Does Disney Feel Threatened by "Mario"?

[harry580]

A part of me wonders if this has to do with Disney +. Like a lot of the general public decided that they don’t need to see a Disney movie in theaters because they can easily stream it at home in a month. I guess Illumination movies are on Peacock, but I think far fewer people have that service.

yeah, I blame that too, I wish they would have focus on putting fox kids/saban/bvs/sip animation contents on it instead of sending pixar movies to it

 

[the greenman]

Honestly, I think that The Super Mario Bros. Movie is irrelevant to Disney's current situation. The reason why Disney is now lagging behind the other studios is because they keep recycling the same formula ad nausea. Stuff like Frozen and Tangled were great when they were new, but we've seen that formula many times now. Audiences are yearning to see something new.

The reason why Dreamworks' The Bad Guys and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish as well as Sony's Spider Man: Into/Across the Spiderverse are killing it right now is because those studios aren't afraid to experiment with different types of storytelling and different art styles. If Disney Animation want to reclaim it's throne, they need to get out of their comfort zone and step their game up. Disney needs to expand it's horizons beyond it's princess movies and Pixar sequels.

Don't think they don't know that. The problem is they have an agenda driven mandate now; THAT IS THEIR SOMETHING NEW. In case you hadn't noticed. The problem is audiences see it, and turned off by it.

Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

 

[Ace]

I've kind of suspected Disney+ had something to do with the box office decline. I don't think bad movies could explain an at least 50% decline in box office revenue. The Star Wars sequels were controversial but it was still a billion dollar franchise regardless and kids movies are easy money. Frozen 2 however disliked was their biggest animated hit.

but I also think that Disney in the 2010s was fueled on hype. People just went to the newest Marvel movie just because everyone else was. It was like a customary thing to go see the newest MCU or Star Wars movie. Since the hype died people are more willing to pick these movies apart because it doesn't have that kind of cultural influence anymore. They don't see their friends talk about it and reference it like they used to.

 

[Goldstar!]

Don't think they don't know that. The problem is they have an agenda driven mandate now; THAT IS THEIR SOMETHING NEW. In case you hadn't noticed. The problem is audiences see it, and turned off by it.

Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

Honestly, I think the "agenda driven mandate" thing is debatable, or at the very least, it's only part of the problem. The kind of people who are triggered by any movie that doesn't have straight white males in the lead roles aren't going to see many of the films that are out there now, and that group makes up such a small minority that it's not worth catering to. I could elaborate, but in the interest of avoiding politics, I'll leave it at that.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

yeah, I blame that too, I wish they would have focus on putting fox kids/saban/bvs/sip animation contents on it instead of sending pixar movies to it

To be fair, they stopped just sending Pixar movies to Disney +.

 

[the greenman]

Honestly, I think the "agenda driven mandate" thing is debatable, or at the very least, it's only part of the problem. The kind of people who are triggered by any movie that doesn't have straight white males in the lead roles aren't going to see many of the films that are out there now, and that group makes up such a small minority that it's not worth catering to. I could elaborate, but in the interest of avoiding politics, I'll leave it at that.

It's a little bit more than just men. Trust me some women I know are just annoyed by the nonsense. Just give us good stories without preaching to us about stuff like diversity and inclusion.

Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

 

[Goldstar!]

It's a little bit more than just men. Trust me some women I know are just annoyed by the nonsense. Just give us good stories without preaching to us about stuff like diversity and inclusion.

Well, speaking as a black man, I personally, I don't view diversity and inclusion as "nonsense", nor do I see Disney's choice of acknowledging that different people from different walks of life exist as "preaching" or "pushing an agenda". One could as just as easily make the claim that sources such as Great American Family are likewise "pushing their own agenda". If these people truly are triggered by diversity and inclusion, that says far more about them than it does about Disney. Perhaps trying to examine why equal treatment triggers them would be a worthwhile experiment. They always have the option to simply not watch. Just as I choose to not watch anything on Great American Family. There are more of "us" than there are of "them", and "they" make up such a small (albeit very vocal) minority that it would be pointless for Disney to cater to them exclusively. Personally, I would prefer to see a mix of different people than bland, homogenous mush, but that's just me. Diversity isn't an issue for me. I don't know why it's an issue for anyone else.

