The Downfall of Disney

Disney is not the same joyful company that it once was years ago. Their revenue is down, their streaming platform is failing and their new movies have not been successful. 

2023 was one of the worst years ever for the Disney Franchise. Every movie produced during the year seemed to fail. Throughout 2023 Disney had one successful film, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three. Even with the Guardians of the Galaxy film’s success it didn’t even gross one billion in revenue. This is a major downfall because only four years ago Disney had produced seven movies with a gross of one billion dollars. On top of that, The Marvel movie released during the year was the lowest-grossing film in Marvel Cinematic history. 

“I can tell Disney is running out of new ideas because they are kind of the same plot repeatedly, except they lack a story,” stated junior Nora Conant. 

The Disney streaming platform Disney+ was released in November 2019. It quickly gained popularity then, but saw another boost in sales as the COVID-19 pandemic hit and billions of people across the world stayed home. At the time it seemed like it was a great idea and Disney would be even further in front of their competition. Although the expectations were high, Disney mishandled their originally great idea. During the last quarter of the year, Disney lost around 44% of their subscribers and over $500 million in costs after the subscription price was increased. This number will continue to drop into 2024 and it’s expected that Disney+ might be destroyed for good. 

“Disney was a major cornerstone in my childhood, and seeing that it has fallen off from its original ways is just sad,” said junior John Mulder.

The Disney stock is at its lowest level in almost ten years and it’s down 8% since the new CEO was appointed. In 2023 alone it dropped 3% from the start of the year to December. Disney’s rivals aren’t having this same problem as they continue to excel in stock. 

Although Disney has gotten backlash on a lot of their new movies, Disney is adjusting to the new times. Some of the movies that were produced in the past are no longer appropriate for this generation. Disney was built on their animated classics but in a world of live-action films, Disney has been forced to jump on the bandwagon. “Tangled is my all-time favorite film but times are changing so Disney has to adapt to the new times,” stated senior Ragan Swanson.