Drinker's Chasers - Disney's Staggering Year Of Box Office Failures

In their recent earnings report, Disney posted an believable loss of $750 Million on a string of box office failures, the latest of which include The Marvels and Wish.

[@posthawk1393]

I'm doing my part! Not a cent given to the monstrosity that is Disney in 2023.

[@patronus1776]

I'll drink to that. 🍺

[@FishHead84]

They own so many other companies you probably have without even realizing.

[@canderoussnurd4265]

I’m doing my part too! *twelve year old steps forward wearing battle rattle

[@randommexican5664]

I see you, brother 💪 fuck em!

[@rockfordfiles5451]

Maybe find a way to like steal something so you can call it a gross negative for 2023?

[@3Storms]

On the Nintendo Wii they released a game called "Epic Mickey." It was about Mickey getting forgotten by modern Disney and kids, so he ended up thrown into the realm of the forgotten creations. There he encountered Walt Disney's first creation (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) who hates him for being Walt's special one. Over time Oswald forgives Mickey and together they try to use their own imaginations to repaint the dismal realm of the forgotten into a wonderful place of the happy memories. This would have made an absolutely awesome movie for the 100th anniversary. Instead we got lectures,white replacement, gender replacement, and bull crap that just threw away a grand chance to tell a grand story.

[@daftpunk89]

The fact that they didnt make a Mickey Mouse movie for their 100th anniversary proves just how stupid the people running that company are

[@3Storms]

@@daftpunk89 They're not stupid. "History is white and racist" is literally the code that the modern lefitst operates on. That's why old buildings are being torn down everywhere in this country. Everything done by Walt Disney amounts to nothing but a foundation for social and cultural parasites to tell their own morally-corrupted stories in his company's name.

[@blackosprey2219]

Disney doesn't have a great track record with acknowledging their own video games.

[@benitocamela174]

@@blackosprey2219 a kingdom hearts movie would go hard af ngl

[@CMCAdvanced]

The good old days when Disney was a nice escape from reality instead of a portal to endless hell

[@ephraimwinslow]

Turns out branding character assassination/mean spirited parody as a "modern take" on an old character is a failing strategy. Who knew?

[@DEADHEAD16090976]

Everybody😂

[@tonnyrodrigueznunez]

That's the problem, they live in a very small bubble that disconnect them from reality for most of us, and they still wonder why their productions don't work.

[@ephraimwinslow]

@@tonnyrodrigueznunez "Am I so out of touch? ...No. No, it's the children who are wrong."

[@guilhermehank4938]

Blackrock funds them so they are fine

[@emilythequeen1]

You’re talking about Thor, aren’t you. That was the worst.

[@josiesilas]

Don't forget Sound of Freedom. Disney sat on that for years, then let someone else release it and it out grossed Indiana Jones. Plus, since it cost nothing to make it had somewhere around 100 mil in profit. That should be counted as a Disney loss.

[@markiangooley]

I’m convinced that most people in the Hollywood film industry either have sex with children or know lots of others who do - and tolerate it. I’m amazed that the film even got made. When you’re rich, powerful, and depraved, the sheer wickedness probably has a great appeal to you.

[@princewellidk]

​@@markiangooleyLook at Epstein and Dan Schneider

[@catoblepag]

@@markiangooley Lots of old Hollywood big stars seem... scared these days. They're filthy rich, they used to be very picky when choosing movies 'cause they could afford it, and now they accept starring in horrible, humiliating reboots/sequels of beloved franchises (and these franchises didn't get a proper sequel in the Nineties precisely 'cause the main actor didn't want to return for the part). Are they getting MORE money? Is that how it works? I don't think so. It smells of blackmail to me.

[@littlekingtrashmouth9219]

@@catoblepagthat could also be the simpler explanation - studios only bankroll terrible sequels/reboots because it’s a guaranteed return on investment, no matter how cringe, embarrassing, and terrible it is. Actors work because they have to. Director Norman Jewison once said in the 2000s (when this current remake/reboot thing first started) “you wouldn’t believe the shit the studios want you to make these days.” Other scripts could get the spotlight, but they get pushed out by a known property.

[@trygveplaustrum4634]

Only outgrossed on the Fourth of July, but still. The fact that Disney is within reach is embarrassing.

[@wonkabars6982]

Like someone else said in a previous video, I’m not even boycotting Disney, I’m just so done with them at this point as well. Even if they try to “fix” things, I straight up don’t care anymore. Abuse someone enough times and they’ll eventually stop loving you.

[@KorriTimigan]

Exactly. You have to care to be angry. To give a brutal analogy, you shout at a child when they do something dangerous so they learn and never do it again, and so live longer. If you don't care about them you'll just let them wander into traffic.

[@randomdude189]

@@KorriTimiganso you are boycotting

[@KorriTimigan]

@@randomdude189 I never said what I was or wasn't doing, I was making an analogy.

[@davidgantenbein9362]

Boycotting is an action with a demand attached to it, where the boycott stops once the demand is matched. That’s imo not what’s happening here. With Disney, people just don’t watch stuff they don’t want to see as they are not interested in the product. That’s not a boycott, that’s customers abandoning a brand that doesn’t deliver anymore.

[@stoopidpursun8140]

Disney content isn't even worth pirating.

[@kpsk8031]

Disney has hit rock bottom but their potential goes much deeper.

[@RexJacobus-bb1vw]

Shuttered doors and closed mouths is what we need

[@AniwayasSong]

Their efforts to dig their way to Hell is truly amazing...

[@The_Sisyphean]

Rock bottom? Disney accepts your challenge…

[@johnsullivan937]

"Disney, we could pass through the mines of Moria, my cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome" Disney needs to stop taking advice from Gimli...

[@kenjifox4264]

When Disney hit bottom, they take out their shovel and keep digging down. They believe they’ll get to the top the deeper they get.

