Frank Franklin II
Posted on 06/17/2022 10:15:36 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The mystery with Disney is what was the business decision behind inserting a same-sex scene in the kid’s film?
It is apparent the Disney Corporation — in regards to its dramatic releases — is going with a current slate of recycled properties. Established characters and plotlines are being pimped out in theaters and on the Disney+ streaming service. Sequels and extended storylines have been joined by a raft of origin stories. The success of “The Mandalorian” birthed “The Book of Bobba Fett,” and the long-gestating “Obi-Wan” was given life. Now they are tapping into the goldmine of the “Toy Story” franchise to give us the origins story that is “Lightyear”.
There had been some pushback at this idea initially, partly because this was possibly diluting what is a beloved franchise, but also because it was revealed that longtime voice of the character Buzz Lightyear — Tim Allen — would not be brought back. Instead, the character was going to be voiced by Chris Evans. Good to see him finally getting the chance to play a superhero. (/sarc) But then an even more potentially divisive piece of news was reported.
In the film, there will be a scene where two female characters are shown to be involved, and they will share a lesbian kiss on screen. The creative team at Pixar saw to it, after some claims of gay content expunged from prior productions, that this would be included. Initially, Disney approved of the couple but did not want them to share an embrace on screen, but then the company relented and the sapphic osculation is hence portrayed in CGI splendor.
This inclusion is being met with resistance, however, in some foreign markets. It was announced this week that Saudi Arabia has prevented the movie from being shown in its kingdom due to this scene, joining 13 other territories where the movie will not be playing, including China. Most of those markets are in Muslim countries, so this reaction is not all too surprising. The question now becomes how much of a financial impact will this have?
Arguably, it could be negligible – at least abroad. Saudi Arabia is a marketplace that is burgeoning, not booming. They have only permitted movie theaters to be built in that nation since 2018. Currently, they have barely 50 theaters, sporting less than 500 screens nationwide. This is not a huge market for Hollywood. To date, the biggest Hollywood hit there has been “Spiderman: No Way Home,” which earned just over $11 million.
Frank Franklin II
Overseas the biggest missed territory is, of course, China. The question there is: Would “Lightyear” even have garnered a release on the Mainland? That is doubtful. Of the entire franchise, only “Toy Story 4” was released in China, and it scratched out just over $13 million. The backstory of one of those characters is not generating significant interest in the region that only permits a few dozen Hollywood releases annually.
That said, what about domestically? Since many of the market metrics are not readily available, we need to resort to pragmatic analysis. Some may feel that the ginned-up controversy of the ladylike lip lock will generate free publicity and boost the fortunes of the film. This however seems dubious, for a few reasons. The LGBTπ audience segment is not all that large, to begin with, so even if this was met with enthusiasm the expected returns are relatively small. Now factor in that this is a film geared toward the younger crowd, and that potential interest is sure to be blunted somewhat.
But keeping in mind that children’s interest and we need to factor in another immeasurable but likely response – how many families will be turned away by the announced inclusion of same-sex characters? It is a realistic expectation, and possibly one that could not only mitigate the positive returns from an increased LGBTπ turnout, but those refraining from buying tickets could exceed that market share.
This leaves us with one last question: What is the expected benefit for Disney by including this content in a kids’ movie? Overseas, you lost potential audiences, both this summer but also with any future interest, you might have generated. Domestically, at best you are probably facing a break-even point with attracted/repelled ticket buyers, but you have also dredged up the controversy from this Spring regarding the Florida parental rights law and the attached sexual components that ultimately led to a PR fiasco for Disney.
The only benefit would be in appeasing an online activist set, a notoriously unreliable group when it comes to business returns. Those web-based provocateurs pledging support or promising boycotts have shown over the years to be more about announcements than action. Further, the people dwelling online like that are just as prone to seek out your movie content online. You will just as likely compel them to show support by pirating your title.
So in the end, yes – Disney will have animated lesbians kissing on screen. What this accomplishes for the company seems a less noteworthy result.
grooming
they are in the business of grooming
make sense now?
