Disney/Pixar In General

I love people who say hun. You are a sweetie!

I like it too. :)

Anyway, I just got back from seeing Christopher Robin myself. It's good. :) I wasn't quite expecting that nightmare sequence, though.

X9

I don't know where you got that, but Atlantis: The Lost Empire actually lost money—a lot. It was made with a budget of $120 million, and it only pulled in $186 million. Now, as a very rough rule of thumb, a movie needs to double its budget to break even, and Atlantis didn't do that. For that to happen it would have had to earn at least twice as much as it actually did, so ultimately it lost Disney somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million. Unadjusted for inflation, it lost more money than any previous Disney film until Treasure Planet surpassed it the following year. It did NOT "make its money back."

Now I'm sure you're wondering, "if it was such a flop, why did it get a sequel?" Well, the thing is, the direct-to-video sequel Milo's Return was only made because the movie was a failure. The original plan had been to make a TV show, but when the movie bombed, the show was canned. But a three-episode pilot had already been made, so Disney decided to release it straight to video in an effort to cover their losses. The cancellation of the TV series is especially unfortunate when you realize that one of the episodes planned for it was going to be a Gargoyles crossover!

Edited by ElSquibbonator on Aug 20th 2018 at 5:46:34 AM

Aw man, that would have been fantastically amazing. :(

x2 What I meant to say was that it at least made it's production budget back from its theatrical run; I know film costs aren't only production, and I knew that even with that fact Atlantis was still a disappointment to the Disney Corporation. However, unlike Atlantis, which did at least make more money then went into just making the film, Treasure Planet didn't even recoup that much, making it an out and out bomb, unlike Atlantis, which was just a failed film.

I also knew about the Sequel Direct-To-TV film being a Cartoon that was cancelled then pushed out as a 'Movie' (like the Beauty and the Beast 'Movie' that was also 3 Episodes of a failed Cartoon).

Does the "double the production budget" rule apply to older movies?

X2

You're missing the point. Atlantis still lost money, no matter how you slice it. Yes, it earner more money than its production budget, but that wasn't enough to put it in the black. Remember, the studio only gets about half of the money a movie makes. If it cost $120 million (I'm discounting marketing costs here, though that's being very generous), it would need to earn $240 million just to cover the production costs. Atlantis was a bomb.

It's interesting that Star Wars and Star Trek, the two titles that would reinvigorate sci-fi into being popular and profitable in media, would come out at a time when Disney was doing badly. ... and then Disney buys Star Wars 30 years later when they WERE doing good. Figures.

That brings up another question. Shortly after Disney purchased Marvel, they released an animated movie based on a Marvel property, that being Big Hero 6. Of course, they were careful to distance the movie from its comic-book origins, and according to Marvel themselves, the movie takes place in a separate reality from the comics it was based on. Why haven't they done that for Star Wars yet? Can we expect an animated Star Wars movie as a future installment in the Disney Animated Canon?

Disney adapted a Marvel title, but executed it like an original superhero property. Aside from superheroes, Star Wars isn't a nebulous, non-copyrighted genre Disney can just up and use and pass off as an original property.

There's been an animated theatrical Star Wars movie before (the Clone Wars one); do you think we might get another?

That was just a pilot for the TV show that Lucas decided to release as a movie - it was originally several episodes that weren't meant to be a movie, but were glued together to become one.

Was it for the one created by Genndy or for the CGI one with Ahsoka?

The one with Ahsoka, The CGI one.

So you know what I've decided is one of the most terrifying scenes in Disney history? The Mob Song from Beauty and the Beast. Think about it. The people singing it are the same kindly villagers we've been seeing throughout the movie, yet a few words from the local charismatic sociopath is all it takes to turn them into a gleefully homicidal mob out to lynch someone they don't even know for being different. And apparently cut off his head and mount it on the aforementioned sociopath's wall. And I may be misremembering, but I don't recall there being any indication Belle or the Beast ever forgive them, either. It really strikes a chord with real life, and is just a... surprisingly cynical look into human nature for a Disney movie.

@Hamburger Time

And this is why the remake was foolish to try to make the villagers sympathetic, because the original movies' point was about how Gaston's villainy couldn't have happened without their support.Mostly because it's a commentary on how society can coddle and support assholes like him.

The live-action one made it seem like the villagers had a point!?

...yuck.

No, in the remake they were enchanted, too. Or something like that. Never bothered to watch it myself.

But I wrote recently a really, really long article about the soundtrack of beauty and the beast and how the songs in it furthering the story. I naturally went into detail about the mob song too. The villagers are actually an excellent allegory for the alt-right.

If anyone is interested I can link it here.

I love that. I shows that the people you trusted your whole life can have an outspoken violent, hateful disposition and under the right circumstances can show it publicly at the drop of a hat.

I'll be honest. I feel like I want to change the ending to where Gaston doesn't die, but rather he transforms into a beast when Beast's(Adam's) curse is lifted. Then the villagers come back and mistake Gaston for the beast they saw in the mirror, and then capture him. As if Gaston's manipulation of the village had backfired on him.

Or have it where Gaston does die, and the mob returns after the curse have been lifted, but the villagers who fought the enchanted servants are being seen as crazier than Belle. The people in the castle act as the villagers don't know what they are talking about. So the mob is committed to the asylum instead of Maurice. I like it when karma happens in the most complex way.

It doesn't help the situation (though it does help the allegory) that the main argument Gaston uses - "He'll eat your children!" - has been used in real life! It was invoked to justify persecution of Jews by Christians in the Middle Ages.

Doesn't the village turn out for the dance at the end?

yeah like the prince is restored so wouldn't his power grow again now?? He could have all the village criminals put into an asylum.

I really wonder just WHAT the villagers thought happened to the Prince, who would presumably be their lord-of-liege.

The suggestion for the alternate ending it too convoluted, plus, the villagers have already left at this point. And, well, it would be kind of unfair for the Beast to get the opportunity to redeem itself, but Gaston gets automatically doomed to dead.

And yes, a lot of what is said in the song is deliberately taken straight from the usual scaremongering. The main point is that the villagers KNOW that Gaston is lying. He doesn't really mislead them. After all, they wanted to bring Maurice to the closed ward just seconds ago, under Gaston's leadership. They know perfectly well that Gaston has no additional knowledge of the Beast whatsoever, just like them he learned of its existence only seconds ago. But they WANT to believe in the lies. And if you pay attention to the song, there are two things established in it: 1. The villagers don't really expect to fight, they want Gaston to go ahead and they follow and 2. They hope for the opportunity to pillage and plunder.