Disney (and others) at the Box Office - Current State of Affairs

[erasure fan1]

I think @Casper Gutman was commenting on how some individuals are framing A Minecraft Movie as if it were performing some noble public service while approaching Disney as a sort of enemy of the people whose box-office successes are rarely deserving of such admiration.

No one's framing it as Noble. That's just nonsense. And I highly doubt Moana fans said, yea chop up a tv show and splice it into a movie, that's what we want. Minecraft as well as Mario were made to be for the fans of the games. And they didn't care if someone didn't get it. They knew they had the fanbase for it to succeed. Plus was there a lot of frozen and Moana sequels, weren't a success talk? I remember a lot of disappointment in the quality of the story. Just as I've said about Minecraft and Mario.

But what set of movies is story more integral too? Minecraft and Mario or frozen and Moana? I'd say the answer is unequivocally Moana and Frozen. So questioning their stories is completely reasonable. When I say making it for the fans, Mario is the best example. Mario 93, not made for Mario fans and did terrible. The new Mario, 100% made for fans and did incredible. It won't always work out that way but I believe you will succeed more than fail.

 

[LittleBuford]

No one's framing it as Noble. That's just nonsense. And I highly doubt Moana fans said, yea chop up a tv show and splice it into a movie, that's what we want. Minecraft as well as Mario were made to be for the fans of the games. And they didn't care if someone didn't get it. They knew they had the fanbase for it to succeed. Plus was there a lot of frozen and Moana sequels, weren't a success talk? I remember a lot of disappointment in the quality of the story. Just as I've said about Minecraft and Mario.

But what set of movies is story more integral too? Minecraft and Mario or frozen and Moana? I'd say the answer is unequivocally Moana and Frozen. So questioning their stories is completely reasonable. When I say making it for the fans, Mario is the best example. Mario 93, not made for Mario fans and did terrible. The new Mario, 100% made for fans and did incredible. It won't always work out that way but I believe you will succeed more than fail.

By the metric being lauded here, Frozen 2 and Moana 2 (along with the Lion King remake) gave the fans exactly what they wanted. They would not have succeeded as wildly as they did otherwise.

 

[easyrowrdw]

Hot take. Frozen 2 is better than the first frozen.

Hotter take, they're both mediocre.

 

[erasure fan1]

By the metric being lauded here, Frozen 2 and Moana 2 (along with the Lion King remake) gave the fans exactly what they wanted. They would not have succeeded as wildly as they did otherwise.

Maybe they were actually. God knows from this site alone how many people except mediocrity by their defense of the company. Movies do well all the time even when they're not great. I can name a bunch. But the issue was, people giving Mario and Minecraft props and not Disney movies. Sorry, I don't see it. Or at least in the way that's being implied.

 

[Tha Realest]

It's really funny how different the reactions are on this board when Disney releases a lousy movie that makes a lot of money like Frozen 2 or Moana 2. Not a lot of folks talking about "giving the audience what they want" or being "happy for people who like it."

It’s quite easy to not take the Manichaean view that these movies are either high art or cynical cash grabs, and instead acknowledge that all of the major studios are in the business of producing pop art that they hope and expect to make money for themselves and their shareholders.

 

[coffeefan]

I looked up this person, as I wasn't familiar with her. It seems most of her credits are music videos and voice acting. What is the draw for her?

She's a great singer and has received recent acclaim on the West End and Broadway. Even in a picture she portrays more drama. The Evil Queen should've been an iconic performance.

 

[WorldExplorer]

My car is tuned to a random radio channel since I only have it on for like ten seconds until the Bluetooth pairs.

Today I got in it and they were talking about how Snow White made no money and Minecraft is making a ton because Minecraft didn't do any of the stupid stuff Snow White did.

It's reached radio.

I mean, I didn't hear them say Snow White, but I'm presuming since I came in at "-making no money because the lead actress crapped all over the concept...".

 

[Tha Realest]

She's a great singer and has received recent acclaim on the West End and Broadway. Even in a picture she portrays more drama. The Evil Queen should've been an iconic performance.

This didnt set right with me because Scherzinger is only 46 (younger than me!) and I felt her casting in this role unkind, but then I saw Gloria Swanson was only 50 at the time she filmed that role in the Billy Wilder film.

 

[Casper Gutman]

It’s quite easy to not take the Manichaean view that these movies are either high art or cynical cash grabs, and instead acknowledge that all of the major studios are in the business of producing pop art that they hope and expect to make money for themselves and their shareholders.

Of course this is the reasonable view, but it doesn’t rule out some films being ONLY cynical cash grabs. Some movies, like Moana 2 and the Minecraft Movie, ARE just “cynical cash grabs” with no deeper pretensions. That isn’t the norm. I wouldn’t say that about Mario.

The LEGO Movie is a wonderful example of a movie that SHOULD have been nothing more than a cynical cash grab but was imbued with genuine heart, wit, and intelligence by a team of pop artists. Minecraft isn’t that, even if it fits some agendas to pretend it is.

This board will have people praising Michael Bay’s Skibidi Toilet movie (that’s a real thing, not a satirical joke) as long as Disney doesn’t release it.

 

[Tha Realest]

This board will have people praising Michael Bay’s Skibidi Toilet movie (that’s a real thing, not a satirical joke) as long as Disney doesn’t release it.

Mike White is currently the toast of Hollywood. He also co-wrote the execrable The Emoji Movie. Same with Seth Rogen; his The Studio is being lauded as an incisive dissection of the film industry, but he himself almost cultivated and midwifed a boorish sub genre of film.

