One year ago, the official trailer of the movie Wish was released. The movie tells the story of a young girl named Asha, on a mission to get her grandfather’s wish granted. When she meets King Magnifico to inquire about becoming his apprentice; she implies that wishes that are not granted should be returned to their owners. The king, Magnifico out of anger, begins to abuse his power, inclining Asha to go on a journey to defeat him. Of course, as every Disney movie ends, there is a happy ending where Asha secures peace for the entire kingdom. Moreover, to many, including myself, the making of a new Disney movie served as a hope for a huge improvement compared to the previous productions viewers had received. Though this movie was supposed to celebrate Disney’s 100th anniversary, it was a disappointment instead. As someone who had practically grown up on Disney, I had many ideas on the possible outcomes of what this movie could be. However, I was left shocked at the end of this production, and not in a positive manner.
Unfortunately, Wish isn’t even the most distasteful thing Disney has released, and it certainly isn’t the most recent. Disney is beginning to slip. Its newest productions are becoming a laughing stock, and the theater screening rooms putting these productions on display are slowly but surely becoming ghost towns. Leaving the theater extremely confused, dissatisfied, and quite frankly upset that my time had been wasted, I began to go down a rabbit hole of notions, which led me to realize that Disney isn’t the same anymore. After years of quality movies that practically raised an entire generation, Disney’s viewership has gone down drastically, and the reason is evident. The downfall of Disney has arrived.
To be specific, Disney Channel itself had always been dominant when it came to blowing its competitors out of the water. Yet, that is no longer the case. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Over the last decade, Disney Channel’s viewership has plummeted from an audience of 2 million in 2014 to a mere 132,000 in 2023…” That is an extreme depletion of viewership, but the quality of production being released is solely to blame. When Disney was at its peak, audiences received hit movies, such as Tangled. The reason behind this movie’s success is evident. The characters were developed with complex storylines, an original plot (as original as the story of a Disney princess can get), and it had a well-developed and detailed animation style. Fast forward to over a decade later, the newest productions are missing all of these key elements. To revisit the movie Wish, viewers were deprived of any backstory and instead given many plot holes. The main character, Asha, is so undeveloped that viewers know almost nothing about her, besides the fact that she wants wishes that cannot be fulfilled to be given back to their owner. Viewers have no clue why Asha is so significant, compared to Rapunzel in Tangled, where viewers are given a backstory immediately, further building on the plot of the story. All in all, Wish had so much potential not only for the characters but also for morality. Instead of teaching the lesson that the villain isn’t always in the wrong, this movie follows the classic “the main character is always right, and the person going against them is always wrong” story plot. If this movie had a spin, it would have been much more enjoyable.
Furthermore, the creativity in Disney’s latest work is practically non-existent. When was the last time you’ve been shocked by the outcome of a recent Disney production? Exactly. Disney is getting lazy! All viewers are getting are unnecessary reboots and mini-series that exploit the original films, instead of actual new production. Even when we are provided with new shows, they ride off of previous ones, as they all follow the same storyline. That is exactly why Disney is dying. How do they expect to grow and prosper, if they cannot even move forward? According to U-Times, “Disney proved they could come up with innovative ideas when they made Moana and Encanto, but they haven’t continued that trend…They can easily guarantee a certain amount of profit by simply producing another remake of a classic book or film, so why would they spend money and time coming up with new ideas?” Disney is focused on saving money instead of putting out content worth watching. This is extremely moronic, being that they are losing more money copying off their old work when they could be gaining so much more if they had just put effort into what they produce!
The big question is, who is responsible for this? Obviously, the people in charge. Poor decisions lead to poor outcomes, and Disney is a great example of that. According to CNN, “Disney’s stock, at about $84 per share, is at its lowest level in nearly ten years. It is down 8% since CEO Bob Iger returned as CEO last November, and it’s down 3% since the start of the year. Compare that to some of Disney’s rivals: Comcast’s stock is up more than 18% this year, and Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN, is up 22%” Well, of course Disney is losing money! They’re releasing something unsatisfactory and expecting a magical turnout. That is not going to happen, and the fact that Iger isn’t doing much about the decline in quality which links to the company’s financial issues, says a lot. According to Forbes, Warren Buffet once said, “It takes 20 minutes to build a reputation, and five minutes to ruin it.” These very wise words describe Disney’s current situation. All the years of hard work and effort put in by its founders have all been thrown away.
In essence, it is only logical to conclude that Disney is falling off. Audiences from all over the world are being left disappointed, as the company fails to live up to the standards it set for itself in the past. What was once known as the go-to channel, is now known as the channel you skip over. Its recent productions continue to get worse under the poor leadership, and when compared to older releases, the decline in quality is evident. Imagination and creativity are the two main things that have made Disney what it once was, and they have completely lost that factor, tying in with their downfall. It is clear that Disney’s quality of production is dying rather fast and it is extremely obvious. The real question now is, can the legacy that Disney has upheld all these years be saved?
