'Lightyear' Coming Summer 2022

[Jedijax719]

Had the lesbian kiss not been publicized beforehand and had Disney not gotten into a war with DeSantis over the Dont' Say Gay Bill earlier this year, I don't think many people would be talking about the lesbian kiss. The representation feels very natural in the film, and there are only about 20 seconds worth of the movie's runtime that discuss Hawthorne being a lesbian character. I think the clickbaity headlines and the bans from foreign countries made it seem like a much bigger deal than it was.

I actually agree to an extent. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a kiss. It is innocent and harmless to anyone. However, when it's waved around like a flag to say "look what we did in this movie, we are so <fill in the adjective of choice>" then it comes across so obvious that it was put in for that reason. We are not at a place where these things are natural or un-forced. Therefore, others are going to put negative attention to it due to the overly positive attention. Instead, it should be just a part of life. But we are not there and won't be for a long time. Instead, we are still in an "us vs them" mentality.

All that said, there will naturally be a LOT of families with small children staying away from it, not necessarily because they are homophobic, but simply because they don't know how or whether they should approach that issue with kids younger than 9 or 10. I can't say I completely blame them. While natural, it's still a tough pill to swallow for many families with very young children.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

So an animated Buzz Lightyear film, not actually staring the buzz Lightyear actor, not lighting up the box office isn't really a surprise. Then on top of that Disney now has a reputation of treating male characters poorly among the general population.

I'm sorry, but this is a bit of a red flag to me. I don't think that's true, but I do think some people are very resentful that there are more female leads and stories that centre around girls and women. I think Disney is and should forget about that market.

I will be honest and say that I do suspect that all the recent culture war controversy around Disney hasn't helped this film. I haven't seen the film yet, but from all accounts the kiss itself is no big deal. However, there has been so much coverage lately portraying Disney as intentionally inserting pro-LGBTQ+ content in their films that I think all the publicity around the kiss probably has some parents who aren't even necessarily all that conservative on the issue a little puzzled about what is going on at Disney. The extent to which that has affected the box office vs. other factors including Disney+, we will likely never know.

To be clear, I think this is unfair and would also point out that this is no more sexual or 'adult' than having heterosexual couples kissing. I do understand, though, why parents may get a little wary when the media coverage makes it sound like Disney is going out of its way to put gay content in their entertainment for children.

Edit: I just saw the above post made more or less the same points

 

[vikescaper]

I saw this yesterday and thought it was alright. Definitely not a top Pixar movie for me and probably will watch it again once it is on D+.

 

[Slpy3270]

No sugarcoating this one. Heads at Pixar are gonna roll.

 

[Magicart87]

I feel like this would have worked better as a Disney+ series.

 

[Magenta Panther]

No sugarcoating this one. Heads at Pixar are gonna roll.

Well, and what's troubling about that to me, is that it's not the people, it's the content, perhaps, that is the problem. I wasn't kidding when I said that "Disney" needs to get its films' subject matter back to princesses and talking animals. All of the more recent "Disney"/Pixar films have concentrated on modern-day human beings (Soul, Luca, Coco, Encanto, Turning Red, and of course the flop Lightyear). I look at these flicks and frankly they bore me right from the start. And the upcoming Strange World is worse - a more unappealing group of characters I can scarcely imagine. They remind me of Atlantis, and not in a good way. Meanwhile, other studios' movies focus on talking animals and are hits (The Bad Guys, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing and Sing 2, etc.). "Disney" needs to get back to its roots. Maybe REALLY far back - I still think a traditionally-2D-animated DISNEY film would kill at the box office, and it would remind people of the Disney classics, which is what built the company and engendered all of the nostalgic good feeling that is currently being destroyed by politics. That might be the cure. But I'm not holding my breath...

