Netflix and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-the-magic-is-leaving-the-kingdom-at-disney" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Disney</a> are responsible for pushing the gay agenda and creating the most LGBTQ content in Hollywood for movies in 2022, with an overall 8% increase over the prior year.
<a href="https://assets.glaad.org/m/3235608fa1547fcf/original/GLAAD-2023-Studio-Responsibility-Index.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GLAAD&#8217;s Annual Studio Responsibility Index</a> was released on Monday and showed that of the top 10 major motion picture studios that were analyzed, Disney and Netflix far exceeded the rest with more &#8220;LGBTQ-inclusive&#8221; content and woke films released between January 1 and December 31, 2022, than all the rest.
The top 10 studios the group looked at were A24, Amazon Studios, Apple TV+, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Discovery, and their subsidiaries.
In order for GLAAD to determine how much inclusivity a film had, the activist group used the &#8220;The Vito Russo Test,&#8221; which rates a film on the following criteria:
<ol>
<li> The film contains a character that is identifiably lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer.</li>
<li> That character must not be solely or predominantly defined by their sexual orientation or gender identity (i.e. they are comprised of the same sort of unique character traits commonly used to differentiate straight/cisgender characters from one another).</li>
<li> The LGBTQ character must be tied to the plot in such a way that the character&#8217;s removal would have a significant effect, meaning the character is not there to simply provide colorful commentary, paint urban authenticity, or set up a punchline. The character must matter.</li>
<li> The LGBTQ character&#8217;s story must not be outwardly offensive (avoids defaulting to well-known tropes or stereotypes with no further development). In films with multiple LGBTQ characters, at least one character must pass this point for the film to pass the test.</li>
</ol>
And according to the GLAAD study, it&#8217;s Walt Disney Studios and Netflix who <a href="https://boundingintocomics.com/2023/10/02/glaads-studio-responsibility-index-report-reveals-netflix-and-disney-produced-the-most-films-with-lgbtq-content-in-2022/#:~:text=The%20Walt%20Disney%20Company%20scored" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pushed more LGBTQ content</a> on their viewers than the rest.
Disney produced 24 movies out of 59 with LGBTQ content, meaning 41% of its movies were &#8220;inclusive.&#8221; Diving inside the Disney numbers, seven of the movies came from Walt Disney Studios, five were from Disney+, and 12 were from Hulu. In its summary, GLAAD found that &#8220;Walt Disney Studios included LGBTQ characters in all five of its Disney theatrical releases last year.
Films that passed their test included movies such as &#8220;Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,&#8221; &#8220;Thor: Love and Thunder,&#8221; &#8220;Better Nate Than Ever,&#8221; &#8220;Turning Red,&#8221; and more.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/animated-gay-teen-romance-film-is-woke-disneys-latest-box-office-bomb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Disney</a> was also specifically singled out in the report for such films as &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disneys-strange-world-on-track-to-lose-100-million" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Strange World</a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gay-kiss-included-woke-toy-story-spinoff-lightyear-struggles-at-box-office" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lightyear</a>,&#8221; both which bombed at the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-asked-too-much-of-the-audience-disney-exec-offers-excuse-for-lightyear-flop-makes-no-mention-of-same-sex-kiss" target="_blank" rel="noopener">box office</a>, as well as Disney+&#8217;s &#8220;Zombies 3,&#8221; for its LGBTQ stories directed right at children.
Netflix&#8217;s contribution to the woke agenda, was responsible for also producing 24 &#8220;LGBTQ-inclusive films&#8221; out of its 107, which meant 22% of its total releases met the LGBTQ criteria, the report found.
Films that passed their test included movies like &#8220;Falling For Christmas,&#8221; &#8220;Do Revenge,&#8221; &#8220;Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,&#8221; &#8220;The Royal Treatment,&#8221; &#8220;Senior Year,&#8221; and more.
The streaming site was also recognized for its transgender hero boy film &#8220;Wendell &amp; Wild,&#8221; with an LGBTQ character story directed at kids.
The report noted that over the last decade LGBTQ films have increased from Hollywood studios by 50%, something the group celebrated.
&#8220;Of the 350 films released theatrically and on tracked streaming services by the ten distributors counted in 2022, 100 (28.5 percent) were LGBTQ-inclusive,&#8221; GLAAD said in the report, calling it the &#8220;the highest percentage and number recorded in this report.&#8221;
&#8220;Of the 100 LGBTQ-inclusive films released in 2022, 55 (55 percent) included gay men, 45 (45 percent) included lesbians, 21 (21 percent) included bisexual+ characters, 12 (12 percent) included transgender characters, and 17 (17 percent) included queer characters that don&#8217;t fall specifically into those other labels,&#8221; the report added.
GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said this year&#8217;s results shows that &#8220;the stories told in those films have been an inextricable part of a culture-shift seen and experienced by the LGBTQ community with support for LGBTQ people and acceptance at an all-time high.&#8221;
&#8220;Hollywood has accelerated acceptance for LGBTQ people worldwide with stories including &#8216;Blockers,&#8217; &#8216;Love,&#8217; &#8216;Simon,&#8217; &#8216;Booksmart&#8217;, &#8216;Strange World&#8217;, &#8216;Bros&#8217;, &#8216;Fire Island&#8217;, &#8216;Anything&#8217;s Possible&#8217;, and many more,&#8221; she added.
(Disclosure: The Daily Wire has announced plans for kids’ entertainment content.)
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-pixar-reinstates-same-sex-kiss-in-lightyear-film-over-so-called-dont-say-gay-bill-source-shares" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Report: Pixar Reinstates Same-Sex Kiss In &#8216;Lightyear&#8217; Film Over So-Called &#8216;Don’t Say Gay Bill&#8217;</a>

Disney

Full Woke: Disney And Netflix Created The Most ‘LGBTQ-Inclusive’ Content In 2022

Full Woke: Disney And Netflix Created The Most 'LGBTQ-Inclusive' Content In 2022

Celebrities

Entertainment

kids

LGBTQ

Netflix

Pixar

Readers Pass

Disney CEO <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disney-ceo-bob-iger-defends-marvel-says-cooglers-work-on-black-panther-not-less-than-what-scorsese-or-coppola-have-done" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bob Iger</a> addressed the recent flops at the box office for Marvel movies like &#8220;Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and animated Pixar films such as &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-asked-too-much-of-the-audience-disney-exec-offers-excuse-for-lightyear-flop-makes-no-mention-of-same-sex-kiss" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lightyear</a>&#8221; and &#8220;Elemental.&#8221;
During Iger&#8217;s appearance at the Sun Valley Conference, he called the Disney film&#8217;s performance &#8220;disappointing,&#8221; adding that most of the problem was the decision to offer too much content on the Disney+ streaming service, <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/marvel-flops-too-many-disney-tv-shows-bob-iger-1235669262/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Variety</a> reported.
&#8220;There have been some disappointments,&#8221; Iger admitted. &#8220;We would have liked some of our more recent releases to perform better. It&#8217;s reflective not as a problem from a personnel perspective, but I think in our zeal to basically grow our content significantly to serve mostly our streaming offerings, we ended up taxing our people way beyond — in terms of their time and their focus — way beyond where they had been.&#8221;
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Bob Iger has acknowledged that Pixar movies going straight to Disney+ has caused an impact in the demand for seeing new Pixar movies in theaters.
However, he also adds that the studio has had some “creative misses.”
(Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/CNBC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CNBC</a>) <a href="https://t.co/CWZKoxbiKV">pic.twitter.com/CWZKoxbiKV</a>
&mdash; DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) <a href="https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1679516690600665089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Marvel&#8217;s a great example of that,&#8221; he added. &#8220;They had not been in the TV business at any significant level. Not only did they increase their movie output, but they ended up making a number of television series, and frankly, it diluted focus and attention. That is, I think, more of the cause than anything.&#8221;
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And when it comes to such Pixar flops as &#8220;Elemental,&#8221; Iger said the COVID-influenced decision to skip theaters and go straight to streaming, which was also the strategy for movies like &#8220;Luca&#8221; and &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/my-panda-my-choice-mom-disney-and-pixars-turning-red-has-some-parents-outraged-over-themes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Turning Red,</a>&#8221; was a mistake.
&#8220;That may have created an expectation in the audience that they&#8217;re going to eventually be on streaming and probably quickly, and there wasn’t an urgency,&#8221; said Iger.
&#8220;And then I think there was some, I think you&#8217;d have to agree that there were some creative misses, as well,&#8221; he added, without specifying further.
The &#8220;Ant-Man and the Wasp&#8221; sequel was released in February and, to date, has failed to earn $500 million worldwide.
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/woke-disney-lost-almost-900-million-on-last-8-films-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Woke Disney Lost Almost $900 Million On Last 8 Films: Report</a>

