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

[networkpro]

The current Disney company can't stop "fixing" companies they aquire even when they are successful ongoing concerns. Not good business practice to start changing things you gain without knowing why or how they work.

 

[AdventureHasAName]

And whatever appeal those franchises have to boys would be “fixed” shortly after Disney got their hands on it. The way to fix their “boy problem” is simple: fire everyone that thinks what they did overall with LucasFilm and Marvel was good. There were a few successes but the whole of it looking back was way more bad than good though with Marvel the issues only really started after Endgame.

For the most part, I agree. They let Kennedy destroy Star Wars almost immediately. And they let Feige hit the money-printing machine a couple of times with a sledgehammer after Endgame (my assumption is he got bored, became a little disinterested, and let the same people who destroyed the comic book division screw up the MCU). They could do a lot worse than hiring Michael Bay and handing him the GI Joe franchise for a decade.

 

[Mike S]

For the most part, I agree. They let Kennedy destroy Star Wars almost immediately. And they let Feige hit the money-printing machine a couple of times with a sledgehammer after Endgame (my assumption is he got bored, became a little disinterested, and let the same people who destroyed the comic book division screw up the MCU). They could do a lot worse than hiring Michael Bay and handing him the GI Joe franchise for a decade.

GI Joe by Michael Bay would probably suck creatively like every Transformers after the first one but damn would it put young (and old) male butts in seats.

It’s not hard to appeal to young boys. All you have to do is leave modern thinking at the door and write the types of stories that have appealed to men since the dawn of story telling. Anyone with even a passing knowledge would be able to crack it but these professional modern writers somehow can’t wrap their head around it.

 

[Disney Irish]

The smart move is to buy a toy company, preferably Hasbro. It would allow Disney to manufacture their own toys and it would open up a bunch more boy-centric intellectual property. Hasbro gives them GI Joe, Transformers, Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, Nerf, My Little Pony, as well as, a ton of board games with brand recognition (Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Twister, Clue, Candy Land, Operation). Short of buying Warner Brothers, it is the best avenue they have available to increase their IP library.

Why would Disney want get into a low margin high overhead business? Just for the IP? Hasbro can't even utilize their own IP very well, why would Disney be any different there when they have IP they aren't even using?

I don't see the benefit, better to license out the IP Disney already has for toys and let someone else handle all the costs.

 

[TP2000]

It’s not hard to appeal to young boys. All you have to do is leave modern thinking at the door and write the types of stories that have appealed to men since the dawn of story telling. Anyone with even a passing knowledge would be able to crack it but these professional modern writers somehow can’t wrap their head around it.

Bingo!

A man of any age is, at his core, a very simple creature. That applies to food, comfort, relationships, and also entertainment.

A boy under the age of 20 is even simpler than a 50 year old man. It's hardwired into male DNA since the dawn of time. It's nothing uniquely American either, as male audiences in South Korea and Australia and Jordan and Finland are all reacting the same way to Disney's movie products at the box office.

I have to chuckle at the folks, often women in executive leadership, who somehow think they can get around that hardwired DNA and reinvent maleness in their own image, or at least an image they themselves find more palatable.

What an idiotic way to run a business! By disliking your core customers and wanting to change them against their will.

That's a recipe for business disaster, and Burbank has obviously learned that lesson the hard way over and over and over again at the global box office. What they must do is stop giving women like this infamous one in the clip below the executive producer gigs for their mega-budget movies aimed at young men and boys. They're just flushing money down the toilet with this type of stylish and elitist West LA thinking...

 

[erasure fan1]

I find it sad that it took until page 2 for someone to finally make this point. Ignoring the elephant in the room much?

Honestly I think a lot of people know it, they just don't say it as not to hear it from the crew who says that isn't a thing.

fire everyone that thinks what they did overall with LucasFilm and Marvel was good.

Ding ding ding!

The fact that people who made the Acolyte are still employed there is absolutely sad.

 

[Phroobar]

Bingo!

A man of any age is, at his core, a very simple creature. That applies to food, comfort, relationships, and also entertainment.

A boy under the age of 20 is even simpler than a 50 year old man. It's hardwired into male DNA since the dawn of time. It's nothing uniquely American either, as male audiences in South Korea and Australia and Jordan and Finland are all reacting the same way to Disney's movie products at the box office.

