It seems Disney failed to push their grooming agenda to the world this time.
Disney’s Strange World, which features the first gay teenager in the history of studio animation, is failing at the box office.
After a disastrous opening day in which the project grossed just $4.2 million in the U.S., “Strange World” grossed $2.4 million from 4,174 North American theaters over Thanksgiving. With a two-day total of $6.6 million, first-weekend forecasts have been revised down.
“Strange World” didn’t makeup ground at the international box office, where it earned $9.2 million from 43 markets for a global start of $27.8 million.
That’s a catastrophic result for Disney, which has always been considered the gold standard in animation. But the studio has stumbled in pandemic times with “Lightyear,” one of the few Pixar films to lose money in its theatrical run, as well as “Encanto,” which didn’t become a viral TikTok sensation until the musical fable landed on Disney+.
The $180 million-budgeted “Strange World” is poised to be another money loser for Disney, unless business miraculously recovers in the next few weeks. But that’s not likely since the film, an animated adventure about a family of legendary explorers, has mediocre reviews, a tepid “B” CinemaScore and minimal buzz. If the movie replicates the sales of “Lightyear” (which fizzled with $226 million worldwide) and “Encanto” (which tapped out with $256 million worldwide), “Strange World” stands to lose at least $100 million in its theatrical run.
Disney alienated many fans earlier this year when it featured a lesbian kiss in “Lightyear,” the latest installment in its “Toy Story” franchise. The company also didn’t feature conservative actor Tim Allen as the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the film, which bombed at the box office.
As Disney begins pushing “Strange World” for next week’s release, here’s the reminder that their “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” to target kids is ongoing. It’s a part of the plot of this movie, just as it was with “Lightyear.” Your kids, your choice. https://t.co/lMjsaDF8Lp
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 15, 2022
From DailyWire:
“Strange World” tells the story of gay teen Ethan, voiced by Jaboukie Young-White, who has the support of his loving, biracial parents, Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal), and Meridian (Gabrielle Union). The family rejects its fabled heritage as explorers to farm, but ends up pulled back into the family business to hunt for Searcher’s father, Jaeger (Dennis Quaid), who went missing when he was a child. Their search, aided by their disabled dog, takes them to Avalonia, a strange world with a fragile ecosystem. Ethan struggles to get past his shyness around his love interest, a boy named Diazo.
Seattle Times critic Soren Andersen wrote that the film features an “uneasy marriage of clunky psychodrama and overwrought special effects” that made it “a chore to sit through.”
“Strange World” has received a CinemaScore rating of B, the lowest rating ever for a Disney animated feature, or at least since the rating was measured a few decades ago. Every single Disney animated film since “Beauty and the Beast” has received some form of an A, from A+ to A-.
I’m thinking “Strange World” might have peeved off some of the more conservative moviegoing parents … You see, it’s an animated adventure featuring the studio’s first openly gay teen character. Ethan, who is voiced by an openly gay comedian
“Strange World” will be dragged by many on the right for this very reason and these same folks will most likely blame the tepid box office on the LGBT content. Unlike some of the more recent Disney/Pixar releases, where you just had hints and brief gay-themed moments, the main character’s queerness in “Strange World” is not merely implied but made clear from beginning to end.
Of course, some circles can blame Strange World’s failure on its queer content (and terrible marketing), but it also doesn’t seem to be a very good movie. Critics seem split on it — it has a 65 on Metacritic and 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. Nothing to write home about.
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