We Have a Star Wars Movie

A really bad Star Wars movie. It opened to the lowest box office in the Disney Lucasfim era.

This post morphed into a monster, because one post got stuck in drafts, so this merges them together. The first part talks about the movie, financial performance, and some reviews. The break is in the middle of the 1st part. The 2nd part deals with how Disney took the #1 cinema franchise of all time, and created apathy.

First I direct you to this story from Marvin Montanaro at Geeks + Gamers: ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ is Officially The Lowest Opening Disney Star Wars Movie Ever

For years, Disney and Lucasfilm treated Din Djarin and Grogu like the future of Star Wars. The duo became the centerpiece of the franchise’s streaming era, drove massive merchandise sales, and were positioned as the answer to fan backlash surrounding the sequel trilogy. Now, the box office numbers are in for The Mandalorian and Grogu, and they paint a troubling picture for the state of the brand.

The film officially opened to approximately $81.9 million domestically over its traditional 3-day opening weekend, with an estimated $102 million over the extended Memorial Day frame.

Now Marvin only had the Sunday and Monday estimates. Typing this on Tuesday 26 May, I have the actual spend, at least the domestic spend. The number is NOT $102 million. The actual number (from The Numbers - click on the Box Office tab) is $98 million domestically as of the end of Memorial Day weekend (Monday the 25th).

There was much discussion prior to the weekend, if it would be necessary to account for inflation of the next-worst-performing, Disney, Star Wars movie; it is not. The worst-performing movie HAD BEEN Solo: A Star Wars Story, which came out in 2018. It also released on Memorial Day weekend. Domestically Solo cleared $103 million through its first Monday. That is without accounting for inflation.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is officially the worst-performing movie in the entire Disney era. It is worse if you take inflation into account.

ABC News Censors Story on Disney Cruise Lines

Because Disney owns ABC. But the media are losing their minds because Paramount owns CBS. BLACKOUT: ABC News SILENT on Disney Employing Alleged Pedophiles

There are a raft of bad jokes in this story about Hollywood, but I will leave them to you to figure out.

Disney-owned ABC News still has not uttered a word on-air about the recent apprehension of as many as ten Disney cruise ship staff for their alleged participation in a child pornography ring. The arrests were first covered by a regional news station in Los Angeles on May 5, and by the following day, they had become a national news story — making this the sixth straight day that Disney’s flagship news network has concealed this scandal from their audience.

I'm typing this on the 11th, so not quite a week. National media covered it on the 6th.

On Friday the 8th Good Morning America found time to promote American Idol.

And on Saturday, May 9, Good Morning America also found time to for a nearly three-minute segment (175 seconds) on a New York City coffee shop that was attempting to introduce Americans to Cambodian culture.

I guess that was more newsworthy than the intentional harming of kids by folks working for Disney Cruises.

AI - It's Not a Bubble

That was quick. OpenAI Shutting Down Sora AI Video App – Disney’s $1 Billion Deal Collapses in Major 2026 Shakeup

OpenAI announced that Sora AI was shutting down. It only in launched in September of last year.

The surprise decision came this afternoon when the official Sora X account shared a statement telling its users that the app would be shut down. Few details were given, other than that OpenAI is “saying goodbye to Sora” and that the company will share more information soon, “including timelines for the app and API and details on preserving your work.” The message is signed, “The Sora Team.”

The details are huge, since Disney invested heavily in OpenAI and Sora.

In December, Disney made a $1 billion investment in OpenAI, and the deal included Disney characters from various franchises – Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, and more – being brought to Sora for its users to play with as they made their AI videos.

Disney is once again looking for an AI partner, because they expect to need AI to cut costs.

Disney's Theme Park Revenue and the Annual Report

Caroline Reid at Forbes has some interesting news about Disney. Disney's Theme Park Claims In Doubt As Summer Season Revenue Repeatedly Hits Year-Long Low

Doubt has been cast on the accuracy of Disney’s documents after it emerged that the revenue of its theme parks division hit the lowest level of the year during the summer season for the past two years running despite claims in its filings that it generally increases in that period.

The discovery came to light through analysis of Disney’s results for the three months to September 27, 2025 which were announced on Thursday last week. Disney's shares crashed 7.8% after it reported revenue of $22.5 billion for the quarter, missing analysts' expectations of $22.8 billion and coming in roughly comparable with the prior-year period. It was driven by continued declines in Disney's linear TV business, offset by strength in streaming and theme parks which sit in its Experiences segment.

