News Disney’s Boy Trouble: Studio Seeks Original IP to Win Back Gen-Z Men Amid Marvel, Lucasfilm Struggles

[DisneyHead123]

Disney’s Boy Trouble: Studio Seeks Original IP to Win Back Gen-Z Men Amid Marvel, Lucasfilm Struggles

As Marvel and Lucasfilm stumble, Disney hopes originals will lure Gen Z audiences.

variety.com

Interesting article on Disney movies / new IP. My impression is that there has been a cultural shift from classic narrative formats, where Disney generally excels, to bite sized, frenetic meme culture and various gamescapes.

 

[Ayla]

Disney’s Boy Trouble: Studio Seeks Original IP to Win Back Gen-Z Men Amid Marvel, Lucasfilm Struggles

As Marvel and Lucasfilm stumble, Disney hopes originals will lure Gen Z audiences.

variety.com

Interesting article on Disney movies / new IP. My impression is that there has been a cultural shift from classic narrative formats, where Disney generally excels, to bite sized, frenetic meme culture and various gamescapes.

You mean the only thing Gen Z can handle? Not surprising.

 

[DisneyHead123]

You mean the only thing Gen Z can handle? Not surprising.

I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way, I just don’t get it, ha ha. My 5-year-old and a fellow Gen Alpha teen clerk were talking about the coolness of Grimace shakes the other day, a meme I wasn’t aware of (my son hasn’t seen the real memes, I guess they’re pseudo-silly-violent, but he’s heard about them from other kids.) I feel like in some ways this new generation has a different way of looking at the world - less verbal, more visual spatial, maybe.

That said, I looked this story up on Reddit and it was mostly comments about how they feel Disney mishandled Star Wars and Marvel, so maybe it’s more about franchise management vs. generational differences.

 

[WorldExplorer]

I agree that attention spans are shorter and it's worrying, but disagree that this is the reason Disney isn't connecting. They haven't been the masters of the long narrative for quite some time. It's not like they're pumping out masterpieces and people just aren't showing up.

I mean, the problem with Indiana Jones 5 (which you would expect to be a male centric thing) was not that it was just too long and slowly paced for modern people.

I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way, I just don’t get it, ha ha. My 5-year-old and a fellow Gen Alpha teen clerk were talking about the coolness of Grimace shakes the other day, a meme I wasn’t aware of (my son hasn’t seen the real memes, I guess they’re pseudo-silly-violent, but he’s heard about them from other kids.) I feel like in some ways this new generation has a different way of looking at the world - less verbal, more visual spatial, maybe.

That said, I looked this story up on Reddit and it was mostly comments about how they feel Disney mishandled Star Wars and Marvel, so maybe it’s more about franchise management vs. generational differences.

Grimace shakes? I thought that was a thing like two years ago.

 

[DisneyHead123]

I agree that attention spans are shorter and it's worrying, but disagree that this is the reason Disney isn't connecting. They haven't been the masters of the long narrative for quite some time. It's not like they're pumping out masterpieces and people just aren't showing up.

I mean, the problem with Indiana Jones 5 (which you would expect to be a male centric thing) was not that it was just too long and slowly paced for modern people.

I’m never quite sure what’s a generational thing vs. the result of my son being neurospicy. He still doesn’t care about longer form movies like Toy Story or Moana.

But you may be right - for teen and young adult viewers maybe it’s about quality, not format.

Grimace shakes? I thought that was a thing like two years ago.

If it’s reached the kinder set I’m sure it’s not the freshest new meme, lol.

 

[HMF]

Oh for gods sake. Disney succeeded because they always aimed for the widest audience possible. This Demographics BS started in the 2000s and led to Disney declaring creative bankruptcy by purchasing other peoples' existing work (Marvel etc.) and the company has morphed from a creative studio powerhouse to a glorified holding company ever since.

 

[tanc]

As a gen z, I learned more about Disney through Kingdom Hearts than I did watching the movies. We're the last generation to experience hand drawn animation and the shift to 3D got so mundane to me. After the masterpiece that was Winnie the Pooh (2011), I began losing serious interest in the films and Frozen further accelerated it.

We're the last generation to really experience the Disney Vault and how they distribute movies. There were so many of the films I didn't see for years until they finally were brought to Disney+. Also, most of the live remakes were garbage so that didn't help at all.

I think the first gen of Marvel was fine, but now there's just way too much to keep up with. I watched the 2nd doctor strange film and was completely confused without watching Wandavision. The barrier of entry is harder than ever for Marvel since you need like 400+ hours to even catch up at this rate.

I can't really comment much on Star Wars honestly, because I really only saw each film like once and never particularly cared beyond that.

