Disney Desperately Needs ‘Wish’ to Be Successful

The Walt Disney Company is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary — Disney100. Over the last century, Disney has become known for creating some of the most memorable movies of all time. Between Disney, Marvel, 20th Century Fox, and Lucasfilm, The Walt Disney Company has 6 of the 10 highest-grossing films of all time. This includes The Lion King (1994), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).

While Disney makes almost any kind of movie there is, the studio shot to superstardom because of its incredible animated films. In fact, Walt Disney changed the film industry when he released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. It was the first feature-length film that was completely animated. Walt even won an Oscar that was paired with seven smaller ones.

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Now, as we celebrate Disney100, Walt Disney Animation Studios is going back to its roots with its newest film, Wish. While Wish is not animated in the traditional 2D style, it does pay homage to the dozens of Disney animated films that came before it. And as audiences head to the theaters over the Thanksgiving weekend, Disney will be desperate for Wish to perform well.

For quite some time, Disney has been struggling when it comes to the box office. Last year, Disney released the animated film Strange World, also over Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately, Strange World absolutely bombed and ended up being, not only Disney’s biggest flop, but the biggest theatrical flop of the year. Disney ended up losing just under $200 million on the movie.

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Strange World has not been Disney’s only recent flop. Lightyear (2022) also tanked and lost just over $100 million. Then, there was Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). Disney’s most recent superhero movie, The Marvels, is underperforming and is not expected to recoup the amount of money Disney spent to make it.

Disney has marketed Wish as a return to the classic Disney animated films that fans love. The film has a young, female protagonist — Asha — who is fighting the evil King Magnifico, making her quite the underdog. Disney has also filled the movie with songs — like “This Wish” — they hope will remind fans of classic songs from previous animated movies.

Wish director Chris Buck has also said that the Disney film will be filled with “legacy nods”, such as a bright red apple like the one the Evil Queen used to poison Snow White.

Historically, Thanksgiving weekend has been a huge weekend for studios to kick off their holiday season. A strong opening weekend for Disney’s Wish could indicate a strong season for films in general. Nearly all studios are hoping for a strong holiday season because of the WGA and SAG strikes that put everything on pause for months.

So far, Wish is experiencing mixed reviews. Critics are being particularly harsh on Disney’s newest film, while audiences seem to be enjoying it. On the ratings site Rotten Tomatoes, Wish is sitting at a 55% critics score, but an 80% audience score.

It is probably safe to say that Disney is hoping Wish does not pull an Elemental when it comes to box office performance. Elemental underperformed at the domestic box office, but has seen huge success on Disney+. It also saw a lot of success with the foreign box office and is, in fact, the most successful Pixar film ever in South Korea.

Wish stars Ariana DeBose as Asha, Chris Pine as King Magnifico, Alan Tudyk as Valentino, Victor Garber as Sabino, Angelique Cabral as Queen Amaya, and Jennifer Kumiyama as Dahlia. The movie was written by Jennifer Lee (Frozen), Chris Buck (Frozen), and Allison Moore. Chris Buck also serves as director, alongside Fawn Veerasunthorn.

Will you be heading to the theater to see Wish? Let us know in the comments!