This is in relation to the filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. So if there are issues, it can't be shrugged off.

The revenue of Disney’s domestic Parks & Experiences still fell by 8.5% quarter-on-quarter over the three months to September 27, 2025, hitting the lowest level of the year.

Click thru for the details. (While there is a paywall, Forbes gives you either 3 or 4 free articles.

Hat tip to WDW Pro and the video Disney World in DEEP TROUBLE with US Government?! Forbes SLAMS Iger and Crew for Dubious Reporting!. The video is almost 20 minutes, so if you are going to check it out you should plan accordingly.

Disney's Handling of Star Wars Lost Money

As usual, if you are going to discuss Disney finances, you start with Forbes, and Caroline Reid. Revealed: The ‘Star Wars’ Movie With The Highest Profits

Disney doesn't want anyone to know what they spend on movies, but they do want the tax credits offered the United Kingdom. As a result, Disney does produce a fair number of their movies in that country. This means that eventually a lot of the financial data comes to light, because the UK requires detailed accounting to prove whether or not you qualify for their tax credits. Caroline Reid does a great job of tracking down this information. This is not always the easiest thing to do, because Disney creates individual companies for each movie, with names that are creative.

Calculating the profit made by a movie requires knowing how much revenue it generated for the studio and how much it cost to make. The former is a matter of public knowledge through Amazon’s Box Office Mojo while the latter is usually a closely-guarded secret. That's because when movies are made in the United States, studios combine the cost of them in their overall expenses and don't disclose how much was spent on each one.

It’s a different story for movies which are filmed in the United Kingdom. Studios shooting in the U.K. get a reimbursement of up to 25.5% of the sum they spend in the country provided that at least 10% of the core cost of the production is incurred there. In order to demonstrate this to the U.K. authorities, studios set up separate production companies there to produce each movie they make in the country.

This is a long-ish article, but interesting. If you don't want to dive into it, see the video below.

There is a chart, about two thirds of the way in, that shows, for the 5 Star Wars movies Disney has released, what they spent on production, the credit received from the UK, net spend, global box office, and profit based on those numbers. Add it all together and profit approaches 0, plus or minus a few millions.

Those numbers do NOT include marketing the movies. The numbers do assume that studios get a blanket 50% of the box office. It it probably close enough for these estimates.

However, just as the production generates other income, it also incurs other costs, chief of which are marketing expenses which are not shown in the financial statements of the production companies. Accordingly, if the home entertainment and merchandise sales should be added to the theater takings, the marketing cost should be deducted from them and it is understood that blockbuster sums were spent on the Star Wars movies.

Disney doesn't say, but spending $150 million to $200 million to market each of these movies is not out of the question.

These also do not include $4 billion Disney spent in 2012 to buy Lucasfilm from George Lucas.

There are also some items not eligible for tax credits. I'm no expert on that, but it is my understanding that salaries for famous directors or stars are not included. (If you pay Tom Cruise $40 million for a movie shot in England, you won't get $10 million back from the government. The credit is for expenses incurred in the UK, that bolster the UK's economy.)

This is The Valliant Renegade video Forbes Confirms Disney Star Wars Money Pit Made Nothing

In addition to the numbers above, Valliant Renegade and WDW Pro consider what Disney spent on theme parks, the short-lived Star Wars themed hotel, and Disney+ shows, and what they have to show for it all.

The video is less than 10 minutes.

Everyone Hates Disney

Disney has done something that I thought was not possible in 2025; they united both Progressives and Conservatives. Everyone Hates Disney Now - Echo Chamberlain's Substack. Disney just didn't unite them in a good way.

Conservatives hate the gender identity and the "not so secret gay agenda." Progressives are now up in arms because Disney has dialed that back, and then pulled Kimmel off the air (though that was mostly the affiliate station owners.) And I'm not sure reversing that helped.

Then there are the fans, the camp I fall into mostly when it comes to Disney. Fans of the stuff they bought, and destroyed.

Lucasfilm:

No decline has been more protracted than Lucasfilm’s. When Disney acquired Star Wars, it inherited a mythology that was, for decades, modern folklore. What followed under Kathleen Kennedy’s stewardship has been the slow, grinding commodification of that mythology into corporate paste.

