{"id":1950285,"date":"2023-06-18T08:40:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-18T12:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/disney-never-learns-another-expensive-woke-animated-film-from-studio-flops-hard\/"},"modified":"2023-06-18T08:48:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T12:48:02","slug":"disney-never-learns-another-expensive-woke-animated-film-from-studio-flops-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/disney-never-learns-another-expensive-woke-animated-film-from-studio-flops-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney&#8217;s Expensive, Woke Animated Film Flops Again"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdisney-never-learns-another-expensive-woke-animated-film-from-studio-flops-hard%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1950285&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Disney Never Learns: Another Expensive, Woke Animated Film from Studio Flops Hard<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s just like \u201cGroundhog Day\u201d for Disney \u2014 albeit without the positive box-office numbers to show for it.<\/p>\n<p>Once again, the company, through its Pixar subsidiary, is releasing a woke animated film aimed at kids \u2014 the third in roughly a year\u2019s time. Once again, there were high expectations for it, so much so that the studio debuted it at the Cannes Film Festival.<\/p>\n<p>And once again, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/watch-disney-character-seems-provocatively-dance-children-pride-night-parade\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Disney<\/a> looks to have a bomb on its hands.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>According to a Saturday report from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/the-flash-box-office-elemental-iced-1235518215\/#!\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>, \u201cElemental\u201d \u2014 a Pixar-produced film with a thoroughly unsubtle message about social inequality in urban America \u2014 will only take home between $28 million and $32 million at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9-box-office-duds-that-became-cult-classics\/\" title=\"9 Box Office Duds That Became Cult Classics\">box office<\/a> on its opening weekend.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This is even lower than the flop that had already been predicted for the film.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, the entertainment news site <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/elemental-pixar-slump-box-office\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Wrap<\/a> noted that projections for the film were in the $35 to $40 million range on opening weekend, which was still astoundingly low for a Pixar product. This is despite the fact \u201cElemental\u201d also shared roughly the same exorbitant budget level as \u201cLightyear\u201d \u2014 another expensive Pixar disaster, although one that didn\u2019t flop as hard as \u201cElemental\u201d is expected to in its first week at the box office.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/critics-slam-biden-over-report-he-is-considering-travel-restrictions-against-florida-other-states\/\" title=\"Critics Slam Biden Over Report He Is Considering Travel Restrictions Against Florida, Other States\">current numbers<\/a>, if they end up on the low end of estimates, could make it the worst <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mind-behind-woke-disney-failure-gets-ax-bad-news-doesnt-stop\/\">Pixar<\/a> debut ever, even in non-inflation adjusted dollars. (The original \u201cToy Story\u201d debuted at $29 million in 1995, long before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/this-day-in-history\/walt-disney-announces-7-4-billion-purchase-of-pixar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Disney purchased the studio<\/a> in 2005. In 2023 dollars, that calculates to $58 million in 2023.)<\/p>\n<p>And no, let\u2019s be clear: It\u2019s not just because people are used to streaming movies now, they don\u2019t want to go back into the theater, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-marilyn-manson-guitarist-wes-borland-claims-allegations-are-true\/\" title=\"Former Marilyn Manson Guitarist Wes Borland Claims Allegations Are \u2018True\u2019\">blah blah blah<\/a>. Even another film with wokeness issues, superhero movie \u201cThe Flash,\u201d was on track to generate $58 to $60 million over the weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter \u2014 although this too was below estimates.<\/p>\n<p>(While the legal issues facing the nonbinary star of \u201cThe Flash,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/warner-bros-may-scrapping-another-film-woke-superhero-actor-faces-villainous-allegations-involving-children\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ezra Miller<\/a>, may have had something to do with it, both critics and audiences seemed to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/the-flash-movie-review-2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">confused<\/a> and put off by the film, according to metrics cited by THR.)<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Disney had put in an all-out effort to ensure audiences went to the theater to see \u201cElemental\u201d in person.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe studio has invested heavily in marketing campaigns, positioning Elemental as a must-see event for families in theaters. It\u2019s one of the first films Disney has been trying to recruit theater-watching individuals for following the end of the pandemic,\u201d geek-centric outlet <a href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/ent\/elemental-flop-disney.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Giant Freakin Robot<\/a> noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPremiering Elemental on the closing day of the Cannes Film Festival was another attempt by Disney to create buzz around the film. However, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/disney-never-learns-another-expensive-woke-animated-film-from-studio-flops-hard\/\" title=\"Disney's Expensive, Woke Animated Film Flops Again\">movie received lukewarm reviews<\/a> from the few critics who saw it at Cannes, failing to generate the desired audience excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, why the flop? This time, critics and other box-office watchers seem willing to admit that pushing social messaging in viewers\u2019 faces doesn\u2019t make for good art.