- today
Disney problems, Disney remakes, Disney lawsuits, Marvel oversaturation, Star Wars decline, sympathetic villains, Disney representation issues, canceled Disney shows, Disney crossovers, Disney IP milking, Cruella, Lightyear controversy, Disney legal team, The Owl House cancellation, Disney marketing failures, Andor, X-Men 97, original content, Disney brownie points, remake era, corporate greed, House of Mouse, Disney criticism, Disney TV cancellations, Disney cinematic universe, Disney Revival era
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Short filmTranscript
00:00King and I don't have much in this world, we only have each other.
00:03So if that dumb crown is important to him, it's important to me.
00:07Besides, us weirdos have to stick together, you know?
00:11Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're diving deep into seven modern problems with the Walt Disney Company.
00:17I wish I could say you die alone, but it's one of God's best jokes that you can't die, except that's on all of us!
00:23Number 7, The Remake Factory.
00:25I just can't wait, I just can't wait, to be king.
00:35We have seen Disney transform across a multitude of eras, from the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Ages, to the Renaissance, Post-Renaissance, and Revival eras.
00:44While some claim that the Revival era is still going, we beg to differ, as the conglomerate's output over the past decade has been questionable at best.
00:53For what few originals we do get, they are not given enough marketing, and have often shown to be half-hearted attempts.
00:59But remakes of the classics?
01:01Those have become a dime a dozen, and they seem to be the only idea Disney wants to get behind.
01:05Notice how much marketing Lilo and Stitch, The Lion King, Snow White, and every other remake received within the last several years,
01:12compared to original movies like Encanto, or even Wish, which got little to no marketing outside of word of mouth.
01:18As with the movies themselves, many of them either lack the character development, the magic and wonder of the visuals,
01:24or completely miss the point that their original stories were trying to tell.
01:27Stitch bad.
01:29Sometimes family isn't perfect.
01:31When you have a producer like Joe Russo looking to TikTok as inspiration for a Hercules remake, there's no questioning it.
01:38The Revival era ended sometime after 2014, when they went all in on remakes like Maleficent.
01:44Since then, we have been living in the lazy cash-grab remake era.
01:47Oh dear.
01:49What an awkward situation.
01:52Number 6.
01:53Sympathetic Villains
01:54And in that moment...
01:55Touch the ground!
01:57The best I could think to do...
01:59Was run.
02:02The purpose of a villain or antagonist is to challenge the protagonist throughout the hero's journey.
02:07They are meant to test the hero's strength, their way of thinking, their beliefs, their willpower, everything they know.
02:13While they can be written in a way to be sympathetic, Disney has been flubbing this several times.
02:17The 2021 prequel, Cruella, was a big example of this whole misunderstood villain approach, and why it's completely unnecessary.
02:24A horrible childhood and constantly being the underdog does not justify Cruella's heinous actions towards animals in any way, shape, or form.
02:32We were reaping the reward.
02:35But as good as things were, I felt I was meant for more in this life.
02:39The point of villains like Cruella is not to be relatable.
02:42They are supposed to challenge viewpoints of the story's messaging.
02:45A good example of this is Abuela Madrigal in Encanto.
02:49Because Mirabelle is the only family member without a special gift, Abuela treats her rather unfairly.
02:54However, part of Abuela's tenacity stems from the Madrigal family's role in being the town's problem solvers.
03:00If the answer is here, help me find it.
03:05Help me protect our family.
03:08Help me save our miracle.
03:11They all possess abilities that make life perfect for everyone.
03:14When someone like Mirabelle poses as a possible threat to dismantling that perfect life, sure, someone in Abuela's position might be more scathing towards that individual, even though it's wrong.
03:24Thankfully, Abuela realizes this by the end of the movie and makes amends with Mirabelle.
03:29That is a sympathetic villain.
03:31Believable reasons make sympathetic villains not phoned in excuses.
03:35Number 5. Begging for brownie points.
03:38Wait, what's that?
03:40Oh, I got engaged.
03:42Oh, wow. That's great.
03:44What's her name?
03:45Kiko.
03:46She's one of the science crew.
03:48Adding to the frustration of Disney's movies within the last decade is the complete lack of representation in their movies and attention to certain cultures.
03:55Whenever Disney has put in a character that fits within certain minorities, they are often delegated to being a supporting or background character.