[@TheHangarHobbit]

Just imagine if they could show the class of Joel Schumacher and said "Look, I apologize. I want to apologize to every fan that was disappointed because I think I owe them that." like he did for Batman & Robin. Instead, they will blame the fans, call them incels, say they are raycis, and copy the Ghostbusters 2016 playbook.

[@pigeonpoo1823]

Ghostbusters 2016 is THE template for explaining the failure of anything

[@mr.battle20]

My family and I used to be really into Disney, back in the "Renaissance Era". I grew up singing along to Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, etc. with my sister, and everyone had Disney t-shirts and memorabilia. We took regular trips to Disneyland, had the entire library of Disney films, you name it. And even though I was an adult by the oughts, I still got into the Kingdom Hearts series of games. The amount of money we spent on all things Disney was well into the thousands of dollars, perhaps tens of thousands. Now? I refuse to spend a single dime on them. I actively avoid ANYTHING related to Disney, and so do the rest of my family. And we're not alone. Get woke, go broke indeed.

[@darthtleilaxu4021]

👍❤️👍🥳

[@LouisNothing]

Same here.

[@bartsullivan4866]

Your not alone, although I was more a WB or Universal more so than Disney. But I remember the Renaissance Era well when the motto was quality over quantity. That was reversed during the last 15 years. Disney was always known for the direct to video sequels cash cow crap as well only Pixar gave a shit about their sequel films. Not everything was A+ stuff from the mouse house even then but the big projects were well done.

[@stanley-fghijk441]

I'm doing my part. Not one penny spent on Disney in 2023.

[@PeteMD]

I’m so sorry I took 8 kids to Wish

[@robotsaysbeebooboop]

​@@PeteMDI had to downvote your comment

[@stanley-fghijk441]

@@PeteMD Suuuuure. I love "things that didn't happen". Tho, wouldn't have made a difference in the humiliating, hilarious failure of "wish" even if it had. Hahaha!!! Did your 8 kids also tell you Trump scared them?

[@SeSeReRfRf]

All I saw from Disney was Guardians 3. That's it. And I saw it at one of those cheap tiny cinemas that shows films 2-3 months after their actual run in theaters, so Disney got pennies on the dollar from my tickets than they would have normally.

[@PeteMD]

No really. I went with 4 adults(me, wife, BIL, SIL) and 8 kids(2 ours, 2 theirs, 4 our other niece and nephews). I was positive and nice and the kids enjoyed it and later I rated it a 1.5/10 to the adults. Can’t believe some of them liked it but they just aren’t particularly discerning or really care about any of this

[@christophertaylor9100]

You know why she likes Iron Man 3? Pepper Potts saves the day. How the hell does Haunted Mansion cost so much to make???

[@preppingfortherealworld]

Iger never left , Chapek was a fall guy to take blame for losses during covid.

[@CanadaPlus]

Don't worry, I'm sure the next Disney movie will put them back on the map! *Sees Wish Oh

[@MundaneThingsBackwards]

Don't worry. The next NEXT Disney movie will work.

[@TheBoxGhost_tm]

Read that in Mr. Plinkett's voice.

[@nobobynnobody]

Deadpool 3, written by the Molyneux Sisters. Best known for... writing a few episodes of "Bob's Burgers" and the awful direct to Amazon bomb "The People You Hate at the Wedding" (32% on RT). So you know, it's in good hands.

[@ragtowne]

6.66% of Disney's 2023 movies made a profit - IMHO 6.66 is an appropriate number for Disney

[@thevoxdeus]

Discount Satan

[@stormryder4305]

Mark of the beast?

[@davidanderson_surrey_bc]

@@stormryder4305 More like Mark*down* of the Beast.

[@mawnkey]

Remember that the best thing you can do to hurt Disney is the easiest and cheapest thing you can do to hurt Disney: absolutely nothing. Don't go to their parks. Don't watch their movies or shows. Don't buy their merch. You can beat them by doing literally nothing.

[@stormryder4305]

Their parks is their main source of revenue. As long as people willing to queue for hours just for one lousy overpriced ride, this culture war will never end.

[@Willie_Jones76]

​@@stormryder4305unfortunately, you are right 😮‍💨

[@dominicmanning4512]

​@@stormryder4305Perhaps but the more everyone starts to ignore Disney, the less relevant and more outdated their rides and content within the park get.

[@LittlePhizDorrit]

Disney threw out Hollywood's old playbooks because they thought they knew better. For all of film history the diminishing returns of sequels was WELL established. First movie great, Second gets less attention. Third (if there even is one) gets less. The concept of "Franchising" films is premised on ignoring that fundamental fact. Yes, with a loyal fanbase built in connected movies in an over-arching or repetitive well told story you MIGHT get a bit more of the audience to stick around for a bit longer (Harry Potter, LotR, James Bond). But all of those relied on courting fans and careful adherence to the source. They wanted to turn films into McDonalds or KFC. That might have worked. But they didn't follow what KFC or McD's does....a big mac is a big mac, you don't take away the special sauce or turn it into a veggie burger and hope the customer will just accept it. Why Disney thought they could break these rules....I'll never know.

[@Falconlibrary]

Second Austin Powers movie and second and third Mad Max movies did much bigger box office than the first, so that rule is not hard and fast. Google "sequels that made more money than the original film" and you'll see this is true with the Dark Knight trilogy, the Lethal Weapon series, etc.

[@SirSayakaMikiThe3rd]

​@@Falconlibrary Terminator 2, Aliens, Two Towers/Return of the King, etc.

[@evanray8413]

The exceptions don't prove the rule.

[@jasonagodfrey]

​@@FalconlibraryFair point, but every one of those movies took what the first did and either did it again or did it better. They didn't veer away from the characters or overall tone. Everything up to Infinity War had consistent characters and a broadly similar tone.

[@Falconlibrary]

@@jasonagodfrey So the rule isn't "sequels make less money" but "bad sequels make less money".

