Cognition Dissemination: Disney Animation Blinks

There was clear panic within the walls of the Walt Disney Animation Studios following a tumultuous 2022. The higher ups under now-former CEO Bob Chapek didn’t believe in Pixar’s Turning Red enough to give it a theatrical release, despite it arriving at a time when movies were returning to theaters and performing well in them in March. Those they did believe in, Pixar’s Lightyear and Disney’s Strange World, put up dismal numbers. It didn’t help that both movies were middling in terms of quality.

Rubbing salt in the wound further was how movies from competing animation houses like Illumination and DreamWorks Animation shined, with The Bad Guys, Minions: The Rise of Gru, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish arriving to critical and commercial success. (I can vouch for The Bad Guys being superlative). Disney Animation had reason to be concerned.

The surprise is how that worry has already spilled out into the open, sooner than I expected after I posted about the topic last year. My thinking was that they’d at least wait until the next original Disney Animation works performed below expectations, a scenario that hopefully won’t happen. The company indicated that they would continue as they were with upcoming works like Pixar’s Elemental (coming to theaters June 16th) and Elio (coming 2024), and Disney’s Wish (coming November 22nd). The only safe sequel announced then was Inside Out 2, for which there were few complaints about considering how solid its predecessor was. With former and now CEO Bob Iger firmly back in the top chair, Disney is looking to firmly put (let’s be honest here) stockholder concerns at ease.

Iger confirmed during Disney’s newest earnings call that new Toy Story, Frozen, and Zootopia movies are in the works. Companies only announce this many sequels concurrently whenever they’re panicking, and at least two of these qualify as such. It’s tough to consider where Pixar’s creative team could possibly go after Toy Story 4, but they’ll assuredly have to think of a way to continue it. Before anyone could think that it’s a soft reboot featuring a brand-new cast, Tim Allen confirmed that he’s returning as Buzz Lightyear, further confirming that Cancel Culture is a sham.

There’s an audience that will love a third Frozen film, though it remains the definition of a safe sequel considering how well the previous movies performed. Frozen 2, in particular, remains the highest-grossing animated film in history. I can think of a big and vocal audience usually against Disney sequels that wanted another Zootopia movie to happen, at least a couple of whom post on this blog. There is, admittedly, potential for the creative teams to take both these franchises in interesting and entertaining directions.

Some movies are getting follow-up series for Disney Plus. The Princess and the Frog didn’t perform well enough in theaters to get a theatrical follow-up, and ended up being the biggest catalyst for Disney phasing out 2D-animated films. But it’s getting a successor through the Tiana series, due starting this year. This would be a great month to show it. The Moana series isn’t due to arrive until sometime in 2024.

This whole plan is one step short from a full-on panic mode, which would also require announcements of a third Incredibles film and a fourth Cars film. The only reason those may not have been announced is due to Pixar having enough on their plate at the moment. Perhaps the same could be said of the Disney Princess crossover film that Ralph Breaks the Internet appeared to provide a trial run for, now that they’ll be busy with three upcoming movies. To be fair, I wouldn’t be against two of those movies happening.

We’re lucky to still have original movies on the horizon, given these circumstances. Disney is perhaps feeling embarrassed about losing their animation crown to one of their biggest competitors over the years, even if the studios working on behalf of Universal deserved the accolades. Thinking they’d eventually retreat to safer ground was inevitable, considering they have executives and shareholders to justify the continued existence of Disney’s animation studios to, alongside making surefire hits the wider audience will love. It’s fun to think about the time when Disney was entirely against sequels after too many came up short to say the least. It’s another case where cynicism eventually preserved.

It’s another saving grace that Disney hasn’t gone so far in on live-action films that they’re eschewing animated movies, considering how the Aladdin and especially The Lion King remakes well outdid their animated counterparts. Perhaps this was Chapek’s plan, who pretty much said that animation is for kids in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, a wild claim for a Disney CEO to make considering their long history with the entertainment medium. The feeling about Chapek from Disney’s animation studios was reportedly mutual.

Now that Disney has broken the glass guarding the mid-sized “Panic” button and pressed it, the best scenario that can be hoped for involves their studios making an equal number of original movies and sequels. It would be extremely bad for every party involved if they pressed an even larger button and became bogged down in excess sequels, or resorted to making Star Wars and Marvel content. Their current predicament is hardly preferable for the biggest fans and internal creatives, alongside the wider audience and their children who don’t realize it at the moment. But it could always be worse.