The Force, once numinous and mysterious, has been flattened into an endlessly repurposed IP. Luke Skywalker: cinema’s definitive hero’s-journey protagonist, was reintroduced not as the courageous knight audiences remembered but as a bitter hermit, playing alongside Rey, an overpowered “Mary Sue” whose mastery seemed to require neither struggle nor growth.

Indiana Jones got exactly the same treatment in Dial of Dysentery. Exactly the same treatment, though Waller-Bridge was more insufferable than a Mary Sue.

Marvel:

Echo Chamberlain says that Marvel has been "rudderless" since Avengers: Endgame. I disagree. It has been carefully guided right into the iceberg, and then it sank.

The post-Endgame slate has been defined by declining quality, sagging coherence, and the creeping sense that identity politics drive more decisions than story.

Creeping sense? No. That is exactly what has been done. Deliberately. Consciously. Maliciously.

Anyway, I don't agree with everything he says, but it is an interesting take on the state of Disney, and if you take a step back, the state of Hollywood.

ABC Affiliates Want Kimmel Gone, So He's Gone

People keep saying/writing that ABC/Disney pulled the plug. They did not. From That Park Place: BREAKING: Jimmy Kimmel Pulled Off ABC by Disney After Spreading Misinformation About Alleged Charlie Kirk Killer

His show is temporarily suspended, but not because of Disney/ABC. First let's review.

Kimmel maintained that the assassin who killed Charlie Kirk was a right-wing, MAGA supporter. He was not.

The problem? None of this was true. Investigators revealed the suspect was reportedly radicalized by ANTIFA. Ammunition casings were discovered with ANTIFA slogans scrawled across them, and the alleged killer lived with his romantic partner, a biological male who is supposedly “transitioning” to female. His family may have been conservative, but the suspect himself was not a conservative Republican.

Kimmel was rumored to be preparing a "clarification," not an apology, but he never got to issue it.

Nexstar, the nation’s largest owner of local television stations, announced it would no longer broadcast Jimmy Kimmel Live! on its ABC affiliates “for the foreseeable future.” That move immediately cut Kimmel off from millions of households across the country.

This wasn't the end, because Sinclair, another owner of ABC stations, decided to join in. From The Wrap: Sinclair Says Jimmy Kimmel Suspension ‘Is Not Enough,’ Demands Apology, Turning Point Donations

Even before the suspension, the company, which owns 30 ABC affiliates across the United States, had already announced alongside Nexstar that it wouldn’t air Kimmel for the foreseeable future over the remarks. Now the company says it plans to air a Charlie Kirk remembrance special Friday in Kimmel’s usual time slot.

After both of these companies said, "Enough!" Disney yanked Kimmel from production. Back to That Park Place.

In a stunning development, Disney and ABC have yanked Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air indefinitely following intense backlash over Kimmel’s offensive and misleading commentary on the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Why pay to produce a show that will not air. Between Nexstar and Sinclair they control a lot of ABC stations, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, Baltimore, Tampa-St. Pete, Denver, and more. ABC could have produced Kimmel's show, but without ad revenue from all those markets, why bother?

The Girl-Boss Powered Fantastic Four Movie Will Not Save the MCU

It shouldn't be hard to make a Fantastic Four movie. The comics have been around for many decades. But Disney decided that they needed to use one of the "modern" editions, with a female Silver Surfer. Yes, she was in the comics, for an eyeblink. That series lived for about 4 or so editions, before being canceled. Weeks, versus decades.

I'm begining to believe that Disney just hates money. Fantastic Four: First Steps Undergoing Reshoots Nearly 2 Months Before Release — Alarming Sign of Trouble for Film That Was Supposed to Save the MCU

Marvel’s Fantastic Four: First Steps is entering dangerous territory with late stage reshoots just months before it hits the big screen. With two and a half months until its scheduled July 25, 2025 release date, the highly publicized Marvel reboot is currently undergoing filming once again in Los Angeles—and for many, this echos a familiar disaster for Marvel studios and Disney.

That "familiar disaster" is Captain America: Brave New World, which was released in February. Even Disney Marvel admitted will not break even. And their break-even point, is based on a shooting budget that no one believes, but that is another story. That movie will lose a ton of money.