But we're veering way off topic here. My original point had nothing to do with diversity whatsoever. Like I said, that's a non-issue for me. I'm saying that Disney keeps on recycling the same formula that they've been doing since Frozen and Tangled, and people are starting get burnt out by the repetition. I agree that Disney should tell good stories, but they need to be NEW good stories and not just The Little Mermaid, Toy Story and Frozen for the kabillionth time. This isn't a diversity thing. It's a "been there, seen this" thing.

 

[Silverstar]

It's a little bit more than just men. Trust me some women I know are just annoyed by the nonsense. Just give us good stories without preaching to us about stuff like diversity and inclusion.

Funny...aside from maybe Falcon and the Winter Soldier or Rachel Zegler's foot-in-mouth presser for their upcoming Snow White remake, I can't recall any examples of Disney out-and-out preaching to its' audience. I can, however, recall plenty of examples of some people just not being able to deal with the fact that other types of people exist in society and after years of being made to feel invisible, these other people like to see themselves represented on screen too. Mind you, a lot of them just cry and moan for clicks and attention, but I've seen a ton more instances of people screeching over the very notion of having to acknowledge that we live in a diverse society than Disney hammering that point down anyone's throats. Just acknowledging that we don't live in a homogenous society isn't "preaching" or "pushing an agenda" and it sure ain't "nonsense".

Disney, for all its' faults, realizes that there are more progressives minds on the planet than there are closed ones, and more importantly in their eyes, those broadminded people have more money to spend and are willing to pay, and in the end that's all that's important to big corporations. The only color that really matters is green.

But this is veering dangerously close to political discussion, and I don't wish to bury the lead. Disney's issue isn't diversity; that's a societal thing and it's only a problem to those who refuse to face it; Disney's issue is that they're still trying to ride the same wave that made them money in the 90's to early 00's and have become so risk averse that they'd rather pump out a bunch of pointless sequels and clones than innovate. Disney productions have become brands and cash cows first and works of art second, and that's what doing them in, not that there are now brown people in Star Wars Land or that some of the Lost Boys are now girls.

 

[Ace]

If everyone agreed on the same thing there wouldn't be people arguing about it on social media which is precisely the point of why a lot of divisive reboots and things get made. It's not anything about diversity. It's the divisive tribal marketing specifically to get social media's ire that's the real issue here.

Once people all decide which team they want to be on they know they can hold themselves to precisely zero standards at all. Deconstruction can be done right but not everything has to do that. I think a lot of it's just lazy if you're just reskinning an old property in the most superficial ways to appeal to a different audience.

In a lot of the same ways it feels like people put shocking headlines on a news article or insane thumbnail or title on a video to shock people and get more attention. Streaming is a fractured landscape they'll do pretty much anything for attention grabbing social media buzz.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

More on topic, as others have pointed out one major success from their competition is not really something Disney would really consider a threat. Especially since Mario is such a beloved IP these days that just needed to be properly marketed and framed in a way to appease those who would know about it that it's properly representing the source material that allowed it to become such a hit.

However Mario success's and Wish's failure this year are part of a much larger issue between Illumination and Disney we've been seeing this last decade. Because after Frozen 2, NONE of Disney's theatrical features in anyway whatsoever have turned in really any sort of profit. Encanto was able to scrape by thanks in part to very strong word of mouth and the fact it became such a huge hit on Disney Plus which Disney foolishly weaned people to with stuff like Soul Raya and The Last Dragon, Luca and Turning Red (yeah sans Raya all of those are Pixar but you know what I mean) that made families and audiences more reliant on not needing to go to theaters to watch these animated movies especially ones without strong word of mouth. Thus how Strange World and now Wish has faltered so much.

Illumination meanwhile actually PLAYED the waiting game and as a result have films that are still major profitable releases when they come out in theaters. Granted Sing 2 and Minions: The Rise of Gru didn't quite hit the heights of those previous movies but they were still big hits especially since Illumination doesn't spend as much actually MAKING the movie as much as marketing thus they gather interest better and get families still into seeing the movies. Migration is coming out late this month and no way is it going to be a Mario level hit but I bet that still gets between 400-500 million world wide which will still make it a profitable release for Illumination while Wish will be lucky to get... 150-200 million world wide and is going to be a massive FLOP for Disney.

