Walt Disney Company Q3 Earnings Report

[Mit88]

I'm honestly shocked that people expected Mulan to do so well! I dont know anyone in my real life who even liked the cartoon version!

Aladdin looked like dog crap and it was in the top 10 at the box office for 2 months. Disney has the
recent track record of reaching the billion dollar mark, whether or not people want these remakes.

This also has more of an action/adventure vibe unlike a movie like Dumbo that took a sad movie and upped the level to 1000

 

[CastAStone]

Read the chart bottom to top. The point of the chart is to reconcile the number they reported as net income to Wall Street, which is the number at the top, with the actual net income from each business yet, which is at the bottom.

 

[CastAStone]

What! I love Mulan. I'll Make a Man out of You was the jam. But it came out when I was in high school and it was just a fun movie and I have fun memories associated with it. I honestly however have zero interest in this new version.

It seems like a weird movie to do this with. Like, I would probably have seen it, but I have absolutely no urgency to see it, I already know how it ends!

i’ll just wait till I can get it for free somewhere.

 

[New Mouse]

I love people trying to justify Disney already putting a premium paywall within their premium pay streaming service. Whats to say they wouldnt do that for Mandalorian season 2? Early access $30. AMC already does it for their streaming sight. I would not support this even if I wanted to see the movie.

 

[JacknSally]

I'm honestly shocked that people expected Mulan to do so well! I dont know anyone in my real life who even liked the cartoon version!

Obviously I can’t speak for anyone else, but I love the animated Mulan! This was the first live-action remake I had any real interest in seeing.

I have mixed feelings about the VOD release - honestly mainly because of the price point, I think. $20 would’ve been more palatable for us than $30, but I absolutely get why it’s being priced at $30.

It’s just the two of us, and movie tickets here are around $11-$12 per adult for non-IMAX evening shows, which we think is expensive, but I know that’s cheap compared to other places. We don’t really enjoy seeing movies in theatres anymore (among other reasons, we have bad luck with audiences, and other people talking during the movie or phones lighting up all over the place always happens to us and kind of ruins the experience) so we don’t really see anything in theatres unless it’s a big movie we’re dying to see, like Star Wars, or we’re seeing something that’s been out for a while and is now showing at the discount theatre in town. I think we average 1-3 movies in a theatre each year. Some sort of VOD set-up for new releases is definitely an attractive option to us.

I don’t know if in the normal timeline we would’ve seen Mulan in theatres, but we were wanting to see it. With this being an early-access buy, I don’t know that we’ll spend $30 on something we could wait a couple of months to see for free - especially not knowing if we’ll want to rewatch it at any point. Though, if it were going to be a year before it hit Disney+ for free, that might push us to do the $30 early access.

 

[Mit88]

It seems like a weird movie to do this with. Like, I would probably have seen it, but I have absolutely no urgency to see it, I already know how it ends!

i’ll just wait till I can get it for free somewhere.

I don’t believe it’s a remake in the way where it’s going to be “if you say the animated version, you basically know what happens”. They already signed on for a sequel. I think they’re trying to turn this into a Pirates of the Caribbean type franchise from the look of the trailers

 

[MouseEarsMom33]

Its not even necessarily about just Mulan. If this becomes a trend, you’re looking at 100’s if not 1000s of dollars to see movies.

Bill and Ted. Want to see it without getting the movie spoiled? $20
WW84. Want to see it without getting the movie spoiled? $30
Mulan. Want to see it without getting the movie spoiled? $30
Black Widow. $30
Soul. $30
Dune. $30
Bond. $30

$200 right there when it would cost you ~$70 with AMC or Regal movie passes.

I dont care what kind of home theater system you have, you’ll never replicate the theater experience. And thats what you’re paying for. The reaction’s from Endgame and the moment with mjoilnir went viral even this spring because of what that moment was like BECAUSE of the theater experience. Watching that scene at home for the first time would pale in comparison.

I think the on demand option popularity will vary by family size. For one person or a couple, the 30 dollars may be a lot. For a family, that's a steal unless you go on bargain days. It's cheaper than one meal out. Its also an activity to keep the family busy during COVID.

My family may actually watch more new movies this way than go to the theatre. Before COVID-19, we really had to think of we wanted to splurge on a movie plus the snacks the kids would want to get. Now that it's an easy impulse buy, that may change our spending habits.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I love people trying to justify Disney already putting a premium paywall within their premium pay streaming service. Whats to say they wouldnt do that for Mandalorian season 2? Early access $30. AMC already does it for their streaming sight. I would not support this even if I wanted to see the movie.

Amazon Prime does this, at least in Canada. It’s annoying.

Its funny, I have no problem dropping money to see a movie in theatres with the family, overpriced snacks and all, but I can’t bring myself to pay to stream a movie at home. I’ll find something else or wait.

