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

[erasure fan1]

So why would I try to say I disagree with you when I've posted the same thing multiple times?

Just an fyi that was a joke. As in, you don't want to be in agreement with the likes of me.

 

[WorldExplorer]

Snow is back on top:
View attachment 850945
We have many, many weeks to go. Disney has the power to keep movies in the theaters for many, many weeks and the money for any movie will continue to trickle in...

Minecraft (though it also looks awful) is opening soon and going to smash what little "well, I guess we could go to the movies. What's out that's family friendly? I guess we'll go see that" audience Snow White still has.

Think of all the fun mining puns we'll get in box office headlines!

 

[Miss Rori]

Here are the results of those findings, observed earlier this week on a Wednesday afternoon. In short, I couldn't find a single Snow White thing in my entire Target's toy department in the several girls aisles. Not even a classic Snow White thing, where there were Cinderella and Moana and Belle and Mermaid and Jasmine and Elsa and the brunette Frozen girl and that other blonde I always forget the name of toy Princess merchandise.

I checked ShopDisney.com and very, very little remake-specific merchandise has been produced for it. Like Wish eventually got you can buy $100+ collector-oriented fashion dolls of Snow and the Evil Queen, some upmarket jewelry -- most of the collection seems intended strictly for adults. I do know that there are also Funko Pops! available for those two characters, but otherwise, Disney honestly didn't try with this one in terms of merchandising or commercial tie-ins (the two I've seen were for Miracle-Gro and Allegra!). It's like the marketing department assumed only adults would be interested in a movie like this. It's especially noticeable compared to how hard they pushed the Little Mermaid remake, and that definitely helped that film just being a known quantity to the public.

Some analysts have figured Disney was so sick of the ginned-up debates around this film that they just wanted to get it over with and not throw good money after bad (like how there was virtually no push for Strange World), which is plausible. I also think they were spooked by how badly the Lightyear and Wish merchandise sold, and are now a lot more timid about heavily merchandising something they don't think is an absolutely "known", uncontroversial quantity.

And with that in mind, I have seen oodles of fresh Lilo & Stitch merchandise of late at retailers like Hot Topic, Claire's, etc. I think Disney's going all in on marketing and merchandising that remake already, and they'll send the hype into overdrive the closer we get to its release.

 

[Disney Irish]

You didn't, I'm telling you that. You specifically told me to prove it. And I'm saying prove it she didn't mean harm. So I'm stating that I'm no less right than you.

Just as I said the other part of my post that you left off and ignored (again), my evidence is her other social media posts leading up to and after that post. So that is proof I have that is leading me to my opinion. Could that opinion be wrong and her heart if filled with hate and it came out in the post, of course. But that doesn't jive with any other posts she made, nor how people who have worked with her describe her. So I form an opinion based on the evidence and give the benefit of the doubt here.

So if you want me to align my opinion with yours and agree that she was wishing harm, in whatever form you want to say that takes, I'll need more than just your belief. Otherwise lets just agree to disagree and move on, because we'll never see eye-to-eye on this. Again I don't automatically assign malice to someones intentions, especially when no previous malice is present.

Then why did you bring it up? If you agreed than why say, I don't subscribe that it was the primary issue? Because I never said it was either. So why not just say agreed.

Its called expressing an opinion and finishing out a thought during the flow of a discussion. I didn't realize I needed to go back and agree with your previous posts where our opinions aligned during a discussion just to say I explicitly agree with you. I didn't realize you needed that type of validation from me.

Just an fyi that was a joke. As in, you don't want to be in agreement with the likes of me.

With how contentious and confrontational the rest of your posts have been in this exchange it didn't read as a joke.

 

[TP2000]

I never said or implied that the “majority of people” objected to her skin color. Most people don’t care about any of this nonsense.

Exactly. People weren't annoyed by the fact she's a Polish-Colombian American (phew!) actress starring in Disney movie.

Instead, people were annoyed by the fact she's a self-described "White Latina" (Huh? See above, I guess) playing a famously white European Princess in a famous story set in Germany. That sort of purposeful, virtue-signaling race swapping is just cringey to most people, of all races. Heck, even the dorky merchandise planners in a Celebration cubicle farm know which pavilion to stock the Snow White souvenirs in; Germany. It's obvious what race Snow White is.

The people who loudly and relentlessly objected to her casting for the first two years and then unearthed and broadcast her later comments did it overwhelmingly due to race.

I know this may seem impossible to you, but in 2025 most people, especially Americans, are not the racist horribles you assume them to be. That said, most people, regardless of nationality, are inherently able to pick up on cringe and needless race swapping.

