As Box Office Numbers Lag, Disney Tries Re-Releasing Old Movies in Domestic Theaters

OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.

Disney and Sony will reportedly re-release several movies in domestic theaters amid lagging box office numbers.

Disney plans to re-release the Star Wars solo film “Rogue One” from 2016 as well as “Avatar” from 2009. Sony will likewise re-release “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

Total domestic box office gross revenues dropped from $11.3 billion in 2019 to $2.1 billion in 2020 as a result of the COVID pandemic. However, the company has only recovered to $4.5 billion in 2021 and $5.0 billion so far in 2022.

If the stock is any indicator, many people are not confident in the company’s future. The Walt Disney Co. was recently named worst-performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average for the past year.

Critics say Disney is spending too much time pushing its left-wing “woke” agenda on kids and not enough time on actually improving and building the company. The company openly admits that they are “adding queerness” to children’s programming, according to a leaked video of executive producer Latoya Raveneau.

🚨 POLL: Will you watch Disney movies?
YES 👍 or NO 👎

Disney Corporate President Karey Burke also announced plans to add “many, many, many LGBTQ characters” to its shows and movies. The company said 50% of its characters will either be minorities or LGBTQ by the end of the year.

The stock plummeted 31 percent in the last 12 months. Disney has seen its stock drop the most on a percentage basis compared to the other 30 companies that comprise the Dow. Take a look:

Making matters even worse, Disney has stood in public opposition to Florida’s anti-grooming bill that prevents teachers in third grade and younger from instructing kids on sex and gender identity without parental involvement. This impacts kids who are about eight years old and younger. This indicates that Disney believes children should learn about sex and gender identity without parental involvement. The majority of Americans living in Florida disagree with Disney’s radical stance. The anti-grooming bill passed through Florida’s legislature and it was signed into law.

More on this story via Daily Wire:

The news comes as Disney suffers criticism and market backlash for its involvement in left-wing social causes. In a high-profile loss for the entertainment conglomerate, “Lightyear” — which included a same-sex kiss — earned a paltry $51 million during its three-day opening, despite a lack of competition from other children’s movies and significantly more robust success from past “Toy Story” flicks.

Disney’s most recent earnings report indicates that Americans may be rejecting the company’s foray into wokeness. Although Disney reported last Wednesday that total subscriptions for Disney+ increased from 87.6 million to 93.6 million during the third quarter of its current fiscal year, the vast majority of growth arose from international users, with only 100,000 new subscriptions coming from the domestic market. The latest figures represent a significant slowdown from the 1.5 million new domestic subscribers added by Disney during its fiscal second quarter.

Indeed, the slowdown occurred as Disney vowed to “take action” against the state of Texas for officials’ orders to investigate transgender procedures upon children as child abuse and opposed parental rights legislation in Florida signed by Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL), which banned classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten to third grade. Meanwhile, a Disney producer boasted about her “not-at-all secret gay agenda” and the company’s work to infuse children’s productions with LGBTQ content.

Amid its activism — driven largely by internal pressure from left-leaning employees — Disney appeared to be misreading the American public. In an exclusive poll from The Daily Wire, 64% of Americans, including 62% of Democrats and 57% of independents, supported the Florida law.

Americans are, on a broader level, not willing to see corporate activism distort the marketplace. In another exclusive poll from The Daily Wire, 29% of respondents agreed it is a “good thing” for companies to leverage their financial power for political or social means supported by executives, while 58% — twice as many — said it is a “bad thing.”