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

[LittleBuford]

Oh you all know better! There’s a sure fire way to stop the nonsense.

I know, I know. You are absolutely right and have been right this whole time. I’m not capable of pushing the button (I never use it), but I am capable of exercising more self-control, and I promise to do so.

 

[TP2000]

Fun Fact from the Google:

There have been 26 Black players in the NHL since the first Black pro hockey player in 1958; a man by the name of Willie O'Ree who played for the Boston Bruins.

Currently, 97% of NHL players are white, and 3% are from all other races.

Use that info to impress your party guests at your next shindig!

 

[Disstevefan1]

As long as Disney keeps its strangle hold on the 4105 theaters for as long as possible, Cap will do fine.

 

[Disney Irish]

You aren't mistaken. I stopped seeing Disney/Pixar stuff for the most part once my nephews outgrew them 20 years ago.

That's why you will rarely find me in the various threads dedicated to the individual movies and discussion of their artistic merits, characters, songwriting, special effects, etc. I have no real interest in movies I haven't seen, so why would I discuss them at length?

But the good news is that I'm here in the... wait for it... Disney Box Office thread to discuss box office results.



I agree, that would be bizarre. Which is why I'm here in the Box Office thread discussing (mostly) box office results for Disney's various studios.

It's a financial topic I find interesting as a lifelong Parks fan because the Parks are such a mess right now, and still going downhill, while across the campus in Burbank they seem to be shoveling money into the furnace to create way too many big-budget movie flops. That's not sustainable.

Checking notes, Disney at one bad year but otherwise wasn't having a huge number of flops. But has course corrected and is either bringing down budgets or is having huge successes at the box office. So what is your gripe about now? Also "not sustainable"? For who? Disney has huge amounts of cash on the books, if they want to spend hundreds of Millions on a budget for a movie they can do so with very little impact. If they want to fund the Parks, they can do so. The box office is not stopping that. As I like to remind people, its not like the Parks were getting huge infusions of cash in the pre-pandemic days when Disney was ruling the box office and having what seemed like a new $Billion movie every month. So lets not fool ourselves into thinking that somehow that is going to change if Disney just does better at the box office than they did in 2023.

 

[brideck]

Wha???? Talk about reading comprehension skills! Who said that? All I said was that the vast majority of hockey fans, players and coaches are white. It's a thing. Really. Do some Black folks attend hockey games? Of course they do. Has a Black man ever played in the NHL? There's something to Google! Are they in a small racial minority when they do attend games or play in that sport? Yes. For example...

Yeah, man. It's almost like different sports have their own cultural histories and the baggage that goes along with that (not to mention vastly different price points for participation that serve as barriers to entry). But that doesn't mean that something that goes against that cultural history is unrealistic or should "pull you out of a story", it's just a reflection of change, either real or desired. In this case, it's probably a little bit of both.

Also, why would I need to Google black players in the NHL? I can name multiple black Hall of Famers.

 

[brideck]

There have been 26 Black players in the NHL

That is incorrect. That might be a count of players on active rosters today, though obviously that would fluctuate based on in-season player movement.

 

[TP2000]

Checking notes, Disney at one bad year but otherwise wasn't having a huge number of flops. But has course corrected and is either bringing down budgets or is having huge successes at the box office. So what is your gripe about now?

I just want to make sure that Disney and its stable of flagship studios can get back on track. WDAS, Pixar, Marvel, Lucas, etc.

Bob Iger has indicated publicly he is implementing a course correction within his studios, and I'm sure that's angered a lot of the executives who spent 2019-2023 crowing about how woke they can make children's cartoons and stuff. So it will be interesting to see how long it takes to truly flush those original ideas and concepts out of the system.

The damage done to the Star Wars franchise is nearly criminal. And Marvel seems to be coasting on fumes now.

We've still got to get through Snow White next month and the horrendous PR its star created for herself repeatedly, and Captain America's box office is not at all promising so far. But I think by Christmas, 2025 and onward into 2026 we'll start seeing the fruits of Bob's course correction at the box office.

Things aren't totally bleak. I mean, my gosh, I lived through the Herbie Goes Bananas era from Ron Miller!

 

[Disney Irish]

As long as Disney keeps its strangle hold on the 4105 theaters for as long as possible, Cap will do fine.

As there are no real major releases until almost the end of March I don't see that as much of a problem.

 

[LittleBuford]

That is incorrect. That might be a count of players on active rosters today, though obviously that would fluctuate based on in-season player movement.

The demographics of the NHL are in any case irrelevant to a fictional children’s hockey team in an animated film.

 

[brideck]

As there are no real major releases until almost the end of March I don't see that as much of a problem.

Yeah, the next things shooting for broad audiences are what... Snow White followed by Minecraft?

 

[brideck]

The demographics of the NHL are in any case irrelevant to a fictional children’s hockey team in an animated film.

For sure. Mostly just trying to point out that TP is an inadequate Googler, which doesn't surprise me.

 

[Disney Irish]

I just want to make sure that Disney and its stable of flagship studios can get back on track. WDAS, Pixar, Marvel, Lucas, etc.

Make sure? I'm sorry but what impact do you think you have on anything here? You pontificate about how this no nothing backwater site has no impact on anything in the Nielsen thread, but then make statements like this.

Bob Iger has indicated publicly he is implementing a course correction within his studios, and I'm sure that's angered a lot of the executives who spent 2019-2023 crowing about how woke they can make children's cartoons and stuff. So it will be interesting to see how long it takes to truly flush those original ideas and concepts out of the system.

