Not sure if anybody noticed, but Winnie the Pooh came out in theaters. It was the first major Pooh film coming from the head Disney animation studio since 1977, when The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh hit theaters and was quickly overshadowed by the other Disney animated film The Rescuers, and of course Star Wars. Not sure if anyone noticed, but this is Disney’s 51st animated film in the official canon. Not sure if you noticed, but it has opened to very positive reviews. Not sure if you noticed, but Disney is pushing this film quickly out of the way for unknown reasons…despite being the second most popular Disney character (after Mickey Mouse of course).
The conspiracy theorist in me is beginning to ponder: is John Lasseter, lead of Disney animation nowadays, purposely sabotaging the movie? Is he setting up the movie to fail because it’s not Pixar? Is he not putting forth any sort of effort because of its lack of computer animation or lack of technological advancements? Is he trying to make this film flop for a secret, hidden reason? On paper, this sounds preposterous, but let us analyze the facts:
Winnie the Pooh had a release date of July 17th, which the entire planet knew was the release date of Harry Potter. Why on earth did you release this on the same day as the final Harry Potter movie? Any marketing major would have told you that it was box office suicide. Usually on major-major blockbusters the other studios tend to back away from the release date, or release it sooner, or throw a grade-B counter-marketing flick. None of this happened to Winnie the Pooh, as Harry Potter’s fanbase is of all ages and Winnie’s release date was never fixed to avoid the assault.
Why didn’t they release it just a week before? They would have had to take on….The Zookeeper. Much easier competition. They could have been the counter-measure to Horrible Bosses and really could have racked up some more millions before Harry Potter conquers the planet. And then the total lack of hype for this movie remains a baffling mystery. ABC Family, a Disney-owned network, was constantly airing marathons of the Harry Potter movies in anticipation for the next chapter. But it’s not Disney, why aren’t we airing previous Winnie the Pooh films instead? Why is Disney Channel not mentioning a single blurb about Winnie the Pooh when they went apeshift over Cars 2 for months?
Now, one of two things is happening: Disney’s marketing continues to fail miserably (if the film is not blockbuster-potential, expect the Disney movie to struggle making money nowadays) or since it’s not Pixar, Lasseter is letting the movie die out in the box office without a complaint. This is the same studio that complained about the lack of marketing towards Ratatouille and Wall-E several years ago. And yet a movie based off a character that has earned the company billions upon billions of dollars over the years is making barely past $15 million as of right now...and nothing is being said. By the end of the run it will be lucky if it can cross $40. Now I know this new Winnie the Pooh wasn't going to break records, but its the lack of effort that's bothering me more than the lack of success. Cars 2 on the other hand thanks to its marketing-blitz campaign made over $40 mill in three days…and that’s with its dismal reviews. Want more proof that they might be setting up this movie for fail? Check out the poster: it says Spring. So why move it from spring to fight Harry Potter? Hmmm..
Bottom Line: Disney is being ridiculous by not advertising this movie and Pixar and pals are being more ridiculous by not ruffling any feathers over the whole ordeal. Before, I used to say that Pixar was as close to Walt Disney’s old-school films as we will ever get. But with the extremely disappointing Cars 2, which went against everything Disney animation usually stands for, and with Winnie the Pooh being brushed off as a C-List animated movie despite being part of the main canon and being a sequel to one of Walt Disney’s final works of art is making me reconsider a little. Where is the love for Pooh, the one character that best represents the innocence, charm, and quality of old-school Disney? Look at all the positive reviews, we have a potentially beautiful film here that’s a total contrast from the 3-D, loud, computer-crazy, and sometimes obnoxious animated works of nowadays. Where is the love?
Shame on you Pixar.
Shame on you Disney.
You are backing away from a link to the past, a past that if it had not existed, you would not be the success story that you are today.
Shame.
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