[@Beef3D]

I cannot wait for Disney to fuck up so royally to the point Bob Iger realizes there's no way to save them from the mess they're in, it warrants a "Downfall" parody of that moment where Hitler shakingly drops his glasses and lashes out at his generals, but instead it's Iger and his top execs in Disney.

[@heartysquid]

Capital idea, sir!

[@6tiple6ix6afia]

The best thing about taking the total sales of one day and then getting an average per theater is that in actuality, this means there were inevitably many theaters where they sold LITERALLY ZERO TICKETS to the movie lmfao

[@jrwilliams4029]

The majority of these losses are exorbitantly underreported. You cannot tell me with a budget that included 1/2 a billion with production and marketing plus a plethora of reshoots that Indian Jones 5 only lost 150 million; only 10 million more lost than Haunted House.

[@user-zn5qm2yq9h]

​@@jrwilliams4029I'm with you. There's no way Indiana Jones and the Dispers of Dysentery lost only $140 million. I hear the movie is available on Disney+, so I wonder if they're fudging the numbers based on streaming stats that can easily be skewed any number of ways...

[@6vitamin]

An empty theater isnt crazy. You can go to the biggest theater in many cities and unless they have a good matinee discount, the theater will be empty for the first few hours of the day, and even through the evening. The issue is that the empty theaters would be things like "Fuchk You It's January"-level rom-coms or horror flicks that played at the same time as an MCU release. You'd have people buying tickets for a Kathrine Heigel movie, and trying to sneak into Avengers Endgame. For THE biggest releases to be the empty theaters, in its first week, during prime hours on prime days... it's like going to Disney Land and all the rides with 4 hour waits had empty lines....oh wait

[@donkeysaurusrex7881]

Meanwhile I can’t find a a showing for The Holdovers two weeks after it released.

[@ravenshrike]

That means the actual loss is almost certainly 50% more since they have a habit of lying through their teeth about budgets and shifting numbers around.

[@demomanchaos]

A lot more than that, considering that 750 mil number does not include marketing costs.

[@JohnDoe-sr1dd]

Why did DaCosta direct the Marvels? Because she checked Disney's DEI box, not the experience or skill set box.

[@AniwayasSong]

I find it both astonishing, and horrifying, that ANY COMPANY can voluntarily *FLUSH* that much $$$ down the toilet, and yet *NOT BE BANKRUPTED!*

[@Annihilus2000]

they have someone backing them to push the agenda

[@stormryder4305]

They have their theme park money. Jesus Christ. I hate KZbin censorship.

[@frankgesuele6298]

@@stormryder4305 That is going down as well.

[@JohnGardnerAlhadis]

ESG scores and venture capitalism, baby.

[@robertbeisert3315]

Free money if you just destroy all the cultural icons you can Of course, the free money ends, but hopefully you're the Democratic nominee for President by then, allegedly.

[@nightwishfan1991]

Disparu's Joker laugh was hilarious to hear. He just couldn't contain himself.

[@cornflakeshumunculus8373]

Yes 😂

[@screech3859]

I thought weatherman was the only job you could consistently be incorrect at and still get a raise. Boy, did Disney prove me wrong! Lol!

[@richtes]

Since Ozzy Man got me watching Mexican weather I didn’t know it mattered what the predictions are

[@markiangooley]

Bob Iger started out as a television weatherman, didn’t he?

[@MomoAfterDark]

You forgot politicians.

[@OrgOfTheBogPeople]

Calling the recent remakes 'live-action' is an insult to our language. They are computer generated or CGI remakes.

[@younger544]

Disparu really hits my main ??? Why do these people who utterly fail just get to move on or even UP to another project? It makes NO sense to me.

[@josephsalmonte4995]

Because they are NOT failing. I saw interviews with Hollywood bigwigs years ago & they said ..."we will push our messages at ANY cost. Our political & societal aims far outweigh our financial ones."

[@seafoam6119]

@@josephsalmonte4995by any cost, they mean whatever black rock and ESG investors are willing to bribe them with.

[@laurarules3642]

I'm female and I am sick of all female movies or the boring and toxic "strong, empowered and highly unlikable women" in film. They bragged just before Covid hit that the next few years was going to be amazing for women in movies. Can we go back to male buddy action movies instead of the male paired up with one or sometimes several obnoxious, misandrist and highly ignorant women ? The main villain is usually a woman as well but because she's female she has to be a victim and the male hero is NEVER allowed to defeat the female villain it has to be the strong empowered women who beat up other women. I miss the days of Die Hard 4 when we see John beat up the martial arts expert woman

[@LivingInTheKaliYogurt]

These are ideologues and puppets for WEF & CIA.

[@RexJacobus-bb1vw]

It's because it's a government backed agenda. Not sure why people can't see it even when they admit it. Drinker ignores this or just isn't saying it

[@JasonAdank]

Its amazing how many Disney / Lucasfilm movies have flopped spectacularly over the past few years. Its morbidity fascinating to watch and wonder when theyll run out of money to throw at this stuff....

[@ephraimwinslow]

They ran out of money a while ago. Larry Fink's pockets are very deep however.

[@Sacto1654]

@@ephraimwinslow But even Fink has to realize Disney losing *AT MINIMUM* US$750 million for its movie releases this year is not good for BlackRock publicity-wise.

[@soulfirez4270]

@@ephraimwinslow You mean peoples pension money , its not Finks money , he wouldnt waste that trying to force behavior he will use your money to destroy your culture .

[@ad-sd-vids5332]

Bob iger- “there hast be a reason to make a sequel and you have to have a good story” Also Bob iger- *green lights Toy Story 5*

[@slckb0y65]

i love how you keep talking about disney for months/years without ever uttering the words "money laundering" cause from where i stand, it's pretty darn obvious this is exactly what is happening in front of our eyes.

[@zirconiumdiamond1416]

That doesn't seem very likely to me. Disney has an army of accountants, outside auditors, and likely is getting audited by the IRS every year. On top of which, it isn't a cash business. Virtually all of the money going into and out of the company is trackable. It really doesn't seem like a very good business for laundering money. I very much doubt the cartel is going to want to be associated with Disney, when they could be just intimidating owners of small laundromats.