I'm of the opinion that the "controversy" in America surrounding the casting of a self-described White Latina (Jeez, that phrase never stops being funny!) was based mostly on the cringe factor and the eye-rolling need of Hollywood execs to virtue signal and rewrite old stories that need no rewriting.

But that take requires some understanding of how large swaths of the population think and feel, and it's apparently easier to just call them ists and phobes for not hewing to the approved Hollywood Elite messaging.

I’m not going to rehash the entire history of race in America or the history of representation in Hollywood.

Why would you, in this case? Why would you even bring it up? That's a valid topic for a doctoral dissertation on American pop culture history of the 20th century, but not much else in 2025.

 

[LittleBuford]

she's a self-described "White Latina" (Huh? See above, I guess)

There are many white Latinos; she’s not the only one to describe herself as such. I’m not sure why you find the term surprising.

 

[TP2000]

I checked ShopDisney.com and very, very little remake-specific merchandise has been produced for it. Like Wish eventually got you can buy $100+ collector-oriented fashion dolls of Snow and the Evil Queen, some upmarket jewelry -- most of the collection seems intended strictly for adults. I do know that there are also Funko Pops! available for those two characters, but otherwise, Disney honestly didn't try with this one in terms of merchandising or commercial tie-ins (the two I've seen were for Miracle-Gro and Allegra!).

That's fascinating! And I forgot about that Allegra commercial that popped up on me on YouTube a week or so ago. I stared at the TV open-mouthed and thought "Was that a joke?"

And just last night I got another long 45 second Snow White ad on YouTube, and it was almost all focused on the dwarves. Their last-minute "How do we save this turkey" messaging seems to be to pivot ASAP to the wacky dwarves.

Too late, I'm afraid. And can you imagine how furious Peter Dinklage must be this week?!?

It's like the marketing department assumed only adults would be interested in a movie like this. It's especially noticeable compared to how hard they pushed the Little Mermaid remake, and that definitely helped that film just being a known quantity to the public.

The marketing is odd. And I hadn't realized the adult-focused marketing until you mentioned it. But you're right.

Maybe after all the scandals that Rachel Zegler brought upon this movie, they somehow thought it would be best to pivot to adults as the core demographic for this movie? I don't get it.

It does speak to the fact there had to be widespread panic, and several rounds of rethinking, for this movie in the past two years. Our Miss Zegler sure can stir up the nest, can't she?

 

[Willmark]

Not sure if Disney counts it in that way, but Q1 of 2025 is drawing to a close for Hollywood.

The general consensus appears to be worse than expected?

Q2 has Minecraft and Thunderbolts.
Minecraft looks it will be a hit? Still have no idea on Thunderbolts.

Looking ahead the battle royal is early Q3 with Jurrasic Park, FF and Superman in July.

Then at the end of the year (Q4) another Avatar movie? Had no idea that was coming out. Crazy thing is avatar makes a crap ton of money each time.

So is 2025 going to potentially be an uneven year? Or another one of several?

 

[LittleBuford]

That said, most people, regardless of nationality, are inherently able to pick up on cringe and needless race swapping.

I honestly don’t remember Brandy’s casting as Cinderella causing nearly as much controversy. You yourself had very positive things to say about it:

That said, I also enjoyed the heck out of the 1997 version! So fresh, so sparklingly new! It came from a place of genuine warmth and splendor, you could just tell. And that lovely young lady Brandy was perfect for the role of Cinderella.

Why did an African-American woman in a French fairytale not bother you—on the contrary, you considered her “perfect” for the role—when a white Latina in a German fairytale does?

 

[brb1006]

Honest question, with the Bambi remake having been canceled, how many more original animated features are potential grist for the mill?

The Rescuers 1 & 2, Robin Hood, The Fox and Hound, the 80s titles that aren’t recognizable enough properties to be worth the expense…

Point being they’re quickly running out of movies to pull from. So I guess they’ll go back to sequels for everything.

There's a live-action/CGI remake of The Aristocats in the works with Questlove directing the film.

 

[TP2000]

There are many white Latinos; she’s not the only one to describe herself as such. I’m not sure why you find the term surprising.

As someone who has lived in the Southwest USA for the past few decades, and has had dozens of good friends and co-workers and casual acquaintances in my life who are Latinos, I have never heard any of them say they are "White Latino/Latina".

I'm sure in a college faculty lounge somewhere, the phrase is now used regularly for some reason of adding or subtracting privilege points, as only they can do in the faculty lounge. But in real life in the 2020's? In Southwest communities that are often majority Latino? I've never heard anyone who is actually Latino use it. So it's funny.

I'm guessing it's a phrase invented recently by the same people who invented Latinx out of whole cloth, now that Latinx is suddenly unfashionable in the faculty lounges and editorial offices of America.

