Mufasa, one of Disney’s latest movies, was dominated by the overwhelming success of Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Both movies came out the same day, Dec. 20, 2024, and according to the Box Office Mojo, the domestic opening for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was about $60 million. While Mufasa retained second place gaining $35 million. Mufasa later surpassed Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in the box office. However, it was not as much of a big hit as the 2019 remake of The Lion King.
Not only have there been many recent box office failures but also multiple Pixar openings have been unsuccessful, and theme park numbers have been declining. Neither the popularity nor profit of Disney has been getting better, which has been unfortunate for one of the most influential and recognizable billion-dollar companies to come upon.
Disney’s top 20 highest grossing films of all time came out between 2010 and 2019, which helps show its sudden decline. Multiple reasons can respond to its sudden decline. One of them being, the constant reliance on established franchises like The Lion King or Cinderella, constantly making sequels or remakes.
Disney is known for being a powerful company where they appeal to consumerism. Therefore, its attempt in adding diversity is a method of appearing “woke” to gain more profit. This leads to another factor of Disney’s sudden downfall, which is not having proper representation upon its movies and shows. The past was quite controversial as it was filled with bigotry and racial exclusion. This can be shown with Disney’s 1995 film, Pocahontas, as they romanticize the abuse of Matoaka and pair her up with John Smith, an English explorer. Disney seems to overcome their past prejudices by making POC characters play major roles in films.
Disney has received criticism for its stereotypical and inaccurate displays of minorities for the sake of representation. This can be shown in the movie Turning Red by Pixar. The film portrayed a one-dimensional representation of Chinese immigrant families and presented stereotypes by displaying Mei being extraordinarily good at school.
Disney has bought numerous companies and franchises, one being Star Wars. However, Disney had made the Star Wars franchise stumble, leaving its loyal fans in disappointment. George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars franchise, lost the creative freedom to make up imaginative ideas for the franchise, thus leading future films to fail. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, became such a success despite currently being in the hands of Disney due to imitating George Lucas’ movies.
These factors serve as evidence that Disney now focuses more on quantity rather than quality. It is evident that their greediness is the main cause of the downfall of these major projects. In addition, not only does their greediness affect Disney but also many other companies as well.
