Woke Disney loses $900Million in recent box office flops as liberal agenda turns off movie-goers

The Walt Disney Company is looking at an almost $900 million dollar loss following a series of woke flops at the box office.

According to an analysis by Valliant Renegade, which aims to look at the business and financial side of Hollywood, the last eight studio releases put out by the company have not performed as well as expected. 

Guardians of the Galaxy and its most recent endeavor, a live-action version of The Little Mermaid, have failed to meet expectations, while two other recent films, Strange World and Lightyear were complete failures.

Even Disney’s valuable archive has seen old characters given progressive makeovers, with ‘offensive’ imagery removed from rides and movies. Some conservatives feel the company has gone too far in its woke reinvention. 

‘One important aspect we always discuss here, which is worth reminding everyone about, is that Disney retains exclusive rights to its content after theatrical release,’ Valliant Renegade explained.

Lightyear, released one year ago with a reported budget of $200 million, brought in a modest $226.7 million in worldwide ticket sales and received a decidedly mixed reception

Under the control of current chief executive Bob Iger, Disney has followed the progressive path of many other U.S. corporations

It means that Disney no longer licenses content, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to third-party platforms such as Netflix. By doing so, the company has  forfeited billions of dollars in potential revenue.

‘The once envied entertainment company is now struggling to find a profit on almost every single film released. Disney’s bloated budgets for these projects are vastly higher than the competition on average, particularly considering the fact that every single film Disney releases comes with blockbuster production price tags,’ the YouTuber explained.

Had Disney pursued licensing agreements with major streaming services, such as Netflix or Amazon Prime, a vastly significant amount of income would have been generated, instead the company is featuring its content exclusively on their own Disney+ streaming platform.

It means that the House of Mouse is essentially being propped up by the other profitable businesses including its theme parks & resorts and ESPN sports. 

The House of Mouse is essentially being propped up by the other profitable businesses including its theme parks & resorts and ESPN sports channels

In March 2022, it was announced that staff members would no longer use ‘gendered greetings’ like ‘boys and girls’ or ‘ladies and gentleman’ (file photo)

In recent years, Disney has become increasingly woke. 

Under the control of current chief executive Bob Iger, Disney has followed the progressive path of many other U.S. corporations.

In 2021, it stopped greeting park visitors as ‘ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls’, replacing that with ‘dreamers of all ages’.

It has slapped racism warnings on many of its best-loved films, including Dumbo (for the raucous black crows) and Lady And The Tramp (for the sinister Siamese cats).

Its resorts it ditched Minnie’s polka dot dress to be replaced with a Stella McCartney-designed trouser suit and the fairy godmothers in Sleeping Beauty that were deemed too exclusionary of men.

The brand has made numerous steps towards becoming more progressive recently – it included a gay kiss between two characters in Lightyear.

In January 2022, Disney revealed that its upcoming live-action remake of Snow White will not feature the classic depiction of the central character’s seven companions as dwarves 

In October 2020, Disney also made a big move when it announced that it would be slapping racism warnings on a number of its decades-old movies like Peter Pan (seen)

Movies that now come with an anti-racism warning include 1970 musical comedy The Aristocats (seen), 1955’s Lady and the Tramp, and 1960 adventure Swiss Family Robinson 

Meanwhile, a new live-action film of Snow White, due out next year, has dispensed with the dwarves, to ‘avoid reinforcing stereotypes’ and will have a Latina actress in the title role.

The company recently shelved 7,000 jobs. The cuts, which took place May 23, are part of Walt Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger’s previously announced plan to slash $5.5 billion in costs.

The restructuring combines the film and television groups into a single Disney Entertainment unit and eliminates a division charged with distribution. 

Iger had been working to revive Disney’s streaming business while ensuring the stability of their theme parks but he has also been dealing with efforts by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to take over Disney World’s theme park district. 

The feud between DeSantis and Disney started last year after the company, in the face of significant pressure, publicly opposed legislation concerning a bill that critics called ‘Don’t Say Gay.’ 

Disney’s theme park is dubbed ‘the most magical place on earth’ – but the corporation has been embroiled in a spat with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for almost two years 

The feud between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney started last year after the company, in the face of significant pressure, publicly opposed legislation concerning a bill that critics called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ 

Disney’s CEO at the time, Bob Chapek, spoke against the bill, stating that it could ‘be used to unfairly target gay, lesbian, non-binary and transgender kids and families’. He was later fired

Then-Disney boss Bob Chapek pledged to fight for the repeal of the law banning schools from teaching five to nine-year-olds about sexual orientation and gender identity. 

As punishment, DeSantis took over Disney World’s governing district through legislation passed by lawmakers and appointed a new board of supervisors. 

DeSantis ended a 55-year-old deal that allowed Disney World to govern its vast resort itself — right down to controlling its own water, roads and emergency services. The deal saved Disney millions of dollars in taxes. 

The governor said the action was aimed at holding Disney accountable for entertainment he says is inappropriate for children.

‘The corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,’ he proclaimed. ‘There’s a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day.’

Before the new board came in, the company pulled a fast one and signed agreements with the old board made up of Disney supporters that stripped the new supervisors of design and construction authority. 

Chapek was then removed as CEO in November 2022 sparking speculation that the company’s commitment to ‘wokeness’ during his tenure may have led to his ouster.

During Chapek’s tenure, Disney+ domestic subscriber growth collapsed, public approval of the company dropped and the stock price plummeted. 

Despite getting off to a somewhat slow start with a box office debut just under initial projections, The Little Mermaid has neared the $500 million worldwide box office milestone

Guardians of the Galaxy and its most recent endeavor, a live action version of The Little Mermaid have failed to meet expectation while two other recent films, Strange World and Lightyear were complete failures

In response, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed legislation allowing the DeSantis-appointed board to repeal those agreements and made the theme park resort’s monorail system subject to state inspection, when it previously had been done in-house. 

Iger has vowed to keep challenging DeSantis and his administration. DeSantis, in turn, appears determined to stick to his guns, hoping that his anti-woke crusade against Disney World will benefit him politically.

When it comes down to numbers, in its latest venture, The Little Mermaid has neared the $500 million worldwide box office milestone despite a slow start. 

Its domestic box office total is now $270.2 million and its foreign tally stands at $229.1 million, for a worldwide total of $499.3 million.

The film dropped just 21.5 percent in its fifth weekend, despite losing 205 theaters, for a revised theater count of 3,275.

The reviews from the critics at Rotten Tomatoes weren’t terribly strong, with a 67% ‘Fresh’ rating, though the audience score is much higher at 94%. 

The film was controversial right from the start, with the casting of 23-year-old Black actress Halle Bailey as the title character, Ariel.

The casting lead to a wave of racist remarks, claiming her casting wasn’t accurate to the character from the original 1989 animated film, voiced by white voice actress Jodi Benson.

Benson herself defended the casting, revealing in July 2019, ‘The most important thing is to tell the story.’

‘And we have, as a family, we have raised our children, and for ourselves, that we don’t see anything that’s different on the outside,’ Benson added.

The film was produced on a budget of reportedly $250 million, with reports claiming the film would need to earn $560 million worldwide before turning a profit, after considering other costs including a massive marketing spend.

In other recent films, Lightyear, released one year ago with a reported budget of $200 million, brought in a modest $226.7 million in worldwide ticket sales and received a decidedly mixed critical reception.

By contrast, The Incredibles 2 in 2018, which was reported to have had a similar production budget, had worldwide box office sales of $1.2 billion.

Lightyear could not be shown in 14 Middle Eastern and Asian countries because of its depiction of a same-sex relationship. This also had an impact on its global box office performance.