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

[TP2000]

So "death by a thousand cuts" isn't knowing? Poppycock, I think you just want to attribute it to one particular thing and anything else is just dismissed.

Extra credit for bringing back "Poppycock"! I love it.

But I'm just reiterating what you always tell us... We'll just never know. We have no proof. Nothing is truly known. We don't know what they're thinking or doing in the halls of Burbank. It's a complete mystery, all of it. We only have opinions, not facts. And season two of Ms. Marvel may still be greenlit any day now. But we just don't know.

And none of it is 100% provable, its all just opinions.

 

[LittleBuford]

I think some international markets are not as forgiving of race swapping as we are here in the states.

Mermaid also struggled in some international markets.

Both Zegler and Gadot look white to me. Sure, they aren't Northern European white, but I would struggle to categorise them as another "race".

 

[TP2000]

For the record, and you may want to print this out and tape it to your fridge, here's why I think Snow White flopped...

• The Snot. A condescending tone and statements released publicly at D23 Expo by the star of the film. She had the Alissa Heinerscheid act down pat for that one, disliking her paying audience and their tastes, and she came off as snotty and dismissive to an audience of superfans that love Walt Disney's work. That she was barely 20 years old at the time made her tone even worse; if she'd been a well known and older actress with a catalog of beloved work, she might have pulled it off. But in 2022? Nope!
• The Dwarves. What a mess that was! Someone in Burbank needed the cojones to stand up to Peter Dinklage and just say "No". But it's obvious no one in Burbank has cojones any more, not even Iger. When you try to please everyone, you please no one. And what's Peter Dinklage up to now, I wonder?
• The Politics. Much like I refuse to be lectured how to think or feel or vote by my plumber or my doctor or my barber, I refuse to be lectured by Hollywood industry employees on those topics. Hollywood is a smarmy, smutty, lying town full of morally corrupt power players (Weinstein, Epstein, Sean Combs, etc., etc.), so they get no space to lecture anyone on anything except the best defense attorneys. And it damages their brands, in this case Snow White.
• The Woke. Some of it is wrapped into the above, but the main issue was the way they had to rewrite it all and turn it into a story that it never was to please almost no one. If you truly find the original story of Snow White "problematic" and distasteful to your Silver Lake brunch table, then don't make a movie about it again. And get a budget to turn the Snow White dark rides at the parks into Tangled rides, and send the 7 Dwarf parade costumes into the incenerator with Bre'r Bear and Bre'r Rabbit. And take the hit on lost merchandise sales for all those dads in the Grumpy t-shirts.

Did I forget anything? I probably did. But then.... we'll just never know.

 

[Disney Irish]

Extra credit for bringing back "Poppycock"! I love it.

But I'm just reiterating what you always tell us... We'll just never know. We have no proof. Nothing is truly known. We don't know what they're thinking or doing in the halls of Burbank. It's a complete mystery, all of it. We only have opinions, not facts. And season two of Ms. Marvel may still be greenlit any day now. But we just don't know.

We don't know anything with a 100% certainty especially surrounding decisions or thoughts inside the walls of Burbank, and I stand by that. You have no facts surrounding any of this, you have surmised but don't know with any certainty, just like everyone else, ie you have an opinion.

And death by a thousand cuts is a more likely reason for this movie doing badly than any one particular thing, even if I can't prove it.

As for Ms Marvel, I've already made comments on its Season 2 prospects a long time ago. It was a limited series and her story continues in the movies, likely now in the one of the next two or both upcoming Avengers movies. Her character was just mentioned in the latest episode of Daredevil that aired last night where her dad appeared. So its clear they aren't done with the character.

 

[LittleBuford]

Did I forget anything?

To actually watch the movie before commenting on its story?

 

[TP2000]

To actually watch the movie before commenting on its story?

We're not talking artistic merits here in this thread, much less stuff like technical editing or sound or lighting. And to her credit, Miss Zegler apparently does have real talent and got generally good reviews for her work here.

It's a shame Miss Zegler can't just let her work speak for herself, instead of letting her Instagram rants overshadow her work.

We're mostly talking about the scandals that started in 2023, created mostly by the star herself and her own words. Over and over again, as she just seemed incapable of shutting up about it on her own Social Media or in PR stunts at picket lines and such. With of course, honorable mentions to Mr. Dinklage and Burbank's eunuch execs and humorless HR managers.

 

[Disney Irish]

And what's Peter Dinklage up to now, I wonder?

If you actually watched modern movies or TV you'd now.

He was just in Wicked.
He has 3 movies coming out this year, including the sequel to Wicked.
He is on the new Dexter TV show.

So to say the least he is not just sitting at home twiddling this thumbs.

And thus this shouldn't be a question you ask about any actor as you don't pay attention or care anyways. And an 8 second google search that you normal do should be able to answer that for you.

 

[TP2000]

If you actually watched modern movies or TV you'd now.

He was just in Wicked.
He has 3 movies coming out this year, including the sequel to Wicked.
He is on the new Dexter TV show.

So to say the least he is not just sitting at home twiddling this thumbs.

And thus this shouldn't be a question you ask about any actor as you don't pay attention or care anyways.

That was my point exactly. He's actually working. While seven other actors with dwarfism are not.

 

[Disney Irish]

That was my point exactly. He's actually working. While seven other actors with dwarfism are not.

Do you actually know 7 other actors with dwarfism? Let alone be able to actually comment on their careers?

