Disney is in a weird place right now. They’ve sort of, kind of, announced that (like most of the rest of corporate America) they’re backing away from wokeness, to the extent that they’re cutting woke storylines from Pixar properties, and Disney was able to course correct in enough time to make Moana 2 and Inside Out 2 big hits last year (plus Deadpool & Wolverine, which I suspect was too rude to ever be infected with wokeness), but the company itself is still infected with DEI, and they still have an awful lot of very expensive turds, conceived and crafted in the woke era, sliding down the alimentary release canal.
First up: Captain America: Brave New World, due to plop out February 14 (because it’s just perfect Valentine’s Day fare) after numerous poor test screenings. Re-shoots have reportedly pumped the budget up to a staggering $375 million, which would put it among the ten most expensive films of all time and means that, by traditional Hollywood metrics, the film would have to take in close to a billion dollars to make a profit. It’s not even remotely on track for that.
“It’s tracking round about the same level as The Eternals at the moment.” “Not a win.” The Eternals made $402 million worldwide, which would be a financial disaster for Captain America: Brave New World.
But that’s not the only woke-era disaster cued up for Disney, as the widely reviled live-action Snow White remake is coming out in March. Honestly, all this is just an excuse to post this video featuring comments on the Snow White trailer…sung and set to music.
So that’s two expensive, high profile bombs Disney has to flush out of the system before they can release movies that have better than a snowball’s chance in Hell of making a profit. Disney’s streaming business is finally profitable, but that’s after $11 billion worth of losses to recoup. Park revenue was up, but profits from it down. And ESPN profit has been down enough that they laid off some 300 staffers, part of a $7.5 billion cost-cutting effort introduced by Iger. But that didn’t keep Iger’s own compensation from increasing to $41.1 million, up 30% from FY2023.
And he still hasn’t fired Kathleen Kennedy…
Tags: Bob Iger, Critical Drinker, Disney, Hollywood, Marvel, Media Watch, movies, Snow White, Social Justice Warriors, Star Wars, video
I’m beginning to think there’s some serious white envy on display here. There’s too much of this entryism for there not to be. Everytime I see this crap, it just oozes off the screen.
The last line is the tell. You’ll know Disney might be serious about turning things around when Kathleen Kennedy is fired. Until then, it is moving around the deck chairs.
And damn, the comments to the video lambasting the trailer are comedy gold too:
Rachel Zelger: Snow White is not gonna be saved by the Prince.
The Prince: Good. Because I’m here for your stepmother.
I guess you didn’t see Deadpool 2? The title character said Xavier’s portraits of old white guys made him think he needed a rape whistle, Domino pointed out how rare it was for her to agree with Cable because he was old white guy, and the plot was driven by a villain based on torturous conversion therapy… which is a legitimate problem, but it’s also well-trod territory for writers who want to appear thoughtful & socially relevant for one-dimensional villains.
… It was still a fun movie, as long as you can put up with preachy cheap shots.
[…] WOULD TAKE A COUPLE OF YEARS TO CLEAR IT OUT, AND THAT’S IF DISNEY EVEN WANTS TO: Disney’s Pipeline Still Clogged With Woke. “Disney is in a weird place right now. They’ve sort of, kind of, announced that (like most […]
[…] Laurence Person has a nice post on how Disney still has a lot of woke projects to flush out of the s…, and they are in no position to just drop them because they have so much money tied up in their production already. If they want to recoup any of it they have to bite the bullet and release them despite hideous prospects. […]