'Strange World' Disney's 2022 Animated Film

[DKampy]

Yes, this is a truly bizarre situation as people act as if it takes an archeological dig to find the conversations that are openly happening in the marketplace around the film. Just click on the Rotten Tomatoes All Audience (click on Tomatometer score to toggle to "All") and scan the comments for Minions:Rise of Gru (87% All Audience Score) and Strange World (40% All Audience Score). The comments are similar in "Verified" (those that have registered to show they bought their ticket through certain chains/sites), but "All" gives you more of sense of the broader conversation happening on review sites, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Minions: The Rise of Gru | Rotten Tomatoes

In the heart of the 1970s, amid a flurry of feathered hair and flared jeans, Gru (Oscar® nominee Steve Carell) is growing up in the suburbs. A fanboy of a supervillain supergroup known as the Vicious 6, Gru hatches a plan to become evil enough to join them. Luckily, he gets some mayhem-making...

www.rottentomatoes.com

Strange World | Rotten Tomatoes

Walt Disney Animation Studios' original action-packed adventure "Strange World" introduces a legendary family of explorers, the Clades, as they attempt to navigate an uncharted, treacherous land alongside a motley crew that includes a mischievous blob, a three-legged dog and a slew of ravenous...

www.rottentomatoes.com

Just scan a few hundred of the messages in each forum and while Minions is nothing but comments about the cute minions, colors, action, etc., on Strange World the gay character, strong environmental message, etc. are mentioned repeatedly (both pro and con opinions).

You could argue those are "review bombers" with an agenda, but it doesn't change the fact that those are the comments that are being seen by the moviegoing public and topics being discussed in the real world. Of course, nobody, even Disney, could say exactly what impact those conversations are having on the box office, but to pretend the conversations are not happening and it isn't having any impact is just disconnected happy talk.

BTW, this is what Disney Theatrical Marketing's social media group does all day, which is to capture the conversations online and package and report up to management what is being said before/after a film opens. It is a critical part of their process so although on this site we are pretending these conversations aren't happening, I can assure you Disney management is getting very detailed reports on these conversations and brand impact studies, which I would have to imagine would be quite concerning.

Believe it or not even people that follow Rotten Tomatoes are the minority when it come to the general population…I have not heard people IRL discuss it…because they probably don’t even know what it is

Just going by my family….I am the only 1 who follows film… and the only one who checks Rotten Tomatoes regularly.., my family will more often say hey that movie looks good should we go…at most they might glance at Rotten Tomatoes if deciding to see a movie on a whim(rarely happens)just as a guide to what critics say… but they don’t even look deep into the audience score

 

[jeangreyforever]

Anyone remember Miley Cyrus?

So many Disney stars who went a bit wild, while still a Disney star.

All the Disney Channel stars who went wild weren't hired because of their antics. They engaged in those antics after they had already established themselves as Disney stars, and often it was directly because they wanted to shed that Disney wholesome image.

Another good example is Vanessa Hudgens. It was a big scandal when she posted nude (she was covered up) for a magazine. There was serious talk about whether Disney would keep her on for the High School Musical franchise or not, which ultimately they did. And this goes back to the early days of Disney too. Hayley Mills couldn't play a lot of roles early on in her career because her Disney contract forbade her to do anything that would ruin her family friendly image.

 

[Disney Analyst]

All the Disney Channel stars who went wild weren't hired because of their antics. They engaged in those antics after they had already established themselves as Disney stars, and often it was directly because they wanted to shed that Disney wholesome image.

Another good example is Vanessa Hudgens. It was a big scandal when she posted nude (she was covered up) for a magazine. There was serious talk about whether Disney would keep her on for the High School Musical franchise or not, which ultimately they did. And this goes back to the early days of Disney too. Hayley Mills couldn't play a lot of roles early on in her career because her Disney contract forbade her to do anything that would ruin her family friendly image.

I would say in the case of Jaboukie, generally audiences don't know the actors who voice an animated role, let alone the other art they partake in outside of that.

So again, I stand by this is a nothing story, and a fringe minority online that complain about everything.

