More Turbulence At Disney

[WDWLocal]

So Bascily like like Roy did so many years ago...let's carry on what he was about and do what Roy would be doing right now..if he were alivee for us to get the attention right letters email and petitions and call Disney and do what Roy Did....not once but twice but now we can do it so like Roy did twice....LET'SAVE DISNEY not only for us...but future generations

ARE YOU WITH ME TO SAVE DISNEY

That will not be necessary.

I'm sorry, but that attitude only gets more and more annoying every day.

[Babaloo]

So according to Box Office Mojo, Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel (yesterday being the first day it was released), made $18,801,277. That's huge! Now I'm a little worried. If parents are taking their kids to these second-rate movies, I don't know what will happen will PatF. I still think it will do well, but the number Alvin pulled in scared me especially since yesterday PatF only made $2,451,123. Still that's $5.6 million in two days... I really hope that PatF will pull through today and tomorrow!

And BTW, MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! (I celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve)

[Mooky]

I think that Disney caused this on themselves. No, its not the movies but the marketing and merchandising.

They came up with the "Disney Princesses" marketing gimmick, which has taken some of their all time great movies and is using them to sell dolls and junk. By doing this they have cheapened their own brand.

Instead of people looking at their animated classics as the works of art that they are, people look at them and say "Oh, that's a little girl's movie." Or "That's just a kid's movie." They are wrong. These movies weren't made just for 6 year old girls and they most certainly weren't made to sell junk.

I disagree with these overly-negative accusations and assumptions.

I actually think Maerj may be on to something. I sort of agree that pushing the "princess" agenda down the people's throats might have hurt the movie. I doubt many boys rushed to watch a movie with "Princess" in the title. IMHO, Disney should have chosen a gender-neutral title. "Kiss the Frog" (German title) or even "Tiana and the Frog" (Spanish title) don't sound bad at all.

*Edited for misspelling.

[WDWLocal]

I disagree with these overly-negative accusations and assumptions.

I actually think Maerj may be on to something. I sort of agree that pushing the "princess" agenda down the people's throats might have hurt the movie. I doubt many boys rushed to watch a movie with "Princess" in the title. IMHO, Disney should have chosen a gender-neutral title. "Kiss the Frog" (German title) or even "Tiana and the Frog" (Spanish title) don't sound bad at all.

Sorry, but I still think he's just being overly-negative.

[SpringHeelJack]

I don't think the word "princess" keeps boys away. You have a princess as the main character of a story, and young boys on the whole are unlikely to want to see something perceived as a "girl's movie". Disney could call it "Pepper Pot Chili" and it could still be seen as a girl movie.

[Just.A.Friend]

I don't think the word "princess" keeps boys away. You have a princess as the main character of a story, and young boys on the whole are unlikely to want to see something perceived as a "girl's movie". Disney could call it "Pepper Pot Chili" and it could still be seen as a girl movie.

Nope...
With the word "princess" in the title it completely makes boys see that it would be a girls movie and not something they would be interested in. Maybe not all boys, but for example, boys generally would rather see a movie with the words Chipmunks in the title than Princess.

Princess does keep boys from asking to go see 'the princess (and the frog)' movie.

[Maerj]

I actually think Maerj may be on to something. I sort of agree that pushing the "princess" agenda down the people's throats might have hurt the movie. I doubt many boys rushed to watch a movie with "Princess" in the title. IMHO, Disney should have chosen a gender-neutral title. "Kiss the Frog" (German title) or even "Tiana and the Frog" (Spanish title) don't sound bad at all.

Sorry, but I still think he's just being overly-negative.

No, I'm not being overly-negative and I'm not saying that the word "Princess" in the title turns off the male audience. What I am trying to say is that Disney's marketing team has been trying to market and merchandise the animated films featuring Princesses to young girls. Yes, its an easy thing to do and does make sense as far as selling dolls goes. But on the other hand it makes it seem like the only people who should watch these films are young girls and I don't think that's true at all.

Obviously, the marketing has worked for young girls as they sell a lot of that stuff. On the other hand they have really turned off the male audience which Disney admits. They admitted it when they bought Marvel. They started a network, Disney XD, to appeal to boys. That implies that Disney Channel is for girls. They are trying to go after the male market that they've lost.

If they plan a traditionally animated film with a great story and market and gear the film for all audiences, adults in particular. Pixar has been doing that and has been doing quite well. In addition to selling movie tickets, they also still sell merchandise. Maybe Lassiter can help turn things around? I hope he can and I think he's trying. PatF was just a step back towards this, I think. Hopefully Disney doesn't do too much of a knee-jerk reaction and try to shut down 2D again.

[Margos]

Actually, the word "Princess" does turn off boys. Example: We had to do a dance project for gym class, and there is one boy in my group of three. We had to pick a song, and I suggested "Almost There," and let them listen to it on my iPod. The girl in my group said "That's a cool song, we could totally dance to that." The boy said "Hell, no! I'm not dancing to anything from a movie that's 'Princess' anything!" He'd never even seen the movie. But when I told him what it was called, he flipped. We ended up dancing to a Linkin Park song. True story.

[Widdi]

Speaking of Bad news for The Princess and the Frog... it was bumped from my local theatre to make room for Chipmunks 2. I went to see it again today (it's last day playing) and I got a private screening (well there was a lady with two small girls who came in ten minutes late and left before they reached Mama Odie's. I wasn't complaining though... she let the two kids scream and run around the theatre for the time they stayed before an usher asked her to keep them calm and she flipped out and left).

[SpringHeelJack]

No, what I'm saying is that it's not just the word "princess" is a deterrent. Whatever the name of it was doesn't change the fact that it's basically the story of a princess. Call it "Tiana and the Frog" all you want, it's still a story about a princess. A simple name change isn't going to cause a flood of young boys clamoring to see the movie.

