Chicken Little
Member
it does not get better. but I had fun seeing how in your face and unnecessary all the references was and thinking the whole movie what was going on on the studios that its ended this way lol.
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Wish (Walt Disney Animation - November 2023)
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
The more I think about it, there had to have been major interference from non-creatives on this project for it to come out the way it did. The early story and character concepts - Asha and her family living as fugitives, both the king and queen being wicked, Star as a humanoid shapeshifter, etc. - all come off as more interesting and even logical than what's in the finished film.
As is the characters besides Magnifico (who has legit motivations for being controlling and selective in the early going - he lost everything once and doesn't want to lose it again, and faced with magic he doesn't understand and a populace that doesn't seem to appreciate him as a person) are mostly unmotivated to do what they do, are motivated by things we're only told about rather than shown, or just do things because otherwise there isn't a plot/action - and that makes them look bad when the audience tries to fill in the blanks.
- Why didn't Sabino try to inspire people by playing music in public and instead gave the wish up to a lottery system, given that he's flawlessly doing that in the denouement so he already knew how to actually play? Was he rejected before? Or was he just lazy, or had no greater ambition in life to give up to Magnifico? (Probably the former because he would have mentioned rejection)
- (Credit to Mysterious Mr. Enter) Why does Asha want the apprentice job if she shows no interest in working magic herself, even trying to turn down the perfected wand at the end? (She only wanted to get her family's wishes granted, just like the Teens thought, but lied about it)
- Why does Amaya, knowing her husband's ways all these years and apparently not questioning him, and able to influence him (as with convincing him not to use the Forbidden Book immediately) into positive actions when he was upset, give up on him so quickly when he threatens her (and only then) when she's knows he's acting under the malign influence of the Book's powers and may not be completely himself? (She must have married him for power and he is no longer useful to her, especially given how quickly she gives up on saving him because of what an evil book claims. That's why she is so smug when she sends him to the dungeon.)
- Why doesn't Asha try to free all the wishes right away as soon as Star arrives, rather than just trying to retrieve her family's? (It would be a much shorter movie if she were to act so intelligently, and there'd be no chance for Magnifico to go full-supervillain among other things. Besides, she doesn't really care for all of Rosas, just her family because they are her relatives.)
- Why does Star, despite being powerful enough to grant speech and human-level intelligence to animals and create magic wands and such, so powerful that capturing it makes Magnifico close to all-powerful, not do more to influence events? Why doesn't it use its magic to just open the shutters at the end, for instance? (Again, it would be a much shorter movie.)
- What is Valentino even around for? Asha has many human friends to talk to and travel with her, even before Star arrives, and he does nothing useful that they could not have done. (But they needed a talking animal because "all" Disney films feature talking animals and they couldn't resist more merchandisable characters.)
Advisable Joseph
Well-Known Member
Again, this is not warranted. Just because the creatives finally decided on a simple plot which you didn't like doesn't merit turning this into some sort of moral failure.
Advisable Joseph
Well-Known Member
Be careful about the analysis given to you:
Here’s a recent one:
Disney's 'Wish' Lost Over $130 Million, According To New Report
'Wish' made over $250 million at the global box office, but it wasn't enough to turn a profit.www.cartoonbrew.com
It's really from Deadline, and they apparently use the box office to estimate home video/streaming, as I discussed here.
Comparing Wish's results to Lightyear's (you will have to search for Lightyear), it looks like Deadline is relying on domestic BO, which would have ensured an apparent epic loss as of this January, no matter how well Wish did after leaving the theaters.
DisneyHead123
Well-Known Member
I’m open to the idea that Wish could become a post-theater success, domestically, in the way that Encanto did. It does seem that Disney doesn’t have a lot of confidence in this however, based on Wish being pulled from 1900 Park Fare and merchandise being discounted already. Not sure if they know something we don’t or if it was just corporate panic.
This doesn't seem to be turning into the next Encanto on streaming, though. It's been available at Disney+ for over a month now (and on other formats even longer) and there still hasn't been a "We Don't Talk About Bruno"-style viral hit among the songs or a big uptick in fan art, etc. It seems to be doing okay in terms of viewership, but that's mostly because there haven't been a lot of other new family movies turning up on streamers and certainly not on D+. It's just kind of "there".
Advisable Joseph
Well-Known Member
It can be fun, but I think people on the Internet place far too much stock in merchandise, especially anecdotal evidence of sales. It's part of the reason people think Zootopia is forgotten and are surprised when they hear about Zootopia theme park attractions.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Hmm, I think Zootopia is a very different case. No-one can deny that it was a huge hit at the box office and it then did well on streaming once Disney+ appeared. If anything, it is weird that it's taken Disney so long to capitalise on the film's obvious popularity.
I would put such commentary on Zootopia more in the same category of those who claim Encanto and, to a lesser extent, Moana aren't worthy of a greater presence at the parks for not having proven themselves 'classics' when, on all available metrics, they are big hits. Regardless of whether someone personally likes the film and whether or not it eventually does find one, Wish has yet to find a big audience based on all the available metrics.
