By Morgan Kacalek
It is no secret that Disney’s profits have been rapidly dwindling; People are canceling their Disney plus subscriptions and recent movie releases are flopping at the box office.
Chief executive at Disney, Robert A. Iger, explains that his plan to get Disney back on track revolves around making money off of Disney plus subscribers they already have, rather than trying to get new ones. Author Brook Barnes of the New York Times states, “The monthly price of the ad-free version of Disney plus rose to $11 in December of 2022, from $8.” In addition to this price increase, Iger plans to up the cost in October of 2023, to $14 for the ad-free version.
Disney plus subscriber loss is not the only problem currently facing the company. Some of Disney’s most recent movies have not lived up to expectations at the box office. Some of the latest movies released such as Elemental, Strange World, Indiana Jones: The Dial of Destiny, and The Little Mermaid, have barely broken even.
But why is this? What is it about new Disney releases that have caused them to be unsuccessful? Some people are speculating that it is due to Disney’s change in content. Robert Iger has made it extremely clear that Disney is adopting a more diverse and inclusive approach to the material they release.
According to the AMP Research Lab, for example, “Only 20% of parents of a minor child agree with the idea of providing material to kids in middle school that features LGBTQ teens.” Considering the fact that newly-released Disney movies such as “Strange World” have featured just that, it is possible that this could be part of the reason these movies flopped. Perhaps parents aren’t satisfied with this kind of content for their minors and it could be that parents just want to see good movies with no political agenda. Governor Ron Desantis, for example, cited the new Super Mario Brothers Movie that was released in April of 2023. Desantis said, “All Disney had to do was make animated movies without political agendas for families to enjoy. Look at freaking Super Mario Brothers, it just made a billion dollars this summer as an animated movie with zero politics.”
While politics may be one issue, there are many Disney fans who don’t care about politics and couldn’t be bothered by Disney’s progressiveness. So why are profits still so low? Many of these new movies have included live-action remakes of classic Disney cartoons, where the original story has been changed. One example of this is the “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” remake set to release in March of 2024. Actress and star of the upcoming movie, Rachel Zegler, has made it very clear that the story will be updated to fit a more advanced society, as opposed to the time when the original cartoon was released in 1937. This has sparked backlash, as Disney fans are unhappy with the changing of the original story. Zegler explained that the new film will no longer feature a princess dreaming of love, but will instead ditch the love story and focus on Snow White’s dream of becoming a leader.
Whether it’s the loss of Disney plus subscribers, their progressive approach, or the changing of original stories, Disney’s profits are tanking and it will be interesting to see how and if they will make a comeback.
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