Half of Disney's successes and failures can be pinned on making the same move that helped and then crippled both comic books and YA lit before them.
Dumping kids/families in favor of childless adult superfans with cash.
Issue is... there are always more kids. Not so with fans.
Dumping kids/families in favor of childless adult superfans with cash.
Issue is... there are always more kids. Not so with fans.
https://twitter.com/rex_woodbury/status/1605326133112840192
Comics enjoyed one decade of wild success after dumping kids and spinner racks for collectors and the direct market.
Then the 90s crash it sparked damn near killed the entire industry, and Scholastic and manga eat thier lunch by focusing on selling to the kids they abandoned.
Then the 90s crash it sparked damn near killed the entire industry, and Scholastic and manga eat thier lunