Did Disney miss out on Nimona, or was ditching the film the right call?

[Ghost93]

This past weekend, Netflix released "Nimona." For those of you unaware, Nimona was originally a 20th Century Studios/Blue Sky Animation film that was supposed to be released by the Walt Disney Company in early 2022. However, as we all know, Disney shut down Blue Sky Animation. In the process, Disney also canceled Nimona — which already had 75% of its animation finished. Those who worked on the film said the film was canceled in large part because Disney leadership was nervous about the film's LGBT content.

However, Annapurna Pictures revived and finished the project, and Netflix acquired the distribution rights. The film has received a lot of critical acclaim, with a 93% critics score and a 94% audience score on Rotten Tomates. It tells a compelling story that doesn't speak down to young audiences, it features a unique animation style and has much more substantial LGBTQ representation than any other mainstream animated family film I can think of.

I think Disney missed out on a chance to release a great film that has been embraced by the LGBT community at large, with a genderfluid main character, two major male characters in a same-sex relationship, and allegorical themes about LGBT discrimination. Unlike Strange World and Lightyear, whose LGBT moments were minor and not consequential to the overall story and message, Nimona is VERY much an LGBT movie.

However, with all of the controversy the Disney company has received for its (very minor) LGBT representation, I could see the argument from some that Nimona would have just made Disney more of a punching bag in the culture wars. It's also possible that while the movie may be a success on streaming, it may not have been big at the box office had it had a typical theatrical release (the movie has only been released in a few theaters as Netflix focuses on streaming).

I personally think Disney ditching the film was a mistake, but wonder what the rest of the board thinks.

 

[BrianLo]

For all the reasons you state, I wish they hadn't jettisoned the movie (Strange World on the other hand always never looked great pre-release to me).

BUT I think I am ultimately more happy that the movie was jettisoned and able to be revived, because that was the best thing for this actual movie itself. The ire of the culture war machine that is Disney focused would have absolutely pilloried and destroyed it.

As it is gets to have a lovely, less toxic release on another big service. Where it deserves to be seen.

Hopefully Disney can actually get to a place where it can eventually release this type of content.

 

[Ghost93]

BUT I think I am ultimately more happy that the movie was jettisoned and able to be revived, because that was the best thing for this actual movie itself. The ire of the culture war machine that is Disney focused would have absolutely pilloried and destroyed it.

As it is gets to have a lovely, less toxic release on another big service. Where it deserves to be seen.

Maybe if Nimona had been released by Disney in late 2021/early 2022 (before the DeSantis feud), it wouldn't have been as attacked, but you are right that there is now an entire "anti-Disney" machine online that would have lept at the chance to rip Nimona to shreds if it were to be released by the company today.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I just finished watching this movie - I really liked it! Engaging story, fun animation and great characters. I think I enjoyed this movie more than anything Disney/Pixar has put out in the last few years.

When I first heard that Disney cancelled Nimona due to the LGBT rep, I thought it was a cowardly move by them but I wasn't surprised. Disney has very low effort rep in their movies (referring to Onward and Lightyear specifically). This movie does the rep significantly better. At this point, I don't really expect Disney to have high quality rep in their films (this is coming from a lesbian woman). I agree that if this movie was released by Disney, it would've been the perfect punching bag for alt right grifters on Youtube.

I'm just happy that Nimona was able to rise from the ashes and have a second life.

 

[Ghost93]

When I first heard that Disney cancelled Nimona due to the LGBT rep, I thought it was a cowardly move by them but I wasn't surprised. Disney has very low effort rep in their movies (referring to Onward and Lightyear specifically). This movie does the rep significantly better. At this point, I don't really expect Disney to have high quality rep in their films (this is coming from a lesbian woman).

Maybe if Nimona gets accolades, it could inspire Disney to do better with its LGBT rep? I personally think the controversy of Lightyear and Strange World will scare Disney from doing substantial representation in the near future, which is why I always believed the company should have just bitten the bullet and have gone all out with a gay film for their "first openly gay character." Oh well.

I think Across the Spider-verse will win the animated Oscar. While I prefer Across the Spider-verse's animation style to Nimona's, I'd still give the Oscar to Nimona as it's a complete story, whereas Across the Spiderverse is only half a film and we don't know if the second half will live up to the amazing set up.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Maybe if Nimona gets accolades, it could inspire Disney to do better with its LGBT rep? I personally think the controversy of Lightyear and Strange World will scare Disney from doing substantial representation in the near future, which is why I always believed the company should have just bitten the bullet and have gone all out with a gay film for their "first openly gay character." Oh well.

