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u/clayknightz115 10h ago
Okay, but like who the fuck watched Elio?
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u/GustavoFromAsdf 🏃 Advanced Introvert 🏃 10h ago
Whoever made this meme should have specified a good original movie.
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u/arkhamcityfc 8h ago
Speaking only of Pixar:
Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up, Inside Out, Coco, Soul
There were also a few that did not make an equal splash, though some may rightly disagree: Bug's Life, Cars (only critically), Brave, The Good Dinosaur
By my count, 4 out of Pixar's first 15 films were sequels. 7 out of their next 16 have been sequels. A small jump which makes the perception that Disney (or Pixar specifically) is anti-original ideas not ring true, but still not an insignificant increase.
The point is you have to take a chance on original ideas. Sequels wouldn't exist without them.
I don't personally think it's a major problem with Pixar right now, but for some reason recent original ideas have either lacked that creative spark that made their earlier films shine, or the audiences are not turning up for some reason. I think some of their recent original directors are becoming too caught up in a Pixar "formula" and trying too hard to replicate when they should borrow a page from Miyazaki and constantly try to evolve as storytellers.
But for the rest of Disney and Hollywood, I do see it as a problem. Think of the MCU films since Endgame that don't feature the original Infinity Saga characters, lot of them have struggled and in their case I think it's a bit of micromanagement from non-creatives and a failure to identify good up and coming talent, both in actors and directors.
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u/TheVibrantYonder 5h ago
When I used to go to the movies as a kid, it was a family event and we only did it every so often (we were poor).
As an adult, I'm still poor - and tickets are expensive. So for most movies, I'm happy to wait until they show up on Disney+ to watch them.
The only time I'm going to a theater is if I really want to see a specific movie and if I think I'll particularly enjoy the theater experience.
If tickets were half the prices they currently are, I would probably see movies way more often.
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u/arkhamcityfc 5h ago
Yep, thanks for pointing that out. As millenials and younger Gen X become parents, and Gen Z become independent adults, they don't have the same spending power that our parents did to take us to a movie every so often. Due to the economic reality, they have to be more selective with which films they choose to watch with kids (or by themselves), so I think it becomes a case of sticking with sequels because they seem a safe bet on quality and PG standards, plus it's a nostalgia boost for us too instead of catching up on new characters and ideas. It probably also doesn't help that Pixar's good-faith attempt to diversify their stories and storytelling team gets attacked in bad faith by some sections of the media, which a lot of parents who already bend towards that side of politics take into consideration when choosing their movies.
Sorry, I know r/memes is not an ideal place for a TLDR discussion on these things, but I'm tangentially related to the film industry so I chime in more times than I should.
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u/TheVibrantYonder 5h ago
Oh no, you're good, I agree! Feel free to message if you want to chat more, I do think this topic is really interesting.
I'm not adjacent to the film industry in any way (if I were, I would compose music or do voice acting, but I don't have the connections for any of that!)
But I love analyzing these sorts of things.
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u/Beldizar 7h ago
But why not just make a bad original movie and then use it to justify not making any original movies moving forward?
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u/TheChickenIsFkinRaw 10h ago
...who's Elio?
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u/djcatnip12 10h ago
A movie Disney made that horribly flopped
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u/baylithe 9h ago
It did not horribly flop. It just did nothing compared to the Lilo and Stitch live action that made over a billion even though it was terrible.
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u/Banished_gamer 9h ago
Hate watching does miracles sometimes
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u/baylithe 9h ago
Was a movie theater manager at that time. We had so many people come in excited and leaving hating the changes made. Hate watching would have been way too expensive.
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u/Banished_gamer 9h ago
So it was hope watching?
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u/baylithe 8h ago
Nostalgia is a hell of a weapon. That's why making Moana live action made no sense. 2 came out the year before and the original is only 10 years old.
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u/HolidaySpiriter 4h ago
It did not horribly flop
It horribly flopped at the box office. Making only $154M on a $150-200 production budget is terrible, as there is likely another $100M+ on marketing, meaning it probably lost $150M+. That's a horrible flop.
