Why Disney is standing on shaky ground, despite major successes
Imagine this: You are the head executive of a major media corporation. It made a major acquisition and has acquired more high-profile products, and current properties are doing extremely well. Profit margins on major products are insanely high, and there are several assets set to be released to consumers. This means that the company is having an extremely successful year.
Well, kind of — and that’s the kind of year Disney is having. By almost every means of financial gains, Disney is having an insanely great year. But, thanks to some of the issues with the Disney-Fox merger and a falling out with Sony, the company sometimes described as the place “where dreams come true” is addressing several nightmares.
Disney has had a seesaw of a year. Yes, they have had major hits and probably millions of subscribers coming to Disney+. However, the costs of the Disney-Fox merger and other shady deals have left the studio looking incredibly cold. Yes, the goal of a studio is to make money, but Disney is holding the heavy burden of maintaining the integrity of the film industry, and they are choosing to focus on event pictures rather than giving us deep, thoughtful films.
Disney released some highly anticipated films this year, and so far, they have delivered on the hype.
“Avengers: Endgame” concluded the Infinity Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a mostly satisfying way, and setting the record for the highest worldwide box office total of all time at $2.796 billion, passing “Avatar” — which is now owned by Disney.
“Endgame” was not the only success. “Toy Story 4” and “The Lion King” both performed to expectations with each film crossing the 1 billion-dollar mark. In addition, both “Captain Marvel” and the remake of “Aladdin” exceeded expectations to cross the billion-dollar plateau. This means that Disney now has five films that have grossed over a billion dollars worldwide this year — and we’re not even halfway through September.
The craziest part about their performance is that Disney could end the year with three more films crossing that lofty mark. “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,” the sequel to the Angelina Jolie-starring film “Maleficent,” hits theaters in October. The film is not expected to cross the 1 billion-dollar threshold.
Not to mention that Disney ends the year with “Frozen II” and “Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.” Couple those prospects with their sales from merchandising and theme parks, and it seems like Disney will have a dreamlike ending.
But then, consider the fallout from the Disney-Fox merger. The films that Disney has promoted under the Fox title have bombed. “Dark Phoenix” concluded the X-Men saga with a thud, only scoring about $252 million on the noted $200 million budgeted film. Buddy-cop film “Stuber” earned a sluggish $32.2 million on its listed $16 million budget. Trend aside, Disney only had one film overperform under the Fox name: “Breakthrough,” making $50.4 million on its $14 million budget.
Because of the slow start, Disney has decided to cut several projects and mostly focus on IP driven films from Fox – more X-Men, less “Ready or Not.” With several thousands of jobs being lost in the merger and fewer films being released, the thought of fewer original films being made is frightening and gives off the impression that Disney may just be trying to coast on their new comic book stories and reboots of “Home Alone.”
In addition, Disney could not even keep their golden boy, Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, in the MCU. The deal they tried to make with Sony – take 50% of the film profits and all of the merchandising rights to the character – is startling, and the two studios should have come to a compromise. Regardless, in a time of change in the MCU, Disney has lost their one surefire hit with Peter Parker swinging away.
Nick Fury referenced Shakespeare in “Spider-Man: Far From Home” with the quote “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.” Despite all of their successes, Disney is a perfect representation of that phrase.
@patgunner_ | pagunn@syr.edu