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

[SJN1279]

I loved the Haunted Mansion personally. I thought I was a lot more fun than Barbie, and may find an audience on Disney + this Halloween.

Wish and Deadpool 3 could be huge hits for Disney going forward. I actually enjoy the trailer for the Marvels, but we will see on that one.

 

[Willmark]

You know, some people can actually think for themselves and don't need a well funded media machine to tell them what to think.

And it's not a single moment. It's a lot of things.

Building off your thoughts.

Disney as I’ve noted before is at an interesting crossroads. Some of this is their own making, some of it is not. There is going to be no pleasing everyone these days unlike the past and is certainly not the case of “only one side” engaging in reasons for its current predicament. There is plenty of reasons why on all sides and in between.

As it relates to the box office? Likewise a variety of reasons.
Post pandemic viewing habit changes? Sure
Streaming as a reason? Sure
Quality of the movies themselves? Sure
Messaging in movies? Sure (whether people want to admit it; it’s there)
Inflation? Sure

Add any number of reasons to the few mentioned.

Basically as it boils down to as you note: the homogenous nature of a Disney “fan” is far more nuanced and fragmented these days and only growing.

And further add to this the folks who had the nostalgia of the heyday of when the parks opened? The original Mickey Mouse club, etc? Fewer and fewer.

Add further those that only know Disney as a corporate behemoth?

It’s not hard to understand why Disney movies and by extension Disney are facing some very strong headwinds. And IMO they aren’t going away anytime soon. The reactions to their movies are a symptom of the company and again rightly or wrongly.

As always folks YMMV.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I’m not ecstatic about the change for a lot of reasons I’ve discussed elsewhere (tear it down, start from the ground up), although it must be acknowledged that Song of the South was always a highly questionable basis for a ride. But the idea that shifting a Disney park ride from an almost entirely forgotten IP to a more relevant one has alienated a significant portion of the general public is silly. Normal folks (that’s not us on this board) don’t care about the proud history of a theme park ride.

I think Splash is a useful example because it's one specific thing, it's very obvious and guest-facing, and it's pretty close to monocausal. But I agree that it hasn't been the most consequential of these decisions from a financial perspective.

 

[celluloid]

Disney is in a weird spot

Teaching HS and Vocation for adults has given me some perspective in this that makes me feel old as.evwr.as an odd bonus.
This generation of adults has never known many original Pixar eleases coming to theaters or their world. The few and far between were not their world.amd they Know Pixar as well as Disney for their remakes.

The original animated princesses are in the zeitgeist, but less than ever and have either been parodies so much, or boring to watch that they are null outside of the names. The link aisles at Walmart have had quite a shift too.
This generation of about to be adults were even post Pirates of the Caribbean films and the original three movies they were prior to the fourth one. Think about that. Think about how this same generation is younger than the memory ability of the theatrical return of Indy and the Crystal Skull.

Someone born in 2007 or after certainly only knows Disney's traditions to be MCU, Star Wars and remakes.
These about to be adults(three to four years move fast) were infants to toddler when Tiana came to the seen.

It's Marvel, Star Wars, Zootopia and Frozen with a ton of remakes no one cares about for them. They don't even stick to tangled.

The political stuff aside and the fact we have the third screen adaption of HM in twenty years, second theatrical, and Indiana Jones' second time out of retirement.(to try and get money from their acquisition as the character was not theirs before) it is fair to say there is an argument for Disney letting the tradition slack.

 

[LittleBuford]

Someone born in 2007 or after certainly only knows Disney's traditions to be MCU, Star Wars and remakes.

What about all the animated films from Disney and Pixar that have come out since then?

 

[celluloid]

What about all the animated films from Disney and Pixar that have come out since then?

That is in my post.
Frozen and Zootopia are the only ones that stick at all with my experience in the generation. Tangled and the rest are pretty forgotten. Moana has the soundtrack as well as encanto but my students are out of the i.pressionabke age to fall in love with that and it is few and far in-between years of release.

Coco is the only original sticking Pixar film for these teens. They were pretty young and did not care for up like my generation did.

There are outliers, but that is the gist. They feel that Disney has ruined Pixar because they echo the internet that Disney ruined Star Wars. They see Disney as the company that damages branding.

My generation with friends tended to see Pixar and Disney as one even when we knew the deal of the studio under the umbrella.

As stated in my previous post, Most of their lives Pixar, have been sequels. It's not the Pixar I grew up with from 1994 to 2006 and enjoyed often until 2009.

 

[LittleBuford]

Moana has the soundtrack.

If it’s just about the soundtrack, why do people keep streaming it?

And what about Encanto?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Marvel was not created by Disney, Star Wars was not created by Disney, Pixar was not created by Disney

Marvel and Star Wars have their own problems, unique to each brand and separate from the problems plaguing the Disney brand.

Pixar has been intertwined with Disney since before its founding. Pixar and WDAS are different studios, but "Disney-Pixar" has been in the public consciousness since at least 1995. They're "near enough as makes no nevermind," to steal a phrase.

 

[celluloid]

If it’s just about the soundtrack, why do people keep streaming it?

And what about Encanto?

Kids love watching fantastical colorful musicals. Anyone with a toddler knows the child will watch, in this case stream the same movie on repeat. I meant to put Encanto for the soundtrack and Coco and Encanto they sometimes say they like. Well, I have one student that does. Just repeating what I observe. You don't have to believe my anecdotal. The kids streaming encanto so many times for the entire film are not majority teenagers about to be adults. Which is the generation I am speaking of.