Bob Iger

Disney CEO Bob Iger Addresses Recent Marvel And Pixar Flops

Bob Iger Addresses Recent Marvel And Pixar Flops

Business

Elemental

Marvel

Movies

Disney has cast a transgender actor, a biological male who identifies as a woman, for the role of Ensign Eurus in the new &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; series on the Disney+ streaming site due out next year.
The 30-year-old British actor is part of the Lucasfilm franchise after being chosen for &#8220;The Acolyte.&#8221; The series is set to take place near the end of the High Republic Era and sets the stage for the collapse of the Jedi, according to <a href="https://screenrant.com/star-wars-the-acolyte-ensign-eurus-abigail-thorn/?taid=649376727bd79800015f9eaa&amp;utm_campaign=TrueAnthem-SR&amp;utm_medium=Social-Distribution&amp;utm_source=Twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Screenrant</a>.
<a href="https://www.unitedagents.co.uk/abigail-thorn#books">United Agents</a>, a literary and talent agency, described Abigail Thorn as a British YouTuber and playwright who is best known for producing the Philosophy Tube channel on YouTube. Thorn will be joined on the project by non-binary actor Amanda Steinberg, <a href="https://thedirect.com/article/star-wars-cast-transgender-actor">The Direct</a> noted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
British actress Abigail Thorn has joined Star Wars, and her character&#39;s name &#8211; Ensign Eurus &#8211; may hint at the plot of a 2024 Star Wars Disney+ TV show <a href="https://t.co/nFrftgeHbw">https://t.co/nFrftgeHbw</a>
&mdash; Screen Rant (@screenrant) <a href="https://twitter.com/screenrant/status/1671643013473345536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Lucasfilm teased the series at the 2023 Star Wars Celebration, however it is unclear how big of a role Thorn&#8217;s character will play, the outlet noted.
The move to hire a transgender star comes after the casting of transgender and non-binary actor Zoe Terakes for &#8220;Ironheart,&#8221; the next series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is expected to release sometime in the fall on the streaming site.
In 2021, the &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; franchise introduced and celebrated two &#8220;trans non-binary&#8221; characters by the names Terec and Ceret in its Marvel and Star Wars comic book &#8220;The High Republic.&#8221;
At the time, the &#8220;Star Wars&#8221; <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CNFwI8oFhR-/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a> captioned its post, &#8220;In honor of #TransDayOfVisibility we&#8217;re proud to unveil an exclusive cover highlighting Terec and Ceret, trans non-binary Jedi, currently featured in Marvel&#8217;s &#8216;The High Republic comic.'&#8221;
&#8220;We support trans lives and we are passionate and committed to broadening our representation in a galaxy far far way,&#8221; it added.
Disney has faced a backlash at the box office following its push of LGBTQ representation. The latest movie to come out of the Disney Pixar studio, &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pixars-elemental-with-non-binary-character-flops-at-box-office-with-2nd-worst-opening-in-studio-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elemental,</a>&#8221; includes a &#8220;non-binary&#8221; character and the movie had one of the worst openings in the studio&#8217;s history, earning $29.5 million at the domestic box office.
&#8220;Strange World&#8221; involved a same-sex teen romance and was a box office flop for the company. It was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disneys-strange-world-on-track-to-lose-100-million" target="_blank" rel="noopener">projected</a> to make $30 to $40 million over the long weekend. However, its five-day opening ended with only $18.6 million, the <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/black-panther-wakanda-forever-box-office-strange-world-1235270031/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hollywood Reporter</a> noted.
(Disclosure: The Daily Wire has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/introducing-dw-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced plans</a> for kids&#8217; entertainment content.)
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pixars-elemental-with-non-binary-character-flops-at-box-office-with-2nd-worst-opening-in-studio-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pixar&#8217;s &#8216;Elemental,&#8217; With &#8216;Non-Binary&#8217; Character, Flops At Box Office</a>

Trans star Abigail Thorn

Disney Casts Transgender Actor For New ‘Star Wars’ Series On Streaming Site

Disney Casts Transgender Actor For New ’Star Wars’ Series On Streaming Site

Star Wars

Transgender

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/pixar">Pixar</a>’s new animated kid’s film “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/movies">Elemental</a>” had one of the worst openings in studio history, bringing in just $29.5 million in domestic ticket sales at the weekend box office.
The movie is Pixar’s first non-franchise <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">theatrical release</a> since the COVID pandemic that wasn’t released directly to streaming, per <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/18/business/pixar-elemental-the-flash-box-office.html">The New York Times</a>.
To put those numbers into context, Pixar’s worst-performing movie ever was the first movie it ever did, “Toy Story,” which brought in $29.1 million for the then-unheard-of studio in 1995. 
Pixar&#8217;s top performers <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/brand/bn3530750466/?sort=openingWeekendGross&amp;ref_=bo_bn__resort#table">include</a> “The Incredibles 2,” which earned $182.7 million during its opening weekend, “Toy Story 4” ($120.9 million), “Finding Nemo” ($70.3 million), and “Up” ($68.1 million), per <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/06/18/box-office-struggles-elemental-posts-pixars-worst-premiere-weekend-in-decades-as-the-flash-underperforms/?sh=1a023f402430">Forbes</a>.
“Elemental” features the four elements — earth, water, fire, and air. 
According to the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15789038/">IMDb</a> description, “the film journeys alongside an unlikely pair, Ember and Wade, in a city where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together. The fiery young woman and the go-with-the-flow guy are about to discover something elemental: how much they actually have in common.”
The film is directed by Peter Sohn, best known for “The Good Dinosaur” (2015).
The new movie includes the studio’s first &#8220;non-binary&#8221; character, Lake, who is voiced by the &#8220;non-binary&#8221; star Kai Ava Hauser. 
&#8220;BIG ANNOUNCEMENT I got to play Pixar&#8217;s first non-binary character. Meet Lake,” Hauser posted on Twitter. “I voice Lake in the new movie Elemental. I&#8217;m seeing it in theaters tonight with my friends, so you can catch it in theaters too if you wanna see them.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT I got to play Pixar&#39;s first nonbinary character! Meet Lake! I voice Lake in the new movie <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Elemental?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Elemental</a>! I&#39;m seeing it in theaters tonight with my friends, so you can catch it in theaters too if you wanna see them. 💙 <a href="https://t.co/6kBPGvCATE">pic.twitter.com/6kBPGvCATE</a>
&mdash; 🛸 Kai Ava Hauser 🛸 (@JustAVoiceActor) <a href="https://twitter.com/JustAVoiceActor/status/1669792764106792960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 16, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The Times noted that the movie cost $200 million to make. “Hard to sugarcoat this,” David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter on box office numbers, said of the lackluster results. 
NYT writer Brooks Barnes also mentioned that industry insiders have been questioning the future of Pixar since the “Toy Story” spinoff, “Lightyear,” underperformed expectations last year. That film also included a highly publicized same-sex kiss. One of the studio’s worst performers was “Onward,” another animated children’s film prominently featuring a gay character. “Onward” earned $39.1 million on opening weekend in 2020. 
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Barnes went on to speculate that the poor showing could be the result of audiences still feeling hesitant about returning to theaters, or to “Elemental” being the first non-franchise original Pixar production since the pandemic. Barnes wrote that audiences are used to waiting a few weeks for films to become available on streaming services. 
“We’ve trained audiences that these films will be available for you on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/disney">Disney+</a>,” Pete Docter, Pixar’s chief creative officer, said during an interview with <a href="https://variety.com/2023/biz/news/pixar-pete-docter-disney-elemental-cannes-inside-out-1235646648/">Variety</a>. “We’re trying to make sure people realize there’s a great deal you’re missing by not seeing it on the big screen.”
(Disclosure: The Daily Wire has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/introducing-dw-kids">announced plans</a> for kids entertainment content.)

