You would think that Disney would have learned some hard lessons about its role in the world and the financial problems it is finding itself in. However, I don’t like discussing negatives all the time, because a fantastic movie called Sketch hit theaters a few weeks ago and is a sign of many good things to come from Angel Studios, showcasing a much different movie world on the horizon. The Hollyweird crowd has lost all its influence and power and is on a dramatic downward trend. Sketch was an excellent film that was on limited release, so it’s not a box office titan, unlike the way Disney distributes films. However, coming off the success of the fantastic Chosen series, Angel Studios, I think, is fair to say, is replacing the role Disney used to play with families. I thought Sketch reminded me of a modern version of E.T., Goonies, or even Gremlins, movies produced by Steven Spielberg in his prime. And it shows that markets determine success, not PR firms and lawyers who run these big studios these days. The CEO of Disney came a bit unglued this past week, doubling down on his decision to release films that continue to fail to excite the public as they once did. The recent movie, Fantastic Four, which I thought was pretty fantastic, has not performed well. It will be fortunate to collect $500 million, half of what was expected to be made, and that is because Disney has lost the trust of the public. Bob Iger now sees the problem I have been pointing out for a long time, much more clearly. It’s safe to say that his hopes for the upcoming movie Doomsday are in serious trouble because all the films building it up are not performing well at the movie theater.
It just goes to show how little the entertainment industry knows about the psychology of the movie-going public. And I love this topic because movies are something most everyone can relate to. Most of us watch them whether on television, streaming services, or at the movie theater. So, in many ways, buying a movie ticket, as I have always seen the experience, is like voting. People vote for their values by spending money. But there was a communist movement, as outlined by Cleon Skousen in the famous book, The Naked Communist, to take over the movie studios and the message that they broadcast to the world, and that has undoubtedly happened to Disney through the mask of woke culture. Now that people have seen just how much Disney resembles the Democrat Party and how anti-Trump they have been, they have stopped spending money on Disney products and have turned toward other entertainment options, such as those provided by Angel Studios. Currently, they are not financially comparable, even though they may show movies side by side. I think the movie Sketch cost around $ 3 million to make, and it is considered very profitable, having doubled that amount in returns. Whereas something like the latest Fantastic Four movie costs half a billion dollars by the time it’s made, and some media is created for it. And it’s poised to break even, maybe. So it’s not apples to apples, but more like apples and apple sauce. However, the message is clear: people are leaving Disney and seeking alternatives, which is evident in their declining park attendance as well. And in anger over their bad decisions to support woke agendas as an entertainment studio, Bob Iger and the stars of Fantastic Four, like Pedro Pascal, have been complaining about Trump supporters, which didn’t help their case.
Disney assumed that people would support whatever they put together because the public had to. And that is not the case. Trump supporters have taken themselves off the grid because they dislike the products that Disney has released, or even traditional cable. I have been talking about emerging streaming services such as Truth Social, Trump’s personal social media platform, and they have good television that breaks the cycle of traditional cable services, leaving CNN, MSNBC, and all the networks struggling to maintain their audiences because they are all fleeing to outlets they trust more even if they are brand new. Such as Angel Studios, which earned its audience with great projects like The Chosen. And successful films at the theater, such as The Sound of Freedom. However, it’s not just Disney; Warner Bros. has been more successful and less woke than Disney, as evidenced by its box office performance. However, their recent update to Superman didn’t perform well at the theater, falling well short of expectations, which James Gunn was very dismissive about. Superman is all about “truth, justice, and the American Way.” Not the “human way.” The world looks to America to be a beacon of hope, and that’s what the world wants out of American entertainment. They don’t wish to communicate messages that put out the fires of hope. And this Superman just wasn’t that “super.” He was an all-too-human global citizen, and audiences rejected the premise. It might have been a pretty good movie, just as Fantastic Four was. However, the messaging was off-target for the intended audiences. And when Bob Iger is mad, it’s because he thought he understood elements of market trends that he didn’t. For all the same reasons people voted for Trump, they also vote with their market dollars on where to spend their money on amusement parks or movies.
Bob Iger and many others believe that people go to see movies because they like the actors, such as in the upcoming Doomsday with Robert Downey Jr. They are investing massive amounts of money in these actors, thereby inflating the budgets. There will be approximately 100 cameo actors in the upcoming big Marvel movie. But the gamble on Pedro Pascal is scaring everyone at the Mouse House because it hasn’t turned out the way they planned. I personally liked Pedro Pascal in The Fantastic Four. I think he is good as The Mandalorian. But he’s too woke to replace Mel Gibson and Bruce Willis as the new Hollywood leading man. Because Hollywood thought it controlled the message, and that people loved the actors, but that is not turning out to be true. A movie like Sketch features a cast of actors, none of whom are stars, and yet the movie still performed well for its small audience. It will stream well, and people will remember it far longer than these Marvel movies. And rather than learn their lesson, Disney is only digging deeper, indicating that they are going to double down on their woke agenda. And that’s the problem. Nobody cares about their product, and the more they push an openly gay agenda, which they did in The Eternals, people will drop them as an entertainment option, and that includes the $20k vacation to Disney World. Eternals, with its openly gay scenes, was the dagger that halted Marvel’s successes at Disney. The longer they avoid addressing that issue, the more financial damage they will incur. When a studio and its actors go against the political trend of a nation like America, they can’t survive. To fill the void of family entertainment left behind by Disney, there is the wonderful Angel Studios, which is producing great entertainment. Sketch is just one example. And for Bob Iger, a hard lesson that he will learn too late: the market is in charge. Communist leaders are not. And studios, if such assumptions capture them, will lose money in that marketplace because of free choice.
Rich Hoffman
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