 

[Stupido]

I think the first gen of Marvel was fine, but now there's just way too much to keep up with. I watched the 2nd doctor strange film and was completely confused without watching Wandavision. The barrier of entry is harder than ever for Marvel since you need like 400+ hours to even catch up at this rate.

That's very interesting to me. Both the director and the screenwriter for MoM (Doctor Strange 2) chose to skip reading the scripts for WandaVision, and basically just end up fully rehashing Wanda's storyline without any of the nuance given to the character through WV. I think the only thing watching WandaVision before MoM would accomplish would be making the viewer mad. If you haven't watched it still, it's easily Marvel's best project since Endgame, and my personal favorite of all time.

 

[HMF]

Indeed I was talking to a Gen Z friend and was legitimately surprised by her lack of emotional connection to Disney. To be fair she has never been to the parks but then I realized that the prime of her childhood was at the point when the renaissance that brought in millenials like me was over, traditional animation had just been killed off and the parks were in the "Rasulo Era" of such generic classics as "Disney Parks" and "The Year Of A Million Dreams" etc. I do sometimes forget how old I am and considering where the company was at that time. I can understand why Gen Z does not view Disney as favorably as I did in the 90s.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

As I said in another thread, Gen Z has way more nostalgia for Disney Channel and Pixar than Disney movies or parks proper

They're the ones who made those mid-2000s shows and DCOMs so popular, and were raised with Pixar's peak

Contrast that with Disney's movie slate of the decade. You had the Pirates trilogy and...Home on the Range.

And then there was that slump in park investment following the disappointing launches of DCA, WDSP and HKDL.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

We're the last generation to really experience the Disney Vault and how they distribute movies. There were so many of the films I didn't see for years until they finally were brought to Disney+.

Speaking of the Disney Vault, the "Vault Disney" programming block on the Disney Channel ended in September 2002 and with that a lot of free exposure to older Disney content, and not just the titles that would get "Platinum Edition" DVDs

I'm not surprised people of a younger age have never heard of stuff like "Donald in Mathmagicland"

For a long time, the weekly anthology show, programs like "Ink and Paint", "Mouseterpiece Theater" and periodic compilation TV specials ("Disney's Halloween Treat") would give people who didn't have the tapes or stuff that wasn't released to tape a chance to see them. Cartoon shorts, Davy Crockett, Old Yeller, Swiss Family Robinson, Love Bug, Zorro etc

Then Disney started selling that exclusively on DVD to get more $, but only in limited quantities to adult collectors and you had to know when and where to buy them. Eventually, those DVDs were phased out altogether.

Disney+ is a great platform to show them all, but Disney has not taken full advantage of this IMO.

 

[Cranky Kong]

This isn't something new. Disney has always had "trouble" with the "boy" crowd, so to speak. It's baked into their DNA as a company in tandem with how Americans socialize their young men. Even more man-friendly subject matter from Disney like Aladdin or Hercules is offputting to a lot of young guys due to being fantasy. Buying Marvel and Star Wars was meant to offset that, and it's clearly wearing off.

I don't know what the solution is, but I think the inevitable framing of "yeah the company SUCKS now" doesn't hit the mark. A lot of younger people I know do have a fondness for Disney, even if it's definitely nowhere near as strong a brand as it is with Gen X and millennials. The thing that Gen Z and Alpha are super passionate about? Anime and video games (both the games themselves and streamers), two things Disney avoids like the plague. And call me a skeptic, but I don't think investing in Fortnite is gonna be enough.

A band-aid fix (keyword, band-aid), parkside, would be a Ghibli ride in Japan at Epcot, and since they let Nintendo slip through their fingers, do something with Kingdom Hearts or Sonic the Hedgehog at Studios and/or DCA. But longer term, they either need to figure out how to shore up what they were good at and made them an American staple (media for little kids, young ladies, single older adults, and families) while not trying to capture "all quadrants", or actually break into the young guy market with something truly original.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Oh for gods sake. Disney succeeded because they always aimed for the widest audience possible. This Demographics BS started in the 2000s and led to Disney declaring creative bankruptcy by purchasing other peoples' existing work (Marvel etc.) and the company has morphed from a creative studio powerhouse to a glorified holding company ever since.

In Disney’s defense though, curated content and algorithms have likely fragmented viewing preferences quite a bit. Things were so different in the era when families had cable and an Atari or Nintendo 64 for entertainment and those were the entirely of your options. Genuine question - do you think Disney was better at making content with broad appeal in the 80s, 90s and 00s, or did audiences find the appeal in what they made because they basically didn’t have other options?

 

[Tiggerish]

I think the only thing watching WandaVision before MoM would accomplish would be making the viewer mad.

