MovieChat Forums > Frozen II (2019) Discussion > Disney Needs to Move Forward Quite Soon....

Disney Needs to Move Forward Quite Soon...

posted 7 years ago by Ibram92 (44)
4 replies | jump to latest

What with the general bombarding of remakes, sequels and like in very recent company history, sooner or later they'll NEED to return to being move original, experimental, progressive.

By far the reigning supreme champion of Disney films in the past 4-5 years is "Zootopia", and, if you extend it to Pixar, "Inside Out" in very close competition. Both of these films, while not the first of their kind to use the ideas of civilized animals and sentient emotions (hopefully that's a redundancy, lol), they at very least gave a fairly original in-depth look at these concepts that had been around before, AND introduced us to some memorable all-new characters to boot.

Good Old Uncle Walt's own policy was to move forward while also keeping a foot in the past for sentimentality's sake, but one thing he (in)famously spoke against (at least in general) were sequels (and subsequently remakes as well). Remember when Eisner started milking out tons of sequels (though many of them were at LEAST produced on the side and not shown theatrically, with the main focus STILL being on new stuff) and many fans were quick to disregard the sequels while still being entertained by the original stuff the company was then still very actively churning out above the sequels.

Now, however, even after John Lasseter ended the DTDVDs, that ultimately doesn't seem to have him producing sequels and "remakes" regardless. Why? Well, I think the big reason (for both him and Eisner) was money, but, hey! These films ain't "shoddy 2d" as JL would probably say, and they're being slapped on 20ft theatre screens and sold at high price to mindfrick the general public.

As some of you may recall, back on the original IMDb (before they shut their boards down, but at very least a true savior moved them here!) I was until quite recently critical of Lasseter's apparent disdain for older-style animated films, period. But now that it's seemingly expanded to anti-new stories as well....

[–] R_Kane (15828) 5 years ago

I realize that you may have left this site, but there is one name missing from your rundown of post-Walt Disney heads and their respective approaches, and it’s a big one: Steve Jobs. This is not a challenge. This is a request. I think Jobs is a tremendously significant figure in media history. I mean: Apple, Pixar, Disney?! He wasn’t an electrical engineer, he wasn’t a digital code programmer. He simply knew what people wanted. What’s your take on what Jobs did with Disney, which I think is the biggest name in entertainment? I’d simply be interested in knowing.

[–] Otter (24464) 5 years ago

Walt Disney lived in an era when films were cheaper to produce and people went to movie theaters more often. One of the reasons that Hollywood has gone mad for sequels is that major motion pictures now cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce, in an era when movie viewership in general is down, and fewer films are being produced. Because of the economics of filmmaking, movie studios are less and less willing to invest big money in original properties, even Disney has gone over to the Dark Side of looking for properties that are "pre-sold", that is, they have a built in mass audience. That includes popular books, stories everyone read or heard as children, and of course - sequels.

So yes, the economics of modern filmmaking have dictated that Disney go against old Walt's policy, because times have changed. So yes, there are going to be more sequels, more big-budget sequels.

[–] Ibram92 (44) 5 years ago

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, guys. :)

Admittedly, when I wrote the original post in this thread way back when, I didn't make those connections for better or worse (my apologies). And, regarding the aspect of adapting pre-existing stories into movies (whether or nor they've been adapted into film before), evidently even WALT was technically doing that with virtually ALL of the animated features he produced in his lifetime (though oftentimes, HIS adaptations became the best-known/"de facto" versions), with the possible exceptions of "Lady and the Tramp" and "The Aristocats". Though it is also well noting that Walt would often times change a few things around to make them his own in a way - which, in all fairness is exactly what many filmmakers nowadays may do with THEIR adaptations/remakes/revivals/etc.

So, yes, you have valid points on those matters and I accept them. Walt wasn't perfect obviously, even though I and many others still look up to him overall. Neither are a lot of filmmakers or heck anyone in general today (we're all sinners to some extent or another, but that's a different story). Speaking of which, since I wrote the original post, John Lasseter (who HAD been the head of both Disney and Pixar up to that point) has since taken a leave from both studios due to issues with alleged "unwanted advances" or whatever. In all fairness, Lasseter ALSO made good films, like "Toy Story", several other classic Pixar titles and even the 2d animated "Princess and the Frog" (whether or not its creation WAS, in fact, to try and drive 2d further into its grave as some alleged or not; the recent "Mary Poppins Returns" seems to vouch AGAINST said notion). But now that he's left both studios, and each has gotten a separate new leader, Jennifer Lee for Disney and Pete Docter (of "Monsters, Inc." and "Inside Out" fame) for Pixar, I'm hoping (not getting them up too high) that there may be some really good things for either or both classic animation studios.

[–] ATG6 (3000) 4 years ago

not really true, everyone is looking for material for their competing streaming channels now. Netflix and others are funding a lot of schlocky movies.