[Just.A.Friend]

No, what I'm saying is that it's not just the word "princess" is a deterrent. Whatever the name of it was doesn't change the fact that it's basically the story of a princess. Call it "Tiana and the Frog" all you want, it's still a story about a princess. A simple name change isn't going to cause a flood of young boys clamoring to see the movie.

Maybe a name change won't cause a flood of young boys rushing to go see it, but with "Princess" in the title it sure is preventing alot more of them.
I'd guarantee you'd get atleast some more boys to see the movie if it didn't have the word 'princess' in the title.

[CampbellzSoup]

FYI I've seen advertisements for the film everywhere I go so please if you don't see it don't say it wasn't marketed, cause it really was.

[Just.A.Friend]

FYI I've seen advertisements for the film everywhere I go so please if you don't see it don't say it wasn't marketed, cause it really was.

I know very well it was marketed.
But the real question is how well 5 year old boys pay attention to the advertisements. Honestly if a parent asks their boys if they wanted to see "Princess and the Frog" compared to "Tiana and the Frog" or something like that that could be more gender neutral, the kid would choose to see it more than if it had "Princess" in the title.

Do not tell me that the girl-centered title does not effect the amount of boys wanting to see the movie.

[Just.A.Friend]

FYI I've seen advertisements for the film everywhere I go so please if you don't see it don't say it wasn't marketed, cause it really was.

I know very well it was marketed.
But the real question is how well 5 year old boys pay attention to the advertisements. Honestly if a parent asks their boys if they wanted to see "Princess and the Frog" compared to "Tiana and the Frog" or something like that that could be more gender neutral, the kid would choose to see it more than if it had "Princess" in the title.

I understand where you coming from with the whole "Kids know that the movie is based on a princess from the commercials, etc" but do not tell me that the girl-centered title does not effect the amount of boys wanting to see the movie.

[milojthatch]

Not the kind of news I want to hear on Christmas!

Disney is really ticking me off. They really want to can 2D after two weeks of PatF being out in wide release? I agree, they didn't even market it very well! Disney is starting to act like WB animation. WB has a thing where they set themselves up to fall and then when they do, pat themselves on the back and say they were right in their foolish assessment.

If Disney keeps this up, they are going to kill off their animation studio. We thought they may in the 70's or 80's, but if they keep on the path they are on, they may actually do it! I don't even want to know what the company would become without animation! It's like they hate themselves or something, seriously!

From the little I have heard of it, King of the Elves sounded cool! Very sad news.

[Neal]

From the little I have heard of it, King of the Elves sounded cool! Very sad news.

Finally somebody else agrees with me - I thought I was the only one sad to see KotE go!

[UmbrellaFish]

I think it's a little too early to be giving TPATF the Royal UD Treatment (ya know, pessimism). It's still hanging in there at the Box Office it's selling tons of merchandise, it's yet to go overseas, the DVD is sure to sell like hotcakes, and it's had generally favorable reviews. Sure, the Box Office isn't as spectacular as we had wished, but give it time and TPATF will bring in some money.

[pvdfan]

I think it's a little too early to be giving TPATF the Royal UD Treatment (ya know, pessimism). It's still hanging in there at the Box Office it's selling tons of merchandise, it's yet to go overseas, the DVD is sure to sell like hotcakes, and it's had generally favorable reviews. Sure, the Box Office isn't as spectacular as we had wished, but give it time and TPATF will bring in some money.

It's not really a pessimism problem. The problem lies in profits from the DVD and overseas run will not help domestic numbers. All of them have expectations of their own, not an overall big goal.

This is not a movie that had the goal to make as much as Chicken Little or Brother Bear, this was expect to be a new renaissance of hand drawn animation. What they got, ticket sales wise, trails to most CGI movies over the last 5 years.

Like I said before, shareholders and company analysts do not care what the profit is in 1-10 years. They see it is a hit to the company now. While I hope they keep hand drawn animation, I would not be shocked if it got the boot after this. Disney a publicly owned company and Business > emotion and history.

[a-net-fan]

Has anyone considered the information about PATF that we are discussing may not even be accurate??

I dont look for Disney to abandon the 2D animation ship just yet honestly. I hope they know that 2D needs to gain Customer Confidence again and regain some ground after the company churned out some lackluster and disappointing installments....unlike 3D which has a STRONG REPUTATION of being a film of quality and beauty and a product of good storytelling. You say PIXAR...thats what you expect and usually get. That is the ground 2D animation has to win back before it will generate the numbers a 3D amimated movie gets in its first week.

[singerguy04]

Has anyone considered the information about PATF that we are discussing may not even be accurate??

I dont look for Disney to abandon the 2D animation ship just yet honestly. I hope they know that 2D needs to gain Customer Confidence again and regain some ground after the company churned out some lackluster and disappointing installments....unlike 3D which has a STRONG REPUTATION of being a film of quality and beauty and a product of good storytelling. You say PIXAR...thats what you expect and usually get. That is the ground 2D animation has to win back before it will generate the numbers a 3D amimated movie gets in its first week.

I completely agree. We're going crazy over what a animator may or may not have said. I honestly doubt that this one animator would even know what his bosses were thinking about the film if he had even said what the report reads. If they did hear anything it was probably through the grape-vine.

Aside from that, this film isn't really doing that bad for them to want to abandon 2D. It did gain enough to be number 1 in the box office for its opening week, which also gained a lot of people's attention. It also received plenty of positive praise by influential critics. I'm sure Disney is/was aware that 2D wouldn't magically become the block-busters it once was. There's a lot to compete with, 3D just being one among many recent developments that kids are into these days. I'm sure the company wishes that the film would've made more because you can always want a film to make more money, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a success and someone in Disney has to know that.