Does Disney Have a Brand Problem?

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is currently performing quite well in theaters.

That’s the positive here, but the negative is that after a strong opening weekend, the film has faltered.

Now, The Walt Disney Company is once again facing questions about the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

We won’t get another MCU movie until December 2026, which is an eternity for Marvel.

Somehow, that’s not even the worst part, though. Pixar is having an even worse summer.

Meanwhile, if not for Andor, the Star Wars franchise would be in a state of total disrepair.

And that raises a logical question. Does Disney have a brand problem?

Stating the Problem

Members of the media, myself included, keep rehashing the fascinating details of Disney’s struggles.

The Wrap provides the latest story in a piece entitled “The Curse of Disney+.” So, you can guess the content.

Basically, the article makes the case that the Disney brand is in sharp decline since the company committed to streaming.

Before we evaluate the accuracy of this claim, we should acknowledge the underlying truth.

When Disney bought Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar, each acquisition qualified as a masterstroke.

Bob Iger will always have a place in the CEO Hall of Fame for what he accomplished with these deals.

The entire point of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals is adding new revenue streams.

Obviously, all three purchases did just that for Disney, but the current concern focuses on diminishing returns.

Nobody questions that Disney has made lots of money from all three brands.

Well, you’ll occasionally read some silly stuff from Star Wars “fans,” but it’s inaccurate.

Disney has made a mint on Star Wars merchandising alone, and that’s before we factor in the parks.

You shouldn’t deem Disney’s theme park operating income increasing dramatically since 2019 as a coincidence.

The theme park division’s operating income in fiscal 2018 was $4.47 billion. It was $9.27 billion in fiscal 2024.

That’s dramatic scaling in a period of seven years, much of which was slowed by the pandemic.

Obviously, Star Wars doesn’t get all the credit, but it’s definitely integral to the bottom line.

I could say the same of Marvel and especially Pixar, the latter of which has enough attractions to compile a full list.

These acquisitions have fundamentally improved Disney, just not as much lately. That’s the argument anyway.

Brands in Decline?

I encourage you to read The Wrap’s article, as the site does good work, but the gist is clear.

According to them, Disney’s acquired brands were in better shape in 2019 than they are today.

We’ll start with Pixar, whose four most recent titles are Lightyear, Elemental, Inside Out 2, and Elio.

That’s a wiiiiiild mix right there, with Lightyear and Elio absolutely bombing.

Meanwhile, Elemental somehow scratched and clawed its way to nearly $500 million in the box office.

That’s a remarkable total, given how the film started, but it’s not great for modern Pixar.

Of course, one of these is not like the others, as Inside Out 2 became the number one film of 2024.

That’s going to be the recurring theme here, as inconsistency has become the boogeyman at Disney.

Consider Marvel as another example of this, with Deadpool & Wolverine being the second-biggest release of 2024.

That film seemed to have the MCU back on track, but then 2025 has played out mostly as expected.

Like Elio, Captain America: Brave New World was a movie Disney knew wasn’t very good.

So, the film’s global box office of $415 million, while not MCU-like, isn’t a surprise.

But Thunderbolts* stopped at $382 million, and that IS an unexpected development.

Similarly, the Fantastic Four news was grrrrreat right up until it wasn’t.

This film will still be the biggest MCU film of the year. It’s just not going to make as much as Disney would have liked.

Again, that keeps happening to Disney, as its formerly reliable brands have dropped a level in popularity.

And Then There’s Star Wars

The Wrap’s article focuses the most on the Star Wars franchise, which is understandable.

This brand seems like the one that Disney has tweaked the most since its Lucasfilm acquisition.

George Lucas released one Star Wars movie every three years from 1977-1983 and 1998-2005.

Disney released five Star Wars films in five years from 2015-2019, which stretched the brand thin.

However, the argument here is that what hurt Star Wars the most was a series of Disney+ shows.

Not all of them proved popular with fans, as Skeleton Crew and The Acolyte proved especially unwelcome.

The argument being made is that Marvel content on Disney+ alienated fans, as did the Star Wars programs.

While I would argue that Baby Yoda has done more for Star Wars than anything since the lightsaber, the point is sound.

If not for Andor, Star Wars would be in a horrible rut on Disney+.

Similarly, Nielsen streaming ratings for MCU shows have dropped precipitously, with Daredevil: Born Again never even charting.

Skeleton Key also failed to make the Originals list’s top ten list during its entire run.

Meanwhile, after fans complained there were too many, Disney stopped releasing Star Wars movies in 2019.

So, the problem transitioned from movie theaters to streaming, the home to the new content glut.

We’ll finally get a new Star Wars film in theaters in May 2026, and it’s The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Obviously, that film should do very well, but the point remains. Disney has monetized Star Wars effectively.

There’s a valid argument to be made that the company has damaged the Star Wars brand twice now.

The first instance occurred when there were too many movies in a short period, while the second was the Disney+ saturation.

Does Disney Have a Brand Problem?

So, we have a logical question here, especially in the wake of Elio and a strange year for the MCU.

Does Disney have a brand problem? And that answer is probably one we’ll need years to answer.

The argument as presented paints Disney+ as the cause for all of Disney’s branding woes.

That’s obviously a gross exaggeration of the facts at hand.

As mentioned, Star Wars had problems long before Disney+ debuted.

I mean, Star Wars: The Last Jedi debuted in 2017, and Solo: A Star Wars Story came out in May 2018.

Star Wars fans were already in meltdown mode by then, so blaming Disney+ for the problem is a non-starter.

That’s not the real topic today, though. It’s whether Disney’s brands are in decline.

I think that just by reading what I’ve said here, we both know the truth. The short term answer is yes.

The MCU isn’t what it used to be, independent of the cause. And we all know that cause anyway.

The pandemic, combined with a generational shift in media consumption, caught Disney flat-footed.

Recently, Disney has developed tactics to counter this behavior, but we’re still discussing an existential crisis.

Somehow, that’s not even the big one, either. I’ve got a couple of other articles coming soon about AI.

THAT is the real boogeyman for Disney, and the timing of its ascension couldn’t be worse.

Why is that? It’s because Disney has allowed Star Wars, Marvel, and somehow even Pixar to slip.

So, the brands are already in a minor state of crisis right now just as brand protection is in a dangerous state.

Buckle up, folks. It’s about to get wild.

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Feature photo: Disney