The Worst Disney Stories of 2023
While plenty went right with Disney, a lot went wrong as well.
Here are some of the worst Disney stories of 2023, a year filled with many frustrating moments.
An Avenger Nearly Dies
Thankfully, this story doesn’t end tragically, but it certainly could have and probably should have gone a different way.
At the start of 2023, actor Jeremy Renner, best known as Hawkeye in The Avengers, held a family get-together.
Photo: Jeremy Renner on Instagram
We’ve since learned just how close-knit the Renner family is, something that happened due to tragedy.
Renner owned a 14,000-pound snowplow that he used to assist the residents of his mountainous town.
Photo: Instagram / @jeremyrenner
The snowplow somehow dislodged, forcing Renner to try to save his nephew. In the process, the actor got trapped under the plow.
He got crushed, breaking more than 30 bones in the process. Renner has since recovered enough to perform this interview in his home:
More remarkably, he appeared on set for an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live.
So, this story at least has a happy ending, but everything about it was terrible.
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Renner has done so much for his community that the local mayor was in tears in describing his generosity.
This was a very bad thing that happened to an exceptionally good person.
Photo: JEREMY RENNER/INSTAGRAM
Disney Legal Woes
You might not have heard much about it, but Disney lost multiple times in 2023, something that rarely happens.
A couple of them were small potatoes to the bottom line. For example, a VFX company earned less than a million in this case.
Credit: Disney
Similarly, the Magic Key class-action settlement was barely a rounding error at $9.5 million spread across hundreds of annual passholders.
Now, the company is facing more serious allegations, ones involving a pay disparity among 9,000 female employees.
Photo: cba.cj
Also, I’m stubbornly leaving the Reedy Creek nonsense off this list, but that’s a prolonged legal drama already…and it’s just getting started.
Disney spent far too much of 2023 paying lawyers to lose in court and be on the defensive regularly.
Photo: The Business Journal
That’s rarely the sign of a well-run company. And yes, a lot of that traces back to the tenure of – you guessed it – Bob Chapek.
Be thankful he’s gone, everyone.
Bob Iger Speaks His Mind
As you might know, I’ve got a media podcast.
In these discussions, I’ve used David Zaslav as a punching bag due to his careless, reckless business practices.
Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images
Historically, I have unfavorably contrasted Zaslav to his better, Bob Iger.
Then, something happened this summer that (momentarily) forced me to reconsider my position.
Photo: Getty
Only a few hours after SAG-AFTRA agreed to join the WGA in striking for better wages, Iger appeared on a live CNBC interview.
A sleepy, disgruntled Iger came across as a grumpy old man as he vented about how unreasonable actors and writers were being.
Photo: NBS News
Here are a couple of important facts about Iger’s comments. He made them while appearing at something nicknamed billionaire summer camp.
Sometime around this proclamation, a Hollywood insider had leaked that their plan was to wait out writers and actors UNTIL THEY LOST THEIR HOMES!!!
Photo: Cincinnati Enquirer
That’s a real thing that happened.
Not coincidentally, Iger absorbed an online drubbing as the man with an estimated net worth of $700 million came across as unfeeling and out of touch with the plights of The Poors.
The Shadowy Cabal
Photo:impulsecreative.com
I’m not much on clickbait headlines, but I couldn’t help myself with this particular story.
Everything I say there is true. According to someone who would know, Disney participates in a “shadowy cabal” in Anaheim.
Now, we live in a day and age where everybody could speak such nonsense. The vital difference here stems from who is saying it.
Photo: Disney
Folks, that’s a comment from an FBI report on Anaheim’s cesspool of local politics!
Long story short, Disney and some other power players in Anaheim angled to get their people on the City Council.
Photo: LA Times
Some executives showered council members with gifts and attention as a method of currying the votes.
You can’t blame Disney for playing ball here, but I will always laugh at “shadowy cabal.” I can even picture the Mickey Mouse merchandise.
Whither Willow
Photo: Variety.com
I mentioned David Zaslav earlier. For those who don’t know, he’s in charge of Warner Bros. Discovery…and he’s notoriously uncaring as an executive.
In 2022, Zaslav chose to shelve some finished movies in order to receive a tax break. Later, popular shows on the Max streaming service vanished, too.
That story was horrible at the time, but it somehow got worse afterward. Several other streaming services took the bait and did the same.
With Disney, this decision led to heartbreak for many storytellers. They spent months if not years of their lives creating films and television series.
Then, seemingly overnight, Disney banished that programming from existence.
For example, here’s my review of Artemis Fowl, a straight-to-streaming Disney+ release during the pandemic.
That film no longer exists as Disney pulled it for a tax break. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
For more than a year, Disney hyped the impending debut of Willow as a television series. Then, only a few months after it ended, Disney pulled it.
Photo: Walt Disney Pictures
Perhaps the most glaring example is Crater, a film that Disney banished from existence only 48 days after it debuted on the service.
Disney filmmakers deserve more respect than this. It’s a twisted business practice.
The Jonathan Majors Fiasco
Photo: AFP via Getty Images
I’m not getting into the specifics here, but you know the gist.
Earlier this year, Jonathan Majors, who plays Kang and his variants in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, faced accusations of physical abuse.
Disney, the owner of Marvel, had also recently acquired the rights to a Majors film, Magazine Dreams.
With Loki season two coming out later in the year and Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in the offing, Disney chose not to fire Majors immediately.
For all we know, there could have been contractual reasons preventing them from doing so, but still…
(Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
In late December, a jury of Majors’ peers convicted him of two misdemeanors. Marvel/Disney fired him within the hour.
The situation never should have come to that. Disney should have taken a strong stance against relationship violence long before then.
(Photo by Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles Times via Contour RA by Getty Images)
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