Can confirm the truthiness of this.

 

[DisneyHead123]

This isn't something new. Disney has always had "trouble" with the "boy" crowd, so to speak. It's baked into their DNA as a company in tandem with how Americans socialize their young men. Even more man-friendly subject matter from Disney like Aladdin or Hercules is offputting to a lot of young guys due to being fantasy. Buying Marvel and Star Wars was meant to offset that, and it's clearly wearing off.

I don't know what the solution is, but I think the inevitable framing of "yeah the company SUCKS now" doesn't hit the mark. A lot of younger people I know do have a fondness for Disney, even if it's definitely nowhere near as strong a brand as it is with Gen X and millennials. The thing that Gen Z and Alpha are super passionate about? Anime and video games (both the games themselves and streamers), two things Disney avoids like the plague. And call me a skeptic, but I don't think investing in Fortnite is gonna be enough.

A band-aid fix (keyword, band-aid), parkside, would be a Ghibli ride in Japan at Epcot, and since they let Nintendo slip through their fingers, do something with Kingdom Hearts or Sonic the Hedgehog at Studios and/or DCA. But longer term, they either need to figure out how to shore up what they were good at and made them an American staple (media for little kids, young ladies, single older adults, and families) while not trying to capture "all quadrants", or actually break into the young guy market with something truly original.

Yeah and to take it a step further, I do sometimes wonder if Disney was a bit more niche in the past than is remembered today. I remember liking Disney movies but where it was really at was Saturday morning cartoons. (One day, when my mind is gone and I remember nothing else, I’ll be singing “Jem is my name, no one else is the same!”) So maybe part of it is that expectations are much higher today. You can’t make great movies that people enjoy, you have to be the thing that dominates people’s media experience.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Genuine question - do you think Disney was better at making content with broad appeal in the 80s, 90s and 00s, or did audiences find the appeal in what they made because they basically didn’t have other options?

My answer would be that for a time, it was both

The fabled "Disney Renaissance" was also when they had market dominance in animation, family movies and theme parks

What were the alternatives then, pre Pixar and Dreamworks? Imitation Disney movies from Don Bluth and others. The success of Disney (and The Simpsons on TV) led to a mad spending by studios to crank out as much content as possible for TV and theaters, but it took a while for those to hit their stride.

Theme Parks? Disney was tops. Universal wanted to be at the same league, but struggled mightily. Vegas briefly wanted in on the same demographic. Six Flags rapidly expanded, but was the cheap alternative.

That kind of untouchable feeling is what led to Disney's hubris, but it wasn't without justification.

But it's amazing what a hard line the year 2000 was. If you were a kid in the 90s, Disney was special. The 2000s? Not so much.

 

[coffeefan]

Just looking up what shows are popular with Gen-Z. And they seem to like watching more edgy and international shows. Very different than the wholesome entertainment older fans here yearn for and say Disney should make.

 

[BrianLo]

I'm not surprised people of a younger age have never heard of stuff like "Donald in Mathmagicland"

For a long time, the weekly anthology show, programs like "Ink and Paint", "Mouseterpiece Theater" and periodic compilation TV specials ("Disney's Halloween Treat") would give people who didn't have the tapes or stuff that wasn't released to tape a chance to see them. Cartoon shorts, Davy Crockett, Old Yeller, Swiss Family Robinson, Love Bug, Zorro etc

I’ve never heard of Donald in Mathmagicland either.

I can’t recall exactly how old you are. None of my immediate circles media consumption touched on those franchises you mention. Though I know them, they didn’t reverberate like the animated classics did in home viewing patterns.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I’ve never heard of Donald in Mathmagicland either.

I can’t recall exactly how old you are. None of my immediate circles media consumption touched on those franchises you mention. Though I know them, they didn’t reverberate like the animated classics did in home viewing patterns.

I'm not old enough to have seen any of those in their original runs, but the general point was that old Disney stuff used to be broadcast on a somewhat regular basis. The Vault Disney block on Disney channel ran from 1997-2002. Zorro was colorized for syndication in 1992 and aired on Fox Kids (I think?). Family Channel in Canada would air this stuff too, well into the 90s and early 2000s...at least I remember Disney's Halloween Treat still being shown then (along with Hocus Pocus, Halloweentown et al)

Mathmagicland did get its own VHS release though! (Part of the "Mini Classic" series)

 

[HMF]

Disney+ is a great platform to show them all, but Disney has not taken full advantage of this IMO.

I agree but I am not sure they want to actually want to sit down and watch hours and hours of old footage and then have to make judgements on what hasn't dated well (Social Taboos, Racial Stereotypes etc.)