ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I don’t get it. He wasn’t the problem with SGE. SGE was just awful. I’m assuming the remake is still chugging along.
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News 'Encanto' and 'Indiana Jones'-themed experiences at Animal Kingdom
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
DisneyRoy
Well-Known Member
He is HUUUUGE right now in grade school aged kids. You cannot take a step in a school without seeing him on some type of product.
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
That doesn't shock me - the fact that overuse and the truly terrible Stitch's Great Escape didn't seem to erode favor for the character does suggest he has serious staying power. I mostly was saying that Mickey and Pooh may have stepped back ahead in terms of merch sales (or not, I guess I can't say for sure) but at one point for certain he was the hottest thing going.
I don't know if that's true - there's a big difference between what's popular with hardcore park goers/disney adults vs what is selling nationally and form the bulk of their merch sales
Here is a rough approximation from 2016 for overall character merch:
1. Disney Princesses
2. Star Wars
3. Pooh
4. Cars
5. Hello Kitty
6. Mickey & Friends
7. WWE
8. Toy Story
9. Peanuts
10. Sesame Street
it goes on to 20...
Forbes top 20 entertainment characters merchandise
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DisneyRoy
Well-Known Member
I think it’s close honestly. There has been a huge surge in merch popularity for Pooh lately. If you told me Stitch and Pooh are both outselling Mickey I wouldn’t even be surprised. I don’t see much Mickey or Minnie merch in schools TBH.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
Pooh’s in a successful new franchise
MagicHappens1971
Well-Known Member
Pardon my ignorance but what are you talking about?
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
As soon as Pooh hit public domain a cheesy slasher film dropped. Then, they made a quick sequel:
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey II | Rotten Tomatoes
Deep within the 100-Acre-Wood, a destructive rage grows as Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Owl, and Tigger find their home and their lives endangered after Christopher Robin revealed their existence. Not wanting to live in the shadows any longer, the group decides to take the fight to the town of...
www.rottentomatoes.com
MagicHappens1971
Well-Known Member
I thought this may have been what you were talking about but then thought Disney had a new Pooh franchise that I didn’t know about lolAs soon as Pooh hit public domain a cheesy slasher film dropped. Then, they made a quick sequel:
Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey II | Rotten Tomatoes
Deep within the 100-Acre-Wood, a destructive rage grows as Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Owl, and Tigger find their home and their lives endangered after Christopher Robin revealed their existence. Not wanting to live in the shadows any longer, the group decides to take the fight to the town of...
WaltWiz1901
Well-Known Member
At first I thought you were referring to those equally as cheesy Disney Junior shorts, and for as wrong as the redesigns for those are, I wish you were...
Pooh really deserves a proper, sincere comeback
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Moana is a phenomenon, but in 2024 Encanto is still routinely making the list of top ten most-streamed films. If that doesn't rise to the level of being popular enough to justify an attraction and some shows, then we'd better get ready for a future of four Moana theme parks at WDW.
You can't really give an entire land worth of attraction venues without the hopes to sell merch and food/beverage.
I don't think Encanto, even with its song replay streaming numbers, justifies that.
I think it just shows that there is nothing in comparison coming to Disney Plus for the target audience since.
They were not exactly going to keep streaming Strange World or Lightyear after those came out.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Isn't the idea that the land will be Tropical Americas, though? That's different from Encanto Land, particularly as it seems like it will include an Indiana Jones attraction and also fits the organisation of the park at present. I don't like single IP lands, but this seems a good way to work a popular IP into the park. I'm not sure why they can't sell merch and food/beverage in such a land.
I'd also push back on the idea that the film is only popular because kids have nothing else to watch: they have plenty of other options and the fact other films that have come out since haven't found a similar audience while Encanto endures is a testament to the fact it is popular. They could be streaming one of the How to Train Your Dragon films again, for example.
It is supposedly, if it all completely happens. I was specifically responding to your words: "If that doesn't rise to the level of being popular enough to justify an attraction and some shows..." In regards to just Encanto's level of popularity.
haveyoumetmark
Well-Known Member
I haven’t seen Wish yet, but I genuinely hate and dismiss all of the slander because it hasn’t been released to streaming yet. Yes, they waited too long and let the hype they built up die a bit, but it’ll pick back up. The best they can hope for is that one of the songs goes viral, but even if it doesn’t, Wish still isn’t as big of a flop as pessimists make it seem. Wish is about to become much more accessible to many, many more people, so it’s only up from here.
As for Encanto, I can’t help but think people on here just hate the IP because it’s not 30 years old like Lion King and it’s getting theme park budget. It is a new Disney franchise whether spoilsports approve or not. It not only helps to represent Latin Americans, but it also represents broad swaths of humanity with its ensemble cast. Mirabel saves the day despite her talents not being celebrated or recognized by her family AND she wears glasses. That’s a reductive example that doesn’t even begin to cover the way families relate to this film. It’s sweet and relatable and set to catchy music. And it has an Academy Award and some Grammys.
