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August 10th, 2023

8/10/2023

14 Comments

 

WHAT WENT HORRIBLY WRONG?

Picture

     Let’s Take A Peek into the House of Mouse!
          By John Wilson and Mo Murphy
 
Almost as bad as DeSantis’ “I want to be king” campaign,  is this year’s story of his nemesis.  2023 is the year Dizz-Knee turns 100 and there just won’t be that much to celebrate - if you take in a disastrous take-in or lack thereof at the box office.
 
So, who moved the cheese?  
 
2023 is the Disney company's centennial anniversary, and corporate honchos had hoped to spend this entire year celebrating a century of success. But things haven't exactly worked out that way. For the first time in its 100 year history, the once phenomenally profitable Walt Disney Pictures has suffered failure after failure at the box office..
 
The biggest problem is their focus on financial rather than create concerns, exemplified by their long-term practice of doing endless, uninspired live action remakes of titles from their animated classics vault, (which we like to think of as "Avarice in Wonderland"). This creatively lazy habit used to all-but-guarantee  profits on each product, but between budget over-runs, critical drubbings and public disinterest, the days of "if we make it, they will come" may have come to an end. 

This year's big budget re-imagining (read" rip-off") Peter Pan and Wendy, like last year's Razzie winning Pinocchio reboot, went straight to streaming on Disney Plus. This Pan was widely panned, suffering an embarrassing 4.4 out of 10 User Rating at IMDb, and viewership was also lower than expected, never reaching any higher than 7th on any Streaming Title ratings services. At least its production budget was a mere $45 million.

The highly touted (and excessively promoted) remake of Little Mermaid did get released to theatres and does rank among the year's highest grossers. But with an estimated production budget of $250 million (and a commensurate promotional cost as well) it never quite captured the public's imagination as the animated original did, and the eventual profit from this Mermaid will be little indeed. 

Additional box office disappointments include the animated Elemental, which cost about $200 million, and has barely generated $150 million in box office (meaning massive losses). Disney was also behind what may be the biggest box office bomb of 2023, the fifth film in the Raiders franchise, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. With a budget of $300 million, and a total gross barely exceeding that, Dial simply excited almost no one, and looks doomed to be a major contributing factor in Disney being awash in red ink. 

Add in the recent DOA debut of their second live action version of Haunted Mansion (which opened to a scary $24 million against a cost of $150 million -- then plummeted 73% for Friday of its second weekend). 
​
Current industry estimates (and an extensive article in the current issue of Forbes magazine) have Disney looking at a potential shortfall by year's end of...more than a billion dollars(!). 
 
And the near future doesn't look likely to be much brighter. Disney is the unfair target of a homophobic boycott fomented by Florida governor (and charisma-free GOP candidate) Ron de Santis, and, like the rest of the industry, Disney has seen production ground to a virtual standstill by the double whammy of simultaneous strikes by both SAG and the WGA. 
 
And with the company's main mascot, Mickey Mouse, about to lose its status as a trademarked image, their reputation as an industry leader in both merchandising and synergy may be in jeopardy as well.
 
If Disney continues on their downward trajectory they've been on so far this year, they could set a Razzie precedent: Winning the first ever Barry L Bumstead award (for box office underachievement) that won't gone to an individual movie title...but to an entire movie studio!
 


14 Comments
Oiram
8/11/2023 03:11:33 pm

Hey, interesting article. We'll see what happens with Disney.

Soooo... When are the Razzie Forums coming back? Been a few months now.

Reply
Dragonsblood23
8/14/2023 10:10:28 pm

Don't forget also earlier this year, Disney had a slap to the face where one of their beloved IPs turned public domain and turned into a horror movie with Winnie The Pooh: Blood and Honey, a godawful film that's deserving of multiple Razzies including Worst Picture!

Also I agree with Oiram, would love to see The Razzie Forums come back or perhaps a Discord Server could be nice

Reply
Ben P Sampson
12/24/2023 09:08:21 pm

I definitely agree with you on Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey. The screenplay was definitely the worst of this year.

Reply
MiguelAntilsu
8/23/2023 04:37:18 pm

I'm against it. We shouldn't be doing anything that would put our reputation at risk, especially after the backlash we endured from nominating Ryan Kiera Armstrong. This kind of move would be seen as a cop out and would be disrespectful to everyone who worked to make those movies. It should also be worth noting that "The Little Mermaid" and "Elemental" both managed to reach their break-even points despite their 'slow starts'. Furthermore since those two movies have positive reception, it would make us look like we're trying to tick people off rather than make a point. If any studio deserves the Barry L Bumstead Award, it's Warner Bros. They've made several bad decisions over the past year and they too have had a slate of failures including "House Party", "Magic Mike's Last Dance", "Shazam: Fury of the Gods", and "The Flash". Coincidentally, they're celebrating their own centennial.

Reply
DunIda
10/17/2023 10:59:22 pm

Possible Razzie contender "The Little Mermaid":

Worst Picture

Worst Actress: Halle Bailey

Worst Supporting Actress: Awkwafina

Worst Supporting Actor: Daveed Diggs

Worst Prequel, Remake, Ripoff or Sequel

Worst Screenplay: David Magee

Worst Screen Combination: The Entire Cast

Reply
MiguelAntilsu
11/12/2023 06:36:35 am

Nominating that film would destroy what's left of our reputation. Our purpose is to single out the worst movies, performances, and filmmaking achievements of each year, not pander to YouTubers who misuse the word 'woke'.

Reply
DunIda
11/22/2023 11:34:25 pm

I disagree. This remake is so dull it can put many movie goers to sleep.

DunIda
10/22/2023 03:32:34 pm

Possible Razzie nominee for "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny"

Worst Picture

Worst Actress: Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Worst Supporting Actress: Shaunette Renée Wilson

Worst Supporting Actor: Boyd Holbrook

Worst Prequel, Remake, Ripoff or Sequel

Worst Director: James Mangold

Worst Screenplay: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and David Koepp

Worst Screen Combination

Reply
Ben Sampson
12/24/2023 09:09:33 pm

Please respond to Miguel's comment, he meant to reply to you.

Reply
MiguelAntilsu
11/25/2023 09:40:58 am

DunIda, we can't risk inviting any more backlash. After the Ryan Kiera Armstrong incident, many publications called for the Razzies to be discontinued. If we hit below the belt again, the consequences could be much worse.

Reply
Ben Sampson
12/24/2023 09:06:44 pm

I think the Barry L Bumstead award is enough for Disney. No other categories needed. Also, Elemental is a sleeper hit, which means it doesn't belong among them, and everyone already likes it.

So, I say Razzies should focus on other movies when it comes to the main categories.
Disney getting the "Special" Razzie award only for the REAL bombs are more appropriate if we don't bother to award them by name, but maybe show what is referred to in the YouTube video of announcements. So yeah, Award it to a company if you want for CERTAIN movies, but not all. Even if it goes to the studio for never learned their lesson on film release dates from last year.

(PLEASE CONSIDER THIS JOHN B. WILSON)

Reply
Ben Sampson
12/24/2023 09:15:47 pm

Then again, DON'T DO IT UNLESS YOU WANT THE RAZZIES TO BE HATED AGAIN LIKE LAST YEAR'S RYAN KIERA ARMSTRONG INCIDENT! (which I didn't vote for when it came to the nominations at the time)

Reply
Sean Ramsdell
3/8/2024 04:25:03 am

Lest we forget Once Upon a Studio, one of the best things to come out from said studio

Reply
Sean Ramsdell
3/8/2024 04:26:19 am

Lest we forget the ever awesome Once Upon a Studio

Reply



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