[@user-zn5qm2yq9h]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if you're right. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if Black Rock and Vanguard have no problem pumping money into Disney as long as Disney keeps pushing the DEI agenda. Heck, Black Rock CEO Larry Fink publicly stared DEI needs to be forced on the American people. They say Black Rock is worth $14 trillion, so they have the deep pockets to keep financing this garbage...

[@andrewtaylor940]

It’s not money laundering. It’s straight up embezzlement. Different crimes. Disney is taking theme park earnings, redistributing them to Hollywood friends and family, and masking it all as Disney+ losses.

[@w0undedmakers251]

And WHERE/WHO is it being laundered to? Who NOSE, right? The answer could be right under our NOSES, hiding in plain sight. But surely it’s much more complicated and complex trying to untangle the strings of this puppet master. That’s what makes it so difficult to understand the truth, because it’s easy to get lost in the weeds as we argue *semitics* with one another. hmmm

[@andrewtaylor940]

@@w0undedmakers251 It's not being "Laundered". It's being spent freely onto the various outstretched hands of Hollywood. Handed out the way California hands out taxpayer funds to illegal immigrant crackheads. They are lavishly handing out money to those they like. Although there is one interesting report floating around regarding the leaks coming from the Disney Wish animators. While the known production budget on Wish is $200-250 Million. Reports from the animators are they only had around $75 Million to make the movie with. In a very short time frame. WHat was the rest used for? (Granted some can reasonably be attributed to music costs, Voice Acting and such. It still seems high). To contrast this. The new Toho Godzilla movie, that is doing gangbusters worldwide, only cost somewhere between $15-25 million USD to make. They will make back their production budget from the limited time, limited theater North American release this weekend. ANd it looks like what a $200 million movie should look like.

[@ufeelinselfrighteous8470]

3 absolute savages, SAVAGING Disney in epic savagery. SAVAGE Drinker, Despot, and Disparu... the 3 D's of the Disney apocalypse

[@cmere9141]

I'd say Disney is it's own Apocalypse and they're just pointing it out

[@6vitamin]

You ALMOST had it... shoulda said "the 3 D's of Disney's Demise"

[@mikeduplessis8069]

The big hit of the season appears to be 'Godzilla Minus One', and it cost 1/20th(!) of any Marvel movie mentioned here.

[@Ninetails113]

These last few years of cinematic failures are going to be super interesting for film students to study in the future.

[@jskrabac]

TBH I think they'll just be forgotten artistically. They may be studied by business students though.

[@High_Caliber]

I sent an email to my local therater chain, asking for Godzilla (they don't plan to show it) and told them straight out WHY my family doesn't go to the theater any more, even though we like going to the theater. Straight up said they show crap movies that nobody wants, and that their theaters are empty (they removed the marvels yesterday, and wish is in the tiiiiny screen that's usually for weird small releases. They actually sent back some cut n' paste note about how they are dedicated to quality programming for the whole family blah blah blah but NO mention of Godzilla. They just aren't even trying to save themselves anymore. The people working there obviously don't care if theaters are no longer a thing sometime soon, because that's the reality. Godzilla was made for 15 mil and I'm DYING to see it....but what I have is WISH and NAPOLEON. Yeah, that's as good.

[@benironside1264]

You wrote a letter to cinema complaining they didn’t have Godzilla..? doing that is the kind of completely crazy busybodying that I actually have lots of respect for 😂

[@lloyd_r]

​@@benironside1264mong

[@pandalover900]

If OP is talking about minus one, it's a great Godzilla movie that's not Hollywood

[@nobobynnobody]

Cinemas have surprisingly little control of which films they get to show. The screens are programmed by distributors in collaboration with studios and there are all kinds of back-end wheeling and dealing in place. Assuming your local cinema is part of a cinema chain, your opinion amounts to nothing in a complex financial algorithm. If it's an independent cinema they'll have to compete with the chains for the biggest new releases, and that will mean a high upfront fee + the studio gets a bigger chunk of proceeds from ticket sales. The indie cinema will have a better idea about who their patrons are than you do, and a better idea of risk. You stated yourself that you don't go to the cinema anymore so why should they try to cater to you? On the whole family films are the safest bet (especially in markets outside the US). Truth is you'd have more luck contacting the studio responsible for Godzilla Minus One than your local cinema.

[@ImranHussain-bs2bl]

@@benironside1264they are referring to Godzilla Minus One which is made by Toho studios from Japan not the Hollywood films made by Legendary Pictures. In fairness I don’t mind the Legendary Pictures Monsterverse movies, they aren’t going to win any Oscars but they are entertaining, and no woke agenda being shoved down our throats. Plus they do try to pay homage and respect the Toho Godzilla films.

[@Red0543]

Last money I ever gave to the mouse was when I got a one month subscription to Disney+ just to watch Mando season 3… I didn’t even finish that season, I stopped watching after the second to last episode, because I realised that I had been bored to absolute tears through the entire season and that I found myself more and more doing something other than watching the “action” on screen. Since then Disney haven’t had a single god damn cent from me. If they want my money they will have to actually earn it.

[@josephsalmonte4995]

This is such a great line-up. I LOVE listening to Drinker, Reaper, Mauler AND Little Platoon ♥️👍

[@AlcoholicBoredom]

That’s Despot of Antrim, not Reaper.

[@josephsalmonte4995]

@@AlcoholicBoredom Shit you're right. But that guy rocks too 🤣👍

[@paulcheney3636]

Chuffed to see the Despot getting exposure it's richly deserved

[@randommexican5664]

Proud to say Disney got exactly zero dollars and zero cents of my hard earned money this year. Last shekels they stole from me was the last doctor strange, and only because sam raimi. For all new disney content even remotely worth watching, vpn and 🏴‍☠️

[@RocafellaPlaza82]

Good decision to let Sam Raimi do Secret Wars and co-direct with someone else to help minimize the workload. And he'll have different input too.