If you are reshooting things at this point, literally weeks before the scheduled release, it is NOT because you missed some bit of coverage. It is because there is something really wrong with the film, and you are trying to fix it. You should have fixed any problems when the script was being written. You do that by a process that is called PreVis. It is how most effects-heavy movies were made before Marvel decided they could do no wrong. (Pride goes before a fall.)

Now Fantastic Four is showing the same symptoms through these late stage reshoots. While we can’t be sure how extensive these reshoots are, it’s still troubling that this late in the game the studio is still filming.

This is an issue, but honesty forces me to say that I have no interest in this movie. I used to love Marvel movies, in the days before Disney took it over. I would see the movies in the theater, usually at a matinee to save some cash, but then I would rent the video from Hollywood Video or Blockbuster later to watch all of the behind-the-scenes snippets. But I dropped out of that a long way back. Marvel stopped being about characters, and stories, and heroes, and it has become all about virtue signaling, and special effects. Special effects are good, when done well, but they cannot carry a movie.

I will probably see the movie at some point. They usually show up on DVD at my library eventually, or a friend wants to stream it from Amazon/Netflix/Wherever, though I don't think anyone has Disney+, unless someone has a free sub via their cellphone plan.

Also the cast of Fantastic Four, in various interviews, have told us that the movie will explore "gender politics," which everyone takes to mean that Sue Storm is the star of the movie, and the actor playing Johnny Storm has said that his hot-headed, womanizing, brash ways are not in the movie. He obviously doesn't understand the character of Johnny Storm.

Anyway, there is more at That Park Place. If you're interested in movies, or at least have nostalgia for the age when movies were good, read the article linked above.

If you doubt that the old Marvel movies were about character, Watch Sam Raimi's first two Spider-Man films from 2002, and 2004. Spider-Man 2 includes a love story, a classic revenge arc, the hero doubting himself, and more. In the original Iron Man movie staring Robert Downey Jr., we go from disliking Tony Stark to rooting for him, even if there are more than a few cliches about Businessmen are Bad.

Not all of them were good, of course. 2003's Hulk, directed by Ang Lee is incoherent to the point it is not watchable. And most of them could be 20 minutes shorter than they are. But the more Disney got involved, the more everything turned to shit.

Nerdrotic's Review of Thunderbolts Made Me Laugh Out Loud

And I needed a laugh.

Gary's videos are usually entertaining, and the first 90 seconds of this video made me laugh. It is more entertaining than anything I've seen from Disney Marvel lately, which isn't saying much because Disney Marvel has systematically destroyed any feelings I had for the MCU.

Watch the first bit for a laugh. Watch the rest if you care about Thunderbolts^*. I don't have any desire to see this movie, though I may watch it when it is free. on second thought, I won't watch it when it is free. Saving the world through the power of the Group Hug is only slightly less cringe than lesbian space witches.

This is Nerdrotic's video Thunderbolts is SAD - Absolute Marvel Fatigue

Coincidentally, Marvel's been taxing the audience's mental health with most of the slop they put out since Endgame, which, unfortunately, you have to watch a lot of, to know what the hell's going on in Thunderbolts. A movie that only requires just a little bit of homework, and don't worry it's not much.

You just have to go back and watch 2018's The Wasp and Ant-Man, 2021's Black Widow, the full six episodes of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the full nine episodes of Hawkeye, and Captain African-American. Now you also have to watch the real Captain America trilogy, but I would suggest you do that, and just stop right there.

All of that "homework" is enough to keep me away. I have seen some of the list, but definitely not all of it. The first 90 seconds is comedy gold, the enter video is 19 minutes.

And since this movie sets up the next Avengers movie, I will likely pass on that. And since they have said, in so many words, that the upcoming Fantastic Four movie is going to be "Girl bosses team up to defeat that patriarchy," I will pass on that as well.

Gina Carano versus Disney - Disney Loses Again

Gina Carano Wins Big Against Disney in Lawsuit Discovery Battle—Judge Orders Disney to Hand Over Actor Pay Records Within 20 Days

In case you've forgotten, Gina Carano was fired from a Star Wars show (and probably lost a role in the upcoming Star Wars movie) because she didn't toe the Leftist Line exactly. But firing people for their political beliefs is illegal in California, and firing people for religious beliefs is illegal in the entire country. Whichever place Gina wants to stand, Disney is in the wrong.