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSet in a world where natural elements \u2014 earth, fire, water, air \u2014 coexist in a New York-style metropolis, each representing different social classes, the film\u2014directed by Peter Sohn, from a screenplay by John Hoberh, Kat Likkel, and Brenda Hsueh \u2014 aims high with that central metaphor but is set immediately off-balance by its unwieldiness as racial allegory, an issue compounded by haphazard pacing and writing so flatly predictable it suggests a Pixar film authored by an AI algorithm,\u201d wrote Isaac Feldberg in a two-star review at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/elemental-movie-review-2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RogerEbert.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt times bordering on the nonsensical, the film feels under-developed rather than universal, a colorful missed opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Or, as a writer at <a href=\"https:\/\/decentfilms.com\/articles\/elemental\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DecentFilms<\/a> put it: \u201cWhen a significant part of the conflict in a cartoon about talking elemental beings turns on urban infrastructure problems, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/electric-cars-could-lead-to-more-parking-garage-collapses-like-in-nyc-experts-warn\/\" title=\"Electric Cars Could Lead To More Parking Garage Collapses Like In NYC, Experts Warn\">building code violations<\/a>, and city bureaucracy, something has gone off the rails.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maybe the missed opportunity Mr. Feldberg was talking about was the lack of a cameo from Pete Buttigieg as a bureaucrat talking about how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/roads-racist-buttigieg-says-racism-literally-built-roads-must-destroyed-rebuilt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">racist highways<\/a> in the \u201cElemental\u201d universe needed to be torn down.<\/p>\n<p>The official trailer of the movie is here:<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-embed\">\n<\/div>\n<p>Again, you may be noticing a pattern here \u2014 and Disney certainly can\u2019t ignore it, either.<\/p>\n<p>Flash back to last June, when all of this began. As part of the company\u2019s defiance of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 Parental Rights in Education Act \u2014 the so-called \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill \u2014 Disney re-inserted footage of a same-sex kiss in the Pixar film \u201cLightyear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The film opened with a lower-than-expected $51 million box office take \u2014 a veritable blockbuster compared to \u201cElemental\u201d but still well below analysts\u2019 estimates. That failure was blamed on anything\u00a0<em>but<\/em> the lesbian kiss controversy; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/disneys-woke-lightyear-tanks-us-box-office-mainstream-media-cant-seem-figure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">box-office watchers blamed<\/a> the failure on everything from streaming alternatives to sequel-itis to confusion over where the prequel fell in the \u201cToy Story\u201d universe.<\/p>\n<p>Then came \u201cStrange World,\u201d touted as the first Disney kids\u2019 film to feature a teen LGBT lead character. As <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2022\/film\/box-office\/disney-strange-world-box-office-flop-thanksgiving-wakanda-forever-1235442708\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Variety<\/a> noted, that film flopped even harder, taking home $11.9 million in its opening weekend and $18.6 million over a five-day Thanksgiving weekend frame. Expectations were for a $30 to $40 million opening. Those two films alone ended up losing Disney <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/report-disney-lost-quarter-billion-dollars-two-woke-failures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">over a quarter of a billion dollars<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And now we have \u201cElemental,\u201d a lovely tale of racial inequality, building permits and infrastructure woes \u2014 which inexplicably didn\u2019t catch on with kiddies or their parents. Who would have guessed? I mean, except everyone who witnessed what happened the last two times the House of Mouse tried to shove leftist values down Americans\u2019 throats, and America collectively coughed it back up.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m sure Disney will come to its senses and realize parents (and kids) don\u2019t want politics in the cinema. Or maybe they\u2019ll sign the nonbinary Ezra Miller to voice a nonbinary version of Mickey Mouse. One of the two.<\/p>\n<p>Given Disney\u2019s penchant for never learning from these things, my money\u2019s on the second option \u2014 provided <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/hollywood-star-facing-disgusting-allegations-involving-children-will-keep-role-latest-movie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Miller stays out of jail<\/a>, of course.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/disney-never-learns-another-expensive-woke-animated-film-studio-flops-hard\/\">Disney Never Learns: Another Expensive, Woke Animated Film from Studio Flops Hard<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disney, resembling &#8220;Groundhog Day,&#8221; releases another woke animated film through Pixar, but without the desired box-office success. This marks the third release in a year, targeting children. Despite high hopes, the film fails to meet expectations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":663,"featured_media":1950286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[13212,11601,4661,5336,6465,5558],"class_list":["post-1950285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily","tag-animated","tag-disneys","tag-expensive","tag-film","tag-flops","tag-woke"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/663"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1950285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1950286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1950285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1950285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1950285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}