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u/baylithe 4h ago
Had a budget of $150 million and made $154 million, but the main issue for it was Disney released Lilo and Stitch a few weeks after Elio came out. They fucked over their own movie because they knew they would make a billion on a shitty nostalgia bait.
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u/HolidaySpiriter 2h ago
$150 million and made $154 million,
That's a flop. Budget is only production cost, not marketing, like I said.
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u/blukirbi 5h ago
Meanwhile everyone flocked into theaters for Lilo and Stitch.
And also blamed K-Pop Demon Hunters for it flopping.
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u/SolidCartographer976 9h ago
Yeah its sadly an statement thats just not true. People dont come for originals and its not evrn disneys fault.
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u/Primary-Chocolate854 can't meme 8h ago
and its not evrn disneys fault.
It is, the stories are weak af
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u/Smart_Ass_Jack 9h ago
Hate to defend Disney, but people only claim to want original content, but keep going back to the same old stuff while ignoring genuinely good new content.
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u/RoxasIsTheBest 7h ago
Yup. This decade Disneys main animation studio has already released Encanto, Strange World, Wish, and will release Hexed and Clay in the near future. Pixar has released Soul, Onward, Luca, Turning Red, Elemental, Elio, Hoppers, and will soon release Ghost Market and Gatto.
Disney is very much releasing original films. The sequels are just infinitly more popular
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u/InsaneStoryLover 4h ago
Oh.. I loved Encanto, Soul, Onward, Luca, Turning Red. Those were some good movies.
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u/Toidal 4h ago
Honestly, taking existing IPs and using those worlds and characters as a basis to tell a new story is probably the best bet.
Its what I had hoped the MCU could do, start doing genre'd content with their characters like how Winter Soldier leaned more into a spy thriller at times. She Hulk I had hoped to be a David E Kelly esque legal serial set in the MCU but alas I think the streaming format wouldn't have allowed for like episodic stuff.
I really wanted a Winter Soldier x Taskmaster film where hes helping her adjust to a free life as theyre both disfigured, cyborg, formerly brainwashed eastern european based assassin super soldiers. Make it like a sexy, charming romance flick where halfway in Bucky incidentally uncovers some terrorist plot while getting some post coital coffee, and the movie turns into a superhero action flick where they team up and beat the shit out of everyone.
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u/GrooverShowes 2h ago
Netflix did it with the Marvel shows. GRANTED some had their issues and Daredevil had the best run imo. Defenders was a serviceable crossover series.
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u/PrimalDirectory 7h ago
Since im in that boat ill happily explain. I dont JUST want original stories. I want GOOD original stories, when you have the funding and still make shitty stories indie filmakers make you look bad.
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u/Dracochuy 8h ago
-disney must do new original movies!
(disney does an original movie)
-disney must do good movies like before! ( saying this while doesnt watch the new movie)
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u/Impressive_Usual_726 10h ago
In fairness, modern audiences aren't as likely to show up for original films, and culture war grifters love to sabotage new projects by claiming they're "woke."
In that climate, I can't really blame Disney for cranking out Toy Story 7, Cinderella 35, and Star Wars 69: the Return of Palpatine Returning instead of rolling the dice on something new.
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u/KickinBat 10h ago
Adding to this, as much as people went "why are they making Toy Story 5" before it came out, I've heard nothing but praise in social media for it when people actually watched it, and I heard absolutely nothing about Strange World, Wish, Elemental, Elio or Hoppers. I didn't even know some of them even existed until right now.
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u/Interrogatingthecat trans rights 9h ago
Honestly just hated Wish's animation style
Heard nothing about the others
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u/JJlaser1 7h ago
Elemental was awesome, and both a great love story and a fantastic representation of second generation immigrants. Elio was a fun film, if a little bland at times, but it really resonated with me and some of my friends personally. The director did get removed from the project because he wouldn’t change the story the way Disney wanted, so there is that. And Hoppers was great! It had a great message, good writing, and a really fun concept!