Pixar’s ‘Elemental,’ With ‘Non-Binary’ Character, Flops At Box Office

Pixar's 'Elemental,' With 'Non-Binary' Character, Flops At Box Office 

nonbinary

World

Disney&#8217;s latest Pixar film &#8220;Elemental&#8221; has fallen short with movie critics who, regardless of whether they thought the movie was worth seeing or not, agreed it doesn&#8217;t match up to earlier studio hits like &#8220;Toy Story,&#8221; &#8220;Up,&#8221; or  &#8220;Finding Nemo,&#8221; just to name a few.
&#8220;Elemental&#8221; premiered in France this month at the Cannes Film Festival with those in the audience giving director Peter Sohn a standing ovation for the animated rom-com movie. The movie is inspired by Sohn&#8217;s own family&#8217;s story of Koreans arriving in New York as immigrants, according to the <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/elemental-review-pixar-1235502286/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hollywood Reporter</a>. 
The entire film is what one reviewer called a &#8220;metaphor for immigration and exclusion&#8221; as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/long-before-the-reparations-episode-generated-outrage-disneys-proud-family-was-pushing-extreme-leftist-culture-on-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Disney produces</a> another product that deals with race in this place where fire, water, land and air residents live together in a metropolis known as Elemental City.
The film, which releases in the United States on June 16, centers on the daughter of a fire family, Ember, who meets Wade from a water family. Fire people are shown as glowing orange torch-people who live in Fire Town.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
All 👀 on this brand-new exclusive <a href="https://twitter.com/4dxusa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@4dxusa</a> artwork for Disney and Pixar’s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Elemental?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Elemental</a>! <a href="https://t.co/FqGrSN4R47">pic.twitter.com/FqGrSN4R47</a>
&mdash; Pixar’s Elemental (@pixarelemental) <a href="https://twitter.com/pixarelemental/status/1664361172085141504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Wade is shown as a gelatinous blue blob who comes from Water Town. In this metropolis, these water creatures can navigate the city easily living in posh high-rises, flowing wherever they want while Ember&#8217;s family lives in the ghettos, as one critic <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/elemental-review-pixar-1235626948/">wrote,</a> where these highly combustible characters can stay sequestered and smolder safely.
Despite the fact that there are four elements, many of the critics have noted that air and especially land characters really get the shaft in this movie, with basically everything centering on fire and water.
Ember and Wade end up meeting when lava girl&#8217;s latest furious rage breaks a basement pipeline in her father&#8217;s market. 
As one critic on <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/elemental_2023/reviews?type=top_critics">Rotten Tomatoes </a>— who gave the film a rotten score — wrote that the film&#8217;s premise of Ember and Wade learning to see beyond their differences and find common ground is too &#8220;predictable.&#8221;
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Next stop? Element City! 💧🔥🌳💨
See this city come to life in Disney and Pixar&#39;s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Elemental?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Elemental</a> only in theaters June 16! <a href="https://t.co/EmTdRs73xa">pic.twitter.com/EmTdRs73xa</a>
&mdash; Pixar (@Pixar) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pixar/status/1664007935616245762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2023</a></blockquote>
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The <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/elemental-review-pixar-1235502286/">Hollywood Reporter</a> movie reviewer wrote that &#8220;&#8216;Elemental&#8217; may be the first work from Pixar to feel like it was generated entirely by AI.&#8221;
&#8220;Not just the AI computing all the imagery, but literally an algorithm putting together a perfect Pixar movie,&#8221; the person wrote. &#8220;The problem, of course, is that the originality is mostly absent here, as is the thematic risk-taking that drove films like &#8216;Wall-E&#8217; (the planet almost dies!) or &#8216;Inside Out&#8217; (Bing Bong dies!) or &#8216;Coco&#8217; (people die!).&#8221;
&#8220;In Elemental, Pixar&#8217;s usual ambitious leap into the unknown is more of a safe dip into calm waters — water being one of the four elements driving the story, although only two of them really count here — and much about it seems familiar,&#8221; he added.
He wrote the &#8220;film&#8217;s major flaw&#8221; is that it &#8220;feels entirely predictable. Maybe we&#8217;ve all seen too many Pixar movies by now, and so if Elemental were the studio&#8217;s first-ever release instead of its umpteenth one, it would seem more surprising, more daring.&#8221;
&#8220;Instead, the elements all fit perfectly into place — so much so that the creative flames are doused, and we&#8217;re left without much of an impression,&#8221; he continued.
One critic on the movie site gave it a fresh score, while still labeling it a &#8220;misfire.&#8221;
&#8220;The whole scenario seems forced: so much world-building to tell a story better suited to flesh-and-blood human characters,&#8221; <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/elemental-review-pixar-1235626948/">Variety&#8217;s</a> critic wrote.
&#8220;Instead of giving [kids] a deeper understanding of Fire, Water, etc., the over-complicated premise creates all sorts of confusing new rules for kids to learn — rules which don&#8217;t really apply outside the film,&#8221; the critic added.
&#8220;&#8216;Elemental&#8217; is so elaborate and calls for so much exposition that the briskly paced movie is still trying to shoehorn essential backstory into the film&#8217;s final reel,&#8221; the critic continued. &#8220;Sohn should have made the plot simpler, not faster. There&#8217;s poetry and soul here, but both are watered down by how much the movie seems to be multitasking. With Pixar, sincerity is elemental. The rest risks distracting from what really matters.&#8221;
Other reviewers compared the film to more recent Pixar films like &#8220;Luca,&#8221; &#8220;Turning Red,&#8221; and &#8220;Lightyear,&#8221; which bombed in the theater, rather than the studio&#8217;s huge hits like &#8220;Wall-E,&#8221; &#8220;Ratatouille,&#8221; and &#8220;Up.&#8221;
&#8220;<a href="https://www.thewrap.com/elemental-review-cannes/">The Wrap</a>&#8221; movie reviewer wrote that &#8220;as a feat of pure visual craftsmanship, &#8216;Elemental&#8217; is anything but simple, often delighting the eyes with inventive character designs and trailblazing animation techniques.&#8221;
&#8220;Though as return to form for Pixar itself – a rekindling of that fire that set hearts ablaze by wedding prodigious technique to (ahem) elementally simple metaphor – the film falls somewhat short of previous highs,&#8221; the reviewer added. &#8220;By way of pure storytelling magic, the film also unfortunately lives up to its title.&#8221;
In 2022, Disney&#8217;s <a href="https://www.pixar.com/feature-films-launch">Pixar film</a> &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-asked-too-much-of-the-audience-disney-exec-offers-excuse-for-lightyear-flop-makes-no-mention-of-same-sex-kiss">Lightyear</a>&#8221; bombed at the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-real-reason-lightyear-bombed-at-the-box-office">box office</a>. It was booked as an origin story to the film&#8217;s favorite character Buzz Lightyear and not another &#8220;Toy Story.&#8221; However, with an LGTBQ love story which included a same-sex kiss and the removal of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/heres-why-tim-allen-wasnt-picked-to-voice-buzz-lightyear-in-lightyear-movie">Tim Allen</a> as the beloved voice of Buzz in place of Chris Evans, families didn&#8217;t turn out as Disney had expected.
It followed Pixar&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/my-panda-my-choice-mom-disney-and-pixars-turning-red-has-some-parents-outraged-over-themes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Turning Red</a>&#8221; about a girl dealing with puberty, which met a similar fate when parents realized they couldn&#8217;t let their kids watch it unless they were older due to the animated film&#8217;s sexual themes.
Disclosure: The Daily Wire has announced plans for kids’ entertainment content.
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Disney and Pixar’s “Elemental” Photocall – The 76th Annual Cannes Film Festival

