Disney Headlines for October 31st, 2023
Disney has kicked the can down the road with two of its pressing movie problems.
In the process, Pixar has lined up a surefire hit as its next theatrical release.
Source: Pixar.fandom.com
I’ll explain how Disney has reset its movie lineup in the latest set of Disney Headlines.
Disney’s Movie Woes
Photo: Variety
While many involved in the negotiations have displayed optimism recently, the SAG-AFTRA strike continues.
When the Writers Guild of America strike ended in late September, most Hollywood insiders expected the actors to return to work soon afterward.
That hasn’t happened and led to some ridiculous Halloween awkwardness.
Image: SAG-AFTRA
The people in charge of SAG-AFTRA sent a sternly worded email about Halloween costume no-nos, which led to a VERY funny Ryan Reynolds tweet:
I look forward to screaming “scab” at my 8 year old all night. She’s not in the union but she needs to learn
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) October 19, 2023
Soon afterward, the people in charge recognized that they’d overcorrected and clarified that the rules only applied to adults.
This past weekend, several performers like Megan Fox, Glen Powell, and Chord Overstreet ignored the rules.
Frankly, SAG-AFTRA needs to complete a deal since it’s facing a civil war if this continues much longer.
Film studios like Walt Disney Pictures recognize this, but the strike’s proven even more disastrous for them.
Photo: CNBC
Studio greed has caused ripple effects at the box office.
If not for Taylor Swift and whatever those things in Five Nights at Freddy’s are, the past three months would have bankrupted some cineplexes.
Photo: 20th Century Studios
While Disney suffered through multiple high-profile failures this summer, it caught a break in September.
Few people even noticed that two Disney releases, A Haunting in Venice and The Creator, struggled at the box office.
Photo: IMDB
As I type this, the two films have earned a combined $215 million in global box office. Those productions cost Disney $140 million. They’re not profitable.
Disney at the Movies in 2023
(Charley Gallay / Getty Images for Disney)
There’s a lot of that going around at Disney in 2023. We’re less than three weeks away from the one-year anniversary of Bob Iger’s return as CEO.
Frankly, none of this year has gone the way Iger would have hoped or many of us had expected.
Photo: DIsney+
Due to the SAG strike, 2024 isn’t shaping up any better. If anything, it looks much worse on paper.
Entering 2023, I, for one, was wildly optimistic about Disney’s film offerings. Then, titles like Haunted Mansion broke my heart.
Image: Disney
Meanwhile, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny claimed one of the oddest audience receptions anybody has ever tracked.
Your age directly impacts the likelihood that you enjoy the film, with metrics showing that scores improve significantly for each five years.
Image: Disney
In other words, a 30-year-old probably dislikes the film. Anybody over the age of 70 thinks it’s the kind of movie Hollywood used to make but doesn’t now.
This seems like a good time to mention that the person in charge of Disney, Bob Iger, is 72 and has watched the film five times.
Photo: Natacha Rafalski on Instagram
His personal bias probably led Disney to throw more money at this project than it should have. And, FWIW, I can’t blame him. I loved it, too.
Meanwhile, the actor strike negatively impacted Haunted Mansion’s opening weekend as much as any film this year.
Photo: Disney
The performers clearly adored one another and were fun together. However, they couldn’t market the film past a certain date due to the strike.
Frankly, Disney just can’t catch a break right now. And the people running the studio know this.
Photo: Disney
That’s why they’ve taken a hard, honest look at what they have planned and rebooted.
Disney at the Movies in 2024 and 2025
Photo: www.vikendi.net
Disney’s previous release schedule called for the 2024 release of two flagging projects, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Magazine Dreams.
Let’s talk about Magazine Dreams first. That film stars Jonathan Majors, and I can probably stop right there.
(Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
Those of you paying attention to MickeyBlog or celebrity gossip already recognize the problem here.Majors faces serious allegations as part of an upcoming Manhattan trial.
(Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
Nobody wants to promote a film starring someone facing such charges. So, Disney has chosen to pull Magazine Dreams from the schedule.
That move doesn’t preclude a future theatrical release. Instead, Disney will take a wait-and-see approach here, as it should.
(Photo by Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles Times via Contour RA by Getty Images)
With Majors, Disney faces marketing problems with the court of public opinion.
The Snow White situation is that much stranger. The star of the film, Rachel Zegler, made some flippant comments about her perception of the original.
Photo: www.kinostart.mtzionweb.org
Frankly, nothing Zegler said is inaccurate to her generation of movie-goers. It also explains why Disney plans to update its classics every few decades.
People’s tastes and opinions evolve over time. What once seemed timelessly romantic in 1937 plays differently to someone born in the 2000s.
COURTESY OF ANDREW BRUCKER; KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES
However, Zegler’s perspective regarding Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs doesn’t play well with Disney fans, especially older ones.
That film represents Disney royalty, as it’s the first full-length animated feature in Hollywood history as well as a bedrock of Disney as a company.
Courtesy of Rachel Zegler/Everett Collection
Walt Disney did the impossible there, and some fans don’t like a 22-year-old dismissing something that came out 64 years before she was born.
Some muckraking culture war sites have turned Zegler into Public Enemy #1, and Disney is #2 because it has hired actors to play the Seven Dwarfs.
Photo: Disney
Disney’s diverse casting has led to another round of #WokeWar.
Disney’s Solutions
Photo: Disney
Disney has solved this problem, at least temporarily, by kicking the can down the road.
You may not have realized, but the Snow White live-action remake was technically less than six months from release.
Photo: Disney
Disney hadn’t offered a trailer yet, which suggests that date was shaky anyway.
Now, the studio has chosen to delay Snow White until 2025, ostensibly due to the SAG strike.
Photo: Disney
In reality, Disney will likely reevaluate various criticisms regarding the project and plan a new strategy to amplify Snow White’s strengths.
Given the cultural relevance of this character and film, Disney needs to get this one right, which feels nigh impossible at the moment.
Photo: People
The knives are out for Rachel Zegler and Snow White right now.
As a reminder, The Little Mermaid’s overriding quality ultimately saved it. So, everyone involved is hoping for more Disney magic here.
Photo: DIsney+
Still, Disney needs hits. I mean blockbuster hits, not the modest successes like The Little Mermaid and Elemental.
Not coincidentally, Disney just delayed Elio until 2025. Now, you’re probably wondering why a Pixar film needs a delay. Animators aren’t on strike.
Photo: Disney
Also, the voice acting wouldn’t take long once the strike ends anyway. Well, that’s a side issue here.
Disney understands that its Pixar brand faces significant criticism right now.
Photo: Disney
The pandemic set many of Pixar’s ambitious plans for another wave of new stories featuring all new characters.
Pixar would rather play things safe for now, which means a sequel is the best bet.
Photo: Disney
Sure enough, the delay of Elio leads to a different Pixar title coming out next. It’s Inside Out 2.
Pixar had originally intended both films to debut in 2024, but it has correctly chosen to emphasize the one surefire hit instead.
That’s the right play in the current marketplace.
Photo: MickeyBlog
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