04:02It's not even their inclusion or lack of significant roles that's the biggest part of the problem.
04:06It's how the company has noticeably treated inclusiveness both in public and, from what's been reported, behind closed doors.
04:13In 2022, Lightyear received a ton of flack for showing a kiss between two women.
04:17Almost expectedly so, many governments had problems with the brief kiss, but within the United States and Canada, grifters latched on to this half-second moment and put Disney on blast.
04:33The corporation cut the scene from the movie initially before Disney and Pixar staff sent an open letter to leadership, convincing them to put it back in weeks before Lightyear's release.
04:42When then-CEO Bob Shapek would voice his support over the scene's inclusion, one source speaking to IGN alleged that Disney viewed the scene as the reason for Lightyear's poor financial performance.
04:53Between this and the half-hearted attempt at confirming LeFou as gay in 2017, Disney has shown to be indecisive when it comes to supporting minorities, let alone their own support in their team's respective visions.
05:04Every guy here'd love to be you, Gaston, even when taking your lumps. There's no man in town as admired as you. You're everyone's favorite guy.
05:17Do we even need to mention the onslaught of harassment John Boyega, Gal Gadot, Rachel Zegler, Kelly Marie Tran, and many other actors have received over the years just for being minorities?
05:26Of them all, Gadot was the one who got any kind of backing from Disney, as she received security during Snow White's production. The rest mostly have had to fend for themselves.
05:36Number 4. Unbeatable Lawsuits
05:38It is no secret that Disney has employed some of the best, yet most dangerous legal teams any company could ever own.
05:46The conglomerate has had an extensive history when it comes to pulling legal loopholes and keeping image-damaging lawsuits out of the public eye as much as possible.
05:53These lawsuits go as far back as 1956, when Kirk Douglas and his kids were being recorded for a show without their consent while visiting Walt Disney himself at his California home.
06:04Then, you have the decades of discrimination, gender inequality within numerous branches of the corporation, and accusations of plagiarism, many cases in which are settled outside of court for unknown reasons, or suddenly dropped the minute allegations arise.
06:17And, lest we forget about the lawsuit in 2024, where Disney tried to use their own terms and conditions agreements for Disney+, to get out of a case involving a wrongful death that took place at Disney Springs in Florida.
06:29Disney's legal team are definitely experts when it comes to working the justice system in their favor.
06:34That much is clear, but the lengths they're willing to go to to get out of things has certainly made them more suspicious than the Magic Kingdom leads on.
06:41Arlo's Mandy, he didn't even have a chance.
06:46They were sailors. Same as me.
06:49Slaughtered by that monster you're trying to make friends with.
06:53Number 3. Cancel City. Population, too many.
06:56Garbage! Garbage. Garbage.
07:01Now this...
07:03This will make me rich.
07:06One point we touched on earlier, was how risk-averse Disney has been over the past decade, favoring remakes over anything original and promising.
07:14This has been especially evident in their TV department, as we've seen a litany of shows get unceremoniously cancelled, or forced to end just when things were getting good.
07:23Some shows that have become victim to Disney's cancel-happy spree, include Star vs. The Force of Evil, Andor, The Owl House, Renegade Nell, The Muppets Mayhem, and The Mysterious Benedict Society.
07:33People come and go.
07:34If a reason is ever given, it's either budget cuts, or low viewership.
07:40But therein lies the problem with Disney, along with many other companies within entertainment.
07:45How do you expect your product to make money if you don't advertise and promote it?
07:49Yes, marketing costs as much as it costs to put the production together, usually.
07:52However, it's worth questioning what was the point in greenlighting the production, if you aren't going to get behind it and try to get people to support it.
07:59How do you expect anyone to even know about your product if you won't even so much as talk about it?
08:04But sure, let's keep throwing money at the live-action remix that botch our original material and further devalue the brand.
08:09Or, you could always pay back your advance of $420,000.
08:14Whoa, that's a big number!
08:16Anyone remember where all that went?
08:18I don't know.
08:19It says here the check was cashed by a Mr. Zutowski.
08:21I'd like to buy a vowel, Pat.
08:27Number 2.
08:28Crossover Obsession and Perversion
08:29Can you please explain to me what is going on?