[@davidsummer8631]

Let that sink in that their pandering to small minority on social media has cost them nearly a billion dollars

[@donny2967]

More than that really. The parks would be indirectly impacted too, hence these lads mentioning how Star Wars would sell merchandise like crazy in the past but since they've put out crap as of late their merchandise sales suffer as well. It's 1 big pile of crap that's hitting them at all aspects of the business.

[@kelvincasing5265]

Yes, but think of all the sweet ESG BlackRock cash flowing the other way because they do it

[@BloodyArchangelus]

without taxes and straight in the shareholders pockets.@@kelvincasing5265

[@greenlantern7959]

I remember listening to a Pixar artist 10 or so years ago, where rule 1 was “everything must serve the story”. These production companies have all lost that focus on first principles, and replaced it with The Narrative… and the results are obvious

[@tonychan8558]

I remember that! I remember John Lassiter saying something like, 'If you think about the graphics in a Pixar movie, we have failed in our jobs'. Can't remember the actual quote. His point is that Pixar movie MUST be about story FIRST. Disney has completely forgotten about this one rule.

[@bighand1530]

Safe to say that Pixar will never be what it was during the 1990’s, 2000’s and to a lesser extent, the 2010’s.

[@kanrakucheese]

@@tonychan8558 I don't consider Helen's butt a failure. It's definitely the graphics and not the story.

[@nobobynnobody]

And they fired Lassetter because he gave his staff hugs.

[@timothyfitzgerald3168]

Those numbers on the Disney losses are BS. They prolly took out what they paid themselves from Disney- and counted that as "revenue" like they did with Lightyear and Strange World

[@rynoopperman5010]

It is amazing how Disney want to give Musk 💩, but they are in no position to blackmail as no-one watches their ads anyway…

[@RecluseBootsy]

I don't like him much but i'm glad he publicly told Disney to go fuck themselves. 😂

[@TaoScribble]

I'd argue it's worse than that: There have been projects of their's that I've been interested in until the ads for them repelled me. Wish being the latest example.

[@dashmeetsingh9679]

Thats the most lamest thing I heard. Here’s why : Imagine being a worldwide organization known for making movies for pre-teens and early teens. And there is a platform that has potential to show your product right next to NSFW content. Tell me which brand in their right brand will chose to advertise themselve on that kind of platform? Hating Disney for lame content is okay. But trusting an owner of a buisness who has lost more than 70% valuation is just bonkers.

[@theknave4415]

The problem is that RDJ is now 58 y/o, and he shows it.

[@Desolaytore]

His switch to vegan diet really shows it. He is super thin, he looks sickly

[@jamesturnbull3698]

The amount Disney has been losing from movies, it must be over a billion now just to spread "the message" and they still haven't learned makes me wonder if the Panderverse is real and we are all in it

[@maxbaugh9372]

A back-of-the-envelope estimate is that Solo & Rise of Skywalker together fell short by almost a billion vs what they would have made had TLJ not pissed off so many people.

[@bighand1530]

It’s not about money, it’s sending a message. That’s not gonna stop anything soon. At least I know I’m not wasting my time. Time is something no person can ever get back. Hence James 4:14.

[@vforwombat9915]

" just to spread "the message"" just stop w that sht. 'the message' has nothing to do with whether a movie is good or bad. nothing. and it HELPS sales if anything, except for al you strident antiwoke folks. Disney's issue is corporate interference, NOT 'the message'. studios have been interfering and fcking up films since.... let's round to 1920. so, 100 years. long before woke was a thing. you griping about 'the message' is focusing your anger on the wrong thing, and says more about you than it does about 'the message'. stop being that guy

[@user-nd8rb7hg5m]

One video (I think the recent Disparu one) said that they have lost $11 billion on trying to get Disney+ off the ground.

[@donkeysaurusrex7881]

@@maxbaugh9372 Solo falling short was a result of people being mad at TLJ and ROS.

[@IMAMONGUS]

Disparu's laugh is awesome!!😂😂

[@hurricane_laura]

Off topic, but I would absolutely love to see The Critical Drinker review "A Bronx Tale". This is Chazz Palminteri's masterpiece, and is a shining example of how you weave in societal issues into a well-written, well-acted movie. It came out in 1994, and it's a movie that has stuck with me ever since.

[@madcapmakov2]

Cuz it’s an adult-aimed drama. Social issues can be conveyed to adults without being preachy or condescending.

[@richtes]

@@madcapmakov2I’m not sure Disney can do adult drama since they seem run by a bunch of activist children.

[@nobobynnobody]

I would argue that "The Green Book" was a similar type of film of recent vintage but it was absolutely thrashed by the twitteratti for being... I don't know... too optimistic or something. There are many who consider it to be "the worst" Best Picture winner, which completely fluxxoms me. The desire to tear down far exceeds the desire to lift up.

[@MrMacavity]

Don't give Disney or any of the other woke-crap-pandering companies any money until they correct course and start giving the customers what they actually want, please.

[@stormryder4305]

Start with boycotting their theme parks.

[@OrangePikmin-cv9ui]

What a way to celebrate 100 years

[@snapshot4269]

0:50 That burst of laughter will always be funny.

[@israelsaadesnoozer377]

Insane the new Godzilla only has a $15 million budget. Not even an episode of She Hulk 😂

[@ronsmith8424]

To be honest Marvel has made a habit of casting not hiring directors for a while ! Many indie movie directors have been hired from doing $20m to doing $250m ! It’s nothing new ! They have also hired experienced directors too like Sam Raimi and edited out their creative input

[@Ravenscroft82]

Very impressive panel. No "bro" stuff, just insightful and intelligent conversation. More and more impressed with Despot.

[@Dhomden]

What in the world do you usually watch, bro

[@belaohenrique]

Drinker, you should take a look at Henry Cavill"s movie coming up The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. looks great.

[@doberski6855]

Looking forward to it, and the trailer for 'Argylle' has me interested as well.