 

[tcool123]

Well, and what's troubling about that to me, is that it's not the people, it's the content, perhaps, that is the problem. I wasn't kidding when I said that "Disney" needs to get its films' subject matter back to princesses and talking animals. All of the more recent "Disney"/Pixar films have concentrated on modern-day human beings (Soul, Luca, Coco, Encanto, Turning Red, and of course the flop Lightyear). I look at these flicks and frankly they bore me right from the start. And the upcoming Strange World is worse - a more unappealing group of characters I can scarcely imagine. They remind me of Atlantis, and not in a good way. Meanwhile, other studios' movies focus on talking animals and are hits (The Bad Guys, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing and Sing 2, etc.). "Disney" needs to get back to its roots. Maybe REALLY far back - I still think a traditionally-2D-animated DISNEY film would kill at the box office, and it would remind people of the Disney classics, which is what built the company and engendered all of the nostalgic good feeling that is currently being destroyed by politics. That might be the cure. But I'm not holding my breath...

But this is Pixar? Off the top of my head only two films are set in the past one being your princess movie Brave and the other is Good Dinosaur which as we all know severely underperformed.

Pixar has traditionally stuck with a modern or futuristic setting for the rest of their films. Most of their films star humans or humanoids (Toy Story, Incredibles, Up, Inside Out, Soul, Coco, Luca, Turning Red) it really isnt out of the ordinary for them to have humans in a modern setting in fact it would be odder for them to have a period piece as that is far more uncommon from them.

In the WDAS department the last ten films have consisted of five princess films (Tangled, Frozen I and II, Moana and Raya). And many feature talking animals (Winnie the Pooh, Zootopia, Raya). In addition all five of those princess films are period pieces.

I honestly don’t think the issue is as bad as youre trying to make it out to be?

Personally I think the issue with Lightyear is what many have mentioned: Disney has conditioned the masses to just wait and watch their animated fare at home for “free” as it’ll probably hit Disney+ in a month.

 

[lazyboy97o]

But this is Pixar? Off the top of my head only two films are set in the past one being your princess movie Brave and the other is Good Dinosaur which as we all know severely underperformed.

Pixar has traditionally stuck with a modern or futuristic setting for the rest of their films. Most of their films star humans or humanoids (Toy Story, Incredibles, Up, Inside Out, Soul, Coco, Luca, Turning Red) it really isnt out of the ordinary for them to have humans in a modern setting in fact it would be odder for them to have a period piece as that is far more uncommon from them.

In the WDAS department the last ten films have consisted of five princess films (Tangled, Frozen I and II, Moana and Raya). And many feature talking animals (Winnie the Pooh, Zootopia, Raya). In addition all five of those princess films are period pieces.

I honestly don’t think the issue is as bad as youre trying to make it out to be?

Personally I think the issue with Lightyear is what many have mentioned: Disney has conditioned the masses to just wait and watch their animated fare at home for “free” as it’ll probably hit Disney+ in a month.

Facts are irrelevant when you’re trying to rationalize a bad take.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Pixar's 'Lightyear' snares $51 million in domestic opening

Pixar's "Lightyear" rocketed to a $51 million domestic opening, the best performance of an animated feature since the pandemic began.

www.cnbc.com

 

[Californian Elitist]

I feel like this would have worked better as a Disney+ series.

I initially thought it was a series. I only found out it was actually a movie a few weeks ago.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Has anyone seen much in the way of ads? I completely forgot this was coming out and even now I wouldn’t really know it is out besides going to McDonald’s.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Has anyone seen much in the way of ads? I completely forgot this was coming out and even now I wouldn’t really know it is out besides going to McDonald’s.

The ads for Lightyear have been everywhere. At movie theaters, on streaming, on network.

But facts are irrelevant when you're trying to rationalize a bad take (it wasn't advertised enough!)

 

[Magenta Panther]

But this is Pixar? Off the top of my head only two films are set in the past one being your princess movie Brave and the other is Good Dinosaur which as we all know severely underperformed.

Pixar has traditionally stuck with a modern or futuristic setting for the rest of their films. Most of their films star humans or humanoids (Toy Story, Incredibles, Up, Inside Out, Soul, Coco, Luca, Turning Red) it really isnt out of the ordinary for them to have humans in a modern setting in fact it would be odder for them to have a period piece as that is far more uncommon from them.