Pixar’s ‘Elemental’ Falls Short With Critics Who Believe Studio’s Magic Might Be Over

Pixar’s 'Elemental' Falls Short With Critics Who Believe Studio's Magic Might Be Over

Light Year

Toy Story

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disney-goes-woke-with-lyrics-in-new-little-mermaid-songs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;The Little Mermaid</a>&#8221; pre-ticket sales are currently showing the movie could be the worst-performing Disney release in 2023 in China with current sales sitting at $13,000 after 3 days of presales ahead of the opening on May 25.
Chinese box officer observers like Luiz Fernando tweeted on Sunday that ticket sales for the live-action remake of the popular animated 1989 classic film suggested there&#8217;s a lack of interest in China from moviegoers, <a href="https://www.cbr.com/the-little-mermaid-box-office-china-prediction/#:~:text=According%20to%20Chinese%20box%20officer,of%20interest%20from%20China's%20moviegoers.">ComicBookResources.com</a> reported.
&#8220;Meanwhile in China&#8217;s BoxOffice, ticket pre-sales for TheLittleMermaid show no signs of reaction,&#8221; Fernando tweeted. &#8220;Disney liveaction finished SUN with a scary $13k total after 3 days of pre-sales, for the whole MAY 25-28 period.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Meanwhile in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/China?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#China</a>’s <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BoxOffice?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BoxOffice</a>, ticket pre-sales for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheLittleMermaid?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheLittleMermaid</a> show no signs of reaction.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Disney?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Disney</a> liveaction finished SUN with a scary $13k total after 3 days of pre-sales, for the whole MAY 25-28 period. Could be the worst opening ever for Hollywood tentpole in China. <a href="https://t.co/EMCDjyDFYP">pic.twitter.com/EMCDjyDFYP</a>
&mdash; Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) <a href="https://twitter.com/Luiz_Fernando_J/status/1660318944920477696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Could be the worst opening ever for Hollywood tentpole in China,&#8221; he added.
Hollywood has struggled to get films released in China since the pandemic with a virtual ban on films from the West until the country lifted its stringent &#8220;Zero-COVID&#8221; policy and amid reports that theaters were on the verge of bankruptcy, the outlet noted.
The last live-action adaptation to hit Chinese theaters was Disney&#8217;s &#8220;Cruella&#8221; in 2021, the report noted. The film grossed $1.6 million on opening weekend and ended up making $24 million during its run in China.
At this point, it is still unclear how Disney&#8217;s mermaid film will do worldwide, but <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/news/the-little-mermaid-screening-rob-marshall-halle-bailey-1235601354/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">early movie reviews</a> in the U.S. have been mixed.
Variety contributor Simon Thompson wrote, &#8220;Endearing but uneven, [&#8220;The Little Mermaid&#8221;] doesn&#8217;t deliver the magic of the animated classic, but there are plenty of creative touches from Rob Marshall to float the audience&#8217;s boats. Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy are great. Daveed Diggs and Awkwafina provide solid comic relief.&#8221;
Kirsten Acuna from Insider said the film is &#8220;filled with a few great performances from Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy, but it&#8217;s a mostly paint-by-numbers remake that isn&#8217;t as good as the animated masterpiece.&#8221;
While Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_little_mermaid_2023/reviews?intcmp=rt-scorecard_tomatometer-reviews">critic</a> Justin Chang wrote, &#8220;What&#8217;s on-screen too often feels like wan, second-rate imitation, and the few differences seem motivated less by a spirit of imagination than one of joyless anxiety.&#8221;
&#8220;The Little Mermaid&#8221; hits theaters on May 26.
Disclosure: The Daily Wire has announced plans for kids’ entertainment content.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/early-reviews-of-live-action-the-little-mermaid-arent-great-mostly-paint-by-numbers-remake">Early Reviews Of Live-Action &#8216;The Little Mermaid&#8217; Aren&#8217;t Great: &#8216;Mostly Paint-By-Numbers Remake&#8217;</a>

The Little Mermaid

Report: ‘The Little Mermaid’ Pre-Ticket Sales Showing Worst Performing Disney Release This Year In China

