News Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District

[OrlandoRising]

More importantly it hasn't been reflected in park attendance, merchandise sales, the box office, and Disney+ subscriptions. So some people may be mad at "woke" Disney, but they are still visiting the parks, their kids are still watching Mickey, and they're still going to see Avatar.

There have been rumblings that Disney's own surveys have seen a legitimate political blowback against the company from the 60+ age group, similar to how the right criticizes most of Hollywood. That's also an age group that is more conservative than the rest of the company and it's not as important of a demo as families with small children.

Once DeSantis is gone, I suspect Disney will once again have a friendly state legislature to work with.

Again, I predict that if Disney waits out DeSantis, they’ll control the new RCID in 3 to 5 years.

I dunno. Maybe it makes sense for Disney to fight now. After all, Disney is the wronged party.

But sometimes the best way to win a fight is to not fight at all.

There's no viable political path for legislators or a new governor to hand Disney back the reigns of power over RCID once they've been taken. It would be all downside for the politicians and no voters, R or D or independent, would look upon such a deal favorably.

Disney's only chance is to try to negotiate a solution that DeSantis can frame as a win now, and I'm not sure there's much political reason for him to compromise.

 

[mkt]

Yeah, those arguments that FL, if not for Disney would be nothing should only ever really say Central FL, when they say all of Florida it is a gross exaggeration. It certainly helps but it is not the big winner.

FL would still have some of the best beaches and produce in the world. It would be different, but by no means desolate.

Even Tampa's GDP surpasses Orange/Osceola Counties combined.

Oddly though, Jacksonville's is less than Orange/Osceola. I had assumed it would've been higher owing to the city's relatively large finance and insurance sectors, as well as the HUGE port there.

 

[mkt]

Disney's only chance is to try to negotiate a solution that DeSantis can frame as a win now, and I'm not sure there's much political reason for him to compromise.

It doesn't matter whether or not he wins or loses the RCID battle, because in the eyes of his supporters, he'll have won anyway.

If he loses to Disney, he still wins by 1- standing up to a "woke" corporation, and 2- because he's now a culture war warrior who needs to be elected to change the courts even further.

And if he wins against Disney, he wins for those same two reasons.

DeSantis doesn't need to beat Disney to win. But Disney needs to beat DeSantis, period.

 

[mikejs78]

Avatar 2 also grossed much less than anticipated

Really? Um, no. It had a not great first weekend but it's creeping up on $2B and is the highest grossing film in the pandemic era.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Disney's only chance is to try to negotiate a solution that DeSantis can frame as a win now, and I'm not sure there's much political reason for him to compromise.

This is not Disney’s only chance and it should now be clear that even a “compromise“ where they’re the only party making concessions is not actually on the table. The governor, not Disney, is the one publicly pushing back against Disney making “nominal“ concessions.

 

[Schmidt]

Miami has entered the chat

The City of Miami has more than double (and close to triple) the GDP of both Orange and Osceola Counties combined.

Yeah, thank God for international money.
Also, my response was directly related to the individual that said Disney needs to do more for Central Florida.

 

[mkt]

Yeah, thank God for international money.
Also, my response was directly related to the individual that said Disney needs to do more for Central Florida.

Thank god for having a relatively diverse economy that's less reliant on tourism and is more well equipped to weather an economic downturn.

Yes, and international money. Which is also a thing in Orlando, just not at the level of Miami.

And yes, while inland Central Florida would still be a backwater if it weren't for Disney, Disney is the main factor that artificially drives low wages in the region.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Disney's only chance is to try to negotiate a solution that DeSantis can frame as a win now, and I'm not sure there's much political reason for him to compromise.

With enough appeals this case will take years to settle and DeSantis will be gone long before those appeals have made their way through the courts, as someone mentioned earlier a Disney friendly government makes this all go away by simply not challenging the first court ruling that's in Disney's favor.

At this point I think Disney could offer DeSantis everything he wants and he'd still turn them down, he wants the press that comes with fighting a woke company, not a win.

 

[GoofGoof]

Spiderman was pre this political drama.

I don't think many people who are invested in Avatar 2 did know that Fox, including Avatar is now Disney. That is recent to the lameman. Avatar 2 also grossed much less than anticipated, but that again in truth probably speaks to quality. Not relevant to the political non supporting basis though.

The bigger picture is that neither Spiderman Homecoming or Avatar 2, Black Panther had the political statements that have had people boycotting as plot points or character development. They do not need to boycott the company, but not supporting the products that deal with it have been evident. Lightyear and Strange World are no coincidence. No matter what your opinion on it, they were less profitable because of their direct association with the content.

You are right though. Universal's achievements over Disney have been in quality more than politics. Although staying out of the limelight with it did not hurt them at all.

Lightyear was still the second highest grossing animated film of 2022. 2nd to Minions which is a major franchise, which was also succeeding on its own without people defecting from Disney. It surpassed many animated movies from other studios. Lightyear also wasn’t highly rated by critics who aren’t judging it based on political message or content. Got a 74% on rotten tomatoes from critics. Toy Story 4 got 97% from critics. Big drop in quality there.

Again, this isn’t about my personal opinion one way or the other. The masses do not “vote with their wallet” nearly as much as people think. It’s just the way it is.

 

[GoofGoof]

Don't even try to "both sides" this.

