Everyone was in a rush to get into streaming. A lot of them are losing money now. It’s a time of big change in the industry and the change isn’t over. Disney isn’t too big to fail but it’s size and diversity means it’s probably in better shape to weather the change than other companies.
I’m not sure what to make of that.
“Go woke go broke” is a meaninglessly vague phrase; no one seems able to clearly define “woke.” History is full of incredibly successful movies and TV shows with female or racialized stars; “Black Panther” made enough money to match the GDP of an industrialized country, but it was also a pretty good movie when Marvel movies were still compelling. Give people a well written movie with relatable characters and they’ll buy tickets.
The reason Disney has been having disappointing returns lately is that the quality of their output has become extremely inconsistent and people are tiring of these franchises. I have always been a huge Star Wars fan - I’m the perfect age for “Star Wars” to have been the most formative movie I’ve ever seen - and, honestly, I could go another ten, twenty years without more Star Wars content. Marvel stuff is really scraping by now, and the live action remakes of classic cartoons are extremely mediocre.
The thing is though that Disney made a fortune to get to this point. Producing mounds of content WORKED. It might not be working anymore, but so what? They made all the hay while the sun shined. They’re sitting on a pile of money and future revenue streams from licensing and merchandising They have the resources to flail until they figure out the next thing. This isn’t some B-tier studio like Carolco that had B-tier success but died once they made a few poor decisions and had a huge flop. If Disney spends $250 million on “Snow White” and literally does not sell a single ticket, it’s a tax writeoff mentioned in a column on Page 55 of the annual report.
And yes, in general the economy is beginning to make it hard for people to go to Disney World or hit the cineplex as often as they used to so there’s that. Disney will ride that out and barely notice. They’ve rode out recessions before.
I looked at ticket prices the other day (don’t remember why; we have no intent on going) and it was $300 for a basic one-day pass, per person [Edit: No it wasn’t]. That’s insane. I won’t say it’s “bad business” if they’re filling up the park regardless but I can’t imagine paying a thousand bucks minimum for a family to spend most of the day waiting in lines.
Anecdotally (and ironically) I know of people who have written Florida off as a vacation destination because of the government and politics there. Supporting “woke” Disney isn’t enough incentive to pay money to the rest of the state. There’s California, of course but, for folks east of the Mississippi, you’re more likely to pick another vacation idea than travel to the west coast for the CA variant.
I just looked up tickets for Disney World (Orlando) and they’re nowhere near that? $169 Canadian - roughly $120 US - was the weekend price. You can add a boatload of options to jack it up but at that point you’re way past a “Basic” price.
Still, that is an extraordinarily high price. I absolutely will give them credit; the Magic Kingdom is an unbelievably great place to spend a day with a little kid. My Small One and I have never had a better time in a tourist attraction.
There is likely a whole thread to be had on this subject but the price of big ticket entertainment is outstripping the ability of a normal person to pay it. This isn’t just Disney; it’s becoming true of professional sports and music shows and stuff like that, too. This appears to me to be a case of big ticket entertainment companies realizing that they can make more money by offering their product specifically to rich people.
I just looked and you’re right. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the full context of how I saw the ticket prices so don’t know where I went wrong there. I just saw it, commented “OMG” to some friends on Discord and moved along without investigating it further.
Edited my post and thanks for the correction.
Edit: Ok, I was wrong on a couple fronts. It was a price cited in this article about people pooping in line at the park (I know, New York Post is a rag but I assume they got ticket pricing right) but was for the CA theme park and is “only” $200, not $300.
It was coined by John Ringo.
As you said, Disney has a lot of businesses aside from streaming. And yet, its market cap is about $167 billion while Netflix (which is only a streaming company) is worth north of $200 billion. Granted, Netflix has about 250 million streaming customers while Disney has about 150 million. That makes about as much sense to me as Tesla’s inflated stock price, given how few cars it makes compared to other auto manufacturers.
Netflix is a bit more than just a streaming service. They are now a major movie and TV studio. They bought an entire army base (Fort Monmouth) and are turning it into production studios.
So is every other streaming service; Disney+, Paramount+, MAX, Peacock, etc. They’re all owned by entertainment conglomerates that also have television and movie production studios.
If anything, Netflix is a newcomer to the business of being a television and movie studio.
It is not vague in the sense that the intention is clear- bigotry.
That’s not the way the phrase is generally used though. If it were, by definition, the KKK would be “woke,” but “the Marvels” would not be “woke.” But “the Marvels” is called “woke,” and the KKK is never called that. The word would never have become popular in its new usage.
I’m not in their target audience for this but a 2 day immersive hotel stay seems like an uphill experience to pull off. A 1 hr immersive experience with 3d glasses inside a 3 axis “fighter” for $300 would be easier to put together. They could build a warehouse full of these things for a fraction of the price.
Yes, it is. “Woke” is to the extreme right wing red hat wearing people a thing of badness, of how the “libtards” went wrong. The KKK would love that slogan, hell they likely use it.
Go woke, go broke , or alternatively get woke, go broke ,[[1]](Go woke, go broke - Wikipedia) is an American political catchphrase used by some right-wing US conservatives to refer to the actual or perceived stock value drops or loss in sales (“going broke”) of companies or corporations that publicly support progressive causes, such as the rights of women, LGBT people and people of color (termed as “going woke” by its opponents)…The phrase quickly gained popular usage by those on the right after it was coined.
Don’t know if it’s related but Disney+ will soon be no more and they are combining streaming services with Hulu.
IMHO Disney is simply going through a period of corporate bloat which is usually followed by a period of rationalization and restructuring, often with a “new, dynamic” CEO at the head. They’ve been expanding and acquiring like mad and have reached the limits of their current ability to do so, and now have to cut, combine, sell or reimagine their various business and product lines to adjust.
I remain highly doubtful that the “woke” thing is a material issue with them. I recall the recent cries of GWGB when Disney+ suddenly lost a bunch of streaming subscribers, which ignored the fact that the losses were almost entirely in India and related to reduced coverage of cricket matches.
Disney will be fine. They will have peaks and troughs, they will evolve, and they will be fine.
Except that in the case of Disney, the new boss is the same as the old boss. Bob Iger retired in 2020 and was replaced by Bob Chapek. But then Chapek was fired in 2022 and Iger returned.
No, I got that. I’m just saying that usually when corporations do this sort of thing, they get a new guy (and it’s usually a guy) in to make the changes. New broom, etc.
I’m not convinced Iger is the man for this job but we’ll see how long he hangs on.
Disney of all companies should know the perils of entrusting decision-making to a new broom….
Disney made a HUGE jump in its global revenues as documented last year.. I once heard that Disney ranks something like 70th among nations of the world GDP. I am seriously skeptical of any claims they’re on the financial brink.
Netflix is, IIRC, the only profitable streaming service. That probably accounts for a lot of it, as people see the unprofitability of other streamers and are downgrading for that.