And Disney seems to know that because they are dragging their feet at every opportunity.

In a major legal victory for Gina Carano in her lawsuit against Disney, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has granted a motion to compel Disney to turn over key documents related to how other Star Wars actors were compensated—including big names like Pedro Pascal, Rosario Dawson, and the cast of The Mandalorian & Grogu. The order comes after eight months of what Carano described as Disney’s “deflection and stalling” in her wrongful termination lawsuit.

Hat tip to Jay AKA Drunk3P0 and his video Gina Carano WINS AGAIN as Judge Orders Disney to Show THIS Evidence.

Disney Hates Strong Women

Disney only wants to acknowledge women who agree with them. Disney Attempts to Erase Gina Carano by Leaving Her Off ESPN List of Top Women Fighters in MMA — UFC Boss Dana White Calls Disney Out

Do people know that ESPN is owned by Disney?

In what can only be described as another stunning example of Disney rewriting history, ESPN—the sports media giant owned by the House of Mouse—released a list of the “Top 10 Women Who Changed MMA in the 21st Century”… and completely excluded Gina Carano. Yes, ESPN excluded the same Gina Carano who helped build women’s MMA into what it is today.

Why would they do this? It couldn't be because of the lawsuit that is ongoing between Disney and Gina, could it?

Even UFC President Dana White wasn’t having it. He blasted the list and called out Disney for this sleight.

“Gina Carano not being on the list is INSANE,” he said blasting the ESPN list.

The image above includes both Gina, and Gina in her role as Cara Dune, from the Star Wars franchise.

Hat tip to Jay AKA Dunk3PO and his video Disney's ESPN Attempts to Erase Gina Carano BACKFIRES

Disney's Live Action Snow White is Despised

It hasn't even been released yet, and it is setting records, just not the kind of record that Disney was probably hoping for.

This is the Critical Drinker's video The Most Hated Movie Ever?. This line of this quote made me laugh through my coffee...

Generic Hollywood celebrity number 4271 had a meltdown on social media about the Orange Man for like the fifth time this week. So what? Most people in the real world won't know or care about any of it, but Snow White seems to be a very different Beast. It might just be one of those rare cases that makes the leap from lolcow internet drama into the real world, with actual, real world repercussions at the box office.

It's only 5 minutes, and should make you smile a bit.

Captain America 4 Is Projected to be a Box Office Disaster

You know I really wish that Disney-Marvel would hire some people who read the comics, know what villains work with what heroes, know what makes the stories work in general. It would also be nice if they knew which stories were tried in the comics and didn't work, and maybe had an understanding of why they didn't work. Of course Disney-Marvel will never do that, because that would mean they would have to admit that everything they've done in the past 6 or 7 years has been trash. I actually think the trash started earlier than than, around the time of Age of Ultron, but I know that's a minority opinion.

What was the last Disney movie that was good? As Deadpool and Wolverine was really a Sony project, or at least a Sony leftover, I'm not sure that counts. So was the last good Marvel movie Infinity War (which was 7 years ago) or Endgame? What about the rest of Disney? What about Indiana Jones and the Insufferable Feminist, or Star Wars: The Rise of the Mary Sue?

Current reports are, that with all of the reshoots of this movie, the production budget for Captain America: Brave New World has reached between $350 million and $375 million. Some reports state a higher budget, but this is high enough. Those numbers are before they spend a dime on marketing, and these kind of movies usually cost a couple of hundred million to market. But let's say they cheap out and only spend $125 million on marketing, meaning that they are all in on this movie for about half a billion dollars. That means that the movie has to make between One Billion Dollars and $1.3 billion dollars, just to break even. (The movie theaters do get a cut of the box office, after all, and oversees theaters get more than domestic.)

Now Captain America: Civil War made that much, but that was really more of an Avengers movie. And it was good. Current box office projections, which are still a month out, are that it won't make anywhere near that much. And can anyone explain why this is opening on Valentine's Day? It doesn't seem like a date movie. But what do I know?

This is the Snarky Jay video Marvel's BIG MISTAKE: Why CAPTAIN AMERICA Brave New World WILL FAIL!

Jay did grow up reading the comics, and she has some valid points. Not that it will do this movie any good. Or the next movie, or the next.

Snarky Jay's video is 12 minutes long. Yes, she is a first class comic book nerd, and that's a good thing.

