'Strange World' Disney's 2022 Animated Film

[erasure fan1]

There is no proof of anything for any of this. No one has produced, or likely can produce, internal Burbank documents that show why they barely marketed this film on purpose, or why Ethan Clade's original casting call from 2018 morphed into the Ethan Clade character that arrived on screen three weeks ago. Or why the Strange World toys designed and manufactured were never put on the shelves for Target's Christmas season.

That's exactly right. No matter what anyones opinion on any of this. No matter what side you fall on. You are no more right or wrong than the next person. Like you said, until Disney comes out and says the reason, no one really knows. This is a discussion forum, a place to give your thoughts and opinions. And if someone doesn't like your opinion, make a good argument, and who knows, maybe you sway their opinion.

 

[TP2000]

The viewing audience being turned off and not having interest in seeing Strange World immediately after the trailers circulated should have been a clue. The doubling down and making it shown only in theaters made things worse. It should have gone straight to D+ Disney is having difficulty reading the audience. In entertainment it's about giving people what they want not to force feeding the audience what you want. The results are clear to see.

The only part I disagree with there is the "sending it straight to Disney+" strategy.

They spent $180 Million on this film, and apparently had already written it off a month ago by barely marketing it.

They partly got themselves into this mess of diminishing box office returns by sending these big budget theater releases to Disney+ too quickly. They've got to stop that, it makes no sense financially.

Better to take the huge loss on Strange World that was already created in the marketplace, and just keep it to a 90 day arrival window on their 8 bucks a month streaming service. Their audience has to stop expecting to see these big budget films for practically free mere weeks after their release. In my humble opinion, of course.

 

[Californian Elitist]

There is no proof of anything for any of this. No one has produced, or likely can produce, internal Burbank documents that show why they barely marketed this film on purpose, what the test screening results were and their demographics on who disliked it most, or why Ethan Clade's original casting call from 2018 morphed into the Ethan Clade character that arrived on screen three weeks ago. Also why the Strange World toys and merch designed and manufactured were never put on the shelves for Target's Christmas season.

But that's why we're all here talking; weighing in with our own ideas and opinions and thoughts on what must have happened to create one of the worst box office bombs in Disney Animation history.

Correct, there is no proof. I never said people can’t discuss.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That might be a regional definition but there are people the architect has nothing to do with like interior designers. This a pointless argument, so lets drop it.

Architects are allowed to design an entire building, especially single family houses. It’s only in larger commercial projects that there might be requirements to engage engineers. The engineers though typically work for the architect. Interior designers are completely optional, their scope of work varies widely, and they’re often not able to stamp their own drawings.

 

[TP2000]

Correct, there is no proof. I never said people can’t discuss.

Not only can I discuss it, but my thoughts and opinions on the subject can change and evolve as the discussion rolls along over a period of weeks and more ideas are presented.

It's fun to be open to a diversity of thought and learn from others! And let your mind expand and evolve!

 

[RobWDW1971]

The Numbers site has also just updated its global box office this afternoon, after a data dump of box office numbers from around the world from this past weekend.

Strange World continues to underperform at an even greater rate in foreign countries than it has in the USA, historically speaking with previous family animation. It's not just an American thing. If anything, Strange World was more popular in America that it is overseas.

It will be interesting to see the trends in the international markets that are both traditionally strong spenders on family entertainment and have high religious affiliation. Over 70% of the Mexican population identifies as Roman Catholic and the film has done only 6% of Minions:Rise of Gru's box office to date.

In the US, it is an interesting dynamic that Disney is going to struggle with going forward as they are aggressively (and smartly based on demographic trends) pursuing the Hispanic-American audience who historically spend a disproportionate amount of their income on children/family making them a prime audience for theme parks and animated family films.

However, Hispanic-Americans are overwhelmingly religious and Catholic (see below) and do not align with Silver Lake "progressive" values for their children. That will be an interesting fine line for Disney to navigate over the coming years on a variety of topics.

• Latinos and Hispanics are predominantly Christians in the United States. Specifically, they are most often Roman Catholic. According to a Public Religion Research Institute study in 2017, the majority of Hispanic and Latino Americans are Christians (76%). Roman Catholicism continues to be the largest, but not the only, religious denomination among most Latinos. Among the largest Latino groups, 61% of Mexican Americans identify as Catholic, followed by Dominican American (59%), Cuban American (49%), Puerto Rican American (45%), and Salvadoran American (42%).[2]Among the largest Latino groups, 61% of Mexican Americans identify as Roman Catholic, followed by Dominican American (59%), Cuban American (49%), Puerto Rican American (45%), and Salvadoran American (42%)

 

[Californian Elitist]

Not only can I discuss it, but my thoughts and opinions on the subject can change and evolve as the discussion rolls along over a period of weeks and more ideas are presented.

