Disney is banking on a password crackdown and spate of sequels as it pushes to make its streaming business profitable.

The company, which is under pressure as audiences move away from traditional pay-TV and cinema, said it was on track to meet its goals after new subscribers and price rises helped to narrow losses in its streaming business.

  • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    People shit on Disney for only doing sequels, yet when they release original properties like they have the last 2 years, people ignore them and don’t watch them. No wonder they go to sequels, viewers clearly don’t want to gamble on new stuff. And all the people bitching about Disney only doing sequels, don’t watch Disney movies anyways

    • MrVilliam@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I get what you mean, but I really feel like the quality of original stuff is not up to the standard that they were putting out 30 years ago. I just rewatched Lion King the other day and I couldn’t believe how well it holds up. Every performance ranges from great to fantastic, every song is really good, the score is fucking phenomenal, the animation truly pushed the boundaries for the time, and the story and dialogue are straight up Shakespeare. Encanto and Onward are good, but they’re not Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast good.

      At the end of the day, Disney is not in the business of making art this century; they’re in the money making business. They make a product, not art. It’s more profitable to make something that’s just good enough to get people’s money, and that’s all they actually care about. Remember that with every culture war stance they take. They don’t actually give a shit about LGBTQ rights or representation, they just know that they can get extra attention and sales from barely doing anything, and it’s not far enough to alienate the Chinese market. Win-win. When they fight that dorky Florida meatball, understand that they’re not on your side; they’re on their side. If they could have it their way, they would own all media and distribution, and you’d never see another movie or TV show again without first forking over everything they can get out of you.

      • zaph@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        and the story and dialogue are straight up Shakespeare

        Well it is a cartoon animal version of Hamlet.

      • mctoasterson@reddthat.com
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        6 months ago

        Excellent points. Disney couldn’t care less about the groups it claims to support. Their actions are more in line with co-opting identity groups to sell them back to you as a commodity. This fact really ossified for me when visiting Epcot a while back. I realized that many of their recent (and planned future) films are literally designed around ethnicities or cultures so they can have tie-in IP in the world showcase at Epcot, driving more merch and premium ride sales.

        There is always an ulterior motive.

      • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Wish, soul, onward, elemental, Luca, reya, strange world, Ron’s gone wrong. I would add Encanto and turning red but those actually became popular, at least Encanto did