Disney is looking at a strange future after recent films flop with critics and box office.
Since Disney bought Lucasfilm, it seemed they would have the stranglehold on the movie biz for the rest of the time. They had the seemingly never-ending blockbuster machine that was Marvel, and now they had Star Wars. It looked like Star Wars would blow up the box office along with Marvel, giving Disney a solid first place as far as studios go for a long time.
Well, it seems we are finally looking at the end of that reign. The Star Wars films Disney released slowly were less and less well-received. The box office seemed to slow down for them as well as Solo, which became the lowest-grossing Star Wars film ever. All the new Star Wars films seemed to divide fan bases with each entry. Disney put Star Wars films on hold and focused on TV shows.
Now, with Marvel, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania fell short of box office hopes this year. Another Marvel film this year, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, did well with 835 million. But with Disney’s track record, this isn’t up to expectations. Besides the pandemic years of film, this is the first time since 2014that Disney hasn’t hit the 1 billion mark with its movies.
Along with the new Indiana Jones not living up to expectations, so did other new Disney films like The Little Mermaid and Elemental. It seems like this are a couple of things. But for me, I believe Disney is suffering from franchise fatigue and the harm of their streaming service. If they are relying on old ideas being remade, The Little Mermaid shows that this formula might not be as strong as it once was.
The service, Disney+, seems to always drop the newest Disney film after it’s run in theaters. With this, many are just waiting and watching it at home, saving money. Maybe Disney could try quality over quantity when it comes to large-scale franchises like Marvel. Making each movie more important and able to stand on its own two feet. But with the slew of movies Disney has in the oven, this seems unlikely for the time being.
