Disney as we know is the company that made most of our childhoods with their movies that brought smiles to our faces and entertainment to our childhood. Some of their most popular and iconic films include “Pinnochio”, “The Little Mermaid”, “Toy Story”, “Monsters Inc.”, “A Bug’s Life”, and “Cars”. Some of their best selling movies like “Frozen”, which came out in 2013 and made $1.28 billion dollars, “Beauty and the Beast” which came out in and made $1.26 billion dollars, and “The Lion King” which came out in 1994 and made $1.65 billion dollars in the worldwide box office really paved the way for Disney’s successful career.
However, in the past years, Disney’s films have been declining in popularity and money-making. At first it was a sort of on and off turn, as there have been original works that have caught the public eye, like “Luca” which came out in 2021, made $49.8 million USD and was positively received by the public with praise for its animation, design and atmosphere. “Encanto”, which came out in 2021 and made $256.8 million USD, was described as a “cultural phenomenon” with its characterization, music, tradition, animation, and emotional depth.
Then there are the movies with original ideas that unfortunately “flopped” in the Disney world; “Wish”, “Lightyear”, “Elemental”, “Strange World”, “Turning Red”, “The Marvels”, and more. There are many reasons why these movies failed to receive good traction and success, including a decline of creativity, failed concepts, and bland storytelling.
“Lightyear in particular “flopped” because its target audience was not clarified, people didn’t care about the premise, and a backstory was not needed considering the first three “Toy Story” movies.
Now, beginning in late 2023 and now early 2024, Disney has announced sequels to many of their older movies that the public absolutely loved, these include “Inside Out 2”, “Toy Story 5”, “Zootopia 2”, “Frozen 3”, “Moana 2”, “Mufasa: The Lion King”, a “Snow White” live-action remake, a Lilo and Stitch live-action remake, and much more to come.
“Disney cannot rely on its previously successful franchises forever. It would be exhausting if the production company’s 2045 lineup consisted of Frozen 13, Toy Story 56, The Incredibles 11, Tangled 5, and so on. The studio needs to find a way to produce exciting and entertaining original movies.” –Sarah Little, Screen Rant.
While opinions may vary, there are several problems with these sequels aside from Disney’s declining status, some of these sequels feel unnecessary; for example, “Toy Story 3” during its time became the highest-grossing film of all time. “Toy Story 3”, released in 2010, earned a total of $1.067 billion and was critically acclaimed at release, becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time, it managed to be the best in the series and leave audiences with tears at the end.
When Toy Story 4 was released in 2019, it made $1.07 billion worldwide, and while it also became a high-grossing film and left many people happy with how it turned out, it also left a bad taste in some people’s mouths since a 4th installment was unnecessary as its predecessor acted as the perfect end to the trilogy. Now with even more sequels planned, one has to wonder are they necessary? Will the public accept the return to the classics, or are they unnecessary as well?
I myself, am both excited for some movies and could live without the rest. For example, “Inside Out 2” and “Zootopia 2” are movies I am highly anticipating since their first installments, in my opinion, were nothing short of masterpieces. With the amount of sequels they have lined up, I’m surprised their prime focus is not on a third installment of the Incredibles franchise considering how successful the first two installments were. The first Incredibles made over $631 million worldwide, with Incredibles 2 greatly surpassing that number; making $608.6 million in the U.S. alone and $1.242 billion worldwide.