Heck, pulp fiction earned its name because of the massive output of cheap fiction. It also helped give a platform to what would eventually be some of our greatest genre writers and the superhero genre - a near infinite number of monkeys on a near infinite number of typewriters. Point being, if you look at it all as a cynically slurry of content being foisted on us, occasionally we will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[LittleBuford]

I looked up this person, as I wasn't familiar with her. It seems most of her credits are music videos and voice acting. What is the draw for her?

She used to be the lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls, so she’s reasonably famous among those who listened to pop music in the 2000s.

 

[LittleBuford]

It's reached radio.

I’m sure it has—and some stations more than others, no doubt.

 

[Agent H]

Of course this is the reasonable view, but it doesn’t rule out some films being ONLY cynical cash grabs. Some movies, like Moana 2 and the Minecraft Movie, ARE just “cynical cash grabs” with no deeper pretensions. That isn’t the norm. I wouldn’t say that about Mario.

The LEGO Movie is a wonderful example of a movie that SHOULD have been nothing more than a cynical cash grab but was imbued with genuine heart, wit, and intelligence by a team of pop artists. Minecraft isn’t that, even if it fits some agendas to pretend it is.

This board will have people praising Michael Bay’s Skibidi Toilet movie (that’s a real thing, not a satirical joke) as long as Disney doesn’t release it.

What the heck is a skibidi toilet?

 

[Casper Gutman]

Mike White is currently the toast of Hollywood. He also co-wrote the execrable The Emoji Movie. Same with Seth Rogen; his The Studio is being lauded as an incisive dissection of the film industry, but he himself almost cultivated and midwifed a boorish sub genre of film.

Heck, pulp fiction earned its name because of the massive output of cheap fiction. It also helped give a platform to what would eventually be some of our greatest genre writers and the superhero genre - a near infinite number of monkeys on a near infinite number of typewriters. Point being, if you look at it all as a cynically slurry of content being foisted on us, occasionally we will be pleasantly surprised.

I’m not even sure what you’re trying to argue here. Yes, all of Hollywoods output is a balancing act between pop art and cynical consumerism and it always has been. That doesn’t mean those components always exist in equal parts. White wrote the beloved School of Rock and Nacho Libre and those films and his role as producer of White Lotus doesn’t mean the Emoji Movie doesn’t exist almost entirely on the “cynical garbage” side of the balance. Seth Rogan has produced immense amounts of quality output, far more than his occasional stinkers. Pulp Fiction was a masterful celebration of a genre that included a lot of overlooked artistry in addition to quite a bit of trash.

None of this changes what Minecraft is. You seem to be arguing against a position no one has taken.

 

[Casper Gutman]

What the heck is a skibidi toilet?

You’re young, you’re supposed to know this nonsense!

 

[easyrowrdw]

She's a great singer and has received recent acclaim on the West End and Broadway. Even in a picture she portrays more drama. The Evil Queen should've been an iconic performance.

Thanks. I don't keep up with the theater so that explains why I've never heard of her. I think I also misunderstood your original post as saying those actresses would be bigger draws for the movie. Not sure why, as you clearly didn't say that lol

 

[Gremlin Gus]

What the heck is a skibidi toilet?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skibidi_Toilet
Semi-related but I want to remind all of you people that Skibidi Toilet got into Fortnite not too long along and I wish I was joking when I typed that.

 

[Agent H]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skibidi_Toilet
Semi-related but I want to remind all of you people that Skibidi Toilet got into Fortnite not too long along and I wish I was joking when I typed that.

What horrors did someone unleash?

 

[Ghost93]

Disney converting the Disney+ Moana series which, lets face it, would have been a pure cost to D+, into the Moana 2 movie that made over 1B is pure genius in Disney's part and I have been saying that.

Like Minecraft, it didn't matter if Moana 2 was lousy.

Switching Moana 2 to theaters was absolutely the right call from a financial standpoint.

My issue with Moana 2 — which is not a good movie — is that it should have never been a Disney Plus show in the first place. Had they brought on the original creative team and Lin Manuel Miranda from the get-go we might have had a Moana 2 that was both financially successful AND a good movie.

I'd be very curious to know what the behind the scenes problems were with the Tiana show that made it never be able to get off the ground or reworked into a movie like Moana 2. We probably won't know the true story till 10 years from now, when Bob Iger isn't running the company anymore. Maybe they couldn't settle on the right animation style, but I suspect it was a show that was greenlit before they had a solid idea of what they wanted it to be. You can see a bunch of different competing visions for what the Disney company actually wants to do with the Tiana character in Tiana's Bayou Adventure and I suspect the "too many cooks in the kitchen" vibe I got from the ride might have been going on in the TV show.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Switching Moana 2 to theaters was absolutely the right call from a financial standpoint.

My issue with Moana 2 — which is not a good movie — is that it should have never been a Disney Plus show in the first place. Had they brought on the original creative team and Lin Manuel Miranda from the get-go we might have had a Moana 2 that was both financially successful AND a good movie.

I'd be very curious to know what the behind the scenes problems were with the Tiana show that made it never be able to get off the ground or reworked into a movie like Moana 2. We probably won't know the true story till 10 years from now, when Bob Iger isn't running the company anymore. Maybe they couldn't settle on the right animation style, but I suspect it was a show that was greenlit before they had a solid idea of what they wanted it to be. You can see a bunch of different competing visions for what the Disney company actually wants to do with the Tiana character in Tiana's Bayou Adventure and I suspect the "too many cooks in the kitchen" vibe I got from the ride might have been going on in the TV show.

Great post. My opinion is Moana 2 was not a good movie, but does it matter? It made over 1B
It wasn’t a good movie but it was a successful movie.