Disney’s Future Looks a Lot Like Its Past

When it comes to Disney movies, it’s sequels and remakes and spinoffs (Oh My!)

Movies took up most of the weekend’s presentations, with a giant panel devoted to Disney’s live-action product, Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios on Friday and another given to Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios and 20th Century Studios on Saturday. These presentations were held in Hall D23. This room was filled with more than 7000 people. Sean Bailey, President Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, hosted Friday’s presentation. It featured a new slate, live-action movies, which will be coming to Disney+ and theatres around the globe. The word “live-action” is not a new concept. “new”This is quite a stretch.

The panel’s live-action portion was not a unique opportunity to see any of his films. Every movie was either a remake (or a Disney animated classic)“Peter Pan and Wendy,” “Snow White,” “The Little Mermaid”), a sequel or spin-off of an original film (“Hocus Pocus 2,” “Disenchanted”) or a combination of the two (“Mufasa: The Lion King”Barry Jenkins He also showed footage from “Haunted Mansion,”A Disney park attraction adaptation that was made in 2002. On the second day, which was being led by the heads of each division, it was more of the same – “Avatar: The Way of Water”Marvel showed new footage and introduced spinoffs and sequels (more). “Ant-Man,” “Black Panther” “Captain Marvel” movies are coming) and Lucasfilm didn’t utter a single word about any new movie, even though “Rogue Squadron”The Christmas 2023 schedule is still being finalized.

Bailey (and his boss, CEO Bob Chapek) would argue that brand familiarity is something that Disney has that other studios don’t; that Disney making a live-action “Peter Pan”It is guaranteed to be high-quality and will likely contain elements that you have recollected from your childhood. The studio will soon run out of things to remake and make sequels for actors, who age, or worse, their multipicture contracts will have be renegotiated at exorbitant amounts, and audiences lose interest in doing the same thing.

While the animation presentation was mostly free of repeats (besides a surprise announcement of Pixar’s “Inside Out 2”This sense of similarity permeated the D23 Expo as well. Jennifer Lee, Walt Disney Animation Studios chief creative executive, has repeatedly said that “Wish,” the studio’s offering for holiday 2023, would be an original movie, she and filmmakers Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn were constantly referencing what had come before. (To the point that an offhanded remark about the film’s villain had attendees speculating if a classic Disney villain would return.) Buck stated that the film was “a great movie.” “will take the concept of Easter Eggs to a whole new level.” Oh. So, it’s a brand new, original movie, littered with nods to the past?

This is especially troubling because “Encanto,”It was released last year and became a sensation because of its popularity. so different to what had come before — set in South America, in a single location, with a purely Latino cast. Because there had never been any previous Disney movies like this, there were no references to them. Now, the “Encanto”The exploitation train is now gone, but Disney still feels the need for a close comparison to past successes. Disney can’t learn from its own recent successes or even from its past triumphs that in order to succeed, you must innovate.

TV and streaming plans lack innovation spark.

As for TV, it was almost identical to the movie presentations in the sense that it saw Disney leaning back on tried-and-true properties while only occasionally bothering to introduce something new — there were new seasons of “The Mandalorian,” “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series,” “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers,” “Daredevil” “Loki”New series and series that are based on “National Treasure” “The Santa Clause” (again starring Tim Allen). A new perspective on “Percy Jackson.”Thought “American Born Chinese,”This graphic novel could be the standout.

Lucasfilm’s big offering was “Willow,” a continuation of George Lucas’ 1988 movie, once more with Warwick Davis, along with a constellation of “Mandalorian”Spinoffs and a new show called “Skeleton Crew,”This takes place during a period of time “Star Wars”A publishing initiative introduced a timeline.

It’s odd, but it is true “Andor,”A story that happened before “Rogue One”It shares some characters with it, but feels original and unique due to the fact that it has abandoned the traditional storytelling and filmmaking styles. “The Mandalorian”These were carried over to the other Lucasfilm films. There are not video screens. There are actually sets. There are 24 episodes that have been predetermined and spread over two seasons. “Andor” isn’t tripped up by the somewhat aimless plotting of “The Mandalorian.”

The presentations were not as far-fetched as they could have been. “The Mandalorian”Oder “Loki”It was not the same as when they first arrived. There was an obvious lack of freshness. “Willow”It gave the impression that Disney is trying to catch a new trend. It’ll be the third big-budget fantasy project based on a preexisting franchise this fall, following the splashy debuts of “House of the Dragon” “The Lord of the Rings: The Power of the Rings.”

And there wasn’t even the announcement of any hot documentary projects, this despite the fact that “The Imagineering Story” “Light & Magic”These films were well-received by Disney+ and offer a unique opportunity for the company’s current leadership to explore its past. This documentary adapts the nonfiction book. “Ink & Paint,”It has been promised since before Disney+ launched that information would be available about the women who coloured the original Disney animated projects. It was not to be found.

