Disney in 2016!
Jondee here at Zootopia,
Yes, Disney is at the tops of the box office, currently at $7 billion dollars at #1. Previously, box office champ, $2.4 billion, Universal is at #4 with $1.2 billion. The question is why and what is the ramifications. Last year Universal dominated the box office with the top twenty movies,#2 Jurassic World, $652 million, #5 Furious 7, $353 million, and #6 Minions, $336 million, horror, comedies, dramas like Straight Outta Compton, diversity across genres. They were rivaled by Disney with #1 The Force Awakens, #3 Avengers: Age of Ultron, and #4 Inside Out. 2016, Disney has the top four with Finding Dory, Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, and The Jungle Book with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story bringing in a strong beginning for 2017. Universal has #5 The Secret Life of Pets and #15 Warcraft. Their rival now is Warner Bros. which has #6 Beavis, #9 Fantastic Beasts (which has not completed its run) , and #10 Suicide Squad.
The success of Disney as a brand has to be attributed to the chairman of the Walt Disney Studios, Alan Horn, whom I saw at the D23 Expo. I think from the presentation of the live action movies, he understands, that it is not producing films and hoping that they hit, but focusing the company as a brand. Before, I saw The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), The Black Hole (1979), and The Fox and the Hound (1981). You can see that there really wasn’t a focus there. The same with splitting Touchstone Pictures for adult fare and Disney. Now, Disney is unified as a quality brand. Yes, Bob Iger is responsible for major purchases like Marvel and Lucasfilm, he understood how to diversify Disney’s entertainment portfolio. The future is not franchises like a superhero franchise, but brands across different genres and platforms, toys, shirts, and theme parks which is a Disney speciality. They have confidence in allowing filmmakers to fulfill their own vision, the ending of Rogue One, and promoting them all.
Look at the line up for next year for Disney; March 17 Beauty and the Beast, I know I want to go to El Capitan or whatever premium outlet to see it, May 5, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, May 26, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, not certain about Cars 3 on June 16, November 3, Thor: Ragnarok, November 22, Coco, and finally December 15, Star Wars Episode Eight. It is solid, one film will make the other Disney film a must see. They have movies that spill into other products and platforms, I can’t wait to buy the Art of Beauty & The Beast book, I assume there will be one, but haven’t seen it or the movie, but I want it! The same goes with the theme parks, yes, they have the animated Belle and Beast as characters, but I hope they have the film version maybe at the dance hall? I waited two hours to take a pic with Baymax and Hiro, I would wait two hours for the movie Belle and Beast. Warner Bros. and Universal both have the potential to do the same, but they have to understand how to build their portfolio. There needs to be theatrical releases like Batman: Killing Joke, but I would gear it for more crowd pleasing fare than adult themed animation. How about a Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew film? `Mazing Man television series? Universal has a host of animated films, when are we getting a Kubo and the Two-Strings ride or a Paranorman attraction? I mentioned in my cartoon adaptations, how about an Exosquad movie? Maybe it spins off into a live action movie. So there is potential for every movie studio, but I still love all things Disney!