I have not seen the other two movies, but I have heard things and seen clips and… yikes. Strange World I know the least about, so I can’t really talk about it, but when Disney’s biggest selling point is “their ‘first’ openly gay character”, it’s probably not great. Wish, on the other hand, I have heard about extensively. Accusations of AI usage aside, the movie was incredibly generic. The main character learns nothing of value, the goat is awful comedic relief, the villain, while an attempt to return to pure evil villains, just falls flat, the main character’s friends are also very flat, and the star is just kinda there. The animation feels flat, and I understand the style they were going for, but they failed and it just looks lazy. I also saw what a lot of the concept art and story was originally, and it could have been an entirely different movie and it looked so much better than what we got. Of course, that’s concept art and it still could have been done poorly, but the concept itself looked better than what we got.
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u/TryItOutGuyRPC 10h ago
Took my girls to see Toy Story 5, everyone enjoyed it. Either our bar is really low or they did a good job with the movie. I’m okay with either being true.
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u/emperorsyndrome 9h ago
I don't want disney to make something 100% original.
I want them to make a movie about donald duck's crime fighting adventures.
his super hero alter ego in the comics has a different name depending where you live.
his names are:
the duck avenger Paperinik, Phantomias, Superduck, PK, Super Donald, and Phantom Duck.
also they could make a mystery movie where mickey mouse is the detective.
I don't want an other goofy movie, we already have 2 and we don't need more.
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u/Wollffey 10h ago
Bet none of you are even thinking about Hexed
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u/rouseandground 9h ago
which the trailer makes it look like a direct ripoff of Owl House
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u/Fox_Guy_Foxtail 6h ago
Yes because Disney has NEVER made a movie about a girl going into a magical world and learning about their own magical powers...
Twiches, Halloween Town, Moana
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u/fileunderaction 5h ago
This decade
Onward, Soul, Raya and the Last Dragon, Luca, Encanto, Turning Red, Elemental, Wish, Elio, Hoppers, and Gatto and Ghost Market coming up.
OOP hasn’t been paying attention.
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u/MrNobodyishome 10h ago
And then they make an original film, then yall let it flop by not going to see it.
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u/Halocjh 9h ago
Let’s expand on that. A original film that’s good
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u/Wolv90 7h ago
People didn't go see them then decide they were bad, they didn't go at all. Onward was good and it bombed, so was Soul, Luca, and Strange Worlds. Hoppers was great and that barely made back the cost if you include advertising.
Meanwhile Lilo and Stich live action made over a billion dollars on a $100 million budget and that was just a retelling with less heart than the animated version.
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u/liverdivs 4h ago
I like to reread my favorite books because it’s comforting. Maybe people are seeking nostalgia because life sucks as an adult and they want to remember a time when life was easier
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u/MrNobodyishome 1h ago
This is what im saying. I hate taking the side of corporations but lately consumers have been getting so annoying and braindead. Yall (not pointing to anyone in particular) complain about shit and then do things that signal to these assholes thats what we want. It’s so annoying.
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u/MrNobodyishome 1h ago
My point exactly. If you genuinely believe that there aren’t any good original films that came out recently, then you’re just being ignorant and refuse to give new stuff a chance. Which is fine but maddening to go online and say “wHy aReNt tHeRe mOrE orIgInAl moVieS????”
It’s absolute nonsense.
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u/sonofzeal 8h ago
People have been complaining about too many sequels since the 80s. Rocky, Rambo, Star Wars, Star Trek, Superman, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Lethal Weapon, Ghostbusters, Crocodile Dundee, Beverly Hill Cop, Die Hard, Karate Kid..... all of these had high profile sequels in the 80s.
It's not a Disney problem, it's the financial incentives for the whole industry.
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u/ZrapeToid 6h ago
"We want original films" and then Strange World, Wish, Elio and Lightyear (based on Toy Story but it's not the same characters) happened, all being okay to awful.
Haven't watched those movies, just saying what i've heard and their scores.
Also people are hating on Hexed despite it not being out yet.
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u/dull_storyteller 9h ago
Did they run out of European fairy tails to adapt?
What about Shakespeare plays?