08:32That little spell that you botched where you wanted everyone to forget the Peter Parker Spider-Man,
08:36it started pulling in everyone who knows Peter Parker Spider-Man from every universe into this one.
08:42In all honesty, it can be pretty cool seeing how stories will try to weave into one another through subtle nods and references.
08:48It's what made the Pixar theory a neat concept to think about.
08:51Unfortunately, Disney has seemingly turned easter eggs and references into practically an annoying necessity for their products made only for lore junkies and fanboys.
09:00No matter what you watch, be it Star Wars, Marvel, or your average Disney movie,
09:04the references are so on the nose these days that they can't even be considered easter eggs.
09:09Go to outer space, well hey you've come to the right place.
09:16As for the crossovers in general, it's gotten so egregious within Marvel and Star Wars products
09:20that it feels like you'll never get full context behind standalone stories unless you've seen the majority of the movies and shows,
09:27if not all of them.
09:28Because everything has to tie into some cinematic universe,
09:31it feels as if not one character is allowed to have their own thing.
09:34There just isn't a good reason behind that approach,
09:37especially when your post-Avengers crossover event isn't panning out because of how mediocre most of the movies and shows are.
09:42Ever since that day we met.
09:45Wow.
09:47Scott Lang.
09:48Get away from us!
09:49The day you broke me.
09:52And since we're finally talking about Marvel and Star Wars products...
09:55Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
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10:12Number 1.
10:13The Marvel and Star Wars Dairy Farm
10:15Avengers!
10:22Assemble.
10:22No!
10:25Upon acquiring Marvel and Lucasfilm in 2009 and 2012 respectively,
10:29one would hope a company like Disney would take note of how special the two companies and their IPs were.
10:35We're not going to sit here and say that everything has been awful since Avengers Endgame and Rise of Skywalker.
10:40We have seen some impressive gems from both brands,
10:42like Andor, Agatha All Along,
10:44WandaVision,
10:45the first two seasons of The Mandalorian,
10:47X-Men 97,
10:48and Deadpool and Wolverine.
10:50However,
10:50for every gem we've seen from Disney,
10:52there have been way more feeble lumps of coal than any entertainment company should be putting out.
10:57Secret Invasion,
10:58The Book of Boba Fett,
10:59The Marvels,
11:00The Acolyte,
11:01She-Hulk Attorney at Law,
11:03and Eternals
11:03were such massive blunders
11:05that they leave a bigger,
11:06uglier mark on the brands
11:07than the better shows do.
11:09It's gotten so bad
11:10that it's caused many to begin questioning the leadership and quality control going on at Disney.
11:14Is that me?
11:16Is that Thor?
11:17Is he crying?
11:19Uh, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
11:21Uh, that happens in the distant future.
11:23Why is Thor crying?
11:23This isn't a Kathleen Kennedy problem either,
11:26despite what some may tell you.
11:27This is an output problem where so many projects are getting greenlit
11:30that whatever turns out mediocre or worse
11:33significantly impacts the overall image of the brand
11:35and winds up overshadowing the more quality products.
11:38In Disney's case,
11:39so much of the output has wound up doing just that
11:42on top of ballooning their budget costs.
11:44What Disney has failed to realize
11:46is that not every character,
11:48event,
11:48or little plot detail needs its own show or movie.
11:51Your intervention failed.
11:54We don't need your help anymore.
11:57Above all,
11:57we don't need a new one every week
11:59or even every month
12:01or every few months.
12:02When you let IPs breathe a little
12:04and let creatives do what they need to do,
12:06you can end up with something as great as Andor
12:08or X-Men 97.
12:10You can make great productions
12:11without trying to forcibly set up
12:12the next big cinematic crossover event
12:14or assaulting fans with a movie
12:16that references this show
12:18that's spun off from this other show
12:19that requires you to watch a trilogy of movies
12:21to understand anything.
12:23Treat your IPs with care
12:24and the fans will show up and be excited.
12:26Keep milking them with unnecessary products though
12:28and you tarnish two of your biggest pillars
12:30and cause people to leave.
12:32All that said,
12:38which deadly Disney sin
12:40do you find the most frustrating?
12:41Let us know down in the comments.
12:43It's not great.
12:44It's just been miss
12:45after miss
12:47after miss.
12:49Let us know down in the comments also today.
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