 

[rteetz]

I love people trying to justify Disney already putting a premium paywall within their premium pay streaming service. Whats to say they wouldnt do that for Mandalorian season 2? Early access $30. AMC already does it for their streaming sight. I would not support this even if I wanted to see the movie.

If Disney did that with Mandalorian they would make a lot of people angry. Disney+ and DTC is holding this company together right now.

 

[TwoMisfits]

If Disney did that with Mandalorian they would make a lot of people angry. Disney+ and DTC is holding this company together right now.

No, they'll do it with the Marvel shows that they've already pushed back...

Again, this experiment needs to be ended or Disney + just becomes a "fee for access" and then you pay for everything else...

 

[CastAStone]

I had missed this earlier. Disney granting rent waivers to their tenants.

 

[Eric Smith]

It feels wrong to root for loss of jobs.

I hate to break it to you, but there are going to be a lot of losses of current jobs due to the seismic shift in our economy due to the pandemic. Movie theaters could just be one of the sectors of the economy which die out and get replaced by something better.

 

[Eric Smith]

I'm honestly shocked that people expected Mulan to do so well! I dont know anyone in my real life who even liked the cartoon version!

My wife loves it. More importantly, it was made to do incredibly well in China.

 

[Krandor]

Then those of you who like to go to movies can do that and the rest of us can rent at home!

That would kill the theaters. Would not be enough traffic for them to stay open. Best you will see like now is something like the universal deal where theaters get exclusive rights for 3 weekends then it moves to streaming... and that might not even be good enough.

Theaters were not in a great position to start with and COVID has made it worse. There is a reason AMC and Regal were offering "unlimited" passes to get more people to come.

 

[Eric Smith]

That would kill the theaters. Would not be enough traffic for them to stay open. Best you will see like now is something like the universal deal where theaters get exclusive rights for 3 weekends then it moves to streaming... and that might not even be good enough.

Theaters were not in a great position to start with and COVID has made it worse. There is a reason AMC and Regal were offering "unlimited" passes to get more people to come.

It will kill the low end theaters that haven’t upgraded in the past 20 years. This would likely thin the herd to only theaters which can provide a better experience (i.e. Alamo Drafthouse). With the consolidation of theater chains in the US, there hasn’t been much incentive for theaters to improve their product.

 

[Mit88]

I think the on demand option popularity will vary by family size. For one person or a couple, the 30 dollars may be a lot. For a family, that's a steal unless you go on bargain days. It's cheaper than one meal out. Its also an activity to keep the family busy during COVID.

My family may actually watch more new movies this way than go to the theatre. Before COVID-19, we really had to think of we wanted to splurge on a movie plus the snacks the kids would want to get. Now that it's an easy impulse buy, that may change our spending habits.

It’s great for the consumer with 3+ family members or friends (I see a lot of non-social distant watch party’s if this is the route we see movies go the remainder of the year), but bad for the company. And bad for the company might mean more things taken away, downsized, cancelled that negatively affects the consumer in the future.

More movies like Artemis Fowl, Call of the Wild, less big budget films.

They’re taking a big loss with Mulan unless some miracle happens where 40,000,000 Disney+ subscribers get auto-charged for the movie and dont notice it on their bill.

 

[afan]

If Disney did that with Mandalorian they would make a lot of people angry. Disney+ and DTC is holding this company together right now.

I've tried to figure it out and google wasn't any help. What is DTC?

 

[Mit88]

I've tried to figure it out and google wasn't any help. What is DTC?

Direct to Consumer

 

[firefly_ris]

It will kill the low end theaters that haven’t upgraded in the past 20 years. This would likely thin the herd to only theaters which can provide a better experience (i.e. Alamo Drafthouse). With the consolidation of theater chains in the US, there hasn’t been much incentive for theaters to improve their product.

We don't go to the movies much but I always picked our small local place called Flix. They got stadium seating 5 or 6 years ago. They were a lot more reasonably priced and way way less crowded than the big theater chains and locally owned. They hung on even as AMC and Regal moved in to devour a lot of other places over the years. Unfortunately I doubt they will survive this. A real shame.

 

[skeeter31]

It’s great for the consumer with 3+ family members or friends (I see a lot of non-social distant watch party’s if this is the route we see movies go the remainder of the year), but bad for the company. And bad for the company might mean more things taken away, downsized, cancelled that negatively affects the consumer in the future.

More movies like Artemis Fowl, Call of the Wild, less big budget films.

They’re taking a big loss with Mulan unless some miracle happens where 40,000,000 Disney+ subscribers get auto-charged for the movie and dont notice it on their bill.

It’s 1 movie (so far). It’s not the downfall of all that is Disney. It’ll still release in theaters where it can. People will buy it on Disney+. They’ll make more money than they will by continuing to push back the release. What if theaters aren’t ready to open and be completely filled by people until late 2021 or 2022? Should Disney continue to hold back Mulan (and all the other releases they have between now and then) and create a backlog that they can’t get out of? This will get them some revenue now, even if they have to take a loss on this specific film, it’s better overall for the company.