Seeing the box office flop for Disney’s new release, Mufasa (2024), fans are left dissatisfied with not just last year’s line up but the lineup Disney executives have been pushing for the past few years. But why? When a company builds itself on a certain idea or premise, investing years of profits, merchandise, entrepreneurship, and such, people are going to associate the company with said premise. Disney prides itself on being “The Most Magical place on Earth,” going as far as to copyright it so that no one else could steal its brand.
What had actually made Disney so successful was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937). It surpassed everyone’s expectations and paved the way for more successful films to be released, such as Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty. Something all early films had in common were the famous and beloved hand drawn animations. Hand drawn animations, as in the name, were animations that were sketched on paper. Although the work was tedious, animators loved it — it gave a sense of liveliness and whimsy to characters and settings. Its effectiveness of keeping viewers entertained and interested was what kept Disney on its legs for years.
With the introduction of 3D animation came a whole new wave of animation, and soon people abandoned 2D animation almost entirely. 3D was a stepping stone to CGI, and as it developed, it became more and more difficult to tell if a certain character or even a prop was CGI in films. The problem with CGI was that directors and editors focused a majority of their time to make whatever was edited in to be appealing. As time progressed, and Disney fixated on live action renditions of beloved classics, the charm it once had disappeared. With the lack of defining characteristics, people have been uninterested with the newer films Disney had produced. Not just because it’s already a cough out of a familiar story, but also because there’s no fun to it anymore. Movies such as Mulan (2020), Dumbo (2019), and The Jungle Book (2016) are just a few disliked films to be mentioned. Viewers are now starting to realize that the once beloved household name has grown lazy and selfish; they worry if it will ever regain its footing.