[@GeoffryGifari]

that sounds so british

[@AcidifiedMammoth]

​@@GeoffryGifariawesome too.

[@not_glad]

What Disney need to do is forget the DEI stuff, do talent based hiring instead. They could put a gold fish in the office to help them get over the loss of the DEI department.

[@corroded]

The fun thing is about the Multiverse Saga is it makes the bad films in the Infinity Saga not seem so bad.

[@SylverWWA]

The Gorgeous Disparu relishing in the chaos and insanity again is just such a pleasant and entertaining sight to be seen 😂😂😂

[@Zogger568]

9:03 she was hired for a very specific reason, which closely ties into what you guys mentioned earlier on how the movies are made on an assembly line. She will do as she's told. Big name directors are able to throw their weight and name around, get things changed or altered. You can't have that when the cgi for scenes is planned out months before shooting starts. They get a director who as promise, but not experience, and most importantly, is too small to say no to the execs.

[@mrnicktoyou]

My theory is that Disney tried to make movie making into a formula. They looked at the first Iron Man, Capt Amer, and Thor and tried to make a checklist of what makes those movies good. Then, they thought it doesn't matter who is making the film, as long as they follow the script Disney made based on those good movies. We could see this formula at work back 7-8 years ago, but they still had some talent back then to make up for the lack of creativity. They no longer have any talent left. All they have is a formula which doesn't work.

[@nobobynnobody]

Black Panther was a turning point for Marvel. It made bucket loads of money AND earned critical applause AND industry accolades AND made Disney/MCU seem topical and important, AND satisfied the twitter mob. All of which served to stroke the egos of Disney Execs and future-proof them from potential accusations of racism (hint: they are all secretly racist). So they have been trying to recreate and repackage the Black Panther lightning ever since. But they haven't learned the most important lesson from Black Panther, which is that Black Panther is f#cking cool as f#ck.

[@Schubeedoobee]

design by committee NEVER EVER WORKS... it never has.

[@c1ph3rpunk]

How many Disney ticket sales are Disney employees being told to go see the stuff.

[@kitsunenoir87]

Even Waterworld eventually made its money back😂

[@Dollar_Store_Cacodemon]

Their films aren't made to make money. They know this. They're made to push the message and blackrock and co prop them up and keep pumping the funds in as long as the ESG demands are met.

[@SergioSchvezov]

Winter Soldier was the best. I went into it with the lowest of expectations and was blown away.

[@MomoAfterDark]

My absolute favorite as well. That movie hit every checkbox for me.

[@Bow-to-the-absurd]

I'm torn. A return to the greatness that saw them churn out classics? Or crash and burn completely.

[@paulshaw3351]

Disney needs to take a good look at Godzilla Minus One. For a measly $15 million, Takashi Yamazaki has made a blockbuster style movie that brought back memories for me when Star Wars and Indian Jones first came out…and at the same time, respectfully updated a very old franchise in a way that brings in new audiences without alienating the fans. Its lack of box office bang does not reflect the brilliance of this sequel/prequel of a 70 year old franchise, only the reluctance of the mass audience to watch subtitled movies in cinema.

[@BlackhaloZ]

Missing, seems to be a discussion around Disney's $80 billion in debt and interest rates now at 7%. Up from 2%. Disney went from needing to make $1.6 billion in profit to service that debt when these movies were originally funded and barely eking a profit on that, to needing to make $5.6 Billion on projects going forward. Disney is headed for BK or a sell-off of assets like Star Wars.

[@6tiple6ix6afia]

Disney's entire yearly income in 2023 has taken a 25.15% nose dive from 2022 lmfao

[@stormryder4305]

In 2022, they already lost $10 billion from streaming network and movies alone, except Hulu. But, once again their theme parks earning save their b*tt.

[@Willie_Jones76]

Boycott theme parks😒

[@CannonRaw]

Disney can't exactly stop either. They are publicly traded company and the investors want their money back. Having your stock in the last two years lost 50% of its value. The only happy people are those who shorted the stock.

[@6vitamin]

Thing is, it seems like Iger's following the now-popular model of treating every business as if it were a Tech company, and chasing inflated valuations, pumping up stock prices on speculation, and impressing Silicon Valley investors. Just like Tesla, a low, to mid, car company pretending it's a tech company and fleecing investors for billions and billions (having a value many times higher than the best company in their field). And just like Silicon Valley, this practice encourages growth and lack of profit, to the point that the growth is artificial and standing on shaky ground at best, and profit is actually astounding rate of losses. When the value of Disney was sky-high, they did not invest in themselves, or even others, they used that value and maneuvered it to swallow up the competition, and dominate the market (seemingly) and further grow their valuation. May be Iger's trying for "round 2", blinded by the money and success of the Silicon Valley style of business, or simply doing the level of due diligence that VC's do...ie none. OR...may be the angel investors that have their hands in ALL THE PIES, the NGO/Thinktank/Influence peddling "investment/capital houses" like Vanguard and Blackrock, simply have the bank, the means, and the will, to back up Disney in its pursuit of ESG-style governance.

[@victorcates9330]

They bet the farm. They needed to be able to milk those cashcows for decades. The flops are criminal. But they're at a point of stagnation. So even if they're still up after all those flops, the accounting has to factor in brand damage and finding themselves standing still. Nothing they're doing works. Their infrastructure and assets are worthless if they can't produce the hits of tomorrow. If some other studio uncovers the next multi billion dollar franchise, then Disney are likely in a worse spot then when they started. The stock price has to be the best way to get a sense of the damage.

[@CannonRaw]

@@victorcates9330 well said. Recently came across a video talking about Disney's decline. It discussed how the movies and shows they've made recently. It was about how the decline of the new generation will result in a future decline. For example if children have nostalgia they will introduce their future children to that media. But the new media they have created isn't something people are passing forward. So with nothing to pass forward there is no future audience.

