Prince-1
Well-Known Member
Oh it bombed hard. I wish it did better but at the end of the day it affects me 0%.
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'Strange World' Disney's 2022 Animated Film
- Thread starter NateD1226
- Start date
Oh it bombed hard. I wish it did better but at the end of the day it affects me 0%.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
When you put all the box office stats in today's dollars, it really paints a very clear picture on Strange World.
Money talks.
I mean, just look at those second weekend numbers for previous Disney films that were "bombs". Strange World got less than $5 Million this second weekend, and that makes turkeys like John Carter and Home On The Range look like Frozen by comparison! Heck, Chicken Little looks like Star Wars or Titanic compared to Strange World.
What on earth convinced Burbank to not market Strange World? To not release the toys and merch they created for Strange World into Target and WalMart toy shelves the weeks before Christmas? To bury any Social Media mentions of Strange World in the weeks leading up to its release in 4,174 theaters?
There's gotta be a really good story there! I'd love to hear the business strategy behind those purposeful decisions to bury Strange World and just torch $150 Million dollars at a time of corporate crisis, wouldn't you?
TwilightZone
Well-Known Member
It's all so strange. My theory about firing all the good marketers is one thing, but the fact there's no known merch is strange. Lightyear had merch, Encanto had merch, Raya had merch. Why doesn't strange world?There's gotta be a really good story there! I'd love to hear the business strategy behind those purposeful decisions to bury Strange World and just torch $150 Million dollars at a time of corporate crisis, wouldn't you?
As far as I can tell, these might be the only pieces of strange world merch...ever
Note the websites. Could not find a Target or Walmart listing...
EDIT: Found some target ones...not sure if they are sold in store, but they do list them.
Walmart.com also has a couple...but walmart.com in my experiences also sells some "sketchy" stuff. I'd take it with a bit of a grain of salt.
It does prove how generic the name is because no matter the website, the results are mixed in with unrelated books.
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TP2000
Well-Known Member
Exactly. A few weeks ago in this thread we discussed it a bit: I found nothing at a large suburban Target for Strange World, so I asked a perky Target girl about it, and she was happy to look up on her pad. She told me none of it was available in stores, but on Target.com there were some t-shirts and stuff online.
As you can see, Disney's Consumer Products division designed and produced a range of toys and clothing, books and merch, for Strange World. But none of it went to stores in the days before the films release and the weeks of the busy Christmas shopping season.
The toys and books and children's t-shirts for Strange World were all purposely buried, just like its marketing. That is truly bizarre. I mean, Burbank didn't even try! On purpose.
I don't think I've ever seen Disney do anything like this ever before with a mega-budget tentpole film. And at Thanksgiving in 4,174 theaters!
TwilightZone
Well-Known Member
The clothes thing makes it even weirder. Cause I didn't search "Strange world toys", I searched "Strange World" and "Disney Strange World" which would give me more generalized searches. As you can see from my screenshots, there's no clothes anywhere. Just books and some action figures. What makes things even stranger is the fact the "Splat" plush toy is ShopDisney exclusive even though he is, in the film's own words, the marketable "animal" sidekick.Exactly. A few weeks ago in this thread we discussed it a bit: I found nothing at a large suburban Target for Strange World, so I asked a perky Target girl about it, and she was happy to look up on her pad. She told me none of it was available in stores, but on Target.com there were some t-shirts and stuff online.
As you can see, Disney's Consumer Products division designed and produced a range of toys and clothing, books and merch, for Strange World. But none of it went to stores in the days before the films release and the weeks of the busy Christmas shopping season.
The toys and books and children's t-shirts for Strange World were all purposely buried, just like its marketing. That is truly bizarre. I mean, Burbank didn't even try! On purpose.
I don't think I've ever seen Disney do anything like this ever before with a mega-budget tentpole film. And at Thanksgiving in 4,174 theaters!
TP2000
Well-Known Member
A quick search on shopDisney.com came up with only eight (8!) items available for Strange World.
Something tells me that the remaining brick-and-mortar Disney Stores don't have window displays for Strange World.
Something tells me that the remaining brick-and-mortar Disney Stores don't have window displays for Strange World.
TwilightZone
Well-Known Member
I will say, I do like the "hang in there" t shirt. But like the rest of the shop disney merch, it's really strange it wasn't put in stores.A quick search on shopDisney.com came up with only eight (8!) items available for Strange World.
Something tells me that the remaining brick-and-mortar Disney Stores don't have window displays for Strange World.
Heppenheimer
Well-Known Member
Maybe they just realized they had a film that wasn't going to do well and didn't want to throw good money after bad. Avoiding the sunk cost fallacy.When you put all the box office stats in today's dollars, it really paints a very clear picture on Strange World.
Money talks.
