Disney’s Self-Aware Investment Disclosure
As the movie “Wish” marks another opening weekend flop, Disney knows why, and it’s not going to change.
Going into Thanksgiving weekend, The Walt Disney Company released its 100 years of animation tribute film, “Wish.” Like “The Marvels” before it, “Wish” was a flop. It only brought in $8.3 million the first day and a cumulative five-day total of $31.7 million. When compared to its $400 million budget, that is a devastating blow.
Now, there is a valid question to ask here before we go further. Was this film a flop because Disney has made itself box-office poison, or was it because people aren’t willing to pay the price to take their kids to the theater when streaming is so much more convenient? It really is a question to take into account. Taking a family of four or more to the movies is an investment. The tickets alone can amount to at least $65. Then add in all the obligatory snacks and, well, there’s $100 gone. However, if movies were uplifting and entertaining — helping people forget about hard times, like during the Great Depression — that investment might be worth something.
But Disney isn’t worth the investment anymore, and that’s being proved yet again at the theaters.
Interestingly enough for this particular Disney film, it was the critics and not the audience that crucified the movie in review purgatory. “Wish’s” plot left a lot to be desired (many say it got off track and had major plot holes), and the musical score was adequate but not spectacular. Overall, it was a hyped film that seemed like yet another recycled Disney plot. It wasn’t “Moana” or “Encanto,” but at least this film wasn’t trying to shove wokeness down your throat.
Maybe not wokeness, but the anti-God allegory and the you-can-be-your-own-god message is there. The neo-paganism is evident even when listening to the soundtrack. However, audiences have given the film an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. Viewers are just relieved that there is no crazy culture war attack launched on them and their children for once. They’re also relieved that “Wish” was on more familiar, predictable Disney grounds.
The Walt Disney Company itself is admitting the folly it has wrought by wading into the culture wars. In its annual investor form that it is obligated to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it is also required to disclose any risks to prospective investors. The filing is pretty straightforward — it details how its profits are tied to creating content that is dictated to its audiences, and that is an ever-changing task. However, the key part of that risk disclosure comes later:
Further, consumers’ perceptions of our position on matters of public interest, including our efforts to achieve certain of our environmental and social goals, often differ widely and present risks to our reputation and brands.
In other words, Disney knows that its ideological and political stances on “environmental” and “social” agendas aren’t welcome or appreciated by the consumer base, but the company is going to carry on doing it anyway. Disney sees that pushing wokeness and cultural corruption on children is hurting it, but it isn’t going to stop. That’s one heck of a business model. Hey, at least shareholders were warned.
Now parents, you’ve been warned. Disney is not indicating that it’s going to reverse course. Executives in the company don’t seem to care if they wreck a storied children’s entertainment company. They will inflict their worldview and political agendas on you until they go bust.
In a way, it’s another example of leftist body snatchers ruining everything they touch. Leftism only destroys. Disney is merely another willing casualty.