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

[TP2000]

Disney Got Its Groove Back With ‘Moana 2,’ but Troubled ‘Snow White’ Could Halt the Momentum

The animated sequel marks the fulfilment of a new executive structure and a mandate to avoid the culture wars.

variety.com

Very interesting article! I'm heartened to think that Burbank finally gets it, and that a full cultural course correct is taking place. It's obvious the world has changed since 2020, even if some folks in LA and NYC don't want to admit it.

As Variety accurately says, they've just got to get beyond Snow White and whatever new mischief Miss Zegler finds herself in during that process. But once they finally, mercifully get beyond Snow White, it should be smooth sailing for Disney again!

Like other companies in the past few years, Disney had to learn that lesson the hard way by losing money and customers.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Very interesting article! I'm heartened to think that Burbank finally gets it, and that a full cultural course correct is taking place. It's obvious the world has changed since 2020, even if some folks in LA and NYC don't want to admit it.

As Variety accurately says, they've just got to get beyond Snow White and whatever new mischief Miss Zegler finds herself in during that process. But once they finally, mercifully get beyond Snow White, it should be smooth sailing for Disney again!

Like other companies in the past few years, Disney had to learn that lesson the hard way by losing money and customers.

The cultural issues are canards, or, at least, obnoxiously inconsistent. Where were the culture warriors in light of Deadpool's pansexuality? That didn't hurt Disney.

 

[TP2000]

The cultural issues are canards, or, at least, obnoxiously inconsistent. Where were the culture warriors in light of Deadpool's pansexuality? That didn't hurt Disney.

Since it was an R Rated movie, and Marvel at that, the culture warriors don't care. Who cares if an R Rated movie has a "pansexual" in it? That actually seems tame for what R Rated can get away with now instead of getting an NC17 rating.

But put a "pansexual" in a PG rated animated movie for children, and Burbank will have problems all over again.

This isn't rocket science. It's basic parenting of 7 year old children.

As for "pansexuals", I have no idea what that might be, without going to Google in a few minutes. Is it a fancy new word for a bisexual? And in my day, a bisexual was just the guy in the bar playing hard to get right before Last Call.

Even before I go to Google, that just proves my hunch that Disney has learned their lesson the hard way and have already course corrected. Good for them! Keep the sexual stuff, pan or otherwise, out of kids movies and all will be fine at the box office.

 

[Disney Irish]

I think you missed my point. Sequels aren't a cash grab just because it's a sequel. Yes the public wants sequels, I want sequels as I said in my post. The people, including me, who complain about them do it for a reason. They want good sequels. It becomes a cash grab when the quality is far below the original or it's just made because the toys sell, ie cars 2. If there's a legitimate story to tell, great! I'm all in. But in my opinion, I'd call Moana a cash grab. It's going to make money sure, but it's not been all that well received in my circles. They took a D+ show, chopped it to make a movie knowing it had a great chance to make money. Hence, cash grab.

I don't think the public only wants sequels. People will go out for new ip. We wouldn't have sequels if that wasn't the case. You can't have a sequel if there's no original. What they need to do, is make movies people want to see, quality films. Easier said than done I know. But that's been the problem. The masses haven't wanted to see their new ip for the most part. So the question is do people actually not want new ip? Or do the just not want bad stories? I firmly believe it's they just want good stories.

How many sequels are up to the same standard as the original? Most fall short of the original, and most if not all never exceed the original.

Also where did I say the public ONLY wants sequels, didn't make that the claim so I think you misunderstood what I meant when I say they eat up sequels.

 

[Disney Irish]

They should have kept Disneytoons instead of turning Walt Disney Animation Studios into Disneytoons.

Disagree, also I'm sorry but story complaints aside I don't see Moana 2 in even the same ballpark as any of the sequels that Disneytoon put out back in the day.

 

[DisneyWarrior27]

Disagree, also I'm sorry but story complaints aside I don't see Moana 2 in even the same ballpark as any of the sequels that Disneytoon put out back in the day.

Neither do I.

 

[Phroobar]

Since it was an R Rated movie, and Marvel at that, the culture warriors don't care. Who cares if an R Rated movie has a "pansexual" in it? That actually seems tame for what R Rated can get away with now instead of getting an NC17 rating.

But put a "pansexual" in a PG rated animated movie for children, and Burbank will have problems all over again.

This isn't rocket science. It's basic parenting of 7 year old children.

As for "pansexuals", I have no idea what that might be, without going to Google in a few minutes. Is it a fancy new word for a bisexual? And in my day, a bisexual was just the guy in the bar playing hard to get right before Last Call.

Even before I go to Google, that just proves my hunch that Disney has learned their lesson the hard way and have already course corrected. Good for them! Keep the sexual stuff, pan or otherwise, out of kids movies and all will be fine at the box office.

View attachment 829109

In Solo, didn't they try to portray Lando as Pansexual. He was in to men, women AND droids.

 

[Phroobar]

The success of Moana 2 really makes me fear for the future of Disney Animated Studios. If they can outsource this for faster and lower budget and still make millions, why do anything in house anymore especially since the last two inhouse movies flopped.

 

[DKampy]

SKeep the sexual stuff, pan or otherwise, out of kids movies and all will be fine at the box office.