Woke Culture

Even the most rabid Disney fans usually admit that newer animated movies from the studio lack the magic of past efforts.
Disney is often divided into eras of film, beginning with The Golden Age in 1937, which inspired such classics as “Snow White,” “Fantasia,” “Dumbo,” and “Bambi” to the highly-lauded Renaissance Era, which most film enthusiasts agree was the high point in the Disney timeline.
The Renaissance for Disney began in 1989 with the release of “The Little Mermaid” and continued on through the early ’90s with creative triumphs including, “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “Pocahontas,” and “The Lion King.”
That’s not to say that Disney hasn’t found success since that creative pinnacle. Beloved family films such as “Frozen” in 2013 and “Encanto” from 2021 were both highly successful examples from the modern era. But <a href="https://www.the-numbers.com/market/distributor/Walt-Disney" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on the whole</a>, Disney films have taken a financial <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/187329/box-office-revenue-of-disney-in-north-america-since-2000/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nosedive</a> in recent years, and in many ways, the company bowing down to woke overlords is to blame.
The company has been infiltrated by leftists top to bottom and all the way through. There are overt examples such as blatantly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disney-cartoon-doubles-down-on-woke-push-with-crt-lgbtq-agenda-in-second-season">anti-white</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/long-before-the-reparations-episode-generated-outrage-disneys-proud-family-was-pushing-extreme-leftist-culture-on-kids">LGBTQ propaganda</a> in the animated series “The Proud Family: Louder And Prouder” to subtler efforts in almost every program the company produces.
Disney movies are no better. The past year alone has produced flops galore, and not just because the company went woke. New films aren’t just infused with hot button cultural issues like diversity, LGBTQ themes, and racial angles. They also suffer from the fatal flaw of being uninspired, boring, and forgettable.
Take the movie “Strange World,” which was released in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/animated-gay-teen-romance-film-is-woke-disneys-latest-box-office-bomb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">November 2022</a>. This original project follows a family of explorers called the Clades who discover a plant called Pando, which is used as a powerful energy source for civilization. The family reunites to discover why the plant is losing its potency decades after they discover this magical plant.
If you’re confused already, so are kids. But even if “Strange World” had a less bizarre storyline, it already had one strike against it before being released. The PG-rated film included an openly gay teenage character, which Production Designer for Animation Matthieu Saghezchi tweeted about in June before the film’s debut.
“Just saw the very first glimpse into #Disney‘s #StrangeWorld at the #Annecy2022 festival &#8211; it features the first openly gay teen romance in a disney feature!!! #RepresentationMatters,” he <a href="https://twitter.com/MSaghezchi/status/1537783273006538755">shared</a> with a pride flag emoji.
“The scene describes the son being very shy in front of his boy crush, and his dad comes in and says ‘so nice to meet you! my son talks about you all the time’ and further embarrasses his son… very cute,” he added in a follow up.
The grandfather in the movie expresses no reaction upon hearing that his grandson Ethan has a crush on another boy either. This tidbit was lauded prior to the movie being released, leading many conservatives to boycott “Strange World.” But did that alone make it a failure?
There may never be a definitive answer to that question. But considering the star-studded cast including Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, and Lucy Liu, plus the marketing efforts of the biggest media company in the world, there’s no good explanation for why “Strange World” was such an colossal failure. As of January, the animated feature was poised to lose more than $100 million, per <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/disney-strange-world-lose-100-million-box-office-1235442714/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Variety</a>.
With no catchy music and little inspiration for merchandising, there’s a good chance that “Strange World” would have flopped hard without the gay teen romance. But that aspect certainly didn’t help.
Another massive failure on the Disney docket was the highly anticipated spinoff in the “Toy Story” franchise, “Lightyear.” This movie served as the backstory to one of the main characters, a space robot toy named Buzz Lightyear. The “Toy Story” franchise is massively popular, as are the characters, but the film made several missteps along the way. The biggest problem was it came out just as Disney was seeking an opportunity for virtue signaling.
The big story surrounding “Lightyear” was a brief kiss between two female characters.
The scene in question was originally removed but then got reinstated following Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) introducing the Parental Rights in Education bill, which mainstream media erroneously dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
While critics lamented that no person in the state of Florida would ever be allowed to utter the word “gay” without getting arrested on the spot, anyone who actually read the text realized that the bill simply limited the ability of any K-3 teacher to discuss sexual topics with children. This applied to every educator regardless of whether they were advocating for conservative or liberal lessons.
Despite this fact, Disney reacted to the legislation by adding the same kiss between two female characters back into “Lightyear,” which caused a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-real-reason-lightyear-bombed-at-the-box-office" target="_blank" rel="noopener">huge controversy among parents</a> who believed it was inappropriate for a movie aimed at young children.
“The real truth is, those people are idiots,” actor Chris Evans, who voiced the main character in the film, told Reuters at the time. “Every time there’s been social advancement as we wake up, the American story, the human story is one of constant social awakening and growth and that’s what makes us good.”
Evans followed up by praising the addition of the kiss during a June 2022 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gay-kiss-included-woke-toy-story-spinoff-lightyear-struggles-at-box-office">interview</a> with Variety.
After saying of the kiss scene that it’s “nice, and it’s wonderful, it makes me happy,” the actor continued, “It’s tough to not be a little frustrated that it even has to be a topic of discussion. That it is this kind of ‘news.’ The goal is that we can get to a point where it is the norm, and that this doesn’t have to be some uncharted waters, that eventually this is just the way it is. That representation across the board is how we make films.”
To the surprise of no one who has been paying attention, “Lightyear” was an epic fail from a financial standpoint. While all other “Toy Story” installments were huge hits, this spinoff earned an abysmal $226.4 million against a $200 million budget, meaning it likely lost money after factoring in marketing and other expenses.
Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer Peter Docter told The Wrap recently that executives are trying to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-asked-too-much-of-the-audience-disney-exec-offers-excuse-for-lightyear-flop-makes-no-mention-of-same-sex-kiss">figure out what happened</a> with “Lightyear.” Though he conceded that the storyline was a bit of a stretch, Docter never acknowledged the same-sex kiss or how that may have contributed to the movie’s failure.
“We’ve done a lot of soul-searching about that because we all love the movie. We love the characters and the premise. I think probably what we’ve ended on in terms of what went wrong is that we asked too much of the audience,” the exec said during the interview.
“When they hear Buzz, they’re like, great, where’s Mr. Potato Head and Woody and Rex? And then we drop them into this science fiction film that they’re like, What?” Docter continued. “Even if they’ve read the material in press, it was just a little too distant, both in concept, and I think in the way that characters were drawn, that they were portrayed. It was much more of a science fiction.”
Another 2022 Disney project that left audiences less than thrilled was the coming of age movie, “Turning Red.” This animated feature didn’t include any overt LGBTQ themes, but it did give parents pause due to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/turning-red-movie-review-removed-for-being-racist-and-sexist-cinemablend-apologizes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mature themes</a>.
Critics of the animated film said the children in the movie are overtly disobedient and rude, plus there are sexual themes including the main character twerking as a panda in front of her mother while taunting her. There were also multiple examples of the main character Mei Lee rebelling against her “overbearing” Chinese-Canadian mother to the point of being disrespectful.
But even without all that questionable content, “Turning Red” still committed the cardinal sin of being uninspiring. It’s hard to imagine children clamoring to watch it over and over again like they still do with “Frozen” and “Beauty and the Beast.”
There have been some shake-ups at Disney in the wake of all these movie flops. The company reinstated longtime CEO Bob Iger after ousting Bob Chapek. Iger is a leftist, but he’s less interested in becoming mired in social controversies, or so he says. There’s a good chance that new Disney movies for kids will have fewer controversial scenes.
Two upcoming animated projects scheduled for 2023 releases are “Elemental,” a Pixar production about four elements trying to live in harmony, and “Wish,”a film about a girl in a magical kingdom whose wish comes true. Only time will tell if they fall victim to the same mediocre fate as so many other animated films Disney keeps pumping out.
Disclosure: The Daily Wire has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/introducing-dw-kids">announced plans</a> for kids entertainment content.
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Popcorn in Theater Aisle

Disney Disasters: After Three Woke Flops In 2022, Will Animated Movies Ever Reclaim The Magic?

