[Variety] Disney’s Boy Trouble: Studio Seeks Original IP to Win Back Gen-Z Men Amid Marvel, Lucasfilm Struggles

The problem in the headline is them looking for an original IP, while they need to be looking for a good fucking story.

Now, if that movie succeeds, than they can make an IP out of it.
 
I wanna see a disney film about a Prince, lets just call him Prince Phillip. He is destined to become King one day, as is the nature of being a prince. He takes it seriously, understands his responsibilities, studys hard. He finds out he needs to marry some princess, lets call her Princess Aurora. He's nervous, he knows this alliance is critical for the Kingdom and he has to make sacrifices to uphold his position and provide for his people. So he travels there, has a meet cute with a girl, they talk about horses or somesuch, and lo and behold SHE is Aurora! AWESOME! He lucked out with an arragned marriage to a girl that seems all right!

But then this bitch sorceress puts Auroras kingdom to sleep. F that! Phillip isn't gonna take that lying down, oh no. He goes on a quest, risks his life, slays monsters, frees people from tyranny, and eventually slays the Dragon that releases the grip of sleep across the land.

Yay! Everyone is happy, Phillip has proven himself and vanquished an evil. Aurora is happy that she has a strong protector and knows her kids will inherit a great legacy and her people will benefit from this union as well. She and Phillip can bond over their common interests.

No need for family squabbles, mommy/daddy issues the writer learned from years of therapy, girl boss nonsense, or 'toxic' masculinity. Show us a boy, turning onto a man, who embraces his fate, works to achieve it, acts honorably, and shows a moral backbone. Have the Princess reflect a realistic world-view, particularly for the feudal era in which she is set, and acknowledge that the power women hold in this era is different than men, is no less important and influential, yet is gained by SUPPORTING the husband, not undermining him.

And then in the end-credit scene Phillip can step out with that hussy Snow White from the kingdom next door while Aurora struggles in child birth :P
 
I wonder when the rumors about games workshop will start to swirl…
the real question is can Disney's production pipeline actually allow for a "boy's" product to go from inception to completion.

The pipeline is still infested with the people who made all this junk, and who cried when Bob Chapek told them to stop making everything overtly gay, etc.
 
Stop with the sanctimonious nonsense and acting like you're above it all. Your gaslighting doesn't work on me.
If that's how you feel then respectfully, let's end our discussion here. I have too difficult of a time conversing with those who always see every single thing through the lens of politics and culture wars. I know it's a thing, I'm just not that type.

Just want you to know, my post wasn't about being 'above it all' and that's where you keep misreading me as if I am 'looking down' at you when we have these discussions. I literally just wanted to discuss things like how two people would discuss things in person, basically without all of the extra baggage of the internet. No weird tricks, no gaslighting, etc.
 
If that's how you feel then respectfully, let's end our discussion here. I have too difficult of a time conversing with those who always see every single thing through the lens of politics and culture wars. I know it's a thing, I'm just not that type.

Just want you to know, my post wasn't about being 'above it all' and that's where you keep misreading me as if I am 'looking down' at you when we have these discussions. I literally just wanted to discuss things like how two people would discuss things in person, basically without all of the extra baggage of the internet. No weird tricks, no gaslighting, etc.
This entire story is directly related to the culture wars. Disney actively alienated their male audience over the past decade and now they're trying to undo it. You want to ignore that and focus on "good movies" when their creative decisions had a direct impact on the quality of their entertainment.

I'm not misreading you btw. You are constantly condescending to me and this thread is the most recent example. Dropping empathy reactions on my posts, like you did here, makes it impossible to take you seriously. If you could figure out how to be less passive aggressive and disingenuous you'd probably have more productive conversations with me.
 
Unless it's something you have to absolutely see, what's the point of going to the movies?
Tickets are expensive, and I don't even want to know what snacks are going for these days. Then it hits one of the fifteen streaming services in a month or two.

Good luck with that Disney. Going to the movies isn't what it used to be.
 
Disney actively alienated their male audience over the past decade and now they're trying to undo it. You want to ignore that and focus on "good movies" when their creative decisions had a direct impact on the quality of their entertainment.
Because I don't agree with this, because there have been multiple projects with positive male leads in Marvel, SW, and animated Disney shows and movies over the past decade. That alone means it must be a writing issue.
I'm not misreading you btw. You are constantly condescending to me and this thread is the most recent example. Dropping empathy reactions on my posts, like you did here, makes it impossible to take you seriously. If you could figure out how to be less passive aggressive and disingenuous you'd probably have more productive conversations with me.
Looking back at our conversation again, I have not done the following:
  • Belittle you
  • Insult you
  • Make fun of your opinion
I have been talking to you as an equal this entire thread. All I did was disagree with you at the fundamental level of what's to blame for this downward spiral in Disney. I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong to where you're not only seeing all of my posts as condescending, but you're also seeing my empathy reaction as sign of passive aggressiveness and then seeing my most recent post as disingenuous.

What should I do differently?
 
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I don't even know what Gen Z is even interested in they seem all over the place and less monolithic so it's even more difficult to target them. What did they grow up on just generic f2p slop.
 
These days original content means straight white men leads.
It's sad that this would even be remotely true. 'Modern' audiences crave authenticity more than anything. They can sniff out the injected agenda elements that that is what is causing the problem, not the ethnicity of the actors.

Wanna set a show in 17th century Scotland? Guess what, there ain't gonna be any roles for asian, african, or indian actors without a whole lotta backbending in the script....OR unauthentic casting.