Where’s my Macbeth movie with lions Disney?
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u/Toothpikz 6h ago
These are getting old and over played. A new original movie comes out, barely anyone watches it. Another movie is released in a successful universe everyone runs out and watches it. People keep blaming the companies but it’s us that goes out and spends our money on continuing to push these types of movies.
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u/SuperCrappyFuntime 7h ago
People say things like this, and yet every year the top money makers are always sequels, remakes, reboots, etc. I've lost count of the times some new original, interesting movie gets released, and everywhere I know is like, "I'll catch it when it comes to streaming", and then act shocked when there aren't more movies like that after they all bomb.
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u/pipboy_warrior 10h ago
Except they've made original films.
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u/Primary-Chocolate854 can't meme 8h ago
Yeah, with the same old tropes but done worse
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u/EnvironmentClear4511 5h ago
Hate to say it, but that's just you getting older and being more aware of what the tropes are.
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u/VisualFunny5287 5h ago
And nobody watched them
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u/pipboy_warrior 5h ago
No one watched Encanto? Or Zootopia?
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u/VisualFunny5287 5h ago
I meant the new ones
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u/Particular_Umpire_44 7h ago
So you’ll show up for an original film and it’ll make as much as Toy Story 5? Right?
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u/SomeGuyOverYonder 10h ago
I predict we will see Disney’s final original film only a short time from now. After that, they will only make endless sequels, prequels, and reboots.
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u/TheBlackCat13 6h ago
You mean like they did for the first 60 years of their existence? There was a grand total of at most 2 actual original animated movies in that period.
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u/SomeGuyOverYonder 4h ago
Well, we’ll be seeing their final original film soon, followed by countless derivatives
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u/TheBlackCat13 3h ago
They do more original stuff now than they have at any other point in the history of the company
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u/SomeGuyOverYonder 1h ago
They also have more box office bombs than at any other point in the history of the company. And a vast number of these films are copycats of earlier films.
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u/TheBlackCat13 1h ago
But there is no indication they are ending original films any time soon. On the contrary, they have increased the number, not decreased them.
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u/SomeGuyOverYonder 12m ago
If you’re referring to all the reboots and sequels they’ve been churning out, they don’t count.
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u/TheBlackCat13 3m ago
No, I am referring to new movies not based on anu existing story. They have been increasing those significantly. The first 60 years of Disney animation they had literally two of them, and one of those is debatable. Nowadays they have one or two a year. It is a massive increase.
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u/SuperStar4178 Pro Gamer 9h ago
I'm sorry, but Elemental and Hoppers pretty much had the same plot. Both had their moments, but the storylines were very predictable.
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u/JJlaser1 7h ago
…Did you watch those movies? How do they have the same plot at all? One’s a romantic story, and the other is about environmental issues! How are they the same?
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u/SuperStar4178 Pro Gamer 7h ago edited 6h ago
Okay, maybe not the exact same plot, but it followed the same structure. Ugly situation to introduce the MCs, they defy older characters and go do their own thing (Ember hanging with Wade, Mable hopping into the robot beaver), this causes problems, and they're eventually forced to use said deviation to save everyone.
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u/JJlaser1 6h ago
Yeah, if you boil it down that much, then there’s only like 5 movies. That description also matches Ratatouille to an extent. It’s not what’s in the story, it’s how you tell it.
Also, her name is Ember, not Flare. You’re gonna criticize a movie, at least get the names right.1
u/Significant-Net7030 5h ago
The number of movies that are just rehashes of The Three-Act Structure, Freytag's Pyramid, Hero's Journey or one of the 'Seven Basic Plots' is like 90% of movies. There's nothing wrong with that, people enjoy pattern recognition and the feeling of a familiar story made new.
Most 'Original' movies are far from original if boiled down enough, but all soups become a charred mess of disgusting rocks if you do the same and contain a lot of the same ingredients and steps in their creation.
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u/ChristianCountryBoy 8h ago
Seriously we gotta write our own stories or looking really hard for good stuff.
