Best Disney Links for October 2020
Folks, I don’t want to get you too excited, but we’re less than two weeks away from Halloween!
That means we’re only about 10 weeks away from ending this nightmare atrocity of a calendar year.
Also, Disney is getting ready for the holidays and planning how to help you spend your Christmas quarantine.
A lot is going on, and I’ll try to bring you up to speed with the best Disney links for the month.
Disney at the Parks
Let’s start this month’s batch of links by talking about the Happiest and Most Magical Places on Earth.
Some journalists have acknowledged something three months after the fact. Despite a slew of negative hit pieces, Disney theme parks have proven safe.
In fact, the most remarkable news comes from the NBA Bubble at Walt Disney World.
Image Credit: Disney
This proposed site received a ton of criticism earlier this year, as opponents felt it needlessly endangered NBA athletes.
Instead, Disney safely hosted the completion of the NBA’s regular season and playoffs for three months.
How many people within the NBA Bubble tested positive for COVID-19? Zero. Meanwhile, the state of Florida has registered more than 750,000 cases.
NBA players have expressed their fear after leaving the bubble, as the real world isn’t as protective as Walt Disney’s.
Photo: NBA
Of course, not everyone feels that way.
Newly crowned NBA champion Anthony Davis states that he won’t return to Walt Disney World for at least two years. In fact, he may boycott Orlando Magic games!
Photo: @Malika_Andrews Twitter
The artistry on display within the NBA Bubble came in many forms. The most remarkable one I saw is captured in this video:
A lot of people worked extremely hard to bring this dream into reality, and that’s what we’ve come to expect from Disney, isn’t it?
By the way, those of you who want more Disney basketball may be in luck. The NCAA may host several tournaments there over the next few months.
Image Credit: NBA
Disney in the Business World
Much of Wall Street’s Disney discussions lately have centered on its streaming businesses.
Image Credit: Disney
With the pandemic shutting down movie theaters, Disney’s over-the-top services – Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ — have kept the company safe.
Of course, Disney’s uninterested in throwing away money. Here’s a fascinating argument for why Hulu will never expand internationally.
Meanwhile, one of Disney’s largest shareholders, Daniel Loeb, has confused everyone by asking the company not to release a stock dividend this year.
Loeb believes – correctly – that the company would do better to spend that money on movie and television productions.
Yes, someone on Wall Street wants less money to better position a company in which he invests. This might be a sign from Revelations.
From a user perspective, this would mean things like Black Widow debuting on Disney+ rather than in theaters.
Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images
Presumably, these titles would play for free as part of the service rather than for $29.99. It’s the decision Disney just made with Pixar’s Soul.
During the pandemic, Disney+ has made moves big and small. Breaking the standard release cycle with Frozen 2 and Onward qualified as significant.
Then, the company’s done other things like adding a new Simpsons section for fans like me.
Disney+ introduced this feature as part of a selling point for the 2019-2020 season that arrived last week.
Photo: Shuttershock
The Simpsons remains THE most popular program on the service.
The other Disney business news involves the company’s recent reorganization.
Photo: AndroidCentral.com
From now on, all entertainment branches of Disney come from the same tree.
Whether you watch ABC, Freeform, ESPN+, or The New Mutants in the theater, they’re all part of the same entertainment silo.
This move has been long overdue, but CEO Bob Chapek acknowledged that he hadn’t rushed to do it until the pandemic accelerated the timeline.
Disney in Entertainment
The business of movies isn’t as fun as discussing the movies. So, let’s do that instead.
Photo: 20th Century Studios
For starters, I just mentioned The New Mutants. Marvel has confirmed that the film will finally debut on digital on November 17th.
At various times in 2020, The New Mutants appeared likely to debut on Hulu.
This announcement indicates that Disney won’t air the program for free for a while.
Instead, fans may purchase physical or digital copies over the holidays. Then, the movie will pop up later on Disney+ or Hulu.
Nobody’s quite sure whether the film’s adult nature makes a fit for Disney+ or not.
However, Disney did recently introduce a Marvel Legacy Movies section. I believe the film would fit well there.
Speaking of Marvel movies, Disney+ has reconfigured the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline.
The most significant change comes from Thor: The Dark World, which apparently occurred before Iron Man 3.
Since few liked the film, I’m dubious that this matters much anyway.
A Disney+ movie that people like very much is Clouds. Here’s the fascinating story of how it got made.
Of course, the Disney flick that has everyone excited didn’t even start at Disney.
The Fox film slate debate has received enough discussion, but it’s nice to know that one gem remains in play.
Free Guy tells the story of a videogame NPC who decides that the N should stand for nice.
The Ryan Reynolds flick earned as many first-day views as WandaVision, which in turn bested the combined total of Black Widow and Avengers: Infinity War.
Disney should become best friends with Ryan Reynolds and then make Deadpool 3, right?
Disney Fun Stuff
I know how much everyone loves to take Disney quizzes and peruse reading lists. So, let’s end the month with some of my favorites.
Here’s a list of 10 things that happen in all Disney Princess movies. I really wanted to nitpick this list, but it’s all true.
While we’re talking princesses, can you name all these songs from their first lines of dialogue? I missed the Mulan one.
Next, I know that the pandemic can get lonely. Here’s a test to discover which Disney Prince is your soulmate. I don’t mean to brag, but I got Beast.
According to the New York Times, here are the best 50 things to watch on Disney+ right now. Again, it’s a solid compilation.
Also, since it’s Halloween, we should embrace the villains a bit. Here’s a super-dark quiz. You must name the villains based on their crimes!
Finally, Buzzfeed has skillfully crafted the most challenging quiz of the month.
Photo: Disney
See how many of these obscure Disney characters you can pick from their pictures. I’m…too embarrassed to say my score on this one.
Okay, that’s everything for this month. Let’s all start enjoying the holidays, okay?
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