The Top 15 Disney Searches for 2021

In 2020, people searched for some super-crazy Disney stuff. I presume that the pandemic had made us all kinda nuts.

So, we felt compelled to learn about weird happenings on Discovery Island in between bread pudding recipes.

Surely, things calmed down in 2021, right? RIGHT?!

Here are the top 15 Disney searches for 2021.

Cruella

The one comment here is that these results can vary, depending on how you interpret them.

So, some other searches like Luca, Disney reopening, Disney on Ice, and Avengers Campus could have shown up on this list as well.

Still, the Disney marketing machine all but guarantees the most prominent films will appear as top searches.

To wit, the 101 Dalmatians prequel proved exceedingly popular as a topic in 2021. Here’s my favorite part:

Disney 50^th Anniversary

Honestly, I’m quite surprised about this one. It barely made the top 15. I was incredulous when I reached the bottom of the list and finally saw it.

Obviously, the interest in opening weeks of Walt Disney World’s 50^th anniversary mirrored the start of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

People wanted to know more about the events and experiences, but they also wanted to wait for the crowds to die down.

Search interest obviously peaked the week of the event. However, it’s higher today than it was in early July. I wouldn’t have expected that.

Disney Actor Tommy Kirk

This Disney Legend faced many challenges as one of the first openly gay performers in Hollywood.

Like many child actors, Kirk also experimented with drugs, which led him to burn many bridges.

For a time, he was THE anchor star for The Walt Disney Company, though, a point Walt Disney once told a reporter right in front of Kirk.

We’ll never forget Kirk for his roles in Old Yeller and Swiss Family Robinson.

To prove that point, he’s one of only three Disney-related celebrities who garnered significant search

attention.

We’d discuss another later, but I’ll spoil you that Olivia Rodrigo is the third.

She had two of the three most searched songs of the year. Neither of them was Disney-related, though.

Disney After Hours – Boo Bash

Disney (temporarily?) replaced Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party with this new event.

Most of the search interest stemmed from potential tourists identifying the differences between the two.

Obviously, there aren’t many, but people didn’t realize that at first.

Disney Genie

Here’s another example of the most vocal members of the Disney community not reflecting society as a whole.

Disney Genie triggered a kind of fanbase civil war. Some raged about the introduction of paid FastPasses, while others had used MaxPass and liked it.

For Disney’s part, it emphasized that Disney Genie is a free product. It’s Disney Genie+ and Lightning Lane that cost additional money.

Many people searched to determine the differences. However, this one is on the outer fringes of the list as well.

So, Disney Genie didn’t receive the widespread attention that the outsized headlines for it would indicate.

Disney Mask Policy

Here’s another instance where I’d expected higher search results. I mean, Disney did switch its policies MANY times during calendar 2021.

I feel like I wrote 15+ different articles explaining the nuances of what had changed.

Remarkably, the sheer volume of policy updates didn’t increase the number of searches. This is another one that falls in the 11-15 range.

For whatever reason, people cared more about Disney movies and movie-related headlines than about park intrigue.

Disneyland Reopens

Out of everything park-related, I would have bet on Disneyland’s reopening as the top of the list.

After all, this one’s the only returning result from 2020. Last year, people missed the parks so much that virtual rides trended in search.

In 2021, Disneyland finally did reopen. Somehow, that news item, a tectonic shift in the theme park industry, only trended second…behind another Disneyland event.

Yes, something toward the end of this list will blow your mind.

Eternals         

Some of these results reflect prolonged waits. To wit, Eternals should have debuted in theaters in November…of 2020.

Obviously, Disney ran multiple marketing campaigns for this project. Throughout the process, Kevin Feige expressed excitement for the film.

Since people trust Feige almost as much as the Pope, they naturally googled to see what the fuss was about.

Alas, moviegoers didn’t love Eternals the way that Feige had anticipated.

Still, Eternals somehow received more search attention than Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021. That’s a remarkable feat.

Jungle Cruise

Here’s an instance where Disney’s multi-platform appeal helps mightily.

Some Jungle Cruise results stem from the movie starring Emily Blunt and The Rock.

However, the theme park attraction also earned plenty of attention because Disney modernized it in 2021.

Both Disneyland and Walt Disney World refurbished their versions of this beloved ride. So, that worked as icing on the cake of the movie.