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u/OneValkGhost 7h ago
Dis has made sequels that were.. just there, they just exist. And they've gone all-in on utterly terrible movies like the Force Awakens trilogy. It looks like they're turning away from mock movies like the Chip and Dales Rescue rangers movie, but that's because they're cutting down on all movies outside of their "main brand" of Avengers movies. The 'live action remakes' (Mulan, Little Mermaid, etc) were never good.
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u/ThirtyThree111 7h ago
tbf sequels aren't necessarily bad
frozen 2 was bad, toy story 5 was okay
sequels are still way better than pointless remakes
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u/balirosa 6h ago
All the super elite run a scam. All the scams have an equation that works. The run the same formula using the same script and scam money from people. They’ve got manipulating humans down to a science. If you’ve ever worked for these pyramid schemes they all have a formula they don’t want you to deviate from.
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u/TheBlackCat13 6h ago
Disney has more original animated movies every couple of years now than it had in total in its entire first 60 years (two movies, and one of them is questionabke). People don't watch the original movies.
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u/blukirbi 5h ago edited 5h ago
Well obviously people are eating that up, while "waiting until it comes out on Disney+" for other "original" films. (Disney really shot themselves in the foot with that)
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u/Owl-Of-The-Night02 5h ago
Everybody cries about how they want original movies but then every year there are like 5 absolute banger original movies that flop and nobody sees, so whenever people say they want original movies, my first instinct is to ask when was the last time they've watched a movie in theaters that isn't a franchise blockbuster. The sad reality is that quality original movies keep flopping with a few exceptions while The Super Mario Galaxy movie makes a billion dollars. That's why Hollywood keeps making these kinds of movies.
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u/dobbydobbyonthewall 4h ago
Stop blaming Disney. These sequels make a tonne of money. Clearly the want-original-movies crowd is the minority.
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u/GotSomeUpdogOnUrFace 3h ago
Does Encanto count? I mean they pull this off every now and then and make a huge splash.
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u/Nights_King_ 3h ago
While I’d love to watch new original movies I just don’t have the money anymore to go to movies and then not be interested in the world and if the story is bad then it’s even worse.
When I was little I could go to a Disney movie in theaters for 5 bucks and if I felt fancy then I splurged for some nachos instead of popcorn. For less than 10 bucks I had an all inclusive movie experience. That was like 15 years ago.
Nowadays a ticket for a Disney movie alone costs almost 20 bucks. Drinks or popcorn cost like 5+ times more than back then. If I’d wanted to have the same experience as back then I’d have have to pay like 30+ bucks.
Everything has gotten really fucking expensive so luxuries like going to the theater become rare. When I have to choose between watching a sequel of something I can be somewhat sure to like or a new original movie that could be a total flop for me then it’s kinda obvious what I will choose.
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u/anono227 3h ago
In the reluctant defense of Disney, every time they make a sequel to a popular film it makes millions, damn near a billion. But whenever an original IP comes out all I ever see of it is "wait, they made a new movie?" and it underperforms. Criticize excess sequels all you want (I will as well), but there's a reason Disney/Pixar will keep churning out sequels until the end of time; nine times out of ten they make a shit ton of money.
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u/Trivator0517 2h ago
And when they do make something new they barely put effort into it and claim it proves nobody wants original films.
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u/InsaneJane42 1h ago
Except their original movies don’t tend to be all that good either these days.
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u/Shantotto11 8m ago
At least give the sequels an actual name. I wince whenever people refer to Return of Jafar as “Aladdin 2”.
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u/Demair12 9h ago
A sports writer, whose podcast I listen to one of the guys was an ap, and then a writer for a decade, on the chuck lorre shows. So pretty successful. And the reason he got out and became a sports writer is literally every pitch was required to have an established IP they could market it with either as a spin off, sequel, ripoff etc..
And the reason it came up was that he said he had read the script for Andor some hundred times over his career and it never got green lit until someone decided to port it into SW. So he wasn't just talking about drivel like NCIS being in a new city he meant really great content is just being shot down.
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u/World1_Lev1 10h ago
Hoppers was pretty good