A Glimpse Into The Disney Brain

The failure of Disney's latest Star Wars chapter, The Mandalorian and Grogu, has been a big story for weeks. For instance,

The last time a Star Wars movie under Disney ownership registered a low opening, it was 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story with an $84M 3-day, $103M 4-day and $153M WW (in like for likes). We bashed that result. The ambitious Star Wars expansion pic’s ticket sales were impacted by behind-the-scenes drama, in addition to the fact that Alden Ehrenreich was no Harrison Ford.

Now, Disney’s latest Lucasfilm title, this weekend’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu is opening lower with $81M 3-day and 4-day $98M U.S., lower than Solo: A Star Wars Story‘s domestic start. Global is at $167M WW with $69M from 51 offshore territories. The movie was made under the previous Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy, but it’s executive produced and co-written by Dave Filoni, who is the new co-Lucasfilm Head.

Even worse, just this past week,

The Mandalorian and Grogu has been toppled from the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office... by an R-rated indie horror film with a budget of less than $1 million.

Curry Barker's Obsession has proven to be a huge hit with cinemagoers since it hit theatres on May 15, and as it heads into its third weekend of release, the movie has reclaimed the No. 1 position from the first Star Wars feature since 2019's The Rise of Skywalker.

This isn't good news for Disney, and especially not good news for its new CEO, Josh D'Amaro, who's only a few months into that job. He recently felt the need to defend the film, but oddly, the only reference i've been able to find is in the YouTube video embedded above -- I've searched in vain for online text, and as a result, I've had to transcribe the words of the statement from what Mike Zeroh quotes in the video:

From our pespective, examining and analyzing this massive property like Star Wars, I thik it's very fair to say that there's this obsession with one side of the fan base that are politically motivated to financially halt the success of a prioperty as big as Star Wars. And so, when youi look at The Mandalorian and Grogu, I think it's fair to say that there are plenty of those in this fandom that they're afraid of change and afraid of diversity, equity, and inclusion. As CEO, it is my abdolute responsibility to make sure that we keep DEI at the forefront, and we are doing this with many of our upcoming projects.

But looking at the critics who suddenly changed their tune, and we are talking actual critics, I think the problem with this administration is that they have actually influenced the media in a very different way, and we are talking actual critics. I think the problem with this is that we are witnessing a cultural shift, and not for the better, where critics are afraid to express themselves. It just seems to me that the media right now is suppressed, and that goes for all journalists out there, even when it comes down to those reviewing major motion pictures, and we saw that impact our latest Star Wars film release.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is our greatest Star Wars film yet, and I could even go as far as to say that we did a better job than some of our previous films under Bob Iger. So our goal is to perhaps focus on smaller scale and less financially buerdened Star Wars films.

Except that Mike Zeroh in his own commentary simply sums up the critics' consensus, that the film already comes off as a low-budget attempt to turn out episodes from a TV series, not theatrical cinema, which Star Wars alwyas was until Disney got hold of it. He goes on to quote D'Amaro later in the statement,

. . . this administration, without a doubt, has damaged our industry and damaged the media. It's something that we have to find a way to recover from. Journalists in the media need to actually gain back the courage to speak freely about a film when they really like something. And again, we have no plans on stopping our goals with DEI and just how important diversity and inclusion really is for our industry and for our movies and our properties here at the Disney company.

Zeroh goes on to say that in fact, there's very little DEI in The Mandalorian and Grogu, the problem is that it's dull and predictable. But DEI has been part of Josh D'Amaro's brand at Disney; in 2021, as head of Disney's parks, he liberalized dress and appearance standards for cast members at the parks:

For all the little boys who wanted to be princesses and the girls who wanted to be heroes and everyone in between, Disney is “A Place Where Everyone is Welcome” — at least it’s trying to be.

Ahead of their theme parks’ planned reopening, Disney announced a new addition to “The Four Keys,” the casts’ long standing tradition of honoring safety, courtesy, show and efficiency: inclusion. As part of their renewed efforts, cast members will be allowed “greater flexibility with respect to forms of personal expression,” including gender-inclusive hairstyles, jewelry, nail styles, costume choices and even tattoos.

“There’s more to do, but we’re committed to listening, learning and making meaningful improvements. The world is changing, and we will change with it, and continue to be a source of joy and inspiration for all the world,” said Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, in a blog post.

Buit this wasn't D'Amaro's only innovation. At the same time, the parks imcreased prices to favor an upscale market:

Disney’s price strategy now positions them as a premium priced product. The company realizes many families simply cannot afford the price of admission. And, they accept this fact. On the other hand, plenty of people happily pay for the Magic Kingdom experience. They know their ideal client.

Their customers, known as guests, expect a memorable experience. Although their prices steadily rise, customers continue to walk through their gates.

Disney’s often the price leader. They raise their admission prices. Then all the other local theme parks follow their lead.

Currently adult tickets on peak days max out at $149. Those rates aren’t scaring their customers away. Since 2015, Disney’s revenue increased by $4.1 billion. I’m sure the stock holders are very happy.

The problem for Disney at this point is that the world is continuing to change. D'Amaro clearly blames criticism of the Disney product on the Trump administration. but Trump was voted in by the American electorate, in part because they didn't want drag shows at Army bases. D'Amaro represents a world view that's fading into the rear view mirror, but he insists that what Hollywood needs to do is force the culture back into the Obama-Biden years, while the culture clearly wants to move on.

So at this point, the Disney business plan appears to be to shut the public up and convince them instead just to pay more and more for a debased product. We'll see soon enough how that works out, but that was never Walt Disney's idea of how to make money.