Like live-action, there will be a shortage in things to remake and turn into series. Disney+ could soon find out that there is a limit to how many things you can make into series. “Star Wars” or Marvel Studios projects. There is a ceiling. One of the most important series featured was “The Muppets Mayhem,” which is at least the fourth attempt at reviving the characters since 2015’s buzzy, short-lived “The Muppets”ABC.

Marvel Studios is trying hard to expand their Marvel Cinematic Universe to must-see TV, with integrated Disney+ programs telling one narrative across television and film (a difficult task). However, the response from fans has been mixed.

For a company that loves to invoke the name and legacy of Walt Disney, they often forget that the company’s cofounder had a great affection for TV and did some truly remarkable things with the format. For one, he was almost solely responsible for Americans embracing color televisions. Walt was able to experiment with TV’s shape and function. He was always open to new ideas and experimentation. It’s built into the history of Disney TV.

The future of Disney parks is… unclear at best

Disney’s global collection of theme parks and cruise ships, part of the Disney Parks, Experiences and Productions (DPEP) division of the company, has long been considered the crown jewel of the company, and they took center stage on the final day of the D23 Expo. If your movie or TV show is truly embraced, chances are that’ll be reflected in the parks. The parks can also inspire other areas of company (such as the lucrative). “Pirates of the Caribbean”Film franchises have proven successful.

Josh D’Amaro, chairman of DPEP, has become a kind of folk hero in the fan community, mostly due to the fact that he’s got a charming on-stage presence and projects actual care. He was unable to deliver a coherent presentation of the park’s plans when he was on the stage. It was hard to drum up much interest in a new pastry place coming to California’s Downtown Disney shopping and dining complex or a walkaround Hulk character. Instead of a new revamp to EPCOT’s badly dated Imagination pavilion, he offered the return of a Figment meet-and-greet experience, one that wouldn’t even roll out until the end of next year. (Why it’s taking that long is anybody’s guess.) A “TRON”The Magic Kingdom is testing a themed rollercoaster, currently with riders! right now won’t open to the public until spring 2023. The “Princess and the Frog”Splash Mountain being redone? That won’t be complete until the end of 2024. It’s a re-theme.

Then, a strange musical interlude about the three new members of the gang follows. “Frozen”The creation of themed lands in parks around the globe (Paris, Hong Kong, and Japan) is meant to celebrate the global reach for the park system. “Frozen”Although the brand was a joke, it made it appear that every park would get the same stuff. The D23 Expo stage hosted one of the most bizarre events to ever occur.

For what seemed like 20 minutes, Imagineer Chris Beatty and Jennifer Lee from Disney Animation, were basically spit balling ideas about what could go into Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. Are there attractions that are themed to? “Encanto” “Moana” “Zootopia?”Imagine a place where Disney villains could roam free. These plans were so vague that they merited the title of “blue sky”It would make them too concrete. It was almost like being in a focus meeting except that the attendees paid the company to attend. (There was no doubt that someone was measuring the reactions with a clipboard in their back.

It felt more than just commercial. Yes, Disney classics will still be used as inspiration for attractions, but they are also going to be timeless. New ideas were also created for the parks. “Haunted Mansion”Movie without the attraction (which opened in 1967). From it’s a small world to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to Mystic Manor, the parks have a history of coming up with new story lines to transport guests to far away lands, occasionally inspiring other parts of the company to engage with the same, homegrown material. It seems that this idea is now a thing of the passé.

Chapek complained that people are using too much of their library in 2019, back in 2019. “If any of our competitors had our intellectual property, guess what? They would be doing the exact same thing we’re doing, but they don’t have it. We do.” Sure, that’s probably true. But Disney has never been like their competitors. Shouldn’t they do better?

There’s a state-of-the-art theme park called Epic Universe that Universal Resorts is opening down the street from Disney in Orlando, in 2025. The Disney Parks presentation at D23 didn’t offer any concrete response to that park. (Disney’s new Imagineering building, to serve those who agreed to the forced move to Central Florida, won’t even be complete until 2026.) There was no discussion about how the new attractions (if they are built) will fit in the complicated process of visiting one of the parks. This includes making a reservation and paying surcharges for previously-free FastPasses. D’Amaro spoke with passion about how he listened to the fans and catered to their whims, but when it came to delivering news that would honor the past of Walt Disney Imagineering and offer up something completely new, he fell hopelessly short.

D23 Expo was a glimpse into the future but it looked alarmingly familiar with its past. To really break new ground, it’s got to move past that. Kylo Ren (star in the most recent film) “Star Wars” movies — remember those?) Once said. “Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. It’s the only way to become who you were meant to be.”