I mean, just look at those second weekend numbers for previous Disney films that were "bombs". Strange World got less than $5 Million this second weekend, and that makes turkeys like John Carter and Home On The Range look like Frozen by comparison! Heck, Chicken Little looks like Star Wars or Titanic compared to Strange World.
What on earth convinced Burbank to not market Strange World? To not release the toys and merch they created for Strange World into Target and WalMart toy shelves the weeks before Christmas? To bury any Social Media mentions of Strange World in the weeks leading up to its release in 4,174 theaters?
There's gotta be a really good story there! I'd love to hear the business strategy behind those purposeful decisions to bury Strange World and just torch $150 Million dollars at a time of corporate crisis, wouldn't you?
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Maybe? I guess?
However it happened, and for whatever reasons they decided to bury it and pretend it wasn't a thing, it's just weird.
And it certainly couldn't be happening at a worse time for the company.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
A lot of merchandise is made by licensees. If no one buys the rights to make the merchandise then none is made.
TwilightZone
Well-Known Member
Ouch. This got me curious so I decided to also look at all the lincensees/manufactuers. This might be the most comprehensive list of what Strange World merch exists and who made it. The largest collection of merch can be found at Amazon, where most of this list came from. The Splat Plush and steel water bottle seem to be shopdisney exclusive. Here's an image album of further merch I found, just as proof they exist.
Books:
- Little Golden Books - book adaptation
- DK Children - Ultimate Sticker Book
- RH/Disney - Junior Novelization, Deluxe Junior Novelization, Graphic Novel, Meet the Clades, So You Want to Be an Explorer!, Adventure Awaits!
- Chronicle Books - The art of Strange World
- Bendon - Imagine Ink Book
Toys:
- Basic Fun (no really, that's their name) - Mini Figure Collector Set, Ethan and Skiff Vehicle
- Unknown - Official Splat Plush
Outfits:
- Disney (according to amazon, anyways) - Splat Wave, Let's Make History, Splat Focus, Hang in There, Destiny Awaits, Clades Family Venture Beyond Poster T-shirt, Venture Beyond Badge T-shirt, Avalonia Venture Beyond, Destiny Awaits Group Shot, Venture Beyond Knit Top, Splat logo pull over hoodie, Clades Family Let's Make History long sleeve shirt, Strange Adventures Girls Short Sleeve Tee, Strange World Travel Line Art T-shirt, Strange World Adventurer Bars woman's tank top, Travel Line Art Girls t-shirt, Family Split Panel Bars hoodie
- Various Chinese Manufacturers - Off-brand Splat Plush, Cake toppers
- Bendon - Party favors
- Disney - Venture beyond Samsung Phone case, Official soundtrack
- Trends International - Hang in there posters, Let's Go Make History poster
- Unknown - Steel water bottle
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TP2000
Well-Known Member
What this shows and proves is that a broad range of Strange World merchandise was developed, designed, manufactured and sent to retail stores for sale.
And then they buried the movie, barely marketed it, and didn't put the merchandise on shelves for Christmas.
This honestly has to be one of the weirdest big budget movie scenarios that I've ever seen Disney do.
And I'd love to know the story behind these decisions! There's a juicy story to tell here, obviously.
Sharon&Susan
Well-Known Member
Is it safe to say that this would've lost less money if it went straight to Disney+, even if (hypothetically) it attracted zero new subscribers or kept zero people subscribed, rather than spend the money that was required for this movie to go into theaters?
Ghost93
Well-Known Member
Even if Strange World is a total flop, I think it was the right call to send it to theaters. Disney made a grave mistake by getting people used to the idea of movies going straight to Disney plus for free with Soul, Luca, Turning Red, the day and date release for Raya and the extremely short theatrical window for Encanto.
Disney needs to retrain audiences to go to theaters. I wouldn't put Strange World on Disney Plus until February. Not because it will make more money, but because I think in late December you want all of the headlines to be about Avatar's (probable) success: the Way of Water. You don't want to reignite discourse on one of Disney's biggest flops.
MickeyMouse10
Well-Known Member
Yeah, Disney's probably got them by the balls. Because they own so many things.
Disney - "You want our Marvel and Star Wars movies, you have to take Bizarre Universe."
Theater Owner - "Strange World."
Disney - "Yeah... whatever it's called."
GimpYancIent
Well-Known Member
Disney couldn't train anything. Strange World was D+ material from the get-go. People go see what they want, when they want and spend what they want when they want. Disney needs to return / retrain itself to providing the public with what is wanted.
Snow Queen 83
Well-Known Member
Nope, it's all relatable with Disney.
Disney + Crappy movies and shows
Disney + Payoffs
Disney + Wokeness
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
The problem is these movies take 4-5 years to make. Disney can't turn on a dime.