Those things are not necessarily incongruent of each other. One can course correct while still being able to tell progressive stories.

The damage done to the Star Wars franchise is nearly criminal. And Marvel seems to be coasting on fumes now.

We've still got to get through Snow White next month and the horrendous PR its star created for herself repeatedly, and Captain America's box office is not at all promising so far. But I think by Christmas, 2025 and onward we'll start seeing the fruits of Bob's course correction at the box office.

Things aren't totally bleak. I mean, my gosh, I lived through the Herbie Goes Bananas era from Ron Miller!

I think the grave digging on some of these movies has been way too premature, as seen by the recent performance of Mufasa (which by the way is just a stones throw away from $700M). So maybe slow your roll (as the kids say).

 

[LittleBuford]

For sure. Mostly just trying to point out that TP is an inadequate Googler, which doesn't surprise me.

The figures he gave are those generated by AI Overview. It’s a horrible feature, and I really hate that Google has imposed it on us (which doesn’t excuse his sloppy “research”, of course).

 

[TP2000]

That is incorrect. That might be a count of players on active rosters today, though obviously that would fluctuate based on in-season player movement.

You're right. It gets tricky depending on how you type in the question to Google. I've now gotten 3 different answers with different phrasing, and gave up. I just did a hand count on the Wikipedia page and there were 110 players who were either Black or mixed race Black since 1958. When you back out the mixed race players, it dwindles fast.

Right now this season there's a Swedish-African mixed race player playing for the LA Kings. He was born in Sweden with one African parent. Fascinating! As a Swedish-American myself, I wonder if he escaped the childhood of Lutefisk dinners?

 

[Disney Irish]

Yeah, the next things shooting for broad audiences are what... Snow White followed by Minecraft?

Yep, the early part of this year has been bleak for releases. Makes you wonder why other studios didn't try to release more during the first 3 months of the year.

 

[brideck]

The figures he gave are those generated by AI Overview. It’s a horrible feature, and I really hate that Google has imposed it on us (which doesn’t excuse his sloppy “research”, of course).

For sure. I just had it try to tell me the other day that the Fast & Furious franchise has won a bunch of acting Oscars when it meant to say that actors who have won Oscars also star in some of those movies.

 

[LittleBuford]

For sure. I just had it try to tell me the other day that the Fast & Furious franchise has won a bunch of acting Oscars when it meant to say that actors who have won Oscars also star in some of those movies.

I guess we should be grateful that it isn't yet as smart as us human beings. If the robots are going to take over one day, I hope it'll be after my time!

 

[TP2000]

Make sure? I'm sorry but what impact do you think you have on anything here? You pontificate about how this no nothing backwater site has no impact on anything in the Nielsen thread, but then make statements like this.

I have no impact on the actual product. I'm just here to discuss it on what we call a "Discussion Forum". It's a fun hobby!

Those things are not necessarily incongruent of each other. One can course correct while still being able to tell progressive stories.

Sure, but you need to tell the "progressive" story for its own sake. Not shoehorn in "progressive" stuff just to virtue signal and stick it to your audience who you apparently dislike and don't trust. (Warning: Just a random comment not referencing any one person, just a broader example based on several leaked Zoom meetings and interviews from Disney studio execs, and that hilariously stupid Bud Light exec who got fired after she pulled the Dylan Mulvaney stunt, bragged how much she disliked her core customers, and thus tanked the entire and once iconic brand, etc.)

I think the grave digging on some of these movies has been way too premature, as seen by the recent performance of Mufasa (which by the way is just a stones throw away from $700M). So maybe slow your roll (as the kids say).

Which is why I used the wording "not at all promising so far".

I think in two weeks we'll know for sure on Captain America.

The figures he gave are those generated by AI Overview. It’s a horrible feature, and I really hate that Google has imposed it on us

Is that what's going on with Google now? I've noticed the search results have a different format lately, and this most recent search was a great example of changing results. After getting the first result of "26", I typed it again a different way and got a new number different from the first. Then a third time using past tense gave me something else entirely.

I finally just had to count to 110 my damn self on a Wikipedia page.

(which doesn’t excuse his sloppy “research”, of course).

Yikes. What's the punishment for an unclear Google search here? I can't be the only one who occasionally goes to Google when its a topic I'm not naturally familiar with. The topic of "How many Black players are in the NHL" was new to me, so I Googled it.

Is that 3 Demerits? Or has it already gone straight to a First Verbal Warning? I'll want to know for my records.

 

[DKampy]

We've still got to get through Snow White next month and the horrendous PR its star created for herself repeatedly,

I do find it curious that the same people that want Disney to keep Rachel Zegler quiet…. Lament that Gina Caramo had her first amendments rights trampled on( they weren’t)

 

[TP2000]

I do find it curious that the same people that want Disney to keep Rachel Zegler quiet…. Lament that Gina Caramo had her first amendments rights trampled on( they weren’t)

I'm not sure who Gina Caramo is, and now I'm suddenly leery of going to Google.

But the Rachel Zegler thing, spread over several different interviews and planned statements over several years, is a textbook way to damage not just your own brand, but the product you are being paid to shill for. It's a PR firms worst nightmare from Miss Zegler.

I'm going to be really interested to see how they market Snow White next month, and how they use Miss Zegler to do that.