Here is the excerpt from Friday Night Tights in which they discuss this movie. Nerdrotic Daily: DOOMED TO FAIL! Marvel Has NO CONFIDENCE in 'Captain America: Brave New World' It is a 23 minute discussion between Gary Nerdrotic, Ryan K, Shad B, Chrissie M, Disparu, 1/4 Black Garrett, Odin, and it is produced by Xray Girl.

Here is the article from That Park Place detailing the production budget for the movie. Captain America: Brave New World Runtime Shows It’s the Shortest Yet Most Expensive Captain America Movie to Date, Troubled Film Costs Nearly $3 Million Per Minute

At just 118 minutes long, this film will be the shortest Captain America movie to date, yet its budget has reportedly ballooned to a staggering $350 million—which means that it costs a jaw-dropping $2.9 million per minute of runtime.

The $350 million figure is a low-end projection, with some outlets believing the latest MCU project could even get up to production costs of $375 million. That high-end figure would put the per-minute cost of this film up to $3.1 million.

And finally here is the Critical Drinker's take from a month ago. Captain America 4: A Brave New Disaster. It is just under 8 minutes.

"Snow Woke" - A Parody of Disney

How about a send up of Rachel Z. and "Snow Woke," right down to Gal G as Wonder Woman? (Better than anything to come out of Disney in a while.)

This is the AI Trailer Home video Snow White Special Look Parody - Snow Woke & The Extremely Ugly Evil Queen Music Video

I’m waiting on a safe space, where I can never be wrong,
Where everyone agrees with me and sings my woke song.
I’m waiting on a safe space, where no one dares to fight,
I’ll be the voice of change, and I’ll always be right.

It's only 3 minutes.

This is thanks to IMAO_ and Saturday Night Hootenanny

Gina Carano's Suit Against Disney/Lucasfilm Moves to Discovery

I hope the popcorn holds out! Gina Carano Gets Another Big Win Against Disney As Court Rejects Disney's Attempt To Block Discovery As It Appeals To Dismiss The Case

Gina Carano got another big win in her lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm as Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett rejected Disney’s request to block discovery as it appealed its failed motion to dismiss to the Ninth Circuit Court.

Gina Carano was fired from her role in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, because she dared to stray from the Progressive talking points. She is suing, with the financial assistance of Elon Musk. I just find the whole thing amusing. (How do you spell "Schadenfreude?")

Carano filed her lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company back in February with the lawsuit noting it “is a civil action arising from Defendants wrongful termination of Carano’s employment in retaliation for Carano’s lawful exercise of her right to speak and express her views. Specifically, Defendants—under the regime of former Disney CEO Bob Chapek—fired Carano because of her posts (‘the Posts’) on various social media platforms including X (formerly known as Twitter). Carano composed and published the Posts while she was off-duty and away from the workplace.”

The suit also alleges, “Defendants terminated Carano’s employment and took other retaliatory actions to limit and deny her future employment opportunities, including but not limited to making maliciously false statements about Carano with the intention of damaging her reputation and, thus, her ability to find and retain work.”

So now Gina and her legal team will get to see all of the emails, memos from Disney/Lucasfilm about how the person who doesn't tow the Progressive line must be destroyed. I don't know when, or even if, any of that will become public knowledge. Discovery is only just starting. It should be entertaining if and when it does come to light.

The D-Files Return

Alan Ng, of Film Threat, returns with another installment of his chronicle of the downfall of the Walt Disney Animation. The D-Files: The Untitled 2024 Disney Animated Feature

Jennifer Lee has stepped down as the head of Disney Animation to direct 2 new animated films. She was brought in to replace John Lasseter, after he was forced out during the me too purges. Her vision was to create a 50/50 male/female split in the animators. To do that she had to get rid of "the old white guys." You know, the people with decades of experience. She also had to bring in women with little experience in animation, and no experience in Disney-style animation. (It is a very specific style, or least it was in the old days.)

A lot of those experienced animators went to work at Skydance Animation, which is where Lasseter went, and it was recently announced that Brad Bird (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant, Ratatouille) is bringing his Ray Gunn project to Skydance, and Netflix.