I have to chuckle at the folks, often women in executive leadership, who somehow think they can get around that hardwired DNA and reinvent maleness in their own image, or at least an image they themselves find more palatable.

What an idiotic way to run a business! By disliking your core customers and wanting to change them against their will.

That's a recipe for business disaster, and Burbank has obviously learned that lesson the hard way over and over and over again at the global box office. What they must do is stop giving women like this infamous one in the clip below the executive producer gigs for their mega-budget movies aimed at young men and boys. They're just flushing money down the toilet with this type of stylish and elitist West LA thinking...

She is like doing her own sign language?
Is she batting away invisible demons or flies or just having a seizure?

 

[phillip9698]

For the most part, I agree. They let Kennedy destroy Star Wars almost immediately. And they let Feige hit the money-printing machine a couple of times with a sledgehammer after Endgame (my assumption is he got bored, became a little disinterested, and let the same people who destroyed the comic book division screw up the MCU). They could do a lot worse than hiring Michael Bay and handing him the GI Joe franchise for a decade.

More that Disney MANDATED Feige to pump out as much Marvel product as possible so they could fill time on Disney+. Thats part of the reason that James Gunn was glad to be done with them, he said at one point Marvel and Lucas Film were being forced to just start filming things before there was a completed script.

In the end so many problems with current Disney can be pointed squarely at Disney+. That service has had a hand in tanking Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar.


The second thing is Disney has to let a franchise for boys be a franchise for boys. I understand you want inclusivity, but girls have a myriad of franchises at Disney, they will be ok. The first thing Disney does when they get their hands on a successful male franchise is start trying to gear it for girls. I dont understand it. Is it something innate in the company? This isnt something new either, they tried and failed to do the same thing with the Cars franchise. Its so bad they not only screwed the pooch with the Star Wars movies, but that line of thought led them to create a Star Wars land in numerous parks where their most popular male characters cannot appear due to the "story". Everyone over there should have been let go before that was even greenlit.

 

[coffeefan]

We already know what Hollywood movie resonated most with Gen-Z men. It's not complicated.

 

[Tha Realest]

More that Iger MANDATED Feige to pump out as much Marvel product as possible so they could fill time on Disney+. Thats part of the reason that James Gunn was glad to be done with them, he said at one point Marvel and Lucas Film were being forced to just start filming things before there was a completed script.

In the end so many problems with current Disney can be pointed squarely at Iger and Disney+. That service has had a hand in tanking Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar.


The second thing is Disney has to let a franchise for boys be a franchise for boys. I understand you want inclusivity, but girls have a myriad of franchises at Disney, they will be ok. The first thing Disney does when they get their hands on a successful male franchise is start trying to gear it for girls. I dont understand it. Is it something innate in the company? This isnt something new either, they tried and failed to do the same thing with the Cars franchise. Its so bad they not only screwed the pooch with the Star Wars movies, but that line of thought led them to create a Star Wars land in numerous parks where their most popular male characters cannot appear due to the "story". Everyone over there should have been let go before that was even greenlit.

I think they believe they’re leaving money on the table by not aggressively trying to tap into the girl demographic.

Someone earlier mentioned that ongoing gender norms are breaking down with younger generations. Perhaps. But the more you pull away from your core audience to another one, you risk losing the brand loyalty with your core audience.

 

[Serpico Jones]

GI Joe by Michael Bay would probably suck creatively like every Transformers after the first one but damn would it put young (and old) male butts in seats.

It’s not hard to appeal to young boys. All you have to do is leave modern thinking at the door and write the types of stories that have appealed to men since the dawn of story telling. Anyone with even a passing knowledge would be able to crack it but these professional modern writers somehow can’t wrap their head around it.

GI Joe should’ve been the next great Hollywood franchise, unfortunately the movie rights fell into the hands of hack producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura who proceeded to destroy the IP.

 

[Disney Irish]

More that Iger MANDATED Feige to pump out as much Marvel product as possible so they could fill time on Disney+.

That was more of a Chapek thing than an Iger thing, Iger scaled it back when he came back.

 

[AdventureHasAName]

I dont understand it. Is it something innate in the company?

 

[BrianLo]

I think they believe they’re leaving money on the table by not aggressively trying to tap into the girl demographic.