Malaysian authorities have announced that, after recently banning the theatrical releases of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/marvel">Marvel&#8217;s</a> &#8220;<a href="https://dailywire.com/news/natalie-portman-says-thor-star-dumped-his-carnivore-diet-before-kiss-scene-because-im-vegan/">Thor: Love and Thunder</a>&#8221; and Pixar&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://dailywire.com/news/same-fate-as-lightyear-china-yet-to-set-release-date-for-gayest-thor-sequel-yet/">Lightyear</a>,&#8221; the Muslim-majority nation will ban additional films over <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/i-love-that-natalie-portman-boasts-new-thor-film-is-the-gayest-marvel-movie-yet/">LGBTQ themes</a> and storylines.
Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Zahidi Zainul Abidin <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/malaysia-ban-lgbt-films-thor-lightyear-1235338721/">noted</a> that both films had initially been submitted — by parent company <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/not-at-all-secret-gay-agenda-disney-employees-break-down-adding-queerness-to-shows-and-degenderizing-theme-parks/">Disney</a> — to the nation&#8217;s Film Censorship Board (LPF). The LPF had reportedly asked for several cuts, presumably altering or removing scenes such as the same-sex kiss in &#8220;Lightyear,&#8221; but <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/disney">Disney</a> had declined to accommodate their requests.
&#8220;Recently there was a film that did not pass censorship, that is the new &#8216;Thor&#8217; film,&#8221; Abidin explained. &#8220;[The movie] touched on LGBT but we see right now there are many films with LGBT elements that slip past the censorship.&#8221;
Malaysia, he confirmed, has committed to limiting public access to gay culture whenever possible — and lamented the fact that, in order to bypass censors, the LGBTQ content in film and streaming content had become more subtle over time. &#8220;I am frustrated because the outside world was the one promoting LGBT,&#8221; he said, adding that the government was keeping a close eye on streaming content and social media and &#8220;would take severe action against individuals found promoting such elements.&#8221;
Zahidi also noted that while the government could keep a tight rein on broadcast television and domestic theatrical releases, there was little they could do to prevent access to such content via streaming platforms.
&#8220;We cannot control overseas platforms that are easily reached online — but activities in the country, we have no issues. We have always been stern and committed,&#8221; he explained, saying that current law did not allow for censorship of streaming content. &#8220;In addition, OTT services like Netflix are not like public broadcast services or private institutions in the country that fall under existing laws involving licensing and censorship in the country.&#8221;
Pixar&#8217;s &#8220;Lightyear&#8221; was also <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/pixars-lightyear-ban-saudi-arabia-same-sex-kiss-1235292236/">banned from release</a> in several other Muslim-majority nations over the lesbian kiss. According to a report from Variety, Pixar never even attempted to get the film past the censors in Saudi Arabia, knowing that it would never pass. It was initially green-lighted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where censorship laws have recently begun to relax slightly, but a last minute reversal kept the film out of theaters there as well.
(Disclosure: The Daily Wire has announced plans for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/introducing-dw-kids">kids entertainment content</a>.)

UK Premiere For Disney Pixars’ “Lightyear”

Muslim-Majority Country Bans ‘Thor’ And ‘Lightyear’ Over LGBTQ Themes

Muslim-Majority Malaysia Bans 'Thor' And 'Lightyear' Over LGBTQ Themes

Homosexuality

Islam

Fans of Tim Allen voicing the beloved Buzz Lightyear in the &#8220;Toy Story&#8221; franchise want to know why he wasn&#8217;t picked, instead of Chris Evans, to voice the space man in the character&#8217;s origin animated film titled &#8220;Lightyear.&#8221;
In 1995 Disney/Pixar picked the TV star and standup comedian to be the voice of a toy named Buzz Lightyear who finds himself in the adventure of a lifetime with toy cowboy Woody voiced by Tom Hanks. For those that might have missed it, the two find a friendship and bond as they work together to get back to their kid, a young child named Andy. The two would reprise the roles three more times, as recently as 2019, when a fourth film in the &#8220;Toy Story&#8221; franchise came out, &#8220;Toy Story 4.&#8221;
So, when <a href="https://twitter.com/Pixar/status/1337195228797661184?s=20&amp;t=IyRFQvBuhlRQeixJVYdNhQ">Pixar announced</a> in 2020 that an origin film would hit theaters, about the man behind the famed toy, it was naturally assumed by fans of the character that the &#8220;Last Man Standing&#8221; star, who has been openly right wing, would be the voice.
Later, Marvel star <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chris-evans-to-play-buzz-lightyear-tips-hat-to-tim-allen">Chris Evans</a> shared his reaction to being picked to voice Lightyear in the new animated Pixar film.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t even have the words.&#8221; the woke actor <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/1337204197641629696?s=20&amp;t=IyRFQvBuhlRQeixJVYdNhQ">tweeted</a> at the time. &#8220;And just to be clear, this isn&#8217;t Buzz Lightyear the toy. This is the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on.&#8221;
A description on <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10298810/">IMDb</a> about the children&#8217;s film reads, &#8220;While spending years attempting to return home, marooned Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear encounters an army of ruthless robots commanded by Zurg who are attempting to steal his fuel source.&#8221;
Given <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/not-at-all-secret-gay-agenda-disney-employees-break-down-adding-queerness-to-shows-and-degenderizing-theme-parks">leaked tapes of executive producers</a> at Disney about its &#8220;not-at-all-secret gay&#8221; agenda many have speculated that politics and wokeness was involved in Evans getting the role over Allen.
There has been no official comment from Disney about the change. However, the movie&#8217;s director and producer pushed back at criticism and have shared that they wanted an actor who had the &#8220;gravitas&#8221; to play a &#8220;serious&#8221; character for this spaceman journey in the animated film for children, <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/heres-why-tim-allen-did-042341965.html">Yahoo</a> noted.
&#8220;People were having a hard enough time wrapping their heads around this,&#8221; producer Galyn Susman stated, according to the <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/why-tim-allen-doesnt-voice-buzz-in-lightyear/">Wrap</a>. &#8220;So really we needed the toy in the &#8216;Toy Story’&#8217; universe to be its own thing. Tim Allen is Buzz Lightyear the toy. Chris Evans is Buzz Lightyear, the superhero from that movie that inspired the toy.&#8221;
Susan added, &#8220;We weren&#8217;t making a &#8216;Toy Story&#8217; movie. We&#8217;re making Buzz Lightyear&#8217;s movie.&#8221;
The animated film&#8217;s director Angus MacLane said, &#8220;Tim&#8217;s version of Buzz is a little goofier and is a little dumber, and so he is the comic relief,&#8221; <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/06/chris-evans-buzz-lightyear-movie">Vanity Fair</a> reported.
&#8220;In this film, Buzz is the action hero,&#8221; MacLane explained. &#8220;He&#8217;s serious and ambitious and funny, but not in a goofy way that would undercut the drama. Chris Evans has the gravitas and that movie-star quality that our character needed to separate him and the movie from Tim&#8217;s version of the toy in &#8216;Toy Story.&#8221;
&#8220;The tone is a lot different,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/why-tim-allen-doesnt-voice-buzz-in-lightyear/">added</a>. &#8220;Tim is hilarious, but this character wouldn’t work as well with him doing the Space Ranger voice. It would not be as emotional. It just changes the tone of the movie. We were going for more of a classic sci-fi film.&#8221;
In 2021, when the teaser trailer came out, Maclane again tried to explain to fans why Allen wasn&#8217;t picked, though given the current confusion today, it was most likely too vague for fans of the character for the last 25 years.
&#8220;I assume that the toy [voiced by Tim Allen] is based on either the cartoon series that was made after the movie or a later movie,&#8221; the director <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/lightyear-teaser-trailer-toy-story-pixar-buzz-origin-chris-evans-135017201.html">shared at the time</a>. &#8220;So the events that Buzz is talking about in Toy Story [Buzz&#8217;s ramblings about the edge of the galaxy, Emperor Zurg, Star Command, etc.] have not yet happened. So this would be the origin story of who we know Buzz Lightyear to be.&#8221;
In a recent interview, the &#8220;Captain America&#8221; star also responded to the comments on social media slamming him as Buzz and said that Allen&#8217;s Lightyear is &#8220;untouchable,&#8221; the <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/06/17/chris-evans-tim-allen-is-buzz-lightyear-and-untouchable/">New York Post</a> noted.
&#8220;Look, Tim Allen is Buzz Lightyear,&#8221; Evans said. &#8220;What he did in those movies is so iconic and so loved, and I&#8217;d be a fool not to incorporate some of his choices into this role.&#8221;
&#8220;The character in this movie is the human version that the toy is based off of, so it makes sense to have a little bit of overlap, luckily for me,&#8221; he added. &#8220;What Tim Allen did was pretty untouchable.&#8221;
There&#8217;s also news that the children&#8217;s movie has a &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disney-pixars-lightyear-banned-in-saudi-arabia-over-same-sex-kiss-report">same-sex&#8221; kiss</a> between two animated female characters in it that has caused the film to be <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/chris-evans-lightyear-same-sex-kiss-b2101549.html">banned in 14 countries</a>. Evans defended having the gay kiss included.
&#8220;The real truth is, those people are idiots,&#8221; Evans told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/lightyear-star-chris-evans-calls-critics-on-screen-representation-idiots-2022-06-14/">Reuters</a>. &#8220;There&#8217;s always going to be people who are afraid and unaware and trying to hold on to what was before. But those people die off like dinosaurs. I think the goal is to pay them no mind, march forward and embrace the growth that makes us human.&#8221;
While &#8220;The Santa Clause&#8221; star has yet to comment on not being in the film or the same-sex kiss, Allen did appear to take a swipe at Disney&#8217;s pro-LGBTQ+ agenda that got everyone&#8217;s attention recently and again raised speculation that it was the reason he wasn&#8217;t chosen.
&#8220;Took some kids to Disneyland and overheard a 13 year old boy wondering if he may be pansexual since he loves skillets,&#8221; Allen <a href="https://twitter.com/ofctimallen/status/1536782789596434432?s=20&amp;t=fwHxsqJUVc5wFdXAXx1cpg">tweeted</a> recently to his hundreds of thousands of followers.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/actress-slams-disney-for-replacing-tim-allen-with-chris-evans-in-lightyear-asks-why-they-would-completely-castrate-this-iconic-character">Actress Patricia Heaton&#8217;s </a> tweet went viral recently after she asked her fans why Disney would &#8220;castrate&#8221; the &#8220;iconic, beloved character&#8221; Allen made in the &#8220;Toy Story&#8221; franchise after seeing the trailer for the new film.
&#8220;Saw the trailer for Buzz Lightyear and all I can say is Disney/Pixar made a HUGE mistake in not casting my pal Tim Allen in the role that he originated, the role that he owns,&#8221; the 64-year-old actress tweeted. &#8220;Tim IS Buzz! Why would they completely castrate this iconic, beloved character?&#8221;
The movie is also showing a lackluster performance at the box office following its release, as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gay-kiss-included-woke-toy-story-spinoff-lightyear-struggles-at-box-office">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported. Disney/Pixar might have finally pushed their woke agenda too far for consumers who also would&#8217;ve loved to see Allen as the voice of Buzz.
(Disclosure: The Daily Wire has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/introducing-dw-kids">announced</a> plans for kids’ entertainment content.)
The views expressed in this piece are the author&#8217;s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Readers-Pass—Jerkovich—LIGHTYEAR-controversy-Tim-Allen-or-Chirs-Evans_-What-happened__216x9_2