MarvelCharacterNerd
Well-Known Member
Encanto and Moana both have wonderful (LMM) soundtracks.
Wish does not.
It's also why I have little faith in Moana 2 although I loved the first one. Music makes a Disney movie... a Disney movie.
Wish does not.
It's also why I have little faith in Moana 2 although I loved the first one. Music makes a Disney movie... a Disney movie.
Yeah, as I said, I'm not seeing Wish cosplayers on the convention scene (Zootopia got those quickly, if not to the extent of the other two films). There's fan art and fanfiction but a lot of it, even the bulk of it, seems to be playing with the unused concepts like Evil Amaya and Starboy, or at least giving Magnifico a redemption arc, rather than going with what's up on the screen. Nobody's out to have Wish-themed birthday cakes or parties, and it's telling the only dialogue/lyrics anybody seems to know are "I let you live here for free and I don't even charge you rent" and "Watch out world, here I are".
DisneyHead123
Well-Known Member
I think there just aren’t a lot of metrics to use, regarding how Disney perceives the success of films. And Zootopia is a bit different because it doesn’t tap into their sizable Princessy Stuff lines that I assume sell quite well. Dolls, dresses, lip gloss, etc.
Out of curiosity I looked at the Disney Store website. (Side note, looks like they’re have a pretty big sale if anyone waits for discounts on Disney merchandise.) Under dolls, Asha only has 2 offerings total, all are discounted, all are buried waaaay down on the page. As opposed to the classic heroines, who have multiple dolls, many are not discounted, remain at the top of the listings, etc. It just feels like Disney has very much moved on from this film already, instead of waiting to see how streaming played out.
BrianLo
Well-Known Member
I still ostensibly think the D+ Chapek era release strategy has caused theatrical damage. We talk about audiences being daft, but with direct to consumer, people should have a relatively good understanding of what animated products are ‘Disney’. Certainly their core audience that subscribes to their service are going to have dominated their past theatrical attendees disproportionately.
The biggest forthcoming test is can something more guaranteed actually hit. Or, if Moana 2 or Inside Out 2 are both well received by audiences and critics, but are largely felt to have underperformed… then there is something intrinsically broken with Disney’s audience willingness to wait for the movie on streaming. Is the safety net of families who would always see the annual Disney movie, because it’s Disney, no longer showing up?
BrianLo
Well-Known Member
Wish has officially not caught its break. The streaming numbers are too meagre. Not a complete Strange World bomb, but this one isn’t getting a company re-write or a legit cult comeback.
Especially since she isn’t joining the princess line. Which is fine, the company has a far deeper well of recent animated successes than they are given credit for, that the company will lean into.
Farerb
Well-Known Member
John Musker: Disney Animation Needs A ‘Course Correction’
He also says that his last feature at the studio, 'Moana,' was "a very difficult project."
www.cartoonbrew.com
erasure fan1
Well-Known Member
I don't know. Wish might be worse because of what it represented. The expectations on it were much higher because of the Disney 100th. Strange world, while bad, did not have the same expectations in my opinion.
BrianLo
Well-Known Member
That's fair from an expectancy perspective. But almost 3.5x more people watched Wish over Strange World. Both at the Box office and I suspect on inevitably streaming. We are comparing small numbers to very small numbers of course.
Perhaps we'd call it more 'disappointing' for what should have been a more sure thing. I certainly had way higher expectancy for Wish and already had bad preconceived notions for Strange World. But they are still on quite different levels in terms of the inability to land with audiences. Strange World is a catalogue film that gets totally forgotten about in entirety by the general public because quite literally no one saw it.
In terms of all adjusted film loses of all time, Strange World is number 8 on the list and the first animated entrant. It beats out Mars Needs Mom at number 10.
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Thinking what "message" Wish could have had that was put above the story, I realized that there was a really obvious one, the whole point of the movie: Buy magical Disney products! So many of the changes made to the interesting early concepts, and a lot of the references to other movies, make more sense if you see it as a big advertisement for Wish merchandise and Disney The Brand.John Musker: Disney Animation Needs A ‘Course Correction’
He also says that his last feature at the studio, 'Moana,' was "a very difficult project."
MarvelCharacterNerd
Well-Known Member
Wish merch update from DLR. There's an entire room in World of Disney in Downtown Disney dedicated to Wish merch on sale 40% off in addition to the entire former watch shop on Main Street filled with Wish merchandise at 40% off. I'm really struggling to remember them having "sale" merch in the park for this long at a time. Usually it's dumped to outlets or cast stores but there may simply be too much of it to outsource, because, as noted, it was expected to be a hit. Because princess. And magic. And wishing. And stuff.
WorldExplorer
Well-Known Member
There are little plaques sometimes near the Wish merchandise saying they're part of a collaboration with Make-A-Wish. 10% of the price goes to the charity, up to a million.
I wonder how that went.
I wonder how that went.
This is an interesting good-faith look at why the animation in Wish isn't satisfying for many viewers. I don't like Tangled myself, but I do respect the quality of its animation and world-establishing a lot more for the comparisons she draws between the two films. (You will have to visit YT itself to watch the video in the link.)