How Disney’s Film Schedule Impacts the Parks

Two weeks ago, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed a heretofore unknown sequel to Moana, one arriving in theaters in nine months.

In a less heralded announcement, Disney also advanced the timeline for Zootopia 2.

These two announcements herald a change in how Disney executives plot the future of a well-diversified company.

Here’s how Disney’s movie release schedule impacts the parks.

Disney’s Bad Timing

In an instance of epic bad timing, Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios stopped releasing sequels after 2019.

When I say stopped, what I mean is that animated film projects take several years to complete.

Disney officials plotted a multi-year change wherein their stories would highlight new tales rather than familiar characters.

In Hollywood, opinions shift regularly on the age-old topic of established intellectual properties (IP) vs. new content.

Generally, when something is in vogue, consumers claim they want the opposite.

Not coincidentally, Disney released Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen II, The Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4 in 2018 and 2019.

What did consumers say about these titles? They lamented that Disney had followed the refreshing story of Moana with sameness.

People already knew Ralph, Woody, Buzz, the Parr family, Elsa, and Anna. So, those stories weren’t as welcome.

That was the popular criticism anyway. In reality, consumers voted with their wallets, making three of those four titles blockbusters.

Ralph Breaks the Internet was the “worst” performer of the quarter, earning $529 million against a $175 million budget.

Meanwhile, the other three titles had a total box office of $3.77 billion against production costs of only $550 million.

We’re talking about some of Disney’s most profitable ventures ever.

However, Disney’s previous successes with Moana and the original Frozen had emboldened the film division.

Disney desired new brands and signed off on daring projects that would arrive from 2020-2022.

Titles like Soul, Turning Red, Luca, Onward, Strange World, and Encanto became part of this philosophical change.

The entertainment division planned only one IP-based story, a “safe” play called Lightyear.

Everything else would have opened new doors at Disney.

I say “would have” because fate intervened, with the pandemic disrupting generations of box office behavior.

How Movie Performances Impact the Parks

I was one of the last people to watch a Pixar movie in theaters.

I’m among the few who watched Onward before the world shut down.

At the time, I noticed the lack of crowds on opening weekend for a Pixar movie, which was rare but not unprecedented.

The Good Dinosaur had struggled at the box office, ending Pixar’s remarkable run of consistent blockbusters.

Before that, I always expected sellouts when I inevitably watched the new Pixar movie in theaters.

On the Disney side, we’ve had some misfires like Brother Bear, Treasure Planet, and Home on the Range.

Still, the same statement has generally applied, and it’s led to a spillover effect.

Have you ever seen Home on the Range at the parks? How about Brother Bear?

You’ve seen plenty of Frozen and Moana stuff, though. That’s not a coincidence.

Disney uses the theatrical runs of its titles as a kind of wide-ranging focus group to identify which IPs merit a park presence.

When something absolutely wrecks the box office the way that Frozen and The Incredibles have, they inevitably show up at Disney.

The degree of the presence stems from the franchise’s financials.

This rule isn’t hard and fast. If it were, the wildly profitable Stitch would have his own themed land.

Generally, the statement has held true over the years, though. Disney’s recent problem is that the evaluations have grown more challenging.

The pandemic disrupted the box office and thereby altered how Disney can evaluate films.

The Odd Case of Moana

In the digital era, streaming has also changed the calculus a bit.

For example, Moana “only” earned $687 million at the box office, well behind Disney’s other release that year, Zootopia.

The latter film was a bona fide blockbuster with more than $1 billion in box office.

We may objectively state that Moana is the more beloved film, though.

Last year, more people streamed Moana than any other movie, which is stunning for a seven-year-old release.

Nielsen Media Research suggests that people have streamed this movie an almost incomprehensible 775 million times.

Moana has evolved into one of the seminal movies of the 21^st century.

Not coincidentally, Disney has added a new attraction entitled Journey of Water | Inspired by Moana.

This film’s box office didn’t necessarily reflect consumer need for a Moana attraction, though.

For perspective, Ralph Breaks the Internet claimed nearly 80 percent of the box office of Moana.

The long-rumored Wreck-It Ralph attraction at Magic Kingdom never came to fruition due to ambivalence over the box office.

Similarly, Mary Poppins Returns fell into that same purgatory due to its middling theatrical run, thereby canceling its proposed ride.

What differentiated Moana is its reception on streaming, a relatively new data point for Disney officials to consider.

And that brings us back to the surprise announcement for Moana 2.

For a while now, I’ve been screaming like a lunatic that Disney needed a Moana sequel.

In 2020, Bob Chapek mostly agreed with me when he announced a Moana animated series coming to Disney+.

That project is the same one that will debut in theaters later this year.

Disney officials watched the episodes and identified a way to convert them into one full feature-length story.

That decision reflects Disney’s evolving business perspective.

How Disney’s Release Schedule Impacts the Parks 

During Thanksgiving 2024 and 2025, Disney will release sequels to Moana and Zootopia.

Based on one’s prior box office and the other’s streaming reception, you can understand the appeal of both.

That’s NOT the big picture aspect here, though. Instead, something else is happening that I’m calling Disney Unity.

What is Disney Unity? At some point over the next couple of years, American park officials will confirm a Zootopia attraction.

This ride will likely be part of an entire themed land based on Zootopia.

In the process, Disney will unify the promotion for a new movie AND a new theme park enhancement.

With Moana, Disney just added an attraction. So, I’m not expecting anything new in the short term. It’s more of an improvised tactic.

Still, this appears to be Disney’s new playbook. Iger and his team want to streamline marketing by unifying projects.

Simultaneously, Disney can gauge interest in theme park enhancements based on box office performance.

Inside Out 2 debuts in theaters in June. Should this film perform well, Disney will more carefully consider adding a park presence.

Yes, we already have Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind, but…well, you know.

Disney’s Unified Strategy

Similarly, an Avatar experience of some sort is coming to Disneyland Resort, which explains Jon Landau’s recent presence.

Avatar 3 debuts in theaters in December 2025. It’s another joint hype-building opportunity.

Disney’s modified strategy appears to include several premises. They are:

• Use theatrical box office to identify consumer demand.
• Modify expectations based on streaming popularity.
• Prioritize surefire hit sequels during box office slumps.
• Link film releases with in-park expansion when possible.
• Perform joint promotion to heighten franchise awareness.

In short, Iger and his team have decided to emphasize interconnectivity more than ever.

The impending arrivals of Moana 2, Zootopia 2, and Avatar 3 provide Disney with an opportunity to sell theme parks and films in unity.

For at least the next couple of years, Disney’s movie release schedule will shape expectations about what’s happening at the parks.

That statement applies to the short-term park enhancements as well as long-term expansion plans.

Theatrical titles should drive theme park interest and vice versa.

In short, Disney will try to kill two birds with one stone, thereby creating a more focused, unified marketing strategy.

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Feature Photo: Walt Disney Pictures