Here’s Why Tim Allen Wasn’t Picked To Voice Buzz Lightyear In ‘Lightyear’ Movie

On the same-sex kiss in the new Buzz Lightyear movie, star Chris Evans <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/features/chris-evans-lightyear-same-sex-kiss-1235293017/">lamented</a>, “It makes me happy. It’s tough to not be a little frustrated that it even has to be a topic of discussion.&#8221;
The launch is, of course, laser-focused on the controversy, as that’s how the film is making headlines. More than that, though, it’s what wins the film and Evans brownie points in Hollywood, where the agenda, not the art, is the primary focus. It’s laughable for Evans to claim he doesn’t want to be spending his time talking about the kiss — it’s a media gift during Pride Month, especially. 
&#8220;The goal is that we can get to a point where it is the norm, and that this doesn’t have to be some uncharted waters, that eventually this is just the way it is,&#8221; Evans went on.
Truly listen to what he’s saying here: The goal isn’t producing a blockbuster or an award winning film; it’s advancing a narrative and a cultural realignment. 
And what of that realignment? We were once told that these kinds of media moments were about encouraging acceptance, but in the last several years, it’s clearly become about recruitment, as well. That effort is evidently working: One in six adults in Generation Z identify as LGBT, according to survey <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/329708/lgbt-identification-rises-latest-estimate.aspx">data</a> released last year from Gallup, with the majority considering themselves bisexual. 
It’s become an issue of social contagion. A writer for The Washington Post published a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/02/24/gen-z-lgbt/">story</a> on the data reported by Gallup and interviewed a student from my home town of Montgomery County, Maryland who identifies as “nonbinary” and uses they/them pronouns. The piece began, “Jasper Swartz recently realized that nearly all of their friends are ‘queer in some way.’”
Parents around the country have told me the same: Their middle and high school students feel boring and uninteresting without some kind of “identity” they can wear with pride. 
There are also consequences for refusing to participate in Pride and LGBT activism. Recently, five members of the Tampa Bay Rays made national <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/06/06/1103303679/tampa-bay-rays-rainbow-logo-pride-night">headlines</a> for declining to participate in the team’s Pride campaign of adding a rainbow-colored logo onto their uniforms. The message sent by this national shaming was clear: It’s no longer about “live and let live.” You’re either with us, or we’re against you. 
Where does this leave parents? They won’t like the answer. It isn’t an easy solution. The reality is: It’s time to opt-out on a great deal of popular culture and fight back. It’s time for us as a society to reckon with the fact that the objective of many activists is no longer pride and acceptance. They want to capture our kids as gender activists, and we cannot allow them to do so. 
We’re seeing it play out nationwide: It’s not enough to opt out of bringing your kid to a Pride Parade when you know there will be sexually explicit images present there; you have to make sure your child’s teacher isn’t reading a book about a transgender child or drag queen to your kindergartner. It isn’t enough to miss seeing “Lightyear;” you have to affirmatively and consciously inculcate your child with the lessons and values you want them to grow up believing in. That was the motive behind my decision to co-found a children’s book series called <a href="https://heroesofliberty.com">Heroes of Liberty</a>, which aims to actively promote positive values in children when their literature is awash in radical gender and race ideology. 
Americans are already opting out of “Lightyear,” which is proving to be a box office <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gay-kiss-included-woke-toy-story-spinoff-lightyear-struggles-at-box-office">disappointment</a>. Of course, those covering the industry are trying to explain away the numbers, but the fact is, Americans aren’t interested in what they’re selling. However, it’s not enough to avoid seeing a movie or to boycott individual books, movies, and TV shows. American parents have to add, not just keep subtracting. 
In its piece on the explosion of youth identifying as LGBT, The Washington Post laid out the path of one student: “Jasper grew up scrolling through gay memes on Instagram and following transgender influencers on YouTube. They attended a diverse public middle school in Montgomery County, Md., that taught lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity in health class.” 
We’ve seen parents nationwide fighting back against this kind of instruction at school board meetings, but parents are also going to have to take the difficult next step of fighting against the tide and firmly saying “no” to smartphones and unlimited internet access to their children. A local mother and professional working in the field of national drug policy told me, “These kids are facing a reality that we didn’t have to deal with, and we need to preach internet safety. In our little parochial school most kids in my son’s sixth grade have iPhones. People don’t realize what kids can access with an iPhone. I think teens should not be allowed on social media, but that’s not the reality we live in.”
The fight isn’t just with schools and Hollywood students, but with our own kids, who want to watch all of the latest movies and shows and be like their friends with iPhones. 
Do we really want our children to be like every other child in their generation, though? Even before the toll of COVID, the<a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/why-is-gen-z-depressed"> data</a> was clear: depression and anxiety are reaching astronomical rates among children and teens. Something is deeply amiss, and the warning bells are sounding; we’re clearly doing something wrong. 
We as parents have the ability to right the ship, both in our own homes and more broadly as a culture. It won’t be easy, but rarely does doing what is right come easily.
Bethany Mandel is an editor at the children&#8217;s publishing house Heroes Of Liberty.