It's fun to be open to a diversity of thought and learn from others! And let your mind expand and evolve!

I never said they couldn’t. I simply gave an example of you doing that.

It’s so awesome when folks pay attention!

 

[TP2000]

Over 70% of the Mexican population identifies as Roman Catholic and the film has done only 6% of Minions:Rise of Gru's box office to date.

So much is fascinating about your last post, but that sentence really shocked me. So I went to check...

Mexico Box Office

Strange World at 21 days................ = $1,687,124
Minions Rise of Gru at 21 days..... = $28,096,263

By the end of August, Minions Rise of Gru had made just over $40 Million in Mexico. Now certainly, Mexico does not have a Thanksgiving holiday week like the USA just did, so there are some cultural differences that lead to different theater attendance patterns in November between the two neighbors. But the box office trend is clear.

Most other countries have weaker box office for Strange World than the USA does, but Mexicans really seem to hate it! Or don't know it exists. Or are ignoring it. Or, most likely, a combination of all three of those factors that feed off of each other. Yikes! Or as they say south of the border, Uff!

Minions 2: Nace un villano - Financial Information Mexico

Financial analysis of Minions 2: Nace un villano (2022) at the Mexico Box Office, including earnings and profitability.

www.the-numbers.com

Un mundo extraño - Financial Information Mexico

Financial analysis of Un mundo extraño (2022) at the Mexico Box Office, including earnings and profitability.

www.the-numbers.com

 

[Prince-1]

Disney+ has really disrupted the theatrical box office business, but has completely killed another cash cow, the physical media market. They were almost collector items, especially Disney movies. For decades, for most of my favorite Disney movies, I purchased a VHS copy, a DVD copy, a remastered collectors edition DVD, a Blu-Ray copy and a 4k copy over the years whenever a newer special edition was released with some new additional "Exclusive content" at minimum $20 per pop. Hundreds of dollars a year on movies I already mostly had a copy of already. Ande we always would grab a copy of the newest releases as they came out, and we already saw all of them in the Theaters. Since Disney+ came out, I haven't purchase one Disney DVD. Disney+ costs less then 4 DVDs per year. Going to be interesting to see how they get the new math to work out.

D+ didn't help it but the physical media market was dying already. New cars no longer come with a CD player built in, DVD players are hardly being made or sold, etc. It is just the way things go when it comes to technology.

 

[BuddyThomas]

T

It used to be inherently trusted for this statement below. Burbank used to brag about it constantly...

View attachment 685120

I didn’t ask you anything.

 

[TwilightZone]

Dare I say that Disney should put out feelers to see if John Lasseter wants to come back? Maybe credit him under a pseudonym, like Lass Johneter to avoid a public backlash. Nobody will ever figure it out!

Luck proves that is not gonna work. I was all excited for that studio too, until that released. Well also Lasseter just seems kinda scummy.

 

[TwilightZone]

American parents were reportedly talking about Ethan Clade on Facebook and parenting Social Media outlets and the news about Ethan was spreading,

There was something else about the voice actor saying something I saw more of online that probably turned away some people.

Spoiler: political ahoy

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I think it's too late for that. They've now conditioned their audience (intentionally or not) to except certain releases at specific times of year, or to be released within so many months.

I used to be someone who saw Disney movies in theaters and buy the DVDs all the time. Now I don't. That's partially because the quality of their home video releases tanked a long time ago (no more 5-10 hours of bonus features that's for sure), but also because it makes no sense to pay a premium to watch something that I've already pre-paid for in a sense.

Disney+ guarantees that they get a certain monthly amount from me, but not much, if anything, more.

That’s the danger of this strategy, if releasing movies quickly on D+ is driving subs it would likely do the opposite and drive away subs if they ended the practice.

Your second and third paragraph described us, and probably millions of other families, to a tee.

I just don't get how Disney+ works long term, it never pencils out for me in my pea-sized brain. Spending $180 Million for Strange World, or $250 Million for Wakanda Forever, doesn't help the Disney+ business case either.

I can’t see the long term strategy either, 200 million subs at $10 a month is $24 billion a year, a boatload of money but when you factor in Chapeks statement about spending $30 billion a year on D+ content and then factor in losing a few billion a year in theatrical sales, a few billion a year in video sales, etc its a massive loser.