 

[jeangreyforever]

And Demi Moore had been in controversial sex scenes and posed nude while pregnant (to much disapproval) before Disney cast her as Esmeralda.

Demi Moore was not playing the role of a teenager or minor. Her character was specifically designed to be sexy and more womanly than previous Disney heroines. In the Hunchback commentary, the directors even say that unlike past Disney heroines, Esmeralda has "been around." A lot of the direction of Esmeralda's character and design was in part because of Demi Moore's casting so Disney was never hiding anything there or ashamed. Also keep in mind that Demi Moore was one of the biggest movie stars in the 90s and had the box office on her side.

 

[jeangreyforever]

I would say in the case of Jaboukie, generally audiences don't know the actors who voice an animated role, let alone the other art they partake in outside of that.

So again, I stand by this is a nothing story, and a fringe minority online that complain about everything.

In this case, I agree that audiences don't know this individual let alone who he was playing. I disagree that general audiences don't usually know who the actors who voice animated characters are because whenever there's a big celebrity, the studios go out of their way to make sure everyone knows who is voicing who. Like Rihanna in Home or The Rock in Moana. Obviously that wasn't the case here.

That being said, I don't think people are aware of how many concerned parents use Facebook to keep tabs on what content is safe for their children. If there really were reports of this actor's song circulating around on Facebook, you can bet that all the parent groups were warning each other. I haven't seen anything for this movie, but I saw a lot of parents freaking out over Turning Red and Lightyear for having questionable content. When I was in school, anytime there was a big-budget children's movie that could possibly taint "Christian values," the parents would all get together and warn our school board and administration and then our principal would take the time to warn us to not watch such-and-such movie. Word of mouth spreads especially in conservative circles.

 

[GimpYancIent]

No-one is pretending those conversations aren’t happening. The question is whether they’re widespread and influential enough to have caused the film to flop. To read some of the posts here, you’d think the whole world was abuzz with contentious Strange World chatter, when the truth is that relatively few people are aware of the film’s existence, much less of the supposed controversy surrounding it.

Nah, the films existence was and is very widely / well known. Its's just a dud.

 

[Ghost93]

Demi Moore was not playing the role of a teenager or minor. Her character was specifically designed to be sexy and more womanly than previous Disney heroines. In the Hunchback commentary, the directors even say that unlike past Disney heroines, Esmeralda has "been around." A lot of the direction of Esmeralda's character and design was in part because of Demi Moore's casting so Disney was never hiding anything there or ashamed. Also keep in mind that Demi Moore was one of the biggest movie stars in the 90s and had the box office on her side.

Keep in mind, there was a conservative backlash against the Hunchback of Notre Dame at the time — with Christians disliking how sexual Esmeralda was and feeling that Frollo painted Christians in a negative light. The release of Hunchback also coincided with backlash to Disney giving benefits to same-sex couples.

Of course, while not nearly as profitable as Aladdin or the Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame did gross $325 million on a $100 million budget, and it was the fifth highest-grossing movie worldwide of 1996. Not comparable at all to Strange World's box office performance.

 

[_caleb]

There was serious talk about whether Disney would keep her on for the High School Musical franchise or not,

Serious talk by whom?

 

[LittleBuford]

Demi Moore was not playing the role of a teenager or minor. Her character was specifically designed to be sexy and more womanly than previous Disney heroines. In the Hunchback commentary, the directors even say that unlike past Disney heroines, Esmeralda has "been around." A lot of the direction of Esmeralda's character and design was in part because of Demi Moore's casting so Disney was never hiding anything there or ashamed. Also keep in mind that Demi Moore was one of the biggest movie stars in the 90s and had the box office on her side.

To be clear, I wasn’t suggesting that Demi Moore did anything inappropriate. My point had to do with the claim that an actor’s “raunchy” career is enough to keep droves of morally outraged parents away.

 

[jeangreyforever]

Keep in mind, there was a conservative backlash against the Hunchback of Notre Dame at the time — with Christians disliking how sexual Esmeralda was and feeling that Frollo painted Christians in a negative light. The release of Hunchback also coincided with backlash to Disney giving benefits to same-sex couples.

