Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
They have done unnecessary crap…attached…that cause unnecessary crap responses (also attached)
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News The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors Extends Robert A. Iger’s Contract as CEO Through 2026
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
_caleb
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure it's helpful to think of it as either "appeal to" or "alienate."
Here's my take:
If you think of Disney's audience as being made up of a whole bunch of different audiences and Disney's products as being focused on/targeted at those audiences, you can see how there might be some at the "center" of that target group and others more towards the fringes.
For a long time, Disney was able to "aim" at the "center" of its audiences, which was a majority group that Disney knew how to connect with (and sell things to). I think of this as the "legacy audience." Stories were largely told by and through the perspectives of those centered audiences, but it reached a very wide group of audiences to varying degrees.
To grow the total audience (beyond just the "center") to strengthen its loyalty and spending, Disney seems to have tried shifting the focus away from what was the "center" more towards some who were not squarely part of the center. These are the "new" audiences-- they've been there the whole time, but maybe haven't been the focus. Disney's diversity emphasis has been to try to focus on these audiences. But these new audiences don't seem to have yet responded to these newly targeted offerings with the sort of demand the center previously had.
Problem is, the "center" has changed, and become fragmented and polarized. Pleasing these fragments AND those in the "new" audiences who were not historically at the center is nearly impossible. What's left of the center is loud and angry about their disappointment that they might not be at the very center of Disney's products anymore.
So the current situation is fraught: Disney's audience landscape is now an angry remnant of the formerly-center audiences, a mass of typically-lukewarm off-center audiences, and not-yet-convinced fringe audiences.
BTW, I find Disney solely responsible for the situation in which it finds itself.
Robbiem
Well-Known Member
Maybe the next IP acquisition. Can we fix it!
CaptainAmerica
Premium Member
The center loves diversity. The center made Coco and Black Panther and Moana huge successes.
TalkingHead
Well-Known Member
Disney’s Maverick was Tron 2, same director even, but audiences weren’t interested. Indy 5 should’ve been their Maverick this year but it was too late in Ford’s career, wrong filmmakers involved, etc. It underperformed and notably didn’t have any of the social messaging Iger is apologizing for.
The YouTube crowd may complain that progressive messaging is the problem. It might even be part of the issue but the studios’ problems go far deeper, and I doubt Iger is going to be able to get a handle on the whole thing (including the smaller number of journeymen directors who could bring in a piece of 100min popcorn escapism on budget).
The whole industry has changed in the last 15 years and now that Iger wants to do something to course correct it’s too late.
The YouTube crowd may complain that progressive messaging is the problem. It might even be part of the issue but the studios’ problems go far deeper, and I doubt Iger is going to be able to get a handle on the whole thing (including the smaller number of journeymen directors who could bring in a piece of 100min popcorn escapism on budget).
The whole industry has changed in the last 15 years and now that Iger wants to do something to course correct it’s too late.
Exactly freaking correct.
Tom P.
Well-Known Member
The original Tron is and was always a niche film. It's a "cult classic." It does not have mainstream appeal. A sequel was never going to be a tentpole blockbuster film. Then add to that the fact that Legacy was garbage that did not understand the original at all.
_caleb
Well-Known Member
Yes, this seems to be a main difference in our perspectives.
I think the changes have been in the works for a long time, but were accelerated by recent societal trends and, of course, the pandemic. I think Disney's data has made the magnitude of these changes so clear that they've knowingly shifted their focus from legacy audiences to some of these "new" audiences, and they're now burning through cash building their DTC platform to make and foster those connections.
Your perspective seems to require that the company is risking their entire business and billions of dollars on radical changes unnecessarily, which I don't find very plausible.
Drdcm
Well-Known Member
Dana Walden Says ABC Passed on Pilots for Not Being Inclusive Enough
Walden revealed that "for the first time," the network received "some incredibly well-written scripts that did not satisfy our standards in terms of inclusion."
www.hollywoodreporter.com
There. Dana Walden explained the company’s priority for content creation in this interview.
flynnibus
Premium Member
My point is... I really don't care if the films had such agendas... but don't expect me to favor the film BECAUSE they do, nor ignore any negatives they may bring just because they are "important" or some other quality value. I'm here for a movie, not a protest. If the message and film work - fantastic. If the message is important but the film sucks.. I'm not going to be that interested. If the film is empty, but still entertaining.. I'll probably still enjoy it.
TalkingHead
Well-Known Member
Where did I say it wasn’t a cult classic? I said it’s a movie that was made in the escapist vein that people are clamoring for. There was nothing woke about it and it bombed. If they make a Tron 3, woke or not, it’ll bomb.
Nobody knows how to fix Hollywood, and the simple fact is it’s probably beyond repair. Netflix makes Beverly Hills Cop 4 which won’t get a theatrical release. Disney’s CEO apologizes for movies with messages because they’ve had a historically bad year with releases. Tom Cruise makes a sequel to his bread-and-butter franchise and it underperforms.
Theater chains are essentially giving away movies for free if you’re willing to pay $25/month.
This is the reality of 2023. Iger’s dancing around the fact that the movie industry is living on borrowed time.
If this was true then streaming should be booming.
Unless it’s YouTube/Twitch etc consuming all the eyeballs.
That would mean Disney is in the wrong game.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Honestly I don't know what you are asking me to respond to
_caleb
Well-Known Member
Yes. And which audiences are you part of?
There are probably many things I'm missing.
I actually agree that there are social perspectives baked into Disney's content. I just don't think they are always what some audiences perceive them to be.
TalkingHead
Well-Known Member
Streaming’s never going to be booming as long as it depends on $200m series that get viewed once by a small fraction of consumers before immediately being forgotten while they move on to the next thing. You factor in social media, YouTube, and gaming, and the consumer base for theatrical movies is far smaller than it was in 2010.
The concept of a AMC/Regal subscription service was unthinkable ten years ago. My guess is the data shows there’s a significant percentage of tickets “sold” that don’t represent money out of consumers’ pockets. Make of that what you will.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Except for Moviepass... which tried to do it as a 3rd party company.
The subscription models aren't really all that radical, it just took the world around them to change. The change to wanting everything to be subscriptions being the biggest change and the changes in theater's take on ticket sales. The chains are not offering steep discounts for their subscription services.. they are still priced as upsells for the vast majority of customers trying to draw people in for more frequent visits while locking in guaranteed revenue... just like every 'seasonal pass' model out there. Be it a Six Flags, or your local car wash. Locked in revenue + driving more opportunities is why they do it..
Tom P.
Well-Known Member
Disney explicitly says that they receive good scripts that they pass on because of DEI criteria. Here, the chairman of entertainment for Walt Disney Television says that a show about a white family is an automatic no-go. I mean, how more obvious does Disney have to be before people believe it?
Jrb1979
Well-Known Member
The problem is that audience doesn't seem all that interested in their product all the while alienating the audience that does like your product.
pigglewiggle
Well-Known Member
What is the context of this? And what year? If this is to be taken at face value, I would have to agree that this statement is problematic. I'm just not certain that quote is giving the whole picture.