In the WDAS department the last ten films have consisted of five princess films (Tangled, Frozen I and II, Moana and Raya). And many feature talking animals (Winnie the Pooh, Zootopia, Raya). In addition all five of those princess films are period pieces.

I honestly don’t think the issue is as bad as youre trying to make it out to be?

Personally I think the issue with Lightyear is what many have mentioned: Disney has conditioned the masses to just wait and watch their animated fare at home for “free” as it’ll probably hit Disney+ in a month.

By that rationalization, no one should want to see a new Star Wars or Marvel film because there are multiple series about those IPs on Disney+.

 

[doctornick]

No sugarcoating this one. Heads at Pixar are gonna roll.

Underperforming but not to a “people should be fired” degree. Disney will have access to the D+ viewership once it lands there and will have a greater sense of the interest and how much the “free” availability impacted theater going. We already have seen with Encanto how people avoided it in theaters and it soared on streaming. I’d also be curious as to the breakdown for Raya on premiere access versus “free”.

Personally, i think they are leaving way too much money on the table by using these films to bolster the content on D+. I’d change things up and have a long theater stay and not release to D+ for something like 6 months or longer. If you have enough D+ originals then you won’t need to be rushing theatrical stuff as additional content.

They need to get the double dip of theater money and later repeat viewing on D+

 

[doctornick]

Well, and what's troubling about that to me, is that it's not the people, it's the content, perhaps, that is the problem. I wasn't kidding when I said that "Disney" needs to get its films' subject matter back to princesses and talking animals. All of the more recent "Disney"/Pixar films have concentrated on modern-day human beings (Soul, Luca, Coco, Encanto, Turning Red, and of course the flop Lightyear). I look at these flicks and frankly they bore me right from the start. And the upcoming Strange World is worse - a more unappealing group of characters I can scarcely imagine. They remind me of Atlantis, and not in a good way. Meanwhile, other studios' movies focus on talking animals and are hits (The Bad Guys, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing and Sing 2, etc.).

Lightyear had a bigger opening weekend than The Bad Guys, Sing 2 and pretty much every animated film released in the post-Covid times. Heck, it had a bigger opening weekend than Secret Life of Pets 2 and that was released before the pandemic.

Lightyear underperformed relative to projections but results are pretty favorable compared to other similar films. I think the bigger issue here is that family films aren’t doing all that much in this post-pandemic world and my gut feeling is that people don’t feel like it is “worth it” to go to a theater with kids with streaming so prominent. Sonic 2 is about the biggest success. It seems the only things that get big draws right now are franchise action movies - stuff that people feel “need” to be seen on the big screen and/or want to avoid spoilers or be part of national conversations.

I don’t know what it means for the future of family films, especially animation

 

[Animaniac93-98]

With numbers like these, I expect Lightyear to be dumped on Disney+ before the end of July, which will only fuel the sentiment that myself and others have that none of these new Disney/Pixar animations are worth paying extra to watch in a theater.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Which begs the question.... does Disney want Disney+ subscribers or box office hits more?

 

[European1992]

This is actually bombing worldwide. Still going to see it.

 

[Magicart87]

Which begs the question.... does Disney want Disney+ subscribers or box office hits more?

Disney+. It props up the ever-expanding library and promotes the film in an extended format thus keeping it the public consciousness long enough to push merch sales among other backend Disney+ growth mandates. Any money lost from box office intake (After first 3 weeks) is likely made up in the first month of Disney+ viewership, subs, adverts and merch sales.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Which begs the question.... does Disney want Disney+ subscribers or box office hits more?

Yes, this makes me query a little whether they are that worried about the box office at the moment if they think the lost ticket sales are becoming monthly payments for Disney+. I do wonder, though, how financially viable these films become over time once Disney+ growth slows down and the argument becomes more that they are playing a role in convincing existing subscribers not to quit rather than attracting much in the way of new subscriptions.