The video discusses the current state of Disney, which is facing a series of box office flops and financial losses. It suggests that Disney's problems can be traced back to three major issues: streaming, budgeting, and storytelling.
The video claims that Disney's streaming service, Disney Plus, has been flooded with content from all major IPs, leading to brand dilution and audience fatigue. It also points out that Disney's budgets for modern blockbusters are out of control, with some films costing hundreds of millions of dollars. The video suggests that Disney's overreliance on CGI and reshoots are significant contributors to the inflation of a movie's budget.
In terms of storytelling, the video criticizes Disney for failing to deliver worthwhile and audience-wanted stories. It suggests that Disney keeps hoping that slapping a brand name on a project will sell, but this approach is no longer effective. The video argues that audiences can tell when a story is being told just because it's expected to make money, and they are not fooled by unnecessary sequels or stretched out stories.
The video concludes by suggesting that Disney can fix its issues by treating its movie slate like a YouTube channel. It suggests that Disney needs to program its movies strategically, ensuring that successful films are surrounded by less successful ones to prevent crafting a doom and gloom narrative. It also advises Disney to focus on new IPs and lesser-known characters, but to balance this risk by placing these projects between other expected successes. The video also emphasizes the importance of content fitting where it best tells its story and of budgeting according to what can be earned from box office sales, not just ancillary revenue.
1. Disney is struggling financially, with several of their recent films underperforming at the box office. This includes "Fast X," "The Flash," "Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning," "Doctor Strange two," "Thor three," "Black Panther two," "The Little Mermaid," "Ant-Man three," "New Indiana Jones," and the last animated feature film "Strange World" .
2. Disney shares are at their lowest since COVID hit in March 2020. The company is considering selling off their TV businesses and spinning off ESPN, which could lead to thousands of employees being laid off .
3. The problems at Disney largely boil down to three major topics: streaming, budget, and story. The company has been focusing heavily on streaming, creating content for Disney Plus at the expense of other projects and franchises, leading to brand dilution .
4. The budgets for modern blockbusters, especially those made by Disney, are out of control. Films such as "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," "Guardians three," "The little Mermaid," and "Quantumania" have cost hundreds of millions of dollars .
5. The inflation of a movie's budget at Disney is largely due to a lot of different factors, including an overreliance on CGI, a push to develop new technologies, and writing that doesn't keep budgets in mind. One of the biggest contributors to the inflation of a movie's budget over at Disney is reshoots .
6. Disney's storytelling has been failing to engage audiences. They've been releasing unnecessary sequels and stretching out stories that don't need to be TV shows. The company doesn't understand where their stories fit anymore .
7. The solution to Disney's problems is to treat their film production like a YouTube channel. They need to strategically balance risky projects with successful ones, release order matters, and content needs to fit where it tells the best story .
8. Disney needs to budget each project based on the ad sense they expect to make from that video. Anything extra that they get from brand deals or merch sales is a nice plus, but they can't budget every single video that way because eventually they're going to lose that bet and they can't run the business anymore .