Go Woke, Go Broke

Jennifer Lee stepping down should be a warning to all about DEI’s destructive nature. IMPORTANT NOTE: The idea of diversity is not wrong. There are talented people of color who are storytellers, character designers, and animators who have proved themselves in their fields and should be given the opportunity of a lifetime. They have been working at the Walt Disney Company all this time.

Inside Out 2, released this year, was a success, but only because executives at Disney, who I'm guessing did not include Jennifer Lee, insisted that the character not be gay. Other notable releases under Lee's tenure include Lightyear and Wish. That last movie is perhaps the worst piece of animation ever to come out of the Walt Disney Company.

This is the Film Threat video THE D-FILES 8: THE UNTITLED 2024 DISNEY ANIMATED FEATURE | Film Threat Livecast. The video is 12 and a half minutes long.

This is the story of an in-development Disney animated movie that was to be based on a Persian tale. You can get the details at the link above, or at the video below. The tl;dr version is that new Persian Princess, based on a Persian fairy tale, was given the Batgirl treatment. In other words, it has been canceled and buried, and it will never be spoken of again.

Disney Promised an Allergen-Free Restaurant - Now Doesn't Want to Face Suit

Of all the crazy stuff that I've seen corporations do, this might be the craziest. Widower of doctor who suffered fatal allergic reaction rips Disney subscription defense

Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant is a restaurant in Disney Springs. You don't need to go into the parks to eat there. If you are in Orlando, you can drive up and have a meal.

[Kanokporn “Amy”] Tangsuan, 42 — a physician at NYU Langone hospital — had repeatedly notified the restaurant staff of her severe nut and dairy allergies when ordering scallops, onion rings, broccoli and corn fritters, Piccolo’s suit claimed.

But after leaving the establishment she started having difficulty breathing and collapsed and was unable to be saved by the EpiPen she was immediately given.

"The autopsy listed death as a result of anaphylaxis due to elevated levels of dairy and nut in her system."

They did everything they could to ensure safety, and someone blew it off.

The complaint details the family's repeated conversations with their waiter about Tangsuan's allergies. The family allegedly raised the issue upfront, inquired about the safety of specific menu items, had the server confirm with the chef that they could be made allergen-free and asked for confirmation "several more times" after that.

If an EpiPen won't save you from anaphylaxis, then you have ingested more the a trace of what you are allergic to.

Okay. So this is a tragedy, and someone should probably pay. But that is not how Disney feels.

It seems that Jeffrey Piccolo, Amy Tansuan's husband, signed up for a Disney+ trial in 2019. Based on that, Disney is maintaining that Jeffery Piccolo agreed to arbitration. Disney is a soulless abomination. They are basically saying - as I see it - that they want to screw this guy over because they can't be bothered to do the things they said it would do.

Click thru for more info. There are also a lot of YouTube videos out there, I will only link to one. Disney Gets SLAMMED By Everyone Over EVIL Story | Can't Be Sued For KILLING A Woman Due To Disney+?

Ryan Kinnel calls this "super villain" level of insanity.

How To Set Fire to Half a Billion Dollars

The investors are finally waking up to the problems at Disney. From Forbes: The ‘Spectacular’ Failure Of Disney’s ‘Star Wars’ Hotel Is Going Viral

The Forbes article doesn't go into cost of the hotel. I've seen estimates from $350 million up to close to $1 billion, but Valiant Renegade pegs the number at about $500 million, and he makes (part of) his living analyzing the numbers.

There is a 4-hour video on by Jenny Nicholson (link below) about a trip she took to the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser Hotel. Despite the 4-hour length (I have not seen it) it is going viral with up to 5 million views and counting.

The failure of Disney’s “Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser” — a spaceship-themed hotel marketed as an immersive roleplaying experience — is under the spotlight thanks to a viral YouTube video.

The hotly anticipated Star Wars hotel opened its doors in 2022, only to close them a year later. In the wake of the unexpected shutdown, the Washington Post concluded that the Starcruiser was too niche and too expensive to attract a consistent flow of guests.

YouTuber Jenny Nicholson took a deeper dive, releasing a four-hour video essay titled “The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel,” arguing that Disney oversold and under-delivered.

The article goes into some details about her stay, but this one is one that jumps out at you.

Nicholson says that she paid more than $6,000 for a two-night stay in the hotel, which in her estimation, amounted to $2 per-minute, and spends a great deal of time explaining why the Star Wars hotel just wasn’t worth it.