I think Across the Spider-verse will win the animated Oscar. While I prefer Across the Spider-verse's animation style to Nimona's, I'd still give the Oscar to Nimona as it's a complete story, whereas Across the Spiderverse is only half a film and we don't know if the second half will live up to the amazing set up.

I totally agree with the bolded statement. I mean, people were throwing massive tantrums over the 0.2 second kiss in Lightyear. I can't imagine what the reaction would be if Disney committed to releasing Nimona. I really do think Disney would've forced Blue Sky to tone down or even remove Ballister and Ambrosius's relationship. In that sense I think it was better to have Nimona be separate from Disney, though the initial cancellation when the movie was more than halfway done sucked.

I think Across the Spiderverse will win the Oscar too. That movie's visuals are stunning. It doesn't have as strong of an emotional core as Into the Spiderverse but I still thought it was awesome. Nimona had a great emotional core too and the struggle Nimona's character goes through is very relevant in terms of the issues of today.

 

[MrPromey]

I think it would have crashed and burned under Disney.

I'm glad they dropped it because it absolutely would have been weaponized as a political talking point rather than received as a story/movie/piece-of-art but it's a shame for all involved that it missed a wide theatrical release as a result.

That or it would have been a significantly different movie at the end than what the project started out as after Disney chopped it up.

Also, I loved the style of it. (just wanted to throw that out there even though it doesn't fit with the tone of anything else I'm saying, here)

The funny part (not "ha-ha" funny) is that the characters fit the nature of this story in a way that makes it not feel like an obvious on-the-nose corporate inclusivity effort with them just inserted but like a real meaningful part of a story that would have to be a very different story if they were to have changed it.

Disney's not in a position to make that kind of movie at this point in history so instead, they do the other thing which just seems to continue making nobody happy.

 

[Casper Gutman]

I think it would have crashed and burned under Disney.

I'm glad they dropped it because it absolutely would have been weaponized as a political talking point rather than a story/movie/piece-of-art but it's a shame for all involved that it missed a wide theatrical release as a result.

That or it would have been a significantly different movie at the end than what the project started out as.

Also, I loved the style of it. (just wanted to throw that out there)

The funny part (not ha-ha funny) is that the characters fit the nature of this story in a way that makes it not feel like an obvious on-the-nose corporate inclusivity effort but like a real meaningful part of a story that would have to be a completely different story if they were to have changed it.

Disney's not in a position to make that kind of movie at this point in history so instead, they do the other thing which just seems to continue making nobody happy.

Yup. A big part of the tragedy of the last few years is that if Disney released a film like this, it would be bad for the film itself. Which essentially means the reactionary forces have won.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

I was wondering what happened to this film! When I first heard about the story/concept I was intriuged. I recall seeing it was shut down by Disney in the purchase and figured it'd never see the light of day. I saw Luck a while back and while the animation was... 'not great', the story and world it was in was creative and fun. Same looks to be for this film, the concept is interesting.

 

[MrPromey]

I was wondering what happened to this film! When I first heard about the story/concept I was intriuged. I recall seeing it was shut down by Disney in the purchase and figured it'd never see the light of day. I saw Luck a while back and while the animation was... 'not great', the story and world it was in was creative and fun. Same looks to be for this film, the concept is interesting.

Definitely worth a watch if you've got Netflix.

Also, unlike Luck, the animation is good. It's stylized in more of a 2D+ kind of way which probably lends itself more to the look of the comic it's based on (I really have no idea though I'm a fan of the style) but it feels entirely intentional.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Ditching the flick was one of the few good decisions Disney's made of late.

Incidentally, it's doing rather poorly on Netflix, according to this article:

‘Nimona’ Debuts At No. 9 On Netflix’s Top 10, ‘PAW Patrol: The Movie’ Is No. 6

'Nimona's Top 10 debut is impressive and rare for a Netflix original, but ranks well behind the likes of 'Pinocchio' and 'The Sea Beast.'

www.cartoonbrew.com

Fragment:
In terms of Netflix Originals, Nimona is the first animated feature to debut in the top 10 since Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio took the number two spot in December of last year.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that Nimona’s 5.5 million viewer hours are a mere fraction of Pinocchio’s 28 million after three days and even further behind The Sea Beast’s 33.5 million in its first weekend. Those films were massive hits, though, garnering critical and audience praise as well as Oscar nominations and both got larger marketing campaigns than did Nimona.