Jungle Cruise finished in the upper half of this list due to its unique 2021 topicality.

Raya and the Last Dragon

Speaking of unique, Raya and the Last Dragon utilized a release strategy that’s apparently not returning in 2022.

This film debuted on Disney+ Premier Access on March 5^th. It was day-and-date with a modest theatrical release.

For the week before Raya’s opening, it achieved 72 percent of the search results as the week afterward.

In other words, people searched for Raya more after it was available to watch. However, I’m mentioning the numbers for a different reason.

When Raya switched to free on Disney+ during the week of June 5^th, the film’s search score returned to 71 percent.

In other words, it was roughly as popular that week as it was in the days leading up to the film’s theatrical/Disney+ debut. That’s…rare.

Scarlett Johansson Sues Disney

I half-expected this title to lead Disney in search for 2021. I know that I googled details for it more than anything else last year.

Obviously, this story covers two topics. The first involves the theatrical performance of Black Widow, which seemed stellar by the pandemic standards.

Generally, people quite liked the film as well. But, unfortunately, Johansson didn’t earn a cut of Black Widow’s Disney+ Premier Access revenue.

That’s where the problem started. Then, Disney’s PR department made things worse by providing a blistering public response that seemed ill-considered.

Not coincidentally, searchers wanted to learn everything possible about Johansson and Disney’s sudden, strange, and acrimonious divorce.

Later, the story found new life when the parties anticlimactically made up.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Here’s the other Marvel movie that got some love. For a time, Shang-Chi stood as the number one North American box office hit.

As such, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that many people performed searches for it.

What stuns me is that Eternals and Black Widow both beat it. As an aside, I combined Black Widow the Scarlett Johansson thing since they merge together.

Google indicates that the top ten American films of 2021 in terms of search were:

1. Black Widow
2. Eternals
3. Halloween Kills
4. Mortal Kombat
5. Dune
6. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
7. Godzilla vs. Kong
8. The Suicide Squad
9. Space Jam
10. In the Heights

Make of that what you will.

Stitch Crashes Disney

My wife and I had an immediate debate about this one. As she points out, Stitch Crashes Disney is a somewhat unsettling merchandise line.

Unsettling is my word, as she would NEVER besmirch Stitch. I say it because some of the Stitch items on sale strike me as, well, butt-ugly.

The conceit of this line is that Disney marries the aesthetics of other characters, especially Disney Princesses, with that of Stitch.

Some results are better than others. A few shouldn’t exist in civilization. I’m sleeping on the couch for acknowledging that.

Anyway, I suspect this particular search got additional juice from a side issue. Whenever the Disney site fails to load, it shows Stitch eating the page.

Since Disney tech struggled so mightily in 2021, I strongly suspect that some of these searches were autofills about Stitch crashes, not the clothing line.

If I’m wrong, the merchandising revenue from this line must be enormous.

Touch of Disney

Okay, here it is. For some reason, people searched more for Touch of Disney in 2021 than they did for the reopening of Disneyland. That’s stunning, right?

Well, I had some time to reflect on this, and I ultimately decided that it makes sense.

People went without any Disneyland park time for the body of a year. Then, when Disney executives couldn’t persuade California to let it reopen, they invented a Plan B.

Touch of Disney thereby received all the attention that might have otherwise gone to Disneyland. It was a kind of park reopening. So, it filled a void.

Once Disneyland reopened, it was only available for California residents anyway. So in terms of search, Touch of Disney stole its thunder.

WandaVision

I don’t know about you, but I noticed a shocking trend here. The MCU on Disney+ didn’t make much of a ripple on Google Search.

According to this tracking system, only WandaVision and Loki finished in the top ten. And the difference between the two of them was dramatic.

WandaVision earned third place, slotting it ahead of massive 2021 debuts like Ginny and Georgia and the latest season of Cobra Kai.

Loki only beat Midnight Mass, a late-year selection. So, its search performance falls far short of what WandaVision managed.

That’s understandable since WandaVision seemed to captivate everyone during the first quarter of 2021.

Then, throughout the rest of the year, other stories – including Loki – seemed to tie back to it in fascinating ways.

Many of us had suspected that WandaVision was the prize of the MCU on Disney+. This data confirms it.

Feature Image: ABC

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