Disney Wars: $Billions at stake, as well as ...

The future of entertainment franchises that ordinary Americans offer to their children

When I started teaching in the early 1990s, I asked Denver Seminary students if they would feel comfortable dissecting important messages from popular culture while using the standard tools of church life — preaching, Christian education, retreats, etc.

Let me note, at that stage (years before I converted to Orthodox Christianity), that I already opposed putting video screens in sanctuaries and using them to show clips during sermons. Worship is not entertainment.

Some of the seminary students made a valid point: With a multi-generational flock, there was no way to know who had seen specific movies or television programs. I noted that, in the past, evangelist Billy Graham — when he talked about movies while preaching — had often offered brief introductions when using popular-culture material, even quoting key lines so that everyone could understand his point.

Also, during classes in Denver, everyone agreed that some forms of popular culture were so omnipresent that pastors could assume that the vast majority of their people would be familiar with these franchises, even if they weren’t fans.

Like what? Well, take Disney, for example. Also, my students agreed that everyone would know about Star Wars. In England, you could assume that people would “get” Doctor Who. Today, I think we can assume that most people will be familiar with Pixar and also the Marvel cinematic universe.

All of those franchises, of course, are now — to varying degrees — under the same vast Disney digital umbrella.

This brings me to a question in this weekend’s think piece: How many of you are following the bitter wars to control — some would say “save” — the postmodern Walt Disney Company?

Why does this matter? I think that the vast majority of American parents, or even those around the world, would agree that Disney matters.

This brings me to a mini-firestorm in social media and, especially, in visual niches such as YouTube and TikTok. I call it a “mini” firestorm, because the cancellation of the Disney+ Star Wars series called “The Acolyte” never really attracted that many fans. Thus, the digital armies that are fighting about this prequel are rather small and very, very insider.

If you want to taste the acidic reactions to this cancellation, dive into (I dare you) this basic search of the current offerings at YouTube.

In a way, this nasty inside-baseball battle is the point of this post. The Star Wars universe has become a niche. But this is also a perfect symbol of the battles inside Disney. Can we agree that Disney is not, at this point, a “niche” product?

Now, I admit that the videos embedded in this post are drawn from alternative media sources that stalk Disney day and night. However, these YouTube features contain clips from other sources, as well as direct, on-screen quoations from business publications and fan-sites on both sides of this war.

Everyone would agree that “The Acolyte” — with a budget close to $200 million for a pay-cable product — raised all kinds of Sexual Revolution issues, with a strong dose of feminist-flavored neopaganism thrown into the mix, as well.

Here is some background from Forbes: “The Very Obvious Reason Disney Canceled ‘The Acolyte’ — It Wasn’t ‘Toxic Dudebros’.” This is long, but essential:

There has been much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments … over the cancelation of The Acolyte by Disney. The Star Wars series will not live beyond its first season, and it’s unclear whether any of the characters or storylines setup in Season 1 will be carried on anywhere else. …

But the show itself was not a hit largely because it was poorly written, riddled with plot-holes, had very uneven acting from its various leads, and looked cheap despite its enormous cost. And while some outlets want to paint the cancelation as a win for “toxic dudebros” in the fandom (as if no women could possibly have disliked The Acolyte) and others are saying that its failure will cause Disney to avoid trying new things, I think the real culprit is two-fold:

*The show as far too expensive and did not draw big enough numbers to justify the cost.

* The was was far too expensive and did not receive enough critical acclaim and widespread fan support.

* Both of these factors include a common theme: The Acolyte simply cost far, far too much and that investment wasn’t met with huge viewership numbers like The Mandalorian or critical acclaim like Andor.

This chart from JarJarJargon dug deep into the numbers for each Disney+ Star Wars show:

The key: Disney-era Star Wars has had more misses, in terms of ratings and dollars, than hits. But there have been SOME hits. What were the most common criticisms of the misses and the common threads found in the hits? And why is this whole war an important cultural “signal” worthy of the attention of parents, pastors, teachers and counselors?

The Forbes feature avoided the moral, cultural and, yes, religious issues raised in “The Acolyte” and focused — with good cause — on why so much money was handed to a controversial showrunner with little or no producing experience and a healthy dose of attitude about the flaws in old-school Star Wars. For example, I had no idea that R2-D2 was gay.

Moving on. In addition to “The Acolyte,” there is an important legal battle unfolding linked to one of the most successful of the Disney+ Star Wars products — “The Mandalorian.” The question is whether Disney fired actress Gina Carano because of her cultural and political views (she is a conservative of some kind, obviously), while also making efforts behind the scenes to crush her career.

If this case goes to court, with Carano’s lawyers having “discovery” powers to seek Disney emails and internal documents, what will the parents, pastors, teachers and counselors learn about the worldview of the principalities and powers at Disney?

Oh, and readers will want to note who is funding the Carano legal team and, maybe, more important moves in this bitter Disney chess match. Here is a byte of info from and story a few months ago at The New York Post: “Elon Musk sides with Nelson Peltz in his battle against common foe Disney CEO Bob Iger.”

Elon Musk endorsed Nelson Peltz’s bid for a spot on the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company as the Tesla mogul continued his beef with Mouse House boss Bob Iger.

Musk, who famously told Iger and other CEOs who stopped advertising on his social media platform X to “go f–k yourself,” said that he would buy shares in Disney if Peltz got his way and shareholders voted to put him and another ally on the company’s board.

“Nelson Peltz should definitely be on the Disney board!” Musk wrote on X. …

The Disney establishment beat back that early attempt to rattle the company’s hierarchy. But no one thinks that Musk is going to vanish.

I will end with some Rational Sheep questions:

* Does it matter who runs Disney and controls these cornerstone pop-culture franchises?

* Are parents today as “hooked” on Disney as in the past, when it comes time to seek screen-based babysitters for their children?

* Can anyone imagine a “conservative” media company making a serious effort to compete with the Mighty Mouse? For example, what about the upcoming “Snow White” wars in multiplexes?

The modernized Disney “Snow White” has turned into a black hole for production dollars, while comments by actress Rachel Zegler have generated millions of dollars worth of negative publicity.

Meanwhile, cultural conservatives at The Daily Wire are preparing to feature YouTube superstar (and actress) Brett Cooper in their own “Snow White and the Evil Queen,” which will, apparently, stick with the classic fairytale storyline.

This is an early scene in what could become a much larger cultural drama in the age of streaming video and, dare I say it, the return of some degree of competition in the pop-culture marketplace.

Does any of this really matter?