Disney’s year-end filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed the so-called "House of Mouse" is not ignorant about what is behind the loss of $1 billion during four recent high-profile movie releases, The Daily Mail reported.
In its report, the company admits its modern content – which pushes social issues it deems "progressive" -- shows a “misalignment with public and consumer tastes and preferences.”
That belated revelation comes after its new animated film "Wish" flopped on its opening weekend during the Thanksgiving holidays. Other recent films have also done poorly, including the latest Marvel movie, an Indiana Jones sequel, and a remake of "The Little Mermaid."
That revelation did not occur in time to save Disney’s controversial remake of "Snow White," the 1937 classic. The release of the new "Snow White" is being delayed until 2025 after the public mocked it. The seven dwarfs were being replaced with “seven magical non-dwarf creatures,” a not-so-veiled effort to remain in line with modern-day political correctness. That decision was later altered with expensive CGI effects.
The remake’s star, Rachel Zegler, added fuel to the fire when her comments from a 2022 interview with Variety at the Disney 23 Expo began to resurface.
"I just mean that it's no longer 1937. She's not going to be saved by the prince and she's not going to be dreaming about true love," Zegler bragged to the entertainment magazine a year ago. "She's dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave, and true."
At the same event, Zegler said the original Snow White fell in love “with a guy who literally stalks her," which she called "weird."
Speaking this week on the Washington Watch program, author Steve Soukup said the public has been "exhausted" with political issues - always from the left - showing up everywhere and in everything.
“It's not that Target is left wing. It's not that Bud Light embraced left-wing values. It's not that Disney is liberal," he said. "They are, in fact, but that's not the point. The point is that people are tired of having politics shoved down their throat at every possible occasion."
Soukup, a political researcher, wrote “The Dictatorship of Woke Capital” that describes how the Far Left is influencing Big Business after capturing other institutions such as academic and the media.
Since its decision earlier this year to put Dylan Mulvaney, a biological male in female dress, on a beer can, Bud Light sales continue to plummet. The company is keeping its head above water by focusing strategic partnerships, many of them with sports leagues.
At the same time Bud Light was reeling from the Mulvaney controversy, the Target corporation witnessed its first quarterly revenue drop in six years over the summer. That happened when public learned Target was stocking its shelves with "tuckable" women's swimsuits and had partnered with a "gay trans man" who uses Satanic artwork.
Target, an out and proud ally of homosexual activism, watched its stock value drop 14% and a $10 billion loss in valuation.
Despite the financial hit, Target's CEO took a moral stance on the corporation's leftist business decisions. "
“The things we’ve done from a DE&I [diversity, equity, and inclusion] standpoint, it’s adding value,” CEO Brain Cornell said in May. “It’s helping us drive sales, it’s building greater engagement with both our teams and our guests, and those are just the right things for our business today.”
The company made some adjustments by removing certain merchandise in some markets but has doubled down to help costumers have a woke Christmas. The retail giant is offering Santas of multiple ethnicities in wheelchairs, and a toy soldier carrying the Pride flag and wearing a rainbow hat.
Target might be pushing ahead but not all retailers are taking that approach, Soukup said.
“It’s pretty clear that the general feeling in American business is to depoliticize as much as possible at this point,” he said.
On the topic of Disney, Soukup told show host Tony Perkins that entertainment giant will survive the backlash but also predicted will look different. The fate of Bob Iger, Disney's powerful CEO, is in doubt.
“I think they survive in one form or another for a long time. The question is how long does management survive," he observed. "How long do the boards and the shareholders agree to keep (Bob) Iger on, for example, if he doesn't get it, if he continues to pursue the agenda that got Disney into trouble in the first place?"
One last topic Soukup brought up in the interview was company boycotts and their effectiveness.
“It used to be the case that nobody feared conservative consumers very much because conservative boycotts always failed," he said. "I don't think that's the case anymore."
Even a disorganized, grassroots boycott, he said, is proving to get the attention of corporate executives. They are getting the message from the public which is to get out of the business of politics.
