Great moments in corporate synergy: Disney released their Super Bowl ad imagining what the world would be like without Iconic Disney Moments and it included a single Disney animated film. Frozen obviously. Otherwise it’s entirely films made by companies they bought and one live action remake. “Remember when Disney brought you Star Wars” and it’s the original and no. Bc they very much did not bring us that one
There’s two things here. For one it’s weird how Hollywood’s baffling distaste for animation has spread to Disney now. But also the way they retroactively claim things they bought were not just made by them, but are core aspects of their identity.
Without Disney, would Star Wars exist? And like. Yes. There are three trilogies of films and the two best-liked were not made by Disney. But now “Disney Took You to a Galaxy Far, Far Away” is A Thing. We all remember that right. We all remember when Disney gave us Star Wars (the 1977 one and not Rise of Skywalker & the Star Wars Hotel)
Marvel was bought by Disney earlier but: the first phase of the MCU, so everything up to The Avengers, wasn’t made by Disney. It was made by Marvel themselves, and then they entered into distribution deals with various studios (mainly Paramount, one by Universal). Anyway now Disney brought you Marvel. It’s one of the main things they brought you, remember? Look at this clip from The Avengers (a film already in production that Disney bought out the distribution rights for when they bought Marvel). That’s what people think of when they think of Disney: Star Wars, Marvel, Pixar, Hulu, and live action remakes
Tbh the actual worst moment of “Disney has always been responsible for the exciting IP ‘war with Eastasia’” synergy was when Disney bought Fox and they started retroactively calling Anastasia a Disney movie
You know that movie everyone in 1997 & for decades afterward had to keep explaining wasn’t a Disney movie? There’s now official Disney anniversary merch of it
Lilo & Stitch is now also about boasting about companies Disney owns. Stitch is posing near Logos and Brand Signifiers and the lamp from Aladdin…’s live action remake (they did character posters, but live action remakes only)
The original was #synergy too, but as a joke, “all the Disney characters are scared bc Disney now has a Nasty Alien Boy” works a lot better than uh, Stitch destroying a 20th Century Fox logo. It was fun because the ads for it were little skits where he interacted with other characters, and the new one is uh. Him posing besides props and logos
Also the original Lilo & Stitch promos strongly implied that if Jasmine from Aladdin ever met Stitch, she would feel uncontrollable lust and have no choice but to drop that nerd and run away with the little blue fuck machine
if Jasmine from Aladdin ever met Stitch, she would feel uncontrollable lust and have no choice but to drop that nerd and run away with the little blue fuck machine
When you’re right, you’re right.
But also you’re right about that other stuff. Lilo & Stitch (2002) was an amazing and unique film, with an equally amazing promotional campaign. I remember seeing those animated ads in the theater and being blown away.
Lilo & Stitch (2025) is a shameless and mean-spirited cash grab. Its ad campaign is just as mean. Disney Corporate seems to have lost touch with what its customers want across the board, from theme parks to films.
What I dislike most about the marketing for this is that the original marketing was so delightfully bizarre and unexpected. Disney fans had never seen anything like it from the company, and it was bold and effective as a result.
This new marketing is completely the opposite of that. They could have tried a new tack, but no. This is the Stitch brand now, and what was once subversive is now expected. There’s nothing new or exciting about it. It’s just boring and corporate.
And if even the marketing can’t do anything fresh, I don’t have much hope for this movie. I fully expect it to be nothing more than a pale imitation of the original, like nearly all of the other remakes.
The “Disney retroactively assimilating the histories of whatever it buys” just reminds me of how much of a farce the Disney Legends Awards have become. Like Disney Legends was created as a lifetime achievement award to honor people that had contributed to Disney’s legacy great and small but now there’s just a “Thank you for selling us your legacy” stink radiating over the whole thing with how much Marvel and Star Wars people have become a focus.