Seriously? I said “Companies are being forced to “take a side” more and more and often they are faced with a decision of you are either with us or against us. This happens from both sides.” You think that only happens from the right and never the left? It clearly happens both ways on a whole variety of issues.

 

[Schmidt]

Yeah, thank God for international money.

Thank god for having a relatively diverse economy that's less reliant on tourism and is more well equipped to weather an economic downturn.

Yes, and international money. Which is also a thing in Orlando, just not at the level of Miami.

And yes, while inland Central Florida would still be a backwater if it weren't for Disney, Disney is the main factor that artificially drives low wages in the region.

Yeah. well you have your opinions. Its clear you have an axe to grind.
Have a good night.

 

[mkt]

Yeah. well you have your opinions. Its clear you have an axe to grind.
Have a good night.

Well, no.

The first two lines are completely factual.

The third one is my opinion having been raised and educated almost entirely in Orlando, and then having left for 15 years to travel the world before returning to Orlando after a brief stint in Miami.

 

[Schmidt]

All of your comments are in a vacuum and void of context. Enjoy your “facts”.

 

[pdude81]

On the topic of whether Disney could have avoided this, I don’t really think so completely. They could have handled it better but ultimately this is the new norm for our society. Companies are being forced to “take a side” more and more and often they are faced with a decision of you are either with us or against us. This happens from both sides. People say they want Disney and other corporations to focus on business and ignore social issues but shouldn’t that go both ways? Why can’t their customers ignore their social positions and focus on whether they entertain them? I don’t agree with some of the political positions Chic-Fil-A has taken, but damn they make a good chicken sandwich. People need to get over it and most actually do when it comes to action even if they claim to be highly offended online. Remember too that at the end of the day Disney had no influence or bearing on whether the original law they opposed passed or was overturned so the “great harm” they caused is highly overstated.

I expect they could have joined with other companies to state opposition to the bill and then more or less wash their hands of it. Botching the PR and then going so far as to publicly state you're pulling all political donations in FL makes it such a big story that the Governor felt the need to have a show of force.

I agree with the majority of your post, but this one was an own goal by Chapek/Morrell.

 

[mkt]

All of your comments are in a vacuum and void of context. Enjoy your “facts”.

Please, then provide the additional context that my comment missed.

 

[Tha Realest]

Lightyear was still the second highest grossing animated film of 2022. 2nd to Minions which is a major franchise, which was also succeeding on its own without people defecting from Disney. It surpassed many animated movies from other studios. Lightyear also wasn’t highly rated by critics who aren’t judging it based on political message or content. Got a 74% on rotten tomatoes from critics. Toy Story 4 got 97% from critics. Big drop in quality there.

Again, this isn’t about my personal opinion one way or the other. The masses do not “vote with their wallet” nearly as much as people think. It’s just the way it is.

That’s simply wrong. The three highest grossing 2022 animated releases were Minions, Puss in Boots, and The Bad Guys, all Universal films

 

[lazyboy97o]

That’s simply wrong. The three highest grossing 2022 animated releases were Minions, Puss in Boots, and The Bad Guys, all Universal films

It’s not wrong, it’s domestic.

 

[celluloid]

Lightyear was still the second highest grossing animated film of 2022. 2nd to Minions which is a major franchise, which was also succeeding on its own without people defecting from Disney. It surpassed many animated movies from other studios. Lightyear also wasn’t highly rated by critics who aren’t judging it based on political message or content. Got a 74% on rotten tomatoes from critics. Toy Story 4 got 97% from critics. Big drop in quality there.

Again, this isn’t about my personal opinion one way or the other. The masses do not “vote with their wallet” nearly as much as people think. It’s just the way it is.

Make that third. Puss and Boots just stomped it.

That gap between Minions and Light-year is also over hundreds of Millions in revenue. The critics have not often hurt major releases.l to the general public. You bet the politics hurt it big time.

Also third by a large Margin as Puss n Boots: Last Wish is going to surpass it by a large Margin.

You can't say politics had nothing to do with Light-years lackluster reception and Strange World's less.
than meh results. I mean you could, but it would be delusional.

If you look at history some great events and shifts were people speaking with their money.

Civil.Rights and the reason the movement existed because horrible prejudices existed. They changed not because of the law, the horrible prejudices were completely legal. It was people choosing not to support businesses of prejudice practices that lead change to government, not the other way around. This is historical fact. Not saying that is what is happening here, but historically, it does work and happen. No loyalty is invincible to it.

 

[celluloid]

Really? Um, no. It had a not great first weekend but it's creeping up on $2B and is the highest grossing film in the pandemic era.

You took one part of my post and seem.tk think I stated something I did not I never said Avatar Bombed. I said it did not perform to their expectations.
It won't touch the first.
It also won't likely top Top Gun's domestic run. I never said it was a bomb but Disney did not want it to be hundreds of Millions less than the first's run. Also, it had no same sex political message within it. Whether it is a problem for us here or not, it did not have that in it that the other films were popularly criticized for.

 

[celluloid]

It’s not wrong, it’s domestic.

Even domestically it still puts Lightyear performing at 3rd place, with some large gaps in the millions to hundred millions. Both of their releases had no animated or family competition released near it. Pathetic levels for them.

Again, a competitor movie studio beat all of their animated features with their animated features. They were once the king of Animation features, kind of their legacy cinematically. Both of which their releases had press about their choices relating to hot topics people were aware of.

People spoke with their wallets to some degree. Both domestically and internationally.