Lightyear

When The Agenda Is More Important Than The Art

Hollywood

Actor and activist Chris Evans on Tuesday slammed critics who don&#8217;t approve of a gay kiss scene in the latest &#8220;Toy Story&#8221; spinoff, &#8220;Lightyear.&#8221;
Disney/Pixar reinstated the same-sex kiss between two female characters, Alisha and her wife, following Florida&#8217;s Parental Rights in Education bill, which bans classroom discussion on anything related to sexuality and gender to children in third-grade and younger.
“The real truth is, those people are idiots,&#8221; Evans <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/instant-article/idUSL1N2Y103M">told</a> Reuters, slamming critics of the kiss. &#8220;Every time there’s been social advancement as we wake up, the American story, the human story is one of constant social awakening and growth and that’s what makes us good.”
Evans similarly <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/features/chris-evans-lightyear-same-sex-kiss-1235293017/">gushed</a> over the gay kiss in an interview with Variety on Monday.
&#8220;Disney put a line in the sand saying, we’re putting this back in, but also, we’re not going to remove it for any other territories, in these places that would have a problem with it,&#8221; a Variety reporter said. &#8220;What did you make of the company making that decision?&#8221;
&#8220;I mean, it’s great,&#8221; the actor responded. &#8220;As great as it is — and you know, I’ve been asked the question a few times — it’s nice, and it’s wonderful, it makes me happy.&#8221;
&#8220;It’s tough to not be a little frustrated that it even has to be a topic of discussion,&#8221; Evans continued. &#8220;That it is this kind of &#8216;news.&#8217; The goal is that we can get to a point where it is the norm, and that this doesn’t have to be some uncharted waters, that eventually this is just the way it is. That representation across the board is how we make films.&#8221;
&#8220;Look, it’s an honor to be a part of something that is taking those steps, but the goal is to look back on this time and just be shocked that it took us this long to get there,&#8221; the &#8220;Captain America&#8221; star added.
Disney also notably recast Tim Allen for Evans as the iconic voice of the character Buzz Lightyear. Allen is openly conservative.
Actress Patricia Heaton, who is also openly conservative, slammed Disney on Tuesday for the replacement, asking why they would “completely castrate this iconic, beloved character,&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/actress-slams-disney-for-replacing-tim-allen-with-chris-evans-in-lightyear-asks-why-they-would-completely-castrate-this-iconic-character">The Daily Wire</a> reported.
“Saw the trailer for Buzz Lightyear and all I can say is Disney/Pixar made a HUGE mistake in not casting my pal [Tim Allen],” Heaton said on <a href="https://twitter.com/PatriciaHeaton/status/1536737444804034561?s=20&amp;t=gt5X9XXQA3a7eQFFC8kaHg">Twitter</a>. “Tim Allen in the role that he originated, the role that he owns. Tim IS Buzz! Why would they completely castrate this iconic, beloved character?”
(Disclosure: The Daily Wire has <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/introducing-dw-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> plans for kids’ entertainment content.)
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/actress-slams-disney-for-replacing-tim-allen-with-chris-evans-in-lightyear-asks-why-they-would-completely-castrate-this-iconic-character">Actress Slams Disney For Replacing Tim Allen With Chris Evans In ‘LightYear,’ Asks Why They Would ‘Completely Castrate This Iconic’ ‘Character’</a>

World Premiere Of Disney And Pixar’s “Lightyear” In Hollywood CA

‘Idiots’: Actor Chris Evans Slams Critics Who Don’t Want Gay Kiss In ‘Toy Story’ Spinoff

‘Idiots’: Actor Chris Evans Slams Critics Who Don’t Want Gay Kiss In ‘Toy Story’ Spinoff, 'Lightyear' 

Chris Evans

Diversity

<div><a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/disney" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Disney</a> Pixar’s new movie “Lightyear” is banned in several Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), due to the highly publicized <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lgbtq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">same-sex kiss</a> that the studio chose to include.</div>
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The scene was initially cut from the <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/movies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">movie</a> but was reinstated after the Disney controversy over Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, which some critics dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The Hollywood Reporter (THR) <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/lightyear-banned-gulf-saudi-lgbt-1235163872/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> that in “Lightyear,” a female character named Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba) greets her female partner with a kiss. This moment is what allegedly led to the movie getting banned in parts of the Middle East.
“Lightyear” was banned “due to its violation of the country’s media content standards,” the country’s media regulator said in a <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://twitter.com/UAE_Forsan/status/1536272169260285952" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweet</a>, not specifying which standard had been violated. Industry insiders speculate it’s because of the kiss between two female characters. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Animated Film &#39;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lightyear?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Lightyear</a>&#39; is Not Licensed to be Shown in Cinemas in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UAE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#UAE</a><a href="https://twitter.com/uaemro?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@uaemro</a> <a href="https://t.co/vY4P04NlcX">pic.twitter.com/vY4P04NlcX</a>
&mdash; UAE Forsan (@UAE_Forsan) <a href="https://twitter.com/UAE_Forsan/status/1536272169260285952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
American audiences aren’t entirely thrilled with the inclusion either. “Lightyear” is a “Toy Story” prequel spinoff that tells the origin story of the popular robot character Buzz Lightyear. It’s being explicitly marketed to young children, which is why the kiss was removed in the first place, and some parental backlash is guaranteed.
“What a coincidence, it’s banned at my house too #Disney #grooming #groomers” one person <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://twitter.com/Forbes/status/1536341535075319809" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> in response to the news. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
What a coincidence- it’s banned at my house too. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Disney?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Disney</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/grooming?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#grooming</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/groomers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#groomers</a>
&mdash; nando (@elnandoalvarez) <a href="https://twitter.com/elnandoalvarez/status/1536342892305858560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It’s not the first time a movie was banned in the Middle East for homosexual content. THR notes that in April, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” was denied a theatrical release due to its inclusion of a gay character. “Eternals” also included a gay superhero and a same-sex couple. Disney was allegedly asked to make edits per censors in some countries and refused. Though an edited version did appear in the UAE.
It’s worth noting that “Doctor Strange” and “Eternals” are both rated PG-13. “Lightyear” was given a PG rating.
The romantic relationship between the two female characters in “Lightyear” was never hidden, as The Daily Wire <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-pixar-reinstates-same-sex-kiss-in-lightyear-film-over-so-called-dont-say-gay-bill-source-shares" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in March, but the kiss was initially cut from the final product. It was only reinstated after Disney CEO Bob Chapek got slammed for censoring “‘overtly gay content’” in children’s movies.
“‘Nearly every moment of overtly gay affection is cut at Disney’s behest, regardless of when there is protest[s] from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar,’” a <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/disney-pixar-same-sex-affection-censorship-dont-say-gay-bill-1235200582/">statement</a> from LGBTQ employees and allies at Pixar and Disney, given to Variety, read. “[I]f creating LGBTQIA+ content was the answer to fixing the discriminatory legislation in the world, we are being barred from creating it.”
The kiss got added back into the movie shortly after.
“Lightyear” premieres June 17. 
(Disclosure: The Daily Wire has <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/introducing-dw-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> plans for kids’ entertainment content.)
</div>

72nd Annual Tony Awards – Arrivals

Disney Pixar’s ‘Lightyear’ Banned In Saudi Arabia Over Same-Sex Kiss: Report

Middle East

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