Of course, while not nearly as profitable as Aladdin or the Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame did gross $325 million on a $100 million budget, and it was the fifth highest-grossing movie worldwide of 1996. Not comparable at all to Strange World's box office performance.

I hope I didn't imply that Hunchback was a box office failure the way Strange World was. In fact, the general public never gives it its due when it comes to the box office because like you said, it was a hit and made the top 10 highest-grossing movies of 1996. If you look at the highest grossing Disney animated movies from the 90s and the 2000s, Hunchback still makes the top ten list along with Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, and Tarzan. Sadly Chicken Little makes that list too lol.

The issue comes more from how Americans still have a very strong puritanical backbone. They have no issues with gratuitous violence in their movies but anything dealing with sexuality (and that includes straight couples) makes them queasy. Hunchback was a G-rated example of mixing both sex and religion and most American parents were aghast at that. There's a reason the movie did even better financially and critically in Europe, particularly in Paris where it was a massive hit because Europeans have never shied away from sex and they're not nearly so rigid on religion. Disney was afraid the Parisians would reject it, but they loved it the most! My Latin American Disney friends say that even though Latin America has very staunch Catholic values, they don't have the religious hang-ups Americans do so Hunchback is quite popular there as well. They don't view it as an attack on faith. Hunchback also has a strong following in Japan where Esmeralda and Clopin are quite loved and get merchandise unlike in the US. I don't think it's a coincidence either that Hunchback had a massively successful musical in Germany which ran for years, whereas in the US it could never even get on Broadway. Disney didn't even put their logo on the Hunchback musical in America because they were afraid families would see the Disney logo and think the show was suitable for children.

 

[jeangreyforever]

Serious talk by whom?

Read the news reports from when the scandal circulated.

Also I got the nude story mixed up. It was Miley who had the magazine cover where she posed nude. Vanessa had actual nude photos which were leaked. She had to apologize and Disney publicly said she had a lapse in judgment and made an error. Miley got flack too but I don't remember any rumors or reports that she was going to be fired, but that may also have had to do with the fact that she was headlining Disney Channel's biggest franchise at the time.

 

[Prince-1]

Hunchback was a G-rated example of mixing both sex and religion and most American parents were aghast at that.

I assume you have some evidence of this. I mean there are a lot of people who post “facts” and then can’t provide anything to back it up. They just use their own assumptions as their own facts.

 

[jeangreyforever]

I assume you have some evidence of this. I mean there are a lot of people who post “facts” and then can’t provide anything to back it up. They just use their own assumptions as their own facts.

I assume you can do your own research. You make it sound as though it's my duty that anytime I ever hear anyone talk about Hunchback, I should keep a audio recording so I can post here. Or if I ever see news articles, blogs, comments, posts, or Facebook groups discussing it, I need to make a collage of each and every instance for your personal readership. I promise you'll find the content if you look for it because it's well-documented.

 

[_caleb]

Read the news reports from when the scandal circulated.

Oh. I thought you were claiming to have inside info from Disney leadership.

A lot of what you write makes it sound like this, but you're actually just talking about what you've read online. I'd encourage you to take care sharing opinions and rumors as facts because we do have actual Disney insiders here with inside info. If you're not one of them (and most of us aren't), you might consider making it clear.

I believe this may be why @MisterPenguin , @Prince-1, and others have been asking you to post links/sources for some of the claims you've made.

 

[Prince-1]

I assume you can do your own research. You make it sound as though it's my duty that anytime I ever hear anyone talk about Hunchback, I should keep a audio recording so I can post here. Or if I ever see news articles, blogs, comments, posts, or Facebook groups discussing it, I need to make a collage of each and every instance for your personal readership. I promise you'll find the content if you look for it because it's well-documented.

So then you have no evidence that “most Americans“ were aghast of anything. Gotcha.

 

[Prince-1]

Oh. I thought you were claiming to have inside info from Disney leadership.

A lot of what you write makes it sound like this, but you're actually just talking about what you've read online. I'd encourage you to take care sharing opinions and rumors as facts because we do have actual Disney insiders here with inside info. If you're not one of them (and most of us aren't), you might consider making it clear.