 

[TP2000]

Why did an African-American woman in a French fairytale not bother you—on the contrary, you considered her “perfect” for the role—when a white Latina in a German fairytale does?

Because it was a made for TV movie that was all done on purpose. Everyone in that one was mixed up racially, and it came off as genuine and delightful. And in 1997 it hadn't been done before. It was fresh and fun. But it also wasn't supposed to be a literal retelling of the story. It was an upbeat new twist, in living color. It didn't read as cringe, it read as fun.

(Oh, I'd forgotten that Bernadette Peters was in that too! I've always thought she was fantastic!)

If Disney had already succumbed to Woke in 2015 when they faithfully retold the Cinderella story in live action, but had used a Black actress as the lead role while the rest of her European family and community had stayed white, that would have seemed cringey and dumb.

 

[LittleBuford]

As someone who has lived in the Southwest USA for the past few decades, and has had dozens of good friends and co-workers and casual acquaintances in my life who are Latinos, I have never heard any of them say they are "White Latino/Latina".

I'm sure in a college faculty lounge somewhere, the phrase is now used regularly for some reason of adding or subtracting privilege points, as only they can do in the faculty lounge. But in real life in the 2020's? In Southwest communities that are often majority Latino? I've never heard anyone who is actually Latino use it. So it's funny.

I'm guessing it's a phrase invented recently by the same people who invented Latinx out of whole cloth, now that Latinx is suddenly unfashionable in the faculty lounges and editorial offices of America.

It’s not a newfangled or PC term. The distinctly anti-woke @mickEblu has used it of his daughter. People have been identifying as both white and Hispanic in the US census for decades.

 

[TP2000]

There's a live-action/CGI remake of The Aristocats in the works with Questlove directing the film.

Really?! I'd be interested in seeing that, so long as they keep the jazzy soundtrack based on the original. It was fabulous.

 

[LittleBuford]

Because it was a made for TV movie that was all done on purpose. Everyone in that one was mixed up racially, and it came off as genuine and delightful. And in 1997 it hadn't been done before. It was fresh and fun. But it also wasn't supposed to be a literal retelling of the story. It was an upbeat new twist, in living color. It didn't read as cringe, it read as fun.

(Oh, I'd forgotten that Bernadette Peters was in that too! I've always thought she was fantastic!)

If Disney had already succumbed to Woke in 2015 when they faithfully retold the Cinderella story in live action, but had used a Black actress as the lead role while the rest of her European family and community had stayed white, that would have seemed cringey and dumb.

But the basis of your objection to Zegler’s casting was that a non-white (of the Northern European variety) actor shouldn’t be playing a Germanic princess. The same objection would have to hold for Brandy.

Don’t worry, I wasn’t expecting you to actually explain the inconsistency in your position; I merely wanted to draw attention to it.

 

[TP2000]

It’s not a newfangled or PC term. The distinctly anti-woke @mickEblu has used it of his daughter. People have been identifying as both white and Hispanic in the US census for decades.

Yes, I'm aware of the various boxes one can check on the census forms.

I'm talking about using it in a sentence, out loud in conversation or in written text. In the past few decades of living in the Southwest USA, I have never heard anyone say something like "Well, my family was White Latino, so my mom always made pozole on weekends"

But then, I've never heard any Latino person ever describe themselves at "Latinx" either. I've only heard that word spoken by well-meaning but cringey white ladies. Although if I hung out in faculty lounges, I'd probably hear it even more.

 

[mickEblu]

It’s not a newfangled or PC term. The distinctly anti-woke @mickEblu has used it of his daughter. People have been identifying as both white and Hispanic in the US census for decades.

What did I do ?

 

[LittleBuford]

What did I do ?

It’s there in my post!

 

[erasure fan1]

I honestly don’t remember Brandy’s casting as Cinderella causing nearly as much controversy. You yourself had very positive things to say about it:

I remember it had it's detractors as well, but nothing compared to this. But I think the biggest difference is the stage. By that I mean, Cinderella was a made for tv thing. If snow white was a made for D+, I don't believe it garners anywhere near this much attention. I would guess the attention dies off like peter pan and wendy did. By making it a major release with a huge budget, it naturally puts a much larger spotlight on it.

 

[LittleBuford]

I remember it had its detractors as well, but nothing compared to this. But I think the biggest difference is the stage. By that I mean, Cinderella was a made for tv thing. If snow white was a made for D+, I don't believe it garners anywhere near this much attention. I would guess the attention dies off like peter pan and wendy did. By making it a major release with a huge budget, it naturally puts a much larger spotlight on it.

I think that’s certainly part of it, but I also think the discourse surrounding these issues has become much more rancorous.