Disney stock stopped paying dividends two years ago, after decades of consistent dividend paying to shareholders. Apparently, in order to promote a sexual agenda to young kids, they’re willing to forego income that could help restart the dividend for shareholders
The top execs gave themselves massive pay increases, but the stock is at a multi year low
All I know is that gay people have found a true home in Disney. Other people not so much.
Up until this point we were steady customers for the Disney and Pixar features. That's over.
They can watch them themselves.
promoting their extreme ideology, even if it financially hurts them or ultimately destroys them.
This is also how our people at the center of Fed.gov in Washington DC think.
I hope it flops, big time.
Benefit? Disney could not care less. They are populated with Uber Woke Leftists. Their Agenda is all they care about. One thing about Uber Leftists is, they are totally committed to their cause. They could not possibly care less about the repercussions of their Lunacy. They are ALL IN.
This is the reason they have accomplished what they have. Total Commitment.
Total Commitment is the one thing Leftists and Islamists have in common.
And, it’s the one thing that Patriotic Constitutional Americans lack.
We quibble over minor differences and get into heated arguments over them. We go so far as to shun each other over differences.
Meanwhile, our Enemies certainly disagree on various points But, when SHTF they rally around and vote in Lockstep to further their cause. This rarely happens with Conservatives.
It would be interesting to see Leftists fight Islamists in France. See who'll ultimately prevail.
Benefit? Indoctrination of the youth.
It's less nefarious than people believe, though there may be some wokey angle to it.
For Disney's Fiscal year ending Oct 2, 2021, almost all of its operating profit came< from Linear Networks:
Domestic Channels: ABC Television Network (ABC) and eight owned ABC television stations (Broadcasting), and Disney, ESPN, Freeform, FX and National Geographic branded domestic television networks (Cable)
◦ International Channels: Disney, ESPN, Fox, National Geographic and Star branded television networks outside of the U.S.
◦ A 50% equity investment in A+E Television Networks (A+E), which operates a variety of cable channels including A&E, HISTORY and Lifetime
Kids don't make Disney money any more. It's adults.
And Lightyear fans are now....yep, Older GenZ.
This isn't about grooming, kinda. It's about hardening their grip on older, former child fans with wokey slop.
Haha! Good one. Never seen that before.
Well, at least they don’t have any imagery of people smoking, right?
Just straight-up grooming.
I was so happy a couple of months ago to hear a local radio host openly state that anyone in education who wants to discuss sexual things with young children wants to have sex with them - and he said it multiple times (and is still on the air). I also openly say this on the few occasions I’m even involved in such discussions; every person who wants to discuss sex with a young child wants to have sex with a young child - there is simply no sound reason to do it!
You are right that they need money from adults rather than non-earning children; they also have become more diverse as young whites become scarce (targeting the imported replacements instead).
At this point businesses are undergoing a real shift as they try to squeeze money out of ageing whites - especially those who never bred. They are competing with animal shelters, religious institutions and such who might end up with any remaining residual funds when those people pass away. A lot of the commercials are focused on this shift; more of the families portrayed are non-white (because that is the breeding “replacement” population), and older music is used to sell new cars because many young adults are burdened by school debt and/or earning a pittance in McJobs.
It’s a Jim Jones suicide cult ideology. The end of such is always a self destructive one once they go “all in”.
That is why the good people hesitate. To deal with such suicidal monsters one also has to make one’s face like ‘flint” and become hardened to the guilt trips that sort of enemy tries to throw at you. You have to make sure that yours is the true “righteous cause” before you go all in against these people and right now these people control nukes....that is what is making them very confident and stupidly reckless!
It’s to Disney’s benefit to contribute to the delinquency of minors. Their perverted ideology is more important than profits, it seems.
“grooming
they are in the business of grooming”
That’s it. Conservatives always seem to want to find some complicated motive for stuff like this, when the simple reality is staring them right in the face. And Disney needn’t worry. I’m sure there are millions of women who will take their kids to this movie. They always do.
Jones would have a hay-day with all the sheep nowadays.
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