Credit: Walt Disney Animation StudiosIf the box office numbers are anything to be believed, Disney Animation has been fighting a battle at the theaters. With recent movies like Elemental, Strange World, and Lightyear considered financial flops, Disney has been forced to pull their focus on other projects like theme parks and streaming services to make up for lost revenue. However, this isn’t the first time they’ve done something like this.
It can be easy to point fingers at Disney’s marketing, hoarding IP and exclusives on Disney+, or simply wanting to avoid further backlash from audiences, but the true culprit of Disney’s recent financial failures lies within the heart of the studio itself. As animated features continue to flounder at the theaters before being dragged to streaming, a pattern of planned obsolescence and self-destruction emerges from the ashes.
For the past 100 years, Disney has built its name on the magic of its animated features. From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Encanto and Elemental, Disney Animation has made the company the biggest entertainment juggernaut in the industry. So why on earth does it seem like they are setting up incredible movies for failure?
Disney Animation Kills Its Darlings
Given the recent developments with reports of wage discrepancies, class-action lawsuits, and pulled projects at the studio, some fans have speculated that Disney is failing on purpose through self-sabotage. While most are simply fan theories, grounded evidence for this claim truly lies with Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Many movie-goers have criticized some of the studios recent films for trying to placate to the vocal minority or to appeal to the woke movement, and thus Disney is suffering in the process. @sayheyjames on Tiktok put it better in one of our previous articles when he stated,
“Disney’s progressive direction seen its efforts to remove offensive imagery from its archives and make its content more exclusive has sparked criticism from conservatives who believe the company has gone too far in its woke reinvention.”
While both sides of the argument might be true to an extent, there might be more to it than just the old adage of “go woke, go broke.” Although a sort of planned obsolescence utilizing the current culture war wouldn’t be out of pocket, the truth lies deeper than just a gay Disney character or Pixar pitching an allegory for menstruation.
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Disney has cultivated a specific image over the past century, and they like to keep it that way. Anything that deviates from perfection is just mediocre, and anything that doesn’t fit Disney’s aesthetic (like say a romcom about elements or a mature adventure film about Atlantis), the company takes steps to see that it’s lost in the shuffle. The chilling part, we’ve seen it happen before.
The Treasure Planet Effect
Disney has created a whole slew of animated gems, they practically invented the medium of full-length animated motion pictures, but not all of them have been crowning achievements. For every Fantasia, there’s a Black Cauldron. Disney has always gotten back up on their feet eventually, but what if it wasn’t all entirely on accident?
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Consider Disney’s most recent flops, Strange World and Elemental. Both films had what was considered an alternative storyline, nonconventional Disney characters, and most importantly, they missed the mark with marketing. As a result, the films were met with controversy, bombed at the box office, and their reputations were what won them the audience they had. The weird thing, Disney has done this not once, but three times before.
Fans are calling the disaster plaguing the previous mentioned films the Treasure Planet Effect. Similar to films like Treasure Planet, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, these films were all passion projects released within the same time frame as more successful animated features, and yet they found a large audience once they hit the home video market whether by reputation, word of mouth, or accessibility. So why would Disney be doing this again?
Recent reports have stated that Disney has pulled more and more of their films and IP exclusively to their streaming service instead of spreading the love to other platforms like Netflix or Amazon. Turning Red might have only done marginally well in theaters, but it was a hit on Disney+, and that’s not the only example. What if this is just the first step before a much bigger development occurs?
Disney might have taken a box office loss, but home media will likely help them earn their money back. That said, Disney might be laying the groundwork for something bigger by clearing out what the studio might consider filler or less-than-worthy projects. Out of the ashes, a new classic is already preparing to rise.
Disney is Preparing for a Massive Comeback
If there’s one upcoming film nearly all classic Disney fans (this writer included) are all looking forward to, it’s Wish. The movie is slated to be a love letter to classic Disney, utilizing traditional animation, the familiar fairytale formula, and paying more than a noticeable homage to the beloved days of the studio. What better way to build a success than by overcoming a period of failure?
Everyone loves an underdog, and the formula has worked for the studio more than once. Shortly after projects like The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective, and Oliver and Company, Disney shattered critical and artistic expectations with The Little Mermaid, kickstarting the Disney Renaissance in the process. History repeats itself, and the house of mouse might be getting ready to do it again.
A set of failures followed by a wave of hits has happened before, and we’re seeing it happen in real time with Disney’s recent flops. It’s a rise and fall pattern that sacrifices alternative projects in favor of bigger motion picture events. More accurately, it might be a battle of profit over passion.
Ulterior Motives
Another thing to consider is how Disney might also be using theatrical receptions to boost their own streaming services. As much as we all love going to the movies, it can get expensive. However, $8-10 a month for all of Disney’s movies from the comfort of home on Disney+ is much more accessible and appealing to a larger audience.
There’s a reason some of Disney’s recent releases are doing so well on streaming, and it’s no coincidence in this writer’s opinion. While they might have sunk millions at the box office, the numbers on Disney+ brought them out from the depths. As more streamers utilize access to Disney+, the company’s library of hits and misses lies at the click of a button.
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Both Strange World and Ant-Man and the Wasp were considered box office bombs when they first premiered, yet they both take spots in the top ten most watched movies on Disney+ this year. By that logic, we can assume that they are doing far better at home than they did in the theaters, thus building support for the streaming service. As Disney makes more and more of their movies, shows, and products Disney+ exclusives, they’re becoming their fanbase’s primary source for anything under the mouse.
While this might sound like a major success at first, some fans are growing increasingly dissatisfied with some of Disney’s streaming practices. Along with removing a portion of their content off of Disney+, the platform has also lost a reported four million subscribers. With that in mind, things at the house of mouse are starting to sound more like a hail-mary than a thought out plan.
But What Does It Mean?
As acknowledged by @sayheyjames in his coverage, the Walt Disney Company has lost millions of dollars due to the reception of its last eight films, forcing the company to rely on sources like the Parks and ESPN to maintain a profit. Although Disney can easily make 900 million over again, that’s still a sizable loss. If they’re really doing this on purpose, Disney is going to have to pull a massive showstopper to save their reputation.
Revisiting the original question, is Disney purposefully and intentionally sabotaging their own work? The answer might not be a hard yes, but there is an undeniable amount of evidence shifting that direction. While it might seem like cinematic suicide, the formula they’re relying on might just be a long con.
Is Disney Animation Really Committing Self-Sabotage?
There is still a chance that this might all be a rough patch for the company that will all blow away once new management comes into power, but we can’t say patterns don’t exist. Regardless of Disney’s seasons of success or failure, there’s no denying that something isn’t going on behind the scenes.
Let’s review what we know so far. Disney has been suspected of sabotaging work that doesn’t fit the mold, they have a pattern of highs and lows to promote an underdog image, and they might be repeating the formula to generate more interest in their streaming service and other sources of revenue. This is all highly speculative, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck… it’s probably a duck.
Do you think Disney is up to something nefarious? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!