But if the only tradition for Disney we can hold onto in this conversation are those couple and the most important being a stream repeater that came.out when these teens were 14 instead of 16/17. I think that proves to me the tradition is rocky, and financially seems the same. That was my point.

 

[DKampy]

Marvel and Star Wars have their own problems, unique to each brand and separate from the problems plaguing the Disney brand.

Pixar has been intertwined with Disney since before its founding. Pixar and WDAS are different studios, but "Disney-Pixar" has been in the public consciousness since at least 1995. They're "near enough as makes no nevermind," to steal a phrase.

And Now Avatar is intertwined with Disney…I think counting out Avatar to support your narrative is weird… I also think the same of people counting out Mario to support the opposite is equally weird

 

[CaptainAmerica]

And Now Avatar is intertwined with Disney…I think counting out Avatar to support your narrative is weird… I also think the same of people counting out Mario to support the opposite is equally weird

Bob Iger, Bob Chapek, Alan Bergman, Dana Walden, whomever had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of Avatar.

They wrote James Cameron a bigass check, and James Cameron delivered them a finished movie.

 

[Chi84]

Bob Iger, Bob Chapek, Alan Bergman, Dana Walden, whomever had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of Avatar.

They wrote James Cameron a bigass check, and James Cameron delivered them a finished movie.

People do associate Avatar with Disney, especially since the addition of Pandora to DAK. It seems your argument is more that people shouldn’t associate the two because Disney doesn’t deserve credit for it.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I literally said "anti-colonialism." That's my point. James Cameron is, himself, a man of the Left. There are left-themes and right-themes in both Avatar movies. My point wasn't "right good, left bad," my point was "competently executing your vision and making your point in an intelligent and entertaining way and not like a Twitter-obsessed culture warrior is good, no matter what point you're making."


1. Avatar was not created by Disney, it was distributed by Disney.
2. Avatar was not branded Disney.

Creative, distribution, and branding are all distinct.

If someone says "I'm going to watch a Disney movie," they don't mean Avatar.

As a side note, FX and Hulu continue to put out excellent episodic content.

It doesn’t matter - people overreact and magnify things.

Was 2 seconds of a lesbian couple in Lightyear so woke or activist? That little crumb was too much to bear.

A gay character in Strange World, with that fact established but barely acknowledged except at the beginning and end - that was so “in your face?” Come on.

But only when Disney does it. Some animated thing they gave to Netflix has much more gay theming (I’ve heard) and was well-received. Likewise Barbie, including a trans Barbie, etc. The right is losing their bleach over it, but it’s still doing well.

Over 70 million people voted for each side last time, and many more abstained. There’s plenty of pie to go around without engaging half the country. Everyone on both sides (a phrase I rarely appreciate) has to stop thinking they are the center of the universe and that every movie is aimed squarely at them.

 

[celluloid]

And Now Avatar is intertwined with Disney…I think counting out Avatar to support your narrative is weird… I also think the same of people counting out Mario to support the opposite is equally weird

On hmthe note of what makes Avatar different with a message vs slipping in a random.moment.

Avatar's message was always environmental and heavy themes of colonialism invasion/falling in love with the enemy.
Different than the brand and character changing their traits and and major shifts audiences feel are unnecessary and or expect.

Barbie now has a live action movie that starts with it's messages hmthan is self aware of the toy being surface level and unrealistic to be a "barbie."
If it has been a live action series before, or if decades from now there is a remake that does the opposite of the character and moral of the story, than that would be more akin to what is being discussed.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Was 2 seconds of a lesbian couple in Lightyear so woke or activist? That little crumb was too much to bear.

A gay character in Strange World, with that fact established but barely acknowledged except at the beginning and end - that was so “in your face?” Come on.

The content on the screen has virtually nothing to do with it. It's the hundreds of hours and millions of dollars of focus groups, special-interest groups, DE&I consultants, etc. behind the scenes that take everyone's eyes off the ball and distract from actually making an entertaining film.

Hamilton and Schitt's Creek are super woke and they're both excellent and well-loved by mainstream audiences. Yet Willow and Bros crashed and burned.

Why? Because Lin-Manuel Miranda and Dan Levy are geniuses while Jonathan Kasdan and Billy Eichner are insufferable lunatics.

 

[drizgirl]

There’s plenty of pie to go around without engaging half the country.

I really don't think so.

 

[DKampy]

Bob Iger, Bob Chapek, Alan Bergman, Dana Walden, whomever had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of Avatar.

They wrote James Cameron a bigass check, and James Cameron delivered them a finished movie.

Universal did not create super Mario… so Mario does not count

Most execs have nothing to do with the writing… most they usually do is green light a project

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Universal did not create super Mario… so Mario does not count

Absolutely correct.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Who here said Barbie isn’t really any good?

…the normal dust infused innuendo has been floating around. Right on schedule.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Bob Iger, Bob Chapek, Alan Bergman, Dana Walden, whomever had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of Avatar.

They wrote James Cameron a bigass check, and James Cameron delivered them a finished movie.

Universal did not create super Mario… so Mario does not count

Most execs have nothing to do with the writing… most they usually do is green light a project

Subtract avatar and Mario and the studios numbers look pretty bad

Actually…if we can be big kids today…Disneys look WRETCHED…in truth