The income is there, it’s the spending that makes no sense. If it’s necessary to spend like drunken sailors to get subscribers it would seem just as likely you’d have to keep spending like drunken sailors to keep them.

 

[_caleb]

That’s the danger of this strategy, if releasing movies quickly on D+ is driving subs it would likely do the opposite and drive away subs if they ended the practice.

Your second and third paragraph described us, and probably millions of other families, to a tee.



I can’t see the long term strategy either, 200 million subs at $10 a month is $24 billion a year, a boatload of money but when you factor in Chapeks statement about spending $30 billion a year on D+ content and then factor in losing a few billion a year in theatrical sales, a few billion a year in video sales, etc its a massive loser.

The income is there, it’s the spending that makes no sense. If it’s necessary to spend like drunken sailors to get subscribers it would seem just as likely you’d have to keep spending like drunken sailors to keep them.

Don’t miss what that actually means. Not only is Disney bringing in $24B from subscriptions, they’re getting tons of user data and direct access to living rooms. I believe this is what Disney is going to monetize, if they can keep the ship afloat while they figure it out.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Don’t miss that that actually means. Not only is Disney bringing in $24B from subscriptions, they’re getting tons of user data and direct access to living rooms. I believe this is what Disney is going to monetize, if they can keep the ship afloat while they figure it out.

it makes me wonder if adding commercials was always the intent, offer a premium service at a loss and then transition to a lessor ad based service with a large enough subscriber base you can charge advertisers top dollar.

 

[_caleb]

it makes me wonder if adding commercials was always the intent, offer a premium service at a loss and then transition to a lessor ad based service with a large enough subscriber base you can charge advertisers top dollar.

“This new tier will likely help expand Disney’s overall presence in that advertising adds even more data to the mix of information about viewers and content preferences. Serving ads for products and services that are of interest to viewers will be more engaging and more effective,” Parks Associates president and chief marketing officer Elizabeth Parks explained to TheWrap. “Likewise, helping marketers reach a more targeted audience can help [over the top] services to justify higher ad prices based on documented delivery and results.”

How Disney+’s Ad Tier Can Pull the Company Out of a Fiscal Slump | Analysis

The new AVOD offering rolled out in the U.S. on Thursday, with plans to expand internationally in 2023

www.yahoo.com

 

[lazyboy97o]

Don’t miss what that actually means. Not only is Disney bringing in $24B from subscriptions, they’re getting tons of user data and direct access to living rooms. I believe this is what Disney is going to monetize, if they can keep the ship afloat while they figure it out.

Disney thought they were going to monetize visitor data with Next Gen but that didn’t quite work out as planned.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Disney thought they were going to monetize visitor data with Next Gen but that didn’t quite work out as planned.

This company used to be a lot better at having loss leaders that indirectly supported other revenue streams, but then again it didn't cost them billions of dollars to stock Disneyland's "One of a Kind" Shop.

 

[GimpYancIent]

The only part I disagree with there is the "sending it straight to Disney+" strategy.

They spent $180 Million on this film, and apparently had already written it off a month ago by barely marketing it.

They partly got themselves into this mess of diminishing box office returns by sending these big budget theater releases to Disney+ too quickly. They've got to stop that, it makes no sense financially.

Better to take the huge loss on Strange World that was already created in the marketplace, and just keep it to a 90 day arrival window on their 8 bucks a month streaming service. Their audience has to stop expecting to see these big budget films for practically free mere weeks after their release. In my humble opinion, of course.

Disney marketing did what it could with what it had to market and there were plenty of teasers and trailers. The lack of marketing statement is not true.

 

[TwilightZone]

Disney marketing did what it could with what it had to market and there were plenty of teasers and trailers. The lack of marketing statement is not true.

Teasers and trailers are okay but Disney typically has more advertising than just that. Off the top of my head strange world:

• Had an odd lack of non-online merch
• No cereal box tie in (Avatar, Lightyear, and Black Panther had one, haven't seen one for Strange World)
• Lack of attractive meet n greet or other photo op in the parks (the cardboard set piece is NOT instagrammable)
• An almost invisible amount of commercials on tv, apps, social media, etc.
• Very few animation oriented folks being barely aware it existed (and I have not just seen this here, I've seen it on twitter, youtube, reddit, tumblr, etc.)
• No mcdonald's, kinder egg, frozen food box, Subway, etc. tie in