There’s never a dull moment at Disney. When the company isn’t celebrating having two of the top 10 movies at the box office, it’s getting ridiculed for churning out an endless stream of flops. Or, in the case of Nimona, it’s getting ridiculed for passing up on a bop. What it’s not doing, however, is mourning the loss of the movie it gave up that is currently enjoying a lucrative run at the box office. Why? Well, its star is a known Q’Anon supporter, and Walt has a reputation to keep, for starters.
Over on the Disney Plus front, the latest MCU movie to get a D-Plus release sets a precedent for what fans can expect from the superhero franchise’s theatrical-to-streaming time frame. Even more so, it may be setting a Hollywood precedent as a whole.
And let’s not forget all the juicy drama on the live-action remake side of the world. Fresh off a tabloid-making weekend, the star of the Snow White reboot has finally joined Halle Bailey from The Little Mermaid and Yara Shahidi from Peter Pan & Wendy as the latest star to face racist backlash for her casting. Unlike her predecessors, this Snow White princess has come with some feisty words for her naysayers.
Unlike Nimona, Disney may have been right to distance itself from this box-office thriller
Oh, you didn’t know about the drama between Disney and its abandoned stepchild Sound of Freedom. Allow us to fill you in. Disney was all set to make the anti-trafficking thriller starring Jim Caviezel until the company acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019 and decided to shelve the project, leaving it available for Angel Studios to pick it up. Unlike the decision to pass on Nimona, which Disney was ridiculed for over poor judgment, letting go of Sound of Freedom has proven to be the right choice for the House of Mouse: Caviezel is full of alt-right conspiracy theories, is a pro-Trump supporter, and is a known Q’Anon believer, which is actually one giant oxymoron when you think about it.
Anyway, Kevin Sorbo has now added his opinion to the conversation (what’s new), and let’s just say it smelled a lot like those election fraud allegations, except this time fished out of a rotting dumpster instead of the former President’s derrière — wait, that’s another oxymoron. Whoops. Nevertheless, it can’t be ignored that Sounds of Freedom is soaring at the global box office, coming in right behind Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is barely hanging on by a thread, and yet is still sitting pretty at the box office
Speaking of Mission Impossible, or better yet, the film that is currently wiping the floor with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — sadly, Harrison Ford’s final outing as Indy has barely held a candle to Caviezel’s Sound of Freedom and Cruise’s Mission Impossible in terms of surpassing its budget, as both continue to add more zeros to their box office revenue. The film’s “failure” only fuels those conversations that Disney desperately needs a fairy godmother. All that aside, it can’t be overlooked that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Density and Elemental — two Disney films deemed “flops” — are currently sitting among the top 10 movies of 2023. And that, if we may, is a perfect indication of the issue plaguing Disney — nay, Hollywood — at this time.
The live-action Lilo & Stitch gets axed at the knees right before it’s about to stand, thanks to the SAG-AFTRA strike
Another one bites the dust, at least temporarily. The aftermath of the SAG-AFTRA strike has made waves across Hollywood, and those waves have officially reached the live-action Lilo & Stitch, causing the film to halt production just one week before the movie was scheduled to finish filming. The film, laden with drama ranging from the racist backlash to accusations of colorism, will add its name to the growing list of Disney animated classics receiving the live-action touch. Although the word “classic” feels a tad dated for a film that only came out in 2002, remember that Mouse House also plans to give Moana the live-action treatment, a film that only came out in 2016.
Snow White’s Rachel Zegler has no time for racist backlash, so don’t even bother to bug her
Speaking of Rachel Zegler — her name was on the tip of everyone’s tongue over the weekend after Snow White set photos revealed a diverse cast of dwarves ranging in height, skin color, and gender. The pictures were initially dispelled as fake after a representative for Disney erroneously called them such, but in actuality, they are real. Or, we should say they are real set photos from the Snow White production but include stand-in extras in place of the real cast. Nevertheless, the backlash from the initial reports of a diverse cast rippled throughout the internet and found its way to Zegler, who politely but firmly asked her fans not to tag her in “nonsensical discourse about my casting.” Something tells us Zegler will be much less reserved than Halle Bailey in terms of addressing trolls; honestly, we’re here for it. You tell them, Rachel!
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 solidifies new streaming precedence with its Disney Plus release date
When Thor: Love and Thunder took 62 days to release on Disney Plus, MCU fans were confused. When Black Panther: Wakanda Forever took 82 days to hit the streaming platform, cynicism spiked. When Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania took 89 days, anger finally set in. Now that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will follow suit with an 89-day post-theatrical Disney Plus release, acceptance may have finally settled in. Perhaps this new precedent is part of Disney’s way of tempering the dilution Bob Iger says the MCU has experienced from the never-ending stream of content.
Either way, grab your wallets, mark your calendars, and butter your popcorn because Disney is showing no indication of slowing down any time soon, especially if these rumors about a new live-action movie helmed by an Oscar-winning director are true.