3 min read · Jan 3, 2024
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Happy New Year!
So, I have a topic that I’ve been waiting to talk about, and that is Disney. It’s one of the oldest and one of the most well-known studios and media conglomerates of Hollywood. They are known for having merchandise like Mickey Mouse, Star Wars, and all of the Marvel superheroes you know and love today. They also have their theme parks and their two streaming services, Disney+ and Hulu.
Since last year and recently, they have been far more known for the controversy and the negative headlines, ruining its reputation and legacy, and causing serious financial and creative headaches among its executives and audience alike. All they’ve been doing is trying to compete with the other studios and have been failing miserably at that. Here’s my take on how Disney has failed to live up to the hype in 2023 (and beforehand.)
Let’s be real, Disney is losing its touch here. They’ve been accused of losing their originality, such as an over-reliance of remakes and sequels of their already existing shows and movies instead of simply making something new. It’s almost as if they had no idea on what a new audience would want to watch or listen to. Disney also had box-office bomb after box-office bomb, which explains why its CEO said they should focus more on the quality of their content instead of the quantity. The movie, Wish, is a perfect example. If you take a look at one of the comment sections of their videos, you’d probably see negative comments deriding it of their unoriginality. Also, the movie did badly at the box office opening weekend.
The only exceptions to this rule were Elemental and Guardians of the Galaxy 3, but other than that, all the other movies just simply failed to live up to the hype.
Disney is facing fierce competition and disruption from other platforms and players in the industry, such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Universal. These platforms and players have been offering more variety, quality, and innovation in their content, as well as more convenience, affordability, and accessibility in their services. We can also attribute this troubles to Bob Iger’s many missteps, considering he insulted striking Hollywood staffers calling their demands unrealistic, even though it basically isn’t, but I digress. They’ve also been making terrible decisions recently, like abruptly sending movies that sound better on Disney+ onto theatre screens and the lawsuits and legal problems. Speaking of that…
Personally speaking, this is also the biggest reason why they weren’t doing well last year. Disney has been involved in several lawsuits and disputes with various parties, such as Scarlett Johansson, Emma Stone, the heirs of Stan Lee, and the state of Florida, the last of which puts more of the blame on the governor. Disney has been accused of breaching contracts, violating rights, withholding payments, and interfering with laws. We can also talk about how Disney’s stock shares plummeted over the past 10 years, and their new plan for Disney+? Hiking up the prices of their subscription services, and they have been rocking the world of Hollywood (I don’t mean that in a good way at all). According to CNN’s article, they’ve been underperforming because their strategy regarding linear television is so weak.
Disney’s theme parks were also failing domestically. They’ve been getting money only because of the parks outside of North America, and again, that is due to the disputes between the governor and the company.
All in all, Disney has failed last year. They have the potential to improve on their failures this year, but only if they do the work. They need to rely less on nostalgia and what already worked and focus on the future. Don’t just assume I’m going to come back because that movie has old characters in it. Let’s just hope 2024 has a comeback in store for Disney, but if not, they just proved that they have not learned anything.