I believe this may be why @MisterPenguin , @Prince-1, and others have been asking you to post links/sources for some of the claims you've made.

She has nothing because she is just extrapolating what she feels and thinks and applying it to “most Americans” even though there is no evidence to support her position.

Were some people upset with the movie? Of course because some people get upset over almost anything especially if religion is brought into it but most people did not. And it’s funny because she said that, “If you look at the highest grossing Disney animated movies from the 90s and the 2000s, Hunchback still makes the top ten list” which is confusing if ”most Americans“ were aghast of the content of the movie.

 

[jeangreyforever]

Oh. I thought you were claiming to have inside info from Disney leadership.

A lot of what you write makes it sound like this, but you're actually just talking about what you've read online. I'd encourage you to take care sharing opinions and rumors as facts because we do have actual Disney insiders here with inside info. If you're not one of them (and most of us aren't), you might consider making it clear.

I believe this may be why @MisterPenguin , @Prince-1, and others have been asking you to post links/sources for some of the claims you've made.

Oh ok, thank you for the explanation. I'm certainly not a Disney insider nor have I ever claimed to be but I didn't realize there were some among us here. That makes more sense now.

The Vanessa Hudgens scandal was well documented though. I just did a Google search right now, probably the first time I've done it since it happened all those years ago, and you can see various news articles and reports. There are even many about how she was fired which clearly turned out to be false. I remember hearing in the media that there were serious deliberations by Disney over whether they would keep her or not. The same was the case for Nickelodeon with Jamie Lynn Spears after she became pregnant during Zoey 101, although they ended up keeping her too for the final season. I can't remember now if Zoey 101 was always supposed to end when it did or if it ended prematurely because of her pregnancy.

 

[jeangreyforever]

She has nothing because she is just extrapolating what she feels and thinks and applying it to “most Americans” even though there is no evidence to support her position.

This is the umpteenth time you have pretended like you know me or my tastes. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is my personal favorite Disney movie so you're the most mistaken you've been yet in your fortune telling if you think I feel about it the way conservative or religious Americans do who feel it's anti-Christian or too mature for children.

And while you have my gender correct, I don't recall ever mentioning my gender on here which confuses me. Either you're assuming I'm female, which I think is odd since you claim to be such a stringent force for LGBT representation in which case you shouldn't assume one's gender and should have the courtesy to ask beforehand what gender I am. Or you recognize me from another forum and if you're who I think you are, suddenly the hostility you've treated me with since I've started to post here makes complete and utter sense.

 

[LittleBuford]

I assume you can do your own research. You make it sound as though it's my duty that anytime I ever hear anyone talk about Hunchback, I should keep an audio recording so I can post here. Or if I ever see news articles, blogs, comments, posts, or Facebook groups discussing it, I need to make a collage of each and every instance for your personal readership. I promise you'll find the content if you look for it because it's well-documented.

Hunchback came out pre-internet (or, more accurately, when very few people were online). I can find absolutely nothing to substantiate your emphatic claim that “most American parents were aghast at” the film’s content.

 

[TP2000]

Some of y’all are just now discovering Jaboukie Young White, and it shows. Anyone who follows him knows his material has been raunchy and for adults since he entered the business, which was at least five years ago. Disney had no problem hiring him, obviously.

I had never heard of him until two weeks ago, but that's unsurprising considering my demographic and personal tastes in entertainment. I imagine most American parents of small children had never heard of him either.

But more parents of small children (the biggest demographic for a Disney film like Strange World) are now aware of him, and have seen his latest song lyrics printed out online in chat groups or Facebook posts. And now I have also read his lyrics.

I will be playing my cherished Motown Christmas album tonight to cleanse my brain.

But most importantly to this discussion: I find the decision by Burbank execs to hire this particular performer, with his known record of being very raunchy and often profane, to be questionable at best and idiotic at worst. What were they thinking? That parents with Internet connections weren't going to find out he was the Ethan Clade voice actor?

The business decision to hire Jaboukie, out of all the thousands of voice actors and minor celebs in the world, makes the failure of Strange World even... stranger. It's just one piece of the puzzle, but the puzzle is really weird.

What was Burbank thinking?!?!