Disney Chief Predicts Total Disaster for Studio Before End of Year

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Mickey Mouse looking shocked

Credit: Disney

Disney chief Jennifer Lee has put it plainly: the company is headed for complete disaster by the end of 2023.

Mickey Mouse looking scared
Credit: Disney

It is no secret that the Walt Disney Company has had a rough time in the last few years. While the House of Mouse is unquestionably still one of the largest and most powerful media corporations in the world, a perfect storm of diminishing box office returns, political and social controversy, and global disasters has exposed some real cracks in its foundation.

By some estimates, the company lost nearly a billion dollars over its last eight theatrical feature releases, which included huge bombs like the Toy Story-adjacent Lightyear (2022) and Strange World (2022), which hit outsized controversy for including a same-sex relationship.

Full cast of Disney's 'Strange World'
Credit: Disney

Related: Disney Moves Forward With Drastic Layoffs, Fires Employees on The Spot

At the same time, the formerly reliable Marvel Cinematic Universe has seen steadily decreasing box office grosses. Basically, if it doesn’t have Avengers or Spider-Man in the title, the MCU is being seen more and more as confusing and creatively stagnant, creating the so-called “Marvel fatigue.”

Similarly, while The Mandalorian kicked off Disney’s endeavor to transform the Star Wars universe into a series of interconnected streaming TV shows with a bang, things have gone downhill fast. Reportedly, the recent Ahsoka show had some of the lowest viewership numbers of any Disney+ show, and there does not appear to be a new Star Wars feature film anywhere close to actually being in production.

Ahsoka in the World Between Worlds in 'Ahsoka'
Credit: Lucasfilm

If those were the only problems, that would still be huge. However, there’s a lot more.

For one, the company is currently locked in a feud with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that has spilled over into multiple lawsuits and the loss of Walt Disney World’s special tax district.

For another, Disney is struggling to compete in the streaming market with Netflix, Warner Bros’ Max, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, and all the other many services that are desperately trying to get a lock on the world’s biggest markets and find a way to make it profitable.

Netflix logo with Sad Disney Mickey Mouse
Credit: Inside the Magic

Then there’s the ongoing Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike, which has essentially shut down Hollywood production until studios and the union make a new collective agreement.

Walt Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer and director/co-writer of Frozen Jennifer Lee says that unless companies find a way to deal with the strike, Disney will be completely derailed, which is a disaster it really doesn’t need.

Shocked Elsa in Disney 'Frozen'
Credit: Disney

Related: ‘Frozen’ Director Wants to Reboot Forgotten Disney Classic

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s The Media Show, the director said that the studio had managed to “keep things going” for the three months that the SAG-AFTRA strike had been going on. But unless a “fair deal” is made by the end of the year, Walt Disney Animation movies, including the hotly anticipated Frozen 3, would hit a wall and be ground to a halt.

Disney is really getting close to the breaking point with what it can handle, it seems.

Is Disney spiraling right now? Is Jennifer Lee right that the company needs to course-correct by the end of the year? Tell us what you think in the comments below!

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