Posted on 07/20/2022 9:05:25 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Disney has been suffering badly over the last couple of years, and while it can point to everything from the COVID-19 virus to economic inflation for its lagging sales, the truth is that Disney’s own reliance on modern leftist messaging is the poison that’s slowly killing it.
Part of this is its dedication to “the message” which includes consistent references and propagandistic advertising of LGBT and Feminist politics. This can occur both within their products and in the political sphere.
I don’t need to remind you that this is the same company that effectively turned against parents in Florida with its promises to fight what it called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The bill didn’t prohibit the use of the term gay at all, it just forced schools to cease teaching leftist politics such as LGBT ideology to children from the third grade and younger and forbid Florida schools from keeping secrets from parents.
But the infection of leftist politics in its creations is probably one of the largest forces driving away people from Disney. Its adherence to Chinese censorship and pro-Chinese narratives further drove a wedge between it and its American audiences. Only recently did it begin defying the Chinese censors but did so in order to embrace LGBT politics in their children’s movies.
(READ: Why Disney Lost Us On ‘Lightyear’: It Starts With a False LGBT Activist Narrative)
Escapism and journeys to fantastic lands or the enjoyment of fun and interesting concepts are no longer Disney’s main priority. Everything must come with a dose of western leftism, effectively rendering the escapism ineffective, and causing parents to step away and take their wallets with them.
Moreover, when Disney attempt to bring back adults to see their movies, adults are no longer paying it any mind. This brings us to Disney/Marvel’s latest release, “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
Thor’s latest outing isn’t a flop per see, but he is one of Marvel’s more popular characters that has been around since the very beginning and his movie is doing poorly by Disney/Marvel standards. Why? For a few reasons.
For starters, Disney’s aforementioned reputation is in the toilet and many people don’t want to hand them their hard-earned dollars purely out of spite. Moreover, they’ve taught audiences that they’re just putting out stinkers now. Phase four has been so overwhelmingly disappointing that few people are actually excited about Marvel anymore. I don’t know anyone in my immediate circle of friends who’s even seen “Eternals.”
(READ: ‘Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness’ Is the Biggest Sign Marvel’s Golden Age Is Over)
Moreover, Disney has developed a severe bait-and-switch problem. If they advertise a strong male lead, then rest assured that he’ll be playing second fiddle to a stronger female lead. This leads me to the next reason Thor isn’t doing well. The central switch to that bait that is Thor was unpopular even before the movie was a twinkle in Disney’s eye.
This Thor entry revolves around “Female Thor” who is, to this day, one of the more unpopular characters released by the wokescolds at Marvel Comics. Female Thor was created as the latest modern feminist wave was reaching its zenith in 2014, and she came with all the ridiculousness you’d expect from feminist writers, including anti-male rants about the patriarchy and the sexism of men. While it sold relatively well it created a horrendous divide in the Marvel fanbase and left a bad taste in the mouths of many readers.
Putting her in the MCU was probably going to cause problems from the beginning.
Then there was the issue of Taika Waititi’s directorial style. He overdosed it with levity. Even the direst of moments were punctuated with jokes. Waititi has delivered films worth celebrating in the past. “Thor: Ragnarok” was a fresh and desperately needed take on the character. Outside of Marvel, his film “JoJo Rabbit” ranks as one of my all-time favorite movies.
But as “The Critical Drinker” on YouTube points out, Waititi’s inability to let heavy moments linger makes the jokes fall short and feel forced.
Then, there’s the hypocrisy issue that was revealed right in the midst of the trailer. At one point in the film, Zeus flicks the clothing off of Thor in order to reveal his true identity but accidentally sends all of Thor’s clothes tearing off, revealing the fully nude body of Chris Hemsworth. It’s played off as a joke and if we were in a better time it would have been a solid laugh, but in today’s world, we have to wonder what the reaction would have been if this had happened to a woman on screen.
The outcry would be relentless as accusations of sexism echoed from every corner of the western world by angry feminists and leftist activists. It was just one more reason to turn away from the film.
And so, while Thor has made a decent amount of money in the theaters, it’s second week is suffering from a 68 percent droppoff, causing it to flag behind other 2022 releases as pointed out by Bounding Into Comics:
This ranks among the MCU’s worst 2nd weekend drop-offs, including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (-67%) and Black Widow (-68%). The current worldwide total for the film sits at $497.9 million after two weeks, with $264.6 million internationally and $233.3 million in the United States. However, insiders claim the film will have to hit the $700 million dollar worldwide mark just to break even, given the massive costs associated with production.