Do you even know that the movie does actually have 2 actors with dwarfism in it?

 

[John park hopper]

We'll just never know why Snow White flopped so badly. We'll just never know.

Not hard to figure out

 

[TP2000]

Do you actually know 7 other actors with dwarfism? Let alone be able to actually comment on their careers?

Do you even know that the movie does actually have 2 actors with dwarfism in it?

Yes, I do know that. I watch Bill Maher, and he had a hilarious take on this nonsense on a recent show.

 

[Disney Irish]

Yes, I do know that. I watch Bill Maher, and he had a hilarious take on this nonsense on a recent show.

Quick, without a 8 second google search who are the 2 actors with dwarfism in this movie?

 

[TP2000]

Quick, without a 8 second google search who are the 2 actors with dwarfism in this movie?

I don't know their names. Who cares who they are? They're supporting actors in 2025, why would I know them?

What I think is stupid is that Peter Dinklage got to kill off 7 gigs for actors with dwarfism, while he still has a busy career. It was a stupid and unnecessary bout of woke nonsense. And the movie apparently was handicapped for it, as many folks have commented how forced into the new story the CGI dwarves are as they were added in post-production in 2024. Messy!

 

[TP2000]

Both Zegler and Gadot look white to me. Sure, they aren't Northern European white, but I would struggle to categorise them as another "race".

I agree with you on that. I thought it was much ado about nothing, as Rachel Zegler looks more Italian to me than anything.

But having traveled quite a bit in Mexico and Asia, I know how race-conscious those cultures are and how outright bold they can be in their racial prejudices. It didn't surprise me that Little Mermaid did poorly in Central America and Japan, and it wouldn't surprise me to know audiences stayed away from Snow White in Asia or parts of Europe due to racial prejudice.

 

[Disney Irish]

I don't know their names. Who cares who they are? They're supporting actors in 2025, why would I know them?

What I think is stupid is that Peter Dinklage got to kill off 7 gigs for actors with dwarfism, while he still has a busy career. It was a stupid and unnecessary bout of woke nonsense. And the movie apparently was handicapped for it, as many folks have commented how forced into the new story the CGI dwarves are as they were added in post-production in 2024. Messy!

Except he didn't, not 7. If you want to get technical he got 6 if you're only counting the dwarf roles.

Martin Klebba stars as Grumpy. Something that should have been a gimme for you since it was discussed at great length in the Snow White thread where you had a field day of comments when it was active.

George Appleby is the other actor and he is one of Jonathan's Bandits.

 

[TP2000]

Martin Klebba stars as Grumpy. Something that should have been a gimme for you since it was discussed at great length in the Snow White thread where you had a field day of comments when it was active.

George Appleby is the other actor and he one of Jonathan's Bandits.

I have absolutely no earthly idea who either of those two men are. I trust they are doing well?

Burbank execs needed to stand up, politely, to Peter Dinklage when he went on his dwarf rant. Although, I do remember the vapid and limp statements from Disney's HR team about dwarves being in a movie about seven dwarves to be hilariously funny at the time. So at least we got a few chuckles out of Burbank's spineless incompetence, even if a half dozen paying gigs went to computer technicians instead of human actors.

 

[Disney Irish]

I have absolutely no earthly idea who either of those two men are. I trust they are doing well?

Burbank execs needed to stand up, politely, to Peter Dinklage when he went on his dwarf rant. Although, I do remember the vapid and limp statements from Disney's HR team about dwarves being in a movie about seven dwarves to be hilariously funny at the time. So at least we got a few chuckles out of Burbank's spineless incompetence, even if a half dozen paying gigs went to computer technicians instead of human actors.

I think no matter what Disney did (either hired 7 actors or did the CG route) there was going to be an uproar one way or the other. Hire 7 actors and it could be seen as insensitive to the community. Don't hire 6 other actors and hire 1 and go CG and it could be seen as insensitive to the community.

Basically they did what Disney always does which is just move forward and damn the uproar.

 

[erasure fan1]

there was going to be an uproar one way or the other. Hire 7 actors and it could be seen as insensitive to the community.

I didn't scavenge the Internet to look. But I didn't see any real support for what Peter said. I did see negativity against his statements. Disney made the wrong choice. Especially taking advice from Dinklage, the guy who became known playing a part where it was a big Santa's elf gag. So I think any blowback would have been less just sticking to live action.

 

[Disney Irish]

I didn't scavenge the Internet to look. But I didn't see any real support for what Peter said. I did see negativity against his statements. Disney made the wrong choice. Especially taking advice from Dinklage, the guy who became known playing a part where it was a big Santa's elf gag. So I think any blowback would have been less just sticking to live action.

If you can't imagine in 2025 there wouldn't be uproar if Disney went the full dwarf actor route, you're kidding yourself. In a time where there is outrage at the drop of a hat over the most silliest things, I can almost guarantee it would have happened. Now would it have been enough to affect the movie, I can't say, but uproar would have happened.

 

[Chi84]

If you can't imagine in 2025 there wouldn't be uproar if Disney went the full dwarf actor route, you're kidding yourself. In a time where there is outrage at the drop of a hat over the most silliest things, I can almost guarantee it would have happened. Now would it have been enough to affect the movie, I can't say, but uproar would have happened.

And if they put the dwarfs in a movie that was faithful to the original, they would have had Snow White embarrassing them into washing up before dinner and teaching them table manners as if they were children.

Yeah that would have gone over well with Peter Dinklage.