A Disney disaster is on its way, but it's not all the company's fault

The current movie and television landscape for franchises has taken a huge hit, and Disney is a company that is at the forefront of it. After having suffered a really bad 2023 and having been impacted by the actors' and writers' strike, the company is looking to brace itself for even more losses in the future by the looks of it.

While Disney themselves have been at fault here, there is no denying that in some way a chunk of their "fans" have been at the forefront of the issue too. I say fans in quotes because there has been a growing online culture on the side that the company seems more appeased to please than those who genuinely want some innovation in their films.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of Sportskeeda.

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"Fans" of Disney don't know what they want anymore

The downfall of current-era Disney can almost be traced back to the earlier days of when they bought Lucasfilm from George Lucas. Beginning their own Star Wars sequel trilogy, Bob Iger and co. decided to fast-track the sequel trilogy before even having a plan. While Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens was a critical darling, it was Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi that started chain reactions.

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi, by all means, was a good film that subverted the expectations of the franchise and did something new with it. Earning great review scores and having a healthy box office, one might have thought that the film would have been a huge success among fans - but that sentiment couldn't be farther from the truth. After the film's release, there was immense pushback on Lucasfilm and Disney as many believed that The Last Jedi pretty much ruined Star Wars.

Following that, reactionary YouTubers and fans online decided to criticize almost every step of the company, and from that grew a rift that has negatively affected modern pop culture. Fans complaining about "woke agendas" and dismissing any franchise that tries to do something new, certainly put Disney in a tough position that is very much being reflected in the way they have started operating in recent times.

The major issue with that is that these "fans" are a very loud minority that thrives from having a reactionary fanbase online. There are a good amount of fans who want Disney to innovate and present new ideas, but that seems to be lost on the company as they keep going back to the past.

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Disney's new strategy certainly won't help

In recent times, Disney has faced a huge box office struggle. In 2023, they had only one major hit which was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 while many of their other blockbuster outputs like The Marvels, Wish, The Little Mermaid (2023), and more failed to bring in a huge audience. The issue with those films was also that in some way they tried to connect to or were remakes of past films that put off fans in some way or the other.

The issue here is that Disney is still busy trying to course correct for that one crowd while completely feigning innovation and ignoring their core fanbase - the people who actually do want new stories. Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm especially are huge culprits of this as Star Wars and much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are now a husk of what they used to be.

The company also recently announced that they will be releasing major sequels like Toy Story 5, Moana 2, Inside Out 2, Frozen 3, Zootopia 2, and more, which just feels tiresome. There is nothing new here and no risks are being taken that will entice or challenge their audiences. Of course, fans of these franchises will drive out to watch these films despite what their quality might be, but it paints a grim future for the company that definitely hints at a disaster that is waiting to take place.

Here is hoping that they can course correct themselves and go back to being the pioneers of the industry they once used to be rather than the "play it safe" factory they have become.