I also think it’s pretty evident that people resonate with this IP and it brings them joy. I remember reading a rumor about how many Isabela toys they produced but it turned out that Luisa was the most popular. A huge statement. A lot of people see themselves in these characters. Disney is addressing an operational need of the park by elevating one of its most recent successful and relatable stories. Nevermind that no Disney Animation music had charted this high in 30 years… Encanto spawned multiple Top 10s, including weeks at Number 1, surpassing Frozen and The Lion King, achieving more than 20 billion views on TikTok. That’s billion with a B.
Sorry for brain fart… what I mean to say is that Disney is so stupid!!! What are they doing! The 30 year old Lion King is much more current, popular, relatable and deserving of an entire land in Animal Kingdom! Refresh the random dinosaurs and invest in this dead-end carnival-themed section of the park!!!!!
As for Encanto, I can’t help but think people on here just hate the IP because it’s not 30 years old like Lion King and it’s getting theme park budget. It is a new Disney franchise whether spoilsports approve or not. It not only helps to represent Latin Americans, but it also represents broad swaths of humanity with its ensemble cast. Mirabel saves the day despite her talents not being celebrated or recognized by her family AND she wears glasses. That’s a reductive example that doesn’t even begin to cover the way families relate to this film. It’s sweet and relatable and set to catchy music. And it has an Academy Award and some Grammys.
I also think it’s pretty evident that people resonate with this IP and it brings them joy. I remember reading a rumor about how many Isabela toys they produced but it turned out that Luisa was the most popular. A huge statement. A lot of people see themselves in these characters. Disney is addressing an operational need of the park by elevating one of its most recent successful and relatable stories. Nevermind that no Disney Animation music had charted this high in 30 years… Encanto spawned multiple Top 10s, including weeks at Number 1, surpassing Frozen and The Lion King, achieving more than 20 billion views on TikTok. That’s billion with a B.
Sorry for brain fart… what I mean to say is that Disney is so stupid!!! What are they doing! The 30 year old Lion King is much more current, popular, relatable and deserving of an entire land in Animal Kingdom! Refresh the random dinosaurs and invest in this dead-end carnival-themed section of the park!!!!!
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Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
But if that's all we're talking about in terms of Encanto in the parks (all of them) at the moment, I still don't see why people are suggesting it is being pushed beyond its popularity.
If that film which has already demonstrated some staying power is judged not popular enough because some other franchises may sell more merchandise, we just end up with the kind of Toy Story over-saturation that we've all been complaining about because almost no film will prove popular enough.
Brer Panther
Well-Known Member
I don't think Encanto doesn't deserve an attraction, I just don't think that attraction belongs in Animal Kingdom. There's gotta be SOMEWHERE else in the parks where it'd fit better... I suppose they could add Columbia to World Showcase, but I don't see them doing that.
The Frozen sing-along was meant to be temporary, too. Just thought I'd mention that.
Ah, yes, remember when Stitch was suddenly a member of Mickey's group of friends? On merchandise you'd have Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, maybe Chip and Dale, and then Stitch. One of these things is not like the others...
osian
Well-Known Member
Nope! As I intimated ages ago, no movie IP fits it any theme park unless it was created specifically for it. Everyone stll falling over themselves trying to justify why a certain movie fits into a certain park...based on popularity, country, whether it's got animals in it, whether it's fantasy, etc, but in truth the only reason why it could fit is because Disney management says it fits. They want to copy Universal and therefore are trying to shoehorn all their movies into parks that were not designed for them.
They need a 5th gate. An explicit IP park, like Epic Unverse, just a collection of lands based around Disney-owned movies, then they would fit perfectly nto that park. No current Disney park was built for movie franchises, apart from maybe the original Disneyland, but at that point the "movie franchise" wasn't actually a thing.
Look at Ratatouille. Fits best in EPCOT apparently even though it's all about an animal. Frozen Ever After is a perfect fit for EPCOT even though it's about a magical Disney princess. Avatar fits perfectly into Animal Kingdom not because it was a popular film nor about animals but it's about nature, but Journey of Water is about nature but it can only go into EPCOT.
It's all rubbish. You could make a justification for any IP into any park with any tenuous link.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Must admit that I am happy the overlay of Dinoland USA will apparently be Tropical Americas, as that means the park will be Africa, Asia, Tropical Americas, and... Pandora. At least the new theme fits the park and provides a potential for new animal experiences, so if Encanto is the way we get to that solution over a Moana/Zootopia land, I'll take it. We just have to see now whether the attraction itself is tied to animals in some way, which it could well be.
As for a Colombia pavilion, I would have thought that was also a reasonable way of getting Encanto into the parks. But, again, I'll take this over what was being proposed at the last Chapek D23.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
I'd counter that the only park they've ever opened anywhere in the world that did not include pre-existing IP from movies or TV was the original EPCOT Center. Even there, they started at least bringing the characters in pretty quickly as they judged people wanted to see them.
I do think they have gone too far with the IP mandate under which it seems like they only build attractions tied to existing IP. The other extreme, though, where the parks don't include any pre-existing IP is probably more untenable at this point in time. I doubt it would be something with which even Walt, who loved pushing his products, would agree.