Even the heterosexual stuff from the earlier princess films…I would prefer that the world move forward then staying back in your day

 

[LittleBuford]

The success of Moana 2 really makes me fear for the future of Disney Animated Studios. If they can outsource this for faster and lower budget and still make millions, why do anything in house anymore especially since the last two inhouse movies flopped.

The Burbank headquarters of Walt Disney Animation Studios was involved with the project even when it was conceived as a series. The Vancouver branch still falls under the Walt Disney Animation Studios umbrella and isn’t some shoddy outside operation. Disney has long had such satellite studios (Orlando and Paris, both now closed) and they have always been considered in-house. I didn’t much like Moana 2, but the visuals weren’t the issue.

As for the previous two WDAS films flopping, immediately before them was Encanto, second only to Moana as last year’s most-streamed movie, and Zootopia 2 and Frozen 3 are already in development. I see no reason to worry.

 

[LittleBuford]

Even the heterosexual stuff from the earlier princess films…I would prefer that the world move forward then staying back in your day

I like romance (straight or queer) in Disney animated films and hope it makes a comeback.

 

[DKampy]

I like romance (straight or queer) in Disney animated films and hope it makes a comeback.

Exactly…. It should not make a difference who a person loves….that some posters try to paint something like the crush in Strange World as anything less then innocent just to fit their own biases

 

[Disney Irish]

The Burbank headquarters of Walt Disney Animation Studios was involved with the project even when it was conceived as a series. The Vancouver branch still falls under the Walt Disney Animation Studios umbrella and isn’t some shoddy outside operation. Disney has long had such satellite studios (Orlando and Paris, both now closed) and they have always been considered in-house. I didn’t much like Moana 2, but the visuals weren’t the issue.

As for the previous two WDAS films flopping, immediately before them was Encanto, second only to Moana as last year’s most-streamed movie, and Zootopia 2 and Frozen 3 are already in development. I see no reason to worry.

Exactly, I don't know where this idea that this was done by some cheap offshore outside group came from. This was done by WDAS, just in Canada. It would be no different if WDAS had their Orlando team do it, as you mentioned.

This is also why the comments of it being like DisneyToons also irritates me, as this isn't the same thing.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Oh look, the peddling of bigotry has returned. It was a good run for a while.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Exactly, I don't know where this idea that this was done by some cheap offshore outside group came from. This was done by WDAS, just in Canada. It would be no different if WDAS had their Orlando team do it, as you mentioned.

This is also why the comments of it being like DisneyToons also irritates me, as this isn't the same thing.

Yes, leave us Vancouverites alone! I am sure our WDAS offices are beautiful and wonderful.

 

[Disney Irish]

Yes, leave us Vancouverites alone! I am sure our WDAS offices are beautiful and wonderful.

You get no quarrel from me, Canada is beautiful and has great animators working for WDAS.

 

[TsWade2]

Even the heterosexual stuff from the earlier princess films…I would prefer that the world move forward then staying back in your day

I'm sorry, but after last month's results of the election, I doubt it.

 

[erasure fan1]

How many sequels are up to the same standard as the original? Most fall short of the original, and most if not all never exceed the original.

I wouldn't say "if not at all". Sure it's more common for the original to be better. But I can think of plenty of sequels that are better than the first. The issue is when a sequel is far less than the original in quality. There are PLENTY of sequels that might not be as good as the original, but are very much quality films worthy of being a sequel.

Also where did I say the public ONLY wants sequels, didn't make that the claim so I think you misunderstood what I meant when I say they eat up sequels.

Maybe I did, but you did say

if the public is really only coming out in droves for sequels

So if they only come out for sequels, that means they don't to come out for original ips. So it seems easy to misunderstand.

But that would make your first response to me make very little sense. I never said anything about why Disney is doing sequels. In fact multiple times I've said they absolutely should, it's expected. The original post that I responded to was about people here complaining about sequels. And my response was they absolutely want them, just good ones.

 

[TP2000]

I would prefer that the world move forward then staying back in your day

The problem there is that this isn't my call. Did you read the Variety article?

The call was made by the global marketplace of Billions of consumers of Disney's family entertainment products that has already spoken on that issue in 2022-2023. And Bob heard them and is now making his teams at WDAS and Pixar listen to their customers.

Marvel and Lucas and Searchlight and 20th Century will all keep making PG-13 or R Rated movies with sexual themes of various sorts, no problem. I haven't heard a single person upset about that. I'm certainly not. Aside from the government censors in Muslim and Communist countries that don't allow those Burbank movies to be shown anyway, who would care???

But the issue with Walt Disney Studios and Walt Disney Animation and Pixar is settled, and Bob Iger has gone on record saying so. And once they get past Snow White this March, it should be onward and upward and back to fairly consistent profitability. It really boils down to a branding issue for specific studios aimed at the family audience globally.

As for "staying back in my day", that's mostly the gay bar scene of the Disco Era and the 80's. And you wouldn't believe the things I've seen! Some of it would need an NC-17 rating, it wouldn't even get an R. The box office would be questionable though.

 

[TP2000]

Yes, leave us Vancouverites alone! I am sure our WDAS offices are beautiful and wonderful.

It's a gorgeous city! Your comment made me Google...

The Disney Animation studios in Vancouver are downtown at 1132 Hamilton St., in a hipster neighborhood, in a remodeled brick building about 5 stories tall. Above a blowout hair bar and a place called Yaletown Distillery that makes its own small batch gin.

Sound like a heavenly place to work, doesn't it?