDW4ever]

I imagine the reason for the set-up is the exact reason that we aren't allowed to discuss here for some bizarre reason. It's the ultimate The Emperor Has No Clothes scenario, where we all know it but no one is allowed to say it. If the author of this article did come out and say it, he'd be blasted as a hate-monger and horrible bigot who must be fired from his blogging job immediately and cancelled from polite society forever.



Which is the part I find the most damning. They designed and manufactured toys, books, and children's clothing for Strange World. Then purposely didn't send all that merch to stores at Christmas, and only offered it online in backwater search tabs. That's really weird!

I'm going to go out on a limb and risk having my post deleted or "reported" by someone with hurt feelings and say that the plot and story arcs of the main Strange World characters, namely Ethan and how his family responds to him, was shoehorned into the story a couple years ago after the story had already been developed. Then the Ethan character and all the supportive pablum the other characters heap on him doomed this movie with test audiences.

So Disney had no choice but to bury the film and take the loss. Pull the children's merch from distribution, run only a few ads in the few days before opening, and hope to God no one makes a big deal about it.

The fact that male audiences over age 25 hated this movie is proof that a big mistake was made with the story development for Strange World. This should have been the ultimate father/son guy movie! The 2020's version of Cars and a big money maker in merch and boys t-shirts and a sequel. But obviously, it is not.

So in Burbank's defense, this is perhaps the best scenario they could come up with for this film. I don't envy them though.

Is this a good time to mention that Willow has even worse audience reaction scores than SW? Is that allowed?

 

[Phroobar]

Is this a good time to mention that Willow has even worse audience reaction scores than SW? Is that allowed?

I forgot that was a show. What episode are they on now? 4?
Wednesday on Netflix is pretty solid though.

 

[ILoveWDW4ever]

I forgot that was a show. What episode are they on now? 4?
Wednesday on Netflix is pretty solid though.

Haven’t started that yet. Planning to this weekend. Does it live up to the hype?

 

[Phroobar]

Haven’t started that yet. Planning to this weekend. Does it live up to the hype?

Well, if you love badly written and acted teen WB shows, it will be right up your alley. The only good acting was from everyone under 4 1/2 feet tall.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ֊ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Haven’t started that yet. Planning to this weekend. Does it live up to the hype?

Step above a CW show... but only just.

 

[ILoveWDW4ever]

Well, if you love badly written and acted teen WB shows, it will be right up your alley. The only good acting was from everyone under 4 1/2 feet tall.

I meant Wednesday!

 

[LittleBuford]

For what it's worth, I have some very close friends who are gay and they've informed me that they never received their mail in ballots for the vote to combine any of these movements.

I used to feel this way. Then I realised the importance of allyship, particularly given that those who dislike us tend to group us all together as deviants anyway. We are stronger together.

 

[LittleBuford]

This is a really depressing thread. Some here seem genuinely gleeful about the film's failure. That makes no sense to me coming from people who profess to be Disney fans.

 

[ILoveWDW4ever]

This is a really depressing thread. Some here seem genuinely gleeful about the film's failure. That makes no sense to me coming from people who profess to be Disney fans.

Compare it to NFL.

You love your team. But your team stinks, or is simply average…. You start to root for them to lose so that things actually change. So you get a higher draft pick, or new executives to run the show.

That’s what this is. These films, and shows, are being steadfastly rejected. So hopefully!!! It leads to change.

 

[RobWDW1971]

I imagine the reason for the set-up is the exact reason that we aren't allowed to discuss here for some bizarre reason. It's the ultimate The Emperor Has No Clothes scenario, where we all know it but no one is allowed to say it. If the author of this article did come out and say it, he'd be blasted as a hate-monger and horrible bigot who must be fired from his blogging job immediately and cancelled from polite society forever.



Which is the part I find the most damning. They designed and manufactured toys, books, and children's clothing for Strange World. Then purposely didn't send all that merch to stores at Christmas, and only offered it online in backwater search tabs. That's really weird!

I'm going to go out on a limb and risk having my post deleted or "reported" by someone with hurt feelings and say that the plot and story arcs of the main Strange World characters, namely Ethan and how his family responds to him, was shoehorned into the story a couple years ago after the story had already been developed. Then the Ethan character and all the supportive pablum the other characters heap on him doomed this movie with test audiences. And in the months leading up to the film's release, the popular governor of Florida was cruising to an easy landslide victory in November's election, just to rub salt in Burbank's wounds.

So Disney had no choice but to bury the film and take the loss. Pull the children's merch from distribution, run only a few ads in the few days before opening, and hope to God no one makes a big deal about it.

The fact that male audiences over age 25 hated this movie is proof that a big mistake was made with the story development for Strange World. This should have been the ultimate father/son adventure guy movie! The 2020's version of Cars and a big money maker in merch and boys t-shirts and a sequel. But obviously, it is not.

So in Burbank's defense, this is perhaps the best last minute scenario they could come up with for this film.
I don't envy them though.

On the entertainment (not fan) business sites, there are incredibly interesting discussions about what this film's failure and complete market rejection (and the recent bombs of "Bros" and "Lightyear") mean for the future of mainstream gay themed content both for adults and kids.

To have wide releases of gay-themed movies (both for adults and family audiences) open on thousands of screens within a couple of months and all have historic, terrible openings, warrants reflection on the financial risk of these projects (not to mention the long-term impact to a family oriented brand like Disney).

Some truly interesting insight, but we'll go back to talking about bus shelters and "Pepto-Bismol colors" here for some bizarre reason.

 

[LittleBuford]

Compare it to NFL.

You love your team. But your team stinks, or is simply average…. You start to root for them to lose so that things actually change. So you get a higher draft pick, or new executives to run the show.

That’s what this is. These films, and shows, are being steadfastly rejected. So hopefully!!! It leads to change.

But some of you are misidentifying the issue and therefore hoping for a kind of change that I find totally objectionable, because it's basically asking Disney to pander to reactionary fearmongering. Wherever we stand on the issue ideologically, we all know that Disney is never going to go back to making films that don't feature queer characters and romances. The shift has happened, and it's permanent.

I agree that lessons should be learnt from the poor reception of Lightyear (which I found extremely boring) and Strange Word (which I haven't seen yet and so can't really comment on). But those lessons have to do with storytelling, marketing, etc. Representation and diversity are not the problem here.

 

[ILoveWDW4ever]

Representation and diversity are not the problem here.

Of course not!!! Representation and diversity for the sake of checking boxes. That’s the problem.

Modern Family. One of the most successful shows in TV history featured a gay family! It was a mammoth, spectacular success. Why didn’t all these bigots and fear mongers “review bomb” that show?