[@w0undedmakers251]

The Flash was “more expensive” because WB had to pay the previous 5-10 writers/producers that left the project through production hell. This is standard practice in Hollywood. What’s Captain Kweef’s excuse?

[@barnabusdoyle4930]

Actually Drinker, nearly all of Disney’s “creativity” in the past was stealing the stories of other people and making a cartoon out of them. They definitely changed some of the stories and made them less horrifying, but their entire business model was stealing other people’s IP and then making one crappy sequel after another based off those IP. Disney has always gone through cycles of crap and we are in that cycle now.

[@Tyler_W]

I think you're being a little uncjaritable. They didn't "steal" IP. Most of them were stories in free domain, and they adapted outside source material. As anyone who's looked forward to an adaptation and was disappointed by the final result will know, there is absolutely skill and creativity required to pull off a successful adaptation. Say whatever you want about modern Disney, but over the broad view of their history, they've been extraordinarily good at adaptation, so much so that most people think of the Disney adaptation before the source material. By all means, give Disney all the lumps they deserve as a company, but let's not act as though they didn't earn their good reputation. Giving credit where it's due only highlights the abysmal depths of their current failure. Honestly, this might be a worse era for Disney than their pre-Renaissance dark age, and you can't fully appreciate that without fully contrasting it with its well-earned success in the past.

[@barnabusdoyle4930]

@@Tyler_W The discussion was about creating new stories. Disney has almost never done that, that have a long history of taking old stories and remaking them. They have done a very good job doing those remakes, but if you see the history of their more original works, you see that they have always struggled. Disney as a company runs in cycles and have for quite a while. We are currently in their direct to DVD cycle which was about turning out tons of content as quickly as possible instead of focusing on creating a few high quality products. Usually that cycle ends with a change in leadership at the top of Disney. Bob Iger will eventually leave and my prediction is that the new CEO will most likely pull the plug on Disney+ which has forced Disney to dump billions into creating new content constantly for the platform and move to a model where they license out their current IP to other streaming services (which was always the smarter business path to go.)

[@itsallfunandgames723]

Imagine being a director on set and having executives actually there telling you what to do all day. On what set, in what year was that happening?

[@nobobynnobody]

Directors are constantly getting notes from their Producers. It's pretty much business as usual on big budget film productions. Dealing with the push and shovel between the creative vision and the moneymen is a huge part of the Director's job, and some Directors are better at pushing back. Disney and MCU producers have made so much money in the past decade that they stopped giving a damn as long as the champagne and coke keeps flowing in.

[@ifthen1526]

Propaganda doesn't have a box office

[@zfesilva4605]

"How do you go from Kenneth Branagh to Nia Decosta?" is my favourite rhetorical question of the year with regards to Marvel.

[@electron_shell]

Musk had a good message for Iger. Bravo, moneypants.

[@jonstiffer4994]

Musk buying Twitter and then changing it's name was hardly a brilliant business move either. And what happened to his vacuum pod trains? And his rockets keep crashing. It's not like everything he touches turns to gold anymore.

[@lordjohnwharfin5397]

Wait a second. I read an article back in June where the author went through their releases going back to last year. He gave them every break, basically accepting their budget numbers even though we know they were low and their box office numbers even though we know they were high, and he concluded that they'd lost at least $900 million to that point. That was BEFORE Indiana Jones, Haunted Mansion, The Marvels, and Wish, each of which has lost not boatloads but supertankers of money. Yes, they get some of it back on tax breaks, but that's just spraying a can of air freshener at a sewage treatment plant. All the tax breaks in the world can't cover up that they've lost more than the GDP of several small countries. That doesn't include the downstream effects like if nobody sees the movie nobody buys the toys either. Perhaps those figures only include what they spent on the movies this year, which would mainly be marketing?

[@pedolover69]

No... someone is pocketing this money.

[@mattandrews2594]

Yet another commenter who somehow isn't aware of the fact Disney theme parks exist.

[@lordjohnwharfin5397]

@@mattandrews2594 I'm well aware of them. The way I heard these guys is they lost $750 million on films alone, and that figure doesn't include any other business segments. It's likely they lost well over $1 billion on streaming, for instance. Incidentally, their theme park business was way down this year too. Whether it was down enough to result in losses I don't think so, but the parks aren't carrying the company like they have in the past.

[@mattandrews2594]

@@lordjohnwharfin5397 I'm interested to know where you're getting your info that their park business is down in 2023, because when I go looking for it, I find multiple sources stating that it's up 21% from the same time period in 2022. In fact you can easily find their own postings showing they've taken $8.3 *billion* in Q3 2023 alone. Multiply that by 4 for the whole year, and you might start to see why a film losing $200m at the box office might not matter that much.

[@_S0LUS_]

It all feels like embezzlement: directors with zero experience, writers with zero experience, filmed almost entirely in one room, cheap looking effects = $250 million+ budget. How?

[@danieln6700]

Money was wasted on re shoots as they don't know what they are doing at the start

[@smokedaddy3d_]

Nice to see Despot here, I love his videos. Very well spoken Man.

[@Kiljaedenas]

The funny thing about you mentioning the Mortal Engines, I did find that at least somewhat entertaining. Being a father I legitimately got a bit choked up at the scene where that necromech dude, in his dying moments, remembering all the good times with his "child" the main character girl, and that brief flash into his living memory with his baby child too. It was certainly better than Disney's recent abject sharts they've been cracking out.

[@optimalkfrt]

I'm sure Nintendo sees the writing on the wall and will be happy to take over the market of family friendly entertainment. They have the characters/IPs, they have created their movie division, their theme parks spread... As a father myself, I am absolutely diverting the attention of my kids towards Nintendo.

[@nestoronfire847]

Plus Nintendo have actual talent in their ranks and no social agenda other than "fun for the whole family".