The worst news for Netflix’s latest is that Nimona’s three-day viewer hours were well behind Scrooge: A Christmas Carol’s 8.17 million. That film was a critical bomb and didn’t come near the artistic or narrative highs of Nimona. It also received very little marketing.

And so it goes...

 

[Ghost93]

Nimona hardly got the marketing push that Del Toro's Pinocchio did, but a number 9 debut isn't great. Hopefully the movie gains traction. I saw it was at #6 yesterday.

 

[Phroobar]

Nimona looks like is bounces off way too many walls for my taste.

 

[Ghost93]

So it actually seems like viewership of Nimona went way up in its second week. I guess word of mouth has helped it.

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/streami...uh5DNk11NlTgNgdO0zYXF56L4_XbTNjUtXLVJYiyixucc

‘Nimona’ Is A Hit, Shooting Up To The No. 3 Spot On Netflix’s Weekly Top 10​

"Released ten days ago on streaming, Nimona has rocketed up to the #3 spot on Netflix’s weekly top 10 chart for the week of July 3-9.

Moving up from the ninth spot in its first week, Nimona doubled its viewed hours from 5.5 million to 11.5 million. The film also more than doubled its views from 3.2M to 6.7M. (Its first week only tallied the Friday-Sunday period, similar to how box office weekends are reported.)

The news of Nimona’s continued strong performance is sure to be well received at Netflix, since this is an edgier offer than many of their other original animation productions. While still firmly in the category of family-friendly films, Nimonashows that there is an opportunity to push in a more punk-rock, anarchic direction than mainstream studios are willing to explore."

 

[Phroobar]

I watched it last night and was pleasantly surprised. I liked the scifi meets middle age look. The cell shaded look was effective. The gay relationship was well done without turning into something flamboyant. Granted it could have used a little more fleshing out but the movie did rise from the grave after Disney murdered it. It had a good ending and a chaotic character that you feel for towards the end. I wonder if it would have gotten the same flack that Strange World got if Blue Sky released and marketed it. I think would have done better than anything Disney released.

 

[Ghost93]

I watched it last night and was pleasantly surprised. I liked the scifi meets middle age look. The cell shaded look was effective. The gay relationship was well done without turning into something flamboyant. Granted it could have used a little more fleshing out but the movie did rise from the grave after Disney murdered it. It had a good ending and a chaotic character that you feel for towards the end. I wonder if it would have gotten the same flack that Strange World got if Blue Sky released and marketed it. I think would have done better than anything Disney released.

I think it helps that the gay characters feel like actual characters whose relationship is a central part of the story rather than just diversity box-checking for brownie points. It also helps that while Ballister and Ambrosius's gay relationship is prominent, it's hardly the only thing that defines them as characters.

But even that aside, Nimona's story and world building are simply more creative and exciting and engaging than Strange World, which I found to be one of the most boring Disney animated movies to sit through.

 

[Phroobar]

I think it helps that the gay characters feel like actual characters whose relationship is a central part of the story rather than just diversity box-checking for brownie points. It also helps that while Ballister and Ambrosius's gay relationship is prominent, it's hardly the only thing that defines them as characters.

But even that aside, Nimona's story and world building are simply more creative and exciting and engaging than Strange World, which I found to be one of the most boring Disney animated movies to sit through.

Totally agree. There was more to both characters than their relationship. They aren't mocked or played for comic relief. These are two leading characters that happen to be gay. They love each other but one has to bring the other to justice. Nice inner conflict. They are well designed characters. If you look at Diazo in Strange World he has nothing to do with the plot and the character design is insulting.

 

[Ghost93]

Totally agree. There was more to both characters than their relationship. They aren't mocked or played for comic relief. These are two leading characters that happen to be gay. They love each other but one has to bring the other to justice. Nice inner conflict. They are well designed characters. If you look at Diazo in Strange World he has nothing to do with the plot and the character design is insulting.

I wouldn't call Diazo's design "insulting" (I know people who look like him), but you could completely edit Diazo out of Strange World and the story wouldn't change at all. Frankly, Ethan's character wouldn't change much either. He has a crush on Diazo, but it has nothing to do with his character arc or the plot.