The Valiant Renegade video Disney Star Wars Hotel DEMOLISHED Again in 4 Hour Viral Video As Wall Street Watches is how I found all of this. It is 16 minutes.

In which it was pointed out that for all the problems that have been visited on the Star Wars franchise, no one has been fired for burning 100s of millions of dollars, for making movies that fans hate, nothing. Except for Gina Carano. She was fired for having the wrong political opinions.

The Jenny Nicholson video is The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel. While it is 4 hours, it is divided into chapters that are more manageable in length. People listen to it while doing other stuff. I will probably start "watching" while I'm cooking/cleaning/whatever.

Disney Buying Lucasfilm Was a Bad Investment

From Forbes we get a review of the cost of Lucasfilm and the profits generated. Or not generated. Disney’s Star Wars Box Office Profits Fail To Cover Cost Of Buying Lucasfilm

Last month, ahead of Disney's earnings call, the company released a 67 page presentation saying what a great deal they got on Lucasfilm, and how great the return has been. But there is a problem.

However, buried in the fine print is the revelation that the purchase price of Lucasfilm isn't even included in the ROI calculation. Instead, it is purely based on the box office performance of Disney's Star Wars trilogy, its two spinoff movies, merchandise, DVD and Blu Ray sales.

This is beyond a PR-move; this borders on lying to investors.

Forbes then goes into the cost of all the Star Wars movies, and the revenue those movies generated, taking into account the fact that theaters get roughly half of the box office. When it comes down to it, the reason that Disney ignored the cost of purchasing Lucasfilm is that they have not made money on the deal.

Bearing this in mind it's little surprise that Disney's presentation didn't work out the return on its acquisition of Lucasfilm by using the profits of the movies as it has still got a long way to go just to break even.

Of course, the calculation above doesn't include the huge profits Disney makes on the Star Wars merchandise, DVDs and Blu Rays. However, it also doesn't include the massive marketing costs of the movies as well as the costs of the Star Wars streaming shows and theme park attractions which also don't have revenue streams directly connected to them as visitors get access to all of the rides for the price of a single ticket.

Read the whole thing.

And it should be noted that any numbers don't include the money lost on the Disney Star Wars hotel, which closed after 18 months. And while Forbes does talk about a couple of Disney+ shows, notably The Mandalorian, they don't focus on the fact that the budets for these shows are huge, and the payback is nebulous. Did Disney+ see a subscriber growth because of The Mandolorian? How much, and what were the monthly fees relative to the cost of the series. And what about the Obi-Wan Kenobi series that was universally hated, or Andor, which was ignored, or the others?

Disney+ Will Never Recoup Its Losses

This is an investment that Disney will NEVER recoup. If they achieve breakeven this year, as Bob Iger has promised, it won't be the great success that Disney would like you to believe. Bob has only said that running costs will be offset by current revenue. He is not counting the costs of purchasing Hulu, buying the tech base Disney+ sits on, etc.

$11 billion in operating loss. The purchase of Hulu, which is being merged into Disney+. And more. The quote starts at about 3 minutes and 30 seconds in.

Jonas, what's the total spend you expect Disney to finish paying off, to fully acquire Hulu?

Well it would be easy to say it's 8.6 billion dollars, but that's for the last remaining share, and only a down payment on the last remaining share of Hulu. That is the share held by NBC/Universal, otherwise known as Comcast. That payment is probably going end up being higher. The other third was purchased in the Fox acquisition, and if it's equal in value right now, we're talking about $16 billion for those ⅔ of Hulu.

So $11 billion, plus $16 billion, plus a 10% share of Hulu purchased from another player, and the cost of the purchase of BAMTech, which is the tech base that Disney+ was built on. That started with 30% purchase of that company for $1 billion in 2016. Disney has increased its ownership of BAMtech to at least 75% since then.

It is a long video, as WDW Pro videos often are. It comes in at 23 minutes, but it is an exhaustive look at that 30 billion dollars.

Why the focus on Hulu? Because Bob Iger's grand plan to say that D+ is "profitable" is to merge Hulu into D+. A lot of people think that will just kill Hulu, but hey, who can say at this point.

This is the WDW Pro video Exclusive: Disney Plus Is 30 BILLION DOLLARS in the HOLE! Bob Iger's Plan Puts Mickey on the Brink!