Why has a year that should have been Disney’s crowning glory—a genuine achievement—been one of their hardest yet?

Many experts and analysts have analyzed the Walt Disney Company’s difficulties over the last year to no end. On one hand, Disney was going through a massive reorganization and restructure with 4000-person layoffs, and 3000 jobs canceled. On the other, they’ve had a difficult year at the box office as well.

So, what’s going on?

“Creative Inertia” Behind Disney’s Issues

Recently, the BBC shared a report that explored why Disney might be facing the issues it has been. 2023 has particularly stood out as a tough year for Disney at the box office, considering its success in 2019 in all its businesses. Back then, Disney was at its peak and many truly believed it would never come down.

Then Disney CEO Bob Iger left, former Disney CEO Bob Chapek took over the helm and things changed.

But from political battles with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to lawsuits that detract from their issue at hand (convincing stakeholders the company is doing okay), other products have taken a hit.

In particular, when it comes to movies, it’s the lack of films that are lacking the standard Disney quality that the news outlet called out.

Quoting Charles Gant, Screen International’s box office editor, BBC explained, “In 2019, Disney looked unstoppable.” However, 2023 was “a flat-out calamity, and a reminder to studio heads that just because a film grosses more than $1bn worldwide (as Captain Marvel did in 2019), that does not mean audiences are eager for a sequel.”

In fact, on the subject of Elemental, Pixar’s president, Jim Morris, told Variety’s Rebecca Rubin in August: “At the box office we’re looking at now, it should do better than break even theatrically… This will certainly be a profitable film for the Disney Company.”

This is a company that once broke billions for individual films and this year has released one disappointing film after the other—be that the new Indiana Jones, Haunted Mansion, or the Marvel Cinematic Universe films.

Here’s hoping that Disney’s break from producing high quantities of films and focusing more on quality means that the company will soon recover, and enjoy a second heyday.