Someone earlier mentioned that ongoing gender norms are breaking down with younger generations. Perhaps. But the more you pull away from your core audience to another one, you risk losing the brand loyalty with your core audience.

I think a form of gender norms, perhaps.

But then there is also this. Which speaks to another type of divide that has supplanted it.

 

[Tha Realest]

That was more of a Chapek thing than an Iger thing, Iger scaled it back when he came back.

Chapek was so Machiavellian that as head of Parks and Consumer Products he greenlit Loki and Wandavision in September 2018 and Moon Night, Ms Marvel, and She-Hulk in 2019!

Loki, Scarlet Witch, Other Marvel Heroes to Get Own TV Series on Disney Streaming Service (EXCLUSIVE)

Disney is enlisting Earth's Mightiest Heroes as the company prepares to launch its upcoming streaming service.

variety.com

Marvel Unveils 3 New Disney+ Shows Including ‘She-Hulk’ and ‘Moon Knight’

Marvel Studios confirmed three new series in the works for Disney+ at D23: She Hulk, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Remind me, who was CEO in 2018 and 2019?

 

[Smugpugmug]

We already know what Hollywood movie resonated most with Gen-Z men. It's not complicated.

Would add the FNAF movie as well. There was a lot of hype for its release. Not seeing a lot of fanfare for the sequel but it still has a few months to go before release.

 

[TP2000]

That picture is just perfection. It sums it all up so magnificently. That Variety has to pretend it doesn't know what's going on and turn it into a 2,000 word investigative piece is the dumb part, because it's already obvious what the problem is in Burbank.

It's cringey elitist idiocy like this...

 

[BrianLo]

Chapek was so Machiavellian that as head of Parks and Consumer Products he greenlit Loki and Wandavision in September 2018 and Moon Night, Ms Marvel, and She-Hulk in 2019!

Loki, Scarlet Witch, Other Marvel Heroes to Get Own TV Series on Disney Streaming Service (EXCLUSIVE)

Disney is enlisting Earth's Mightiest Heroes as the company prepares to launch its upcoming streaming service.

variety.com

Marvel Unveils 3 New Disney+ Shows Including ‘She-Hulk’ and ‘Moon Knight’

Marvel Studios confirmed three new series in the works for Disney+ at D23: She Hulk, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Remind me, who was CEO in 2018 and 2019?

It was largely this event that was felt to be when the service completely jumped the shark and Chapek/Iger relations had gone south. They both participated, but behind the scenes we know it was sour.

Disney Investor Day 2020 - The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company webcast its Investor Day 2020 on December 10, 2020. The event focused on the Company’s direct-to-consumer streaming services. EVENT MATERIALS: Transcript Presentation Slides Forward-Looking …Read More

thewaltdisneycompany.com

Such gems as these slides. But it was littered with things that never saw the light of day.

 

[Disney Irish]

Chapek was so Machiavellian that as head of Parks and Consumer Products he greenlit Loki and Wandavision in September 2018 and Moon Night, Ms Marvel, and She-Hulk in 2019!

Loki, Scarlet Witch, Other Marvel Heroes to Get Own TV Series on Disney Streaming Service (EXCLUSIVE)

Disney is enlisting Earth's Mightiest Heroes as the company prepares to launch its upcoming streaming service.

variety.com

Marvel Unveils 3 New Disney+ Shows Including ‘She-Hulk’ and ‘Moon Knight’

Marvel Studios confirmed three new series in the works for Disney+ at D23: She Hulk, Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Remind me, who was CEO in 2018 and 2019?

So 5 shows? That it? If that was all I'm sure it wouldn't have been seen as "too much". So what about all the others, the 10 or so others? Who greenlit those? Who was CEO then?

And who was CEO and changed release strategy in 2020 including pushing theatrical movies to D+ which resulted in a lawsuit by one of the stars of the MCU?

 

[AdventureHasAName]

The big problem was not that they greenlit too many shows. It was a problem, but not a big problem. The big problem is that nobody in a position of power paid enough attention or exerted enough influence (Feige) to (1) make sure that the characters were ones that comic book fans cared about and (2) the showrunners and scripts were trying to make entertaining shows for comic book fans and not trying to implement social engineering at every opportunity.

THE EXACT SAME THING DESTROYED MARVEL COMICS.

There is no excuse for having let it happen to the MCU (or frankly Star Wars).