Disney’s latest animated release, strange world, massively tanked at the box office in the days following the film’s release. The measly 35 reviews that critics tracked on Rotten Tomatoes after the film first screened were mostly disastrous and tallied an overall rating of 74% on the film review website.
Worldwide, strange world gained momentum to become Disney’s first animated film to feature an openly gay mixed-race protagonist at its center and because of Disney’s negligence in its marketing – two factors that are too coincidental in their causal relationship to ignore like a coincidence.
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Now fans have raised an issue with how the production house mishandled the film’s release and openly blamed its alleged failure on being tied to the representation of the LGBTQ+ community.
Disney fans call out executives for mismanagement strange world
Disney’s years in the industry have been defined by its indomitable animated classics. The decades since the 1950s that have seen movies like The Lion King, The lady and the tramp, Pinocchio, and so many others constituted a subgenre within the production house that claimed to possess the magic of animation. But with the changes in leadership and the increasingly demanding social atmosphere, somewhere along the way Disney began to lose its acquired magic in the process of pandering to the masses and reaching a wider global audience.
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This trend then follows in the wake of films like strange world which presents enough diversity to be challenged by a less tolerant demography. Fans on Twitter and other social media platforms attributed this fear of being criticized as the reason the House of Mouse and its executives strangely refrained from marketing one of its most innovative animated films. and visionaries of recent history.
There is another aspect of this debate which lends credence to the failure of strange world the exit of Bob Chapek from his position as CEO and the return of Bob Iger to the company. The replacement at the highest level of Disney management could have resulted in a lack of attention to the release of a film. But that still doesn’t explain why a marketing strategy for strange world wouldn’t already be in place for the team to perform after the film’s first official trailer was released in late September.
Fans accuse Disney of intentionally tanking strange world
Websites plastered many reasons for the failure of strange world to successfully embark on its global demographics. One reason that stands out is the animated film’s overarching ambition and its instructional environmental policy that overshadows the more simplistic humor that defines a Disney classic. The family eco-drama fails because it tries too hard to explain its symbolism and metaphors instead of leaving it up to audience interpretation and the crude humor comes across as gritty rather than adorable when placed in the context of the otherwise visually enchanting film.
Also Read: ‘They Barely Advertised It Until Last Week’: Disney Faces Backlash for Negligible Marketing for strange world – First Disney animated film with LGBTQ lead
Fans, however, have had their fair share of issues with the lackluster and negative reception to the film and all of the aforementioned reasons work as ripple effects of the one major shock that came from Disney’s internal team in their mismanagement. intentional, their weak marketing, and soft launch of strange world.
Saw Strange World and I’ll be damned Disney Animation actually had a character that wasn’t just lip service for online articles but now I wonder if that’s the reason for the poor marketing/merch of this movie . My theory: Executives want this movie to fly under the radar pic.twitter.com/OV3YgHPRQ5
— Saberspark (@Saberspark) November 25, 2022
Personally, I found the film solid. The setting was fun and creative, the plot was serviceable (though it included some modern Disney tropes), and the characters were more likeable than I expected. Solid pace, never got bored. All in all a good movie that isn’t as bad as the ratings imply
— Saberspark (@Saberspark) November 25, 2022
Given the low rating, and I decided to look at the reviews… do homophobes seriously have nothing else to do? pic.twitter.com/GV5XsBTGZO
— RadStarFather (@father_rad) November 25, 2022
I love how everyone becomes a movie critic the minute two boys kiss, we’re really stepping back with progress this year huh
— Deán Le Aries 🔜 ANW’23 (@Bleatjio) November 25, 2022
I’ve seen a huge increase in ads the past few days and wonder if the lack of ads was a move by Chapek and Iger trying to fix the course last minute… with the animation lag time this movie definitely would have been launched under Iger and Mr. “Don’t Say Gay” might have been more eager to bury it
— Molly Jeanne Music (@mollyjeanne615) November 26, 2022
I’ve seen quite a few people speculate that they want this to fail so they can blame the queer rep and have an excuse not to do it again. What’s sad is that it’s completely believable
— They/Thember (pinned wire art!) (@EmbertheUnusual) November 25, 2022
Sadly, there may be no way to prove these claims to be substantial truths, but given that Disney is increasingly being criticized for soft-launching its more inclusive movies, compared to those which aren’t, draws attention to the production house’s tactics (or lack thereof) when it comes to strange worldthe promotion.
strange world starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jaboukie Young-White, Lucy Liu, Dennis Quaid and Gabrielle Union is playing in theaters now.
Source: Twitter
