Disney's Latest Failure Shows They Still Haven't Learned Their Lesson
Disney just can't get out of its own way.
And the trend of obvious mistakes shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.
The latest debacle is the entertainment giant's release of Pixar's "Elemental."
"Elemental" is ostensibly an animated film geared towards children. Except Disney and Pixar decided to inject politics in to a kids movie. Again.
This time with a non-binary character inserted into a movie about elements of nature.
Predictably, it's been a complete financial disaster.
This is the latest in a long strong of box office flops for Disney over the past few years.
"Lightyear," which also injected politics unnecessarily, reportedly lost the company roughly $106 million. That's more than the budget of many medium-sized movies.
"Strange World" was an even worse financial debacle. Disney's losses reportedly neared $200 million on another film that proudly demonstrated its political views.
Surely though, a live action remake of "The Little Mermaid" would be substantially more successful, right?
Not exactly.
READ: LITTLE MERMAID LIKELY TO BECOME THE LATEST DISNEY FILM TO LOSE MONEY
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 22: Halle Bailey attends the Australian premiere of "The Little Mermaid" at State Theatre on May 22, 2023 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Don Arnold/WireImage)
Disney Doesn't Seem To Get The Problem
Film studios, despite producing an art form, are ultimately still just major corporations.
And corporations need to make a profit to continue producing products.
Yet Disney's suffering bomb after bomb after bomb.
What might be worse is that company executives don't seem to get why audiences aren't showing up. One Pixar executive claimed that "Lightyear" flopped because they "asked too much of the audience."
"Elemental" has made just $47 million domestically and $62 million internationally.
For context, Pixar re-released a 3D version of "Finding Nemo" in 2012 and made over $41 million. While the re-release was in theaters for over a month, the vast majority of its box office came in the first 10 days.
"Elemental" has been out for seven days. And adjusted for inflation, it's done worse.
Disaster doesn't even begin to cover how bad this is for Disney.
Estimates for how much money they can expect to lose for this film haven't been released. But taken in conjunction with the other kids movies they've made over the past few years, it's possible losses exceed $400 million.
For what's supposed to be the industry's premier maker of entertainment geared towards children.
Not great!
How Can They Fix It?
Disney has so much money that they can tolerate these massive losses and still survive.
Yet even with their other departments making money, the company just laid off over 7,000 employees. Simply, they need to fix this problem, and quickly.
Yet as their own statements show, they don't even seem to understand what the problem actually is.
Consumers, especially parents, don't want to get modern woke political lectures from kids movies. The company likely greenlit these projects during the height of the social justice movement of 2020, not realizing how quickly it would lose momentum thanks to absurd "defund the police" overreach.
"Representation," and diversity, equity and inclusion became even more important to far left companies like Disney. But parents simply want to take their kids to the movies without having to explain complex sexual or gender concepts.
Until they understand and accept that, it won't get better.
Just a few years ago, Disney put out Pixar's "Incredibles 2," one of the highest grossing films of all time. It was a smart, well-made action adventure that was entertaining for kids and intelligent and humorous enough for adults.
Similarly, the "Super Mario Bros. Movie" broke records this year as the highest grossing animated movie.
There was no political message or sexual theme; it was just entertainment. And it made an absolute fortune.
Until Disney learns to replicate the "Incredibles 2" model, they'll continue putting out financial disasters. Far left employees will cheer, executives will learn the wrong lessons, and the company's prestige will fade even more than it already has.
After "Elemental," it's clear that Disney needs a complete overhaul of its thought process going forward. But who knows if they're actually smart enough to realize it.