The decline in quality of Disney’s original movies has been a hot topic in the world of entertainment for quite some time, and according to local film industry professionals the reason is consumer support of sequels and remakes.
A common complaint about modern Disney movies is that they have evolved into only making sequels and remakes of existing stories. Many consumers are frustrated with this, and some have speculated that the Walt Disney Corp. is on the decline.
Mike White, a film professor at Wayne State College, offers his theory on why remakes and sequels have become so common in animation. “They really don’t care about what’s new and creative, they care about what makes money,” White said. “If it’s enough to get you to come into the theater, that’s all they care about.”
White said the responsibility should fall on the consumers, not on the corporations, for what types of movies they make because the theatergoers are the ones who are financially supporting remakes.
“We can’t blame the motion picture companies because we’re the ones who buy the tickets,” White said. “If we want the sequels to stop, we must stop going. If they don’t make money, they’ll stop making them.”
The income of recent Disney movies proves that the consumers are the ones who keep supporting remakes and sequels. According to boxofficemojo.com by IMDbPro, “Frozen 2”, a sequel, was a smash hit, earning $1.45 billion worldwide at the box office. “The Lion King,” a computer animated remake of the 1994 film with the same name, made $1.66 billion. “The Little Mermaid,” a live action remake, made $569.6 million. Compare all these box office successes to “Wish,” a recent original animated Disney movie, and the disparity becomes obvious. “Wish” earned $255 million. Even “Encanto,” an original Disney movie which was considered a wide success, only made $261.28 million at the box office.
Theatrical releases aren’t the sole source of income for films thanks to the popularity of streaming, but these numbers are somewhat telling. These results prove that the consumers are not blameless in this issue.
WSC graduate Shelby Hagerdon, a producer at Made By Things animation studio, said the real issue was that big companies didn’t want to take the risk of making original content. “There’s just not as much original content being put out by big studios,” Hagerdon said. “There is a lot of fear in creating original content that pushes a boundary or works in a new direction.”
Hagerdon said she agreed with White that it is up to consumers to make this change in the industry. “Audiences really need to show up for those original works,” Hagerdon said. “There are people who want these works. Be vocal about it.”
Another misleading aspect of this debate is that “sequel-itis” doesn’t only apply to Disney Studios. Hagerdon said it is an industry-wide issue, especially in live action movies and television.
The answer to whether or not modern Disney is only good for remakes and sequels doesn’t have a clear answer, but people with experience in the film industry make it clear that the best way to force mainstream studios into making more original content is to stop financially supporting the remakes.