[@MisterBeagleton]

I feel like Disney in recent years is best comparable to Wile E. Coyote. Think about it: they aren’t interested in anything other than their endless pursuit to -catch the roadrunner- make money. It’s like an obsession for them. But no matter how many times they try, they always fail. They go to all kinds of lengths, big and small, to succeed, but it always blows up in their faces. Sometimes they don’t flop until the very last second, and other times their plan is doomed from the start. And while they may try to throw blame on the -ACME products- audiences for their persistent failures, the real blame is on their own ineptitude. Not to mention, each and every failure of theirs feels more humiliating than the last. But the most tragic part of all? They never give up. They never learn anything. They’ll just keep digging themselves deeper. The biggest difference is that after all these years, Wile E. Coyote is still fun to watch. Recent Disney is no fun.

[@davidanderson_surrey_bc]

Interesting parallels. But here's an important difference. Wile E. Coyote never stops pursuing the roadrunner. Why? Because it's the *only* food source available to him. That's why the coyote is so slim. Disney, on the other hand, purchased all these *FAT* properties; then, instead of nourishing them and carefully breeding them, Disney simply stuck them in cages, injected them with toxic garbage (the "message"), and induced them to propagate sub-quality progeny (crappy sequels).

[@maniacaldude]

I get the feeling that Disney needs an overhaul at this point, and the first thing that needs to be done is kick Bob Iger and every one of his supporters out forever.

[@thechadfather]

I like "Iron Man 3". It's not a perfect film, but it's a great journey for the character of Tony Stark relative to in-universe events. I'm not a comic book reader, so the Mandarin subversion didn't bother me, in fact that aspect reflected the un-reality of our times. My son loved all the suits.

[@AcidifiedMammoth]

Its one of those bad and cheesy movies that you grow to like.

[@Rekaert]

It's a wonder that in their board meetings, someone hasn't stepped up and said, "So ... there's this truism going around on the internet, go woke, go broke? Anyone heard of that?"

[@b_charging]

Disparu's howling laughter at the Iron Man 3 bit is one of the best things about this video! 🤣🤣🤣

[@danieln6700]

Man I thoguht that whole twist with the mandarin being an actor and fake etc was stupid af and ruined the movie

[@tjpinocochones]

I think the problem was they took for granted success stories of directors like Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo Del Toro, who directed smaller movies and then directed bigger pictures. Cuarón who directed Prisoner of Azkaban and Del Toro who directed Blade 2, which is arguably the best of the trilogy. The difference is they are both extremely talented writers and directors, who know what they're doing even then

[@markmongan]

They killed Starwars. Now we've become more powerful than they could ever imagine!

[@JJHunsecker]

I see what you did there 😏 😅

[@raymondamador1487]

Disney keeps doing the same thing, over and over, expecting different results. 😳

[@gamerkingdom1442]

GOOD!!!! Glad that DISNEY is getting what they deserve! Going to see GODZILLA -1 instead! Already planning to go next weekend!

[@BlueCheeseCross95]

Got 4DX tickets for Godzilla, can't wait!

[@klegdixal3529]

well consider Indy 5. they hired Mangold, who is clearly a talented and capable director and then shoved him between Kennedy and Waller-Bridge. what's the point of hiring an experienced and capable craftsman if you're going to hamstring him with executive meddling anyway. might as well hire a pliable no-name. Jon Favreau made this personal film on the side called Chef. personally i rate it higher than anything he did with Marvel.

[@Brian_Boru]

Open Bar is much better than Friday Night Tights. The discussions are more interesting and the panels are better, too. Case in point: Despot, MauLer, The Little Platoon and Disparu. Smart guys.

[@AcidifiedMammoth]

Very much so. I like the Real BBC and FNT guys, but together they just kinda become annoying and never stick to a topic or make a good discussion. Those same guys on the Open Bar are much better.

[@spartanhawk7637]

Dammit, that average number for the Marvels made me snort while drinking coffee.

[@Dante...]

I saw The Marvels opening night and there was about half a dozen people in my theater lol.

[@madsblinkenberg6322]

You have to watch the new Japanese Godzilla movie, it makes American Godzilla movie looks like CW show

[@Klee99zeno]

Can you imagine a meeting of Disney share-holders? Bob Iger would have to explain to them why they had lost so much money.

[@stormryder4305]

Nope. He goes on to state his accomplishment over theme park success and earning for hours. But, nothing about flop movies. Why would he? It would be his death sentence.

[@JustTooDamnHonest]

This is why Japan 🇯🇵 and South Korea 🇰🇷 have been dominating the industry for quite some time now.

[@fatsomamacheese]

Disney stopped getting a cent from me immediately after I watched episode 7.when the girl snacked the dudes hand away who was trying to help her up, I was done.

[@travismcnasty4239]

I liked Iron Man 3.

[@turdfurgason8476]

IronMan 3 isn't the worst thing ever. Tony dealing with mental illness was kind of interesting.

[@dcmastermindfirst9418]

No it wasn't. Iron-man 3 was mediocre

[@rmj8905]

I'd rather rewatch Iron Man 2. At least that one had Scarlett Johansson.

[@abjames3098]

To go from the first Captain Marvel grossing over 1 billion worldwide to this atrocity that may barely hit 200 million worldwide is just embarrassing..

[@TheClintonio]

I remember when Disney had essentially unlimited money and could comfortably do no wrong in the eyes of the masses. Incredible to see how they threw that advantage out the window.

[@the6ig6adwolf]

#boycottthemouse

[@user-nd8rb7hg5m]

If you want to support something good with traditional values, go check out the new Godzilla movie. It has relatable characters who have these things called "arcs" and they actually have strongly written female characters who aren't completely evil and boring.

[@Starwarslegorob]

The Marvels can’t even cover executives salary’s & Bonus’s 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@colinr0380]

Remember that the arthouse Argentinian director of La Cienaga, The Holy Girl and The Headless Woman, Lucrecia Martel, was being hit up by Marvel at one point who wanted them to direct a movie for them. She said that she turned them down flat, finding the idea absurd. Although if you are a studio desperately flailing around trying to find a female film director, you probably are just looking to hire anyone who fits the quota.