So write a story set in Mumbai in the 12th century, make it good and folks will watch even if there are no white people in it. Legions of successful Korean shows demonstrate this. Make a show about the Tripoli pirates if you want a big global cast, not one about Vikings discovering Greenland or Arthur pulling Excalibur from the stone. If you set your show in 2020 Los Angeles then you should be casting a metric TON of hispanic actors and asians, not just a bunch of white and black people (black being the 4th most common ethnicity in LA, and a distant 4th at that). Hollywood has an authenticity problem, stemming from the writing, the casting, and ultimately the studio execs choosing to greenlight projects.

Original content should be original from the ground up, not just the same-old same-old literally reskinned in a performative way with no substance.
 
Because I don't agree with this, because there have been multiple projects with positive male leads in Marvel, SW, and animated Disney shows and movies over the past decade. That alone means it must be a writing issue.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion but I don't think you're convincing anyone. I'd say the more reasonable conclusion is that both things are a problem. If you want to ignore the elephant in the room despite the majority of the thread echoing what I've been saying then have it.

What should I do differently?
I can't help you with your anti-social personality issues.
 
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You're certainly entitled to your opinion but I don't think you're convincing anyone. I'd say the more reasonable conclusion is that both things are a problem. If you want to ignore the elephant in the room despite the majority of the thread echoing what I've been saying then have it.
I just don't think it's the primary nor the sole reason for their issues.

There are clear, standout moments when a writer of a movie was attempting to reinforce a positive moment that comes across as cringe because it's too on the nose.

Best possible, clear cut example:



This is why I think things like this are only worth pointing out when it is a clear cut moment of taking someone out of a movie or show to either prove a point or lecture the audience. To me that's actual woke messaging.

In the hands of a good writer, you can mold that style of messaging to be subtle and meaningful but not overt, much like many 2000s and 2010s movies, Juno, Napoleon Dynamite, Scott Pilgrim, etc.

Now, on the other end, I think this moment is just cringe and badly written:



There is no messaging here, just 4 CW-looking idiots trying to look cool on shiny colorful bikes chasing someone at what seems to be 15mph through Tattooine. That's dumb design, dumb scenario, dumb characters, and bad writing.

Someone in the writing room thought Boba Fett needed a young adult crew with him. Adding random younger team members, or a protege to take the mantle, etc. type of stuff used to happen all the time in movies and shows and even back then audiences would say 'I don't know about this...' and not really roll with it.

Again, clear cut example of this:



Similar levels of cringe.
 
That all woman endgame bit doesn't really bother me, 'cause it's nested amongst some of the best bro-hero moments EVER put to film. Cap standing up to Thanos, getting Mjolnir, Hulk sacrificing himself for the snap, Hawkeye fighting to get the stones out, Dr. Strange seeming to be unimpressed with the heroes assembled, "on your left", etc, ALLLLLLL that shit was for the guys and it worked really well. So having a quick scene of the ladies, all 20 of them, getting together, really emphasizing how they are largely just "Lady XXX" versions of male heroes, to do what any 1 male hero could do alone, seems appropriate. It would have been just as cringe if they had all the black heroes in a shot, or maybe the three (?) asain ones, or just the guys older than 50, or whatever, as an unnatural gathering in the moment, but an understandable bit of audience pandering at the culmination of 20+ movies.
 
They can turn it around, but it depends how serious they are about it, how committed they are to it, and whether they really appreciate the scale of the damage done.

It's unlikely that a decade plus of demonstrating contempt for your core demographic can be undone overnight, but if they try and it doesn't work immediately, will they persevere or will they take it as proof that it's not worth the effort?

Realistically we are probably talking about 5-10 years minimum of consistently demonstrating a totally different attitude in order to rebuild the trust they have deliberately destroyed, and it could cost them a lot of money to see a process like that through.
 
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wierd GIF
The force without power
 
didn't Disney buy Star Wars and marvel because they skewed more female and then wanted some male skewing properties but inevitably felt the need to turn them into what they know.
 
They hire rookies to write and direct 200 million dollar films. What do they expect.

And as much as the video game and movie industry don't want it to be true, 80% of the core audience is guys. There are charts that show 50/50 between men and women, but they are counting bad metrics like mobile games and Disney+ subscribers. But look at the audience who buy comics and follows fan channels on YouTube, it's dominated by men.
 
Just make good stories and less DEI, Committee led crap.

Honestly, Monica was not a bad character, she had less of that Girl Boss sass Whats-her-face had. More of that, and less of the sass BS.

Actually look at what made stuff in the past popular,it wasn't that deep... there was no grand meaning, stuff was just cool and fun. Guys were strong and charismatic, women too and not sassy girl bosses.

Time and place, and the time isn't. For. Girl. Boss. Slay. Audiences anymore.
 
They hire rookies to write and direct 200 million dollar films. What do they expect.

And as much as the video game and movie industry don't want it to be true, 80% of the core audience is guys. There are charts that show 50/50 between men and women, but they are counting bad metrics like mobile games and Disney+ subscribers. But look at the audience who buy comics and follows fan channels on YouTube, it's dominated by men.
A KEY factor about those 2:1 male:female audience splits is that most of the women are being taken....nay, DRAGGED to the premier by their men. So the goal isn't to make the women go to these films on their own, but to inject elements to make the film TOLERABLE to women.

THIS is what the women want to see

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not girl bosses, not girls punching men, not girls dunking on men, not girls high fiving each other for doing simple things by themselves

they wanna see BEEFCAKE and they wanna see tough guys falling for that ONE WOMAN, things we had a lot of pre endgame and haven't seen since (other than the clip I linked above).
 
They need to stop taking themselves and their stories so seriously.
They are in the entertainment business, not the education business.
This isn't the civil rights era anymore.
Audiences, especially males, want to be entertained and escape reality for an hour or two, not to be constantly lectured on social issues/narratives by activist creeps.
 
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