Marvel spent $250 million dollars on the production of the film alone. While it is expected to hit that mark, the performance will be considered a major disappointment for Marvel Studios who were expecting a billion dollars from the film starring one of the founding members of the MCU’s Avengers team.
Thor drops the ball, but it’s not just Thor that’s the issue. Disney has soured its audience against it little by little with one political statement after the next delivered both overtly and subversively, and now it’s beginning to see audience reactions to it in sales.
I heard they backed off the "lesbian marriage" crap and it's actually not in the movie now, but I still have zero interest in seeing a movie where Natalie Portman is Thor instead of Thor being Thor. (I don't care if the "Jane wields Thor's hammer" stuff is in the comics, meh)
DHL is still in business. I think the original company from pre-WW II and into the ;’40’s was RAL or something like that. I’m sure it will come to me when I am not near a computer; the memory is the 2nd thing to go, and I forget what’s first.
I was going to see the film with my family until Natalie Portman started bragging about how proud she is that it’s the most gayest film ever. That did it for me. Nope, Disney is not getting my money.
Disney may just be a brand of Apple or Meta in the 22nd Century, the way MGM is now just another Amazon brand.
I learned to read from comic books. I was a collector of comic books when I was a teenager. I read Stan Lee’s monthly columns. I wrote a computer program to catalog my comic collection, which actually worked until the punch card system was taken out of the computer lab.
I have seen every MCU movie in a theater. Captain Marvel was the beginning of the slide. Eternals was not that great. Shang Chi was a stinker too. Dr Strange wasn’t terrible. Thor may be the first time I don’t go to the theater to see it. I canceled my Disney + subscription after Moon Knight which had one really good episode and then sucked.
They keep making these women who are omnipotent and self taught. Captain Marvel and Scarlet Witch. Then the women who teach themselves to be martial arts masters just by watching. Women should be pissed that they are treated that way in movies. They either have to be made omnipotent by accident or they have to be able to learn any skill simply by observing.
Disney was a family friend...until it wasn’t.
==
Disney was a family friend...until he started acting inappropriately around the children
Railway Express Agency (REA).
Superhero movies in general....ugh.
There was a time, not that long ago, when I would have looked at that poster and thought “what a colorful poster, very pretty”. Now, of course, it makes me think it has something to do with the alphabet community.
I admit to having watched The Eternals. For some reason I downloaded it to my tablet and… long flight….
It was truly horrible at every level. I mean I knew none of the characters, like the 10 Rings thing I tried watching but couldn’t. I also watched the new Doctor Strange since he was a childhood favorite… also awful.
There will never be another good Marvel now that Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark is dead.
The moment I saw that Portman was coming back, and that a female Thor would be introduced, I had no interest in seeing it. Female Thor bombed in the comics and I knew it would bomb on the screen. If Thor is to survive as a main character, a new director needs to be brought back on board to make Thor “Thor” again. If that doesn’t happen, then that part of the franchise is dead.
“Natalie Portman started bragging about how proud she is that it’s the most gayest film ever.”
That’s because she is the second worst ‘famous’ actress on the planet. Number one is always going to be the vapid, dense, and outright disgusting Gwyneth Paltrow.
She cannot brag about her acting skills, so she may as well brag about jamming wokeness into anything and everything.
OK. I’ll buy the first round of drinks, right or wrong :-)
Portman saying it was the gayest movie Disney has ever released ended any chance of them ever making a profit.
the memory is the 2nd thing to go, and I forget what’s first.
Dittoes, or,….something.
Just got back from seeing ELVIS. Excellent, by the way. But in the previews was the trailer for BROS! I almost lost it! That IS TOTALLY DISGUSTING AND SHOULD NOT BE ON A PUBLIC SCREEN. Two men kissing? C’mon give me a break, gays can go have their fun BUT NOT IN MY FACE! I find it OFFENSIVE!!
No one wants to watch Natalie Portman pretend to be Thor.
From what I've heard it's not really that way. However Disney has lost the benefit of the doubt and they are paying the price.
I’m waiting for Disney’s story of “Paradise Lost”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.