In words that would have sounded unfathomable as recently as a few months ago, it sure sucks to be Disney right about now.
The company is in the midst of not just a horrendous run at the box office following a string of colossal bombs, but the Mouse House is also managing to infuriate subscribers to its streaming service by canceling original TV shows and movies, before immediately wiping them off the face of the planet.
The conglomerate that owns Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios, and many more besides should never realistically be finding itself in this position, but the reasons are as obvious as they are concerning.
While speaking to Variety, Josh Spiegel hit the nail squarely on the head when offering his two cents on why Disney’s rotten run shows no signs of ending anytime soon – bar the occasional hit like James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
“Disney desperately needs to create something new. It does a good job at cannibalizing itself. They remake their movies and echo what they’ve done in the past. At a certain point, there won’t be a whole lot for them to echo.”
That’s an accurate assessment when legacy sequels, Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters, Lucasfilm properties like Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and the live-action remakes are evidently beginning to lose their luster among the paying public, but the real question is whether or not the top-level executives even know how to approach a slate that doesn’t lean so heavily on established IP.