Yes, but still, it's a success after all. Well, maybe not a box office success, but I knew it'll be successful on DisneyPlus.
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Wish (Walt Disney Animation - November 2023)
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
Advisable Joseph
Well-Known Member
Disney wouldn't publicly comment on Wish's viewership unless it was good news.
So Wish debuted a little less than The Little Mermaid worldwide, which reminds me of a comment about the Little Mermaid debut from the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a strategic planner for avariety of entertainment companies including streamers: "Have no doubt this is a very good to great launch for Disney."
So Wish debuted a little less than The Little Mermaid worldwide, which reminds me of a comment about the Little Mermaid debut from the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a strategic planner for avariety of entertainment companies including streamers: "Have no doubt this is a very good to great launch for Disney."
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
Animated films tend to overindex on D+, so not sure that “Did better than live-action TLM 2023” is a great bar to clear
erasure fan1
Well-Known Member
That's really just it. What I've personally seen, limited I know, is that watching it on D+ confirmed it wasn't worth going to the theater to see. The real test for a film like this is how it is doing 6 months from now. Does it still have good numbers, are people still watching it? And based on the soundtrack alone, I don't think that will be the case.
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Hawkeye_2018
Well-Known Member
My kids started it over a week ago and still haven't finished it....haha
An indie animator on Bluesky. Matt Makes Mermaid Movies, nicely summed things up, I think.
bsky.app
To quote the thread: As an animator, one of the most frustrating things is how many people think our work is “just for kids.” Reviewers will say “it’s fine for a kiddy flick,” collaborators will say “well this doesn’t have to be good, it’s for children,” award show presenters will always make a joke about parents suffering through these movies. [Wish] is what happens when all of the studio executives say “this is just for kids”.
(Poking around Bluesky, people who work in illustration and/or animation seem particularly disappointed by this movie. One said that Disney needs to return to live-action reference footage or have the animators take acting classes because everyone in the movie overacts and overemotes.)
Bluesky
bsky.app
To quote the thread: As an animator, one of the most frustrating things is how many people think our work is “just for kids.” Reviewers will say “it’s fine for a kiddy flick,” collaborators will say “well this doesn’t have to be good, it’s for children,” award show presenters will always make a joke about parents suffering through these movies. [Wish] is what happens when all of the studio executives say “this is just for kids”.
(Poking around Bluesky, people who work in illustration and/or animation seem particularly disappointed by this movie. One said that Disney needs to return to live-action reference footage or have the animators take acting classes because everyone in the movie overacts and overemotes.)
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
Except it isn’t. Not liking the film is one thing (and perfectly justified), but claiming, without evidence, that the film was designed only with children in mind, especially when those working on it have indicated the opposite, is quite another.
I think the poster means not so much that it was designed only with children in mind, but that because it was primarily for kids/family audiences, the creatives - or at least the studio execs who made so many ill-advised changes to the promising early concepts - might have figured they could get away with subpar songs, characterization, animation, etc.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I very much doubt those involved in the film thought they were creating something subpar, much less getting away with it. In fact, they’ve told us the opposite.
Again, it’s fine to dislike the end product, but to assume bad intent on the part of those who made the film is hardly fair.
erasure fan1
Well-Known Member
Isn't that part of the problem then? If they constantly think these things are good and that the fans are going to love them. We have a problem. It's why so many of us have said they need a whole new creative team. The talent level at Disney isn't nearly up to par for the pedigree of the company. Personally I don't think it's bad intent, they're doing the best they can. They just aren't very good at it.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
I may not agree with your assessment, which I think is overly harsh, but I can’t criticise you for feeling this way. We agree on the bolded, which was what my point boiled down to anyway.
WorldExplorer
Well-Known Member
Walt was always very open about how he wasn't making kids' movies and even found the idea of stuff solely for children dumb. I think you can see the shift in the company's view pretty clearly with the recent live action remakes and how they handle the exact same concepts.
Just look at how they talk about the remake of Bambi. Even after the writer praises the original, everything she says about plans for the remake is still through the lens of "kids" or "parents with their kids". If it's not for kids then the film, to them, has a problem and they need to change it, even if it means screwing with its most iconic element.
If that's the kind of mindset they look for and allow with their live action handling of these things (which, as the quote sadly points out, is generally taken more seriously than animation), I can't imagine much effort is going to be put into getting people with a more serious view for the animated films.
Just look at how they talk about the remake of Bambi. Even after the writer praises the original, everything she says about plans for the remake is still through the lens of "kids" or "parents with their kids". If it's not for kids then the film, to them, has a problem and they need to change it, even if it means screwing with its most iconic element.
If that's the kind of mindset they look for and allow with their live action handling of these things (which, as the quote sadly points out, is generally taken more seriously than animation), I can't imagine much effort is going to be put into getting people with a more serious view for the animated films.
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TP2000
Well-Known Member
Very interesting. Which then begs the question...
So where did that $200 Million go? Why was this movie so expensive to make?
erasure fan1
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't say it's harsh. We're at a point where we've seen what Disney has to offer. If your point boiled down to what I said, then we need a creative team shake up. That's not harsh, it's truth. If you think the right people are in place to turn the ship back in the right direction, I'd like to know what gives you that hope. Because I just don't see it. There's nothing I'd like more than to be crazy excited for the next, star wars, marvel, pixar, wdas... again. I just don't see how this crew can accomplish it.
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
My point boiled down to the part I bolded, not the rest of your post.
I enjoyed Wish a fair bit, which is why I personally find your view harsh. The film was not, to my mind, an indictment of Disney’s current capabilities, even if I agree it could have been better.
We’ll, now that Wish is on DisneyPlus and it’s doing well there than that rigged box office, I decided to finally let it go and enjoy it anytime I want, even though it’s not the best film. And I’m not going to worry about the box office results for Moana 2, Zootopia 2, and Frozen 3 because after all, they are a popular franchise so it won’t be a surprise that those three sequels will be a box office success. I hope WDAS has some originals in the works.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
I mean, @TP2000 sniffed this out long ago. Why not go with a songwriter with some degree of demonstrated experience for the task at hand?
networkpro
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
Interesting to see almost everyone at the entrance to Epcot call the Asha topiary Moana
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
Were you sitting there all day taking a survey?
Advisable Joseph
Well-Known Member
Why are you so convinced that it wasn't the writers, or that they were trying to be subpar?
Throwing out the creators of Frozen, Zootopia, Moana, and Encanto is a little extreme. Heck, I think you would have to thow out Pixar people too, as I think they were part of the test audiences which really liked the movie.