So yeah Mario itself isn't a threat for Disney but quite honestly how Illumination is handling how they make their movies and market them are. Since those are the really safe choice for families to go and visit and if you want stuff with more experimentation or intriguing ideas that could be more a Sony or Dreamworks while Disney due to it's image hasn't really had any really new big IPs that clicked in now over half a decade. Why do you think the CEOs are so keen are making a Frozen 3 so big it can be split into two movies cause of how profitable that franchise are that they aren't getting from these recent movies cause these new attempts at attracting large audiences AREN'T working. Disney does need to change what they're doing if they want to really fight the competition as this is a problem that has been apparent for years but is now just blatantly obvious to everyone by now they can't hide it but still haven't taken the steps to really solving the problem.

 

[the greenman]

Disney just admitted this:

“we face risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences for entertainment, travel and consumer products.”

Sent from my moto g power (2022) using Tapatalk

 

[Goldstar!]

Disney just admitted this:

“we face risks relating to misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences for entertainment, travel and consumer products.”

That could be interpreted in a number of ways. I still contend that more people are tired of Disney's cookie cutter sameness and grinding out it's features in an assembly line fashion than they are of seeing people of color, women and gays in their movies. We live in a diverse society, whether certain people like it or not, and everyone wants to see themselves on the big screen. Diversity is only a problem is one chooses to view it as one.

Let's stay focused on the real problems with Disney, shall we?

 

[The Overlord]

I think it has to sting a bit for Disney to have one of its rivals take the spot of the top animated movie of the year, given they were unassailable for decades. I wonder if Disney would suddenly try to get into the video game adaption game, to try chase what is popular. Universal might be the most successful studio of the year, despite some missteps.

 

[harry580]

I think it has to sting a bit for Disney to have one of its rivals take the spot of the top animated movie of the year, given they were unassailable for decades. I wonder if Disney would suddenly try to get into the video game adaption game, to try chase what is popular. Universal might be the most successful studio of the year, despite some missteps.

I know Disney is trying to reboot max payne for 20th century studios so that's a start, maybe Disney can revive club penguin if Disney wants to do a video game movie

 

[The Overlord]

I know Disney is trying to reboot max payne for 20th century studios so that's a start, maybe Disney can revive club penguin if Disney wants to do a video game movie

I don't even know what that is. Hmmm, I think Disney would do something more A-list than that. Super Mario was one of the biggest video game properties around. The problem for Disney is they can't just buy Nintendo or some other big video game studio like they did with Marvel comics or Star Wars, these video game companies are as big as Disney.

Maybe they should work with Square and try to make Kingdom Hearts a multimedia project, that should be better than whatever Wish was trying to do.

 

[harry580]

I don't even know what that is. Hmmm, I think Disney would do something more A-list than that. Super Mario was one of the biggest video game properties around. The problem for Disney is they can't just buy Nintendo or some other big video game studio like they did with Marvel comics or Star Wars, these video game companies are as big as Disney.

Maybe they should work with Square and try to make Kingdom Hearts a multimedia project, that should be better than whatever Wish was trying to do.

I didnt mind kingdom hearts movie, maybe the final fantasy movie from 2001 was ahead of its time despite its failure so maybe a kingdom hearts movie would make sense

 

[The Overlord]

I didnt mind kingdom hearts movie, maybe the final fantasy movie from 2001 was ahead of its time despite its failure so maybe a kingdom hearts movie would make sense

Final Fantasy could make a silver screen come back, the way Super Mario did recently. Though that's not guaranteed, Disney does try to jump on bandwagons sometimes.

 

[Goldstar!]

maybe Disney can revive club penguin if Disney wants to do a video game movie

Somehow, I don't think that Disney would want to make a movie about a video game/online community that they terminated.

Maybe they should work with Square and try to make Kingdom Hearts a multimedia project, that should be better than whatever Wish was trying to do.

Problem is that Square Enix has said that they weren't interested in doing anything with Kingdom Hearts beyond the games.

Hey, Disney. It's been 100 years, and you still haven't made a Mickey Mouse feature film. That'd be something different that you could try.

 

[harry580]

Hey, Disney. It's been 100 years, and you still haven't made a Mickey Mouse feature film. That'd be something different that you could try.

the search for mickey mouse, they should have revive it

 

[Goldstar!]

the search for mickey mouse, they should have revive it

The downside of that plot is that Mickey would need to be off screen for the bulk of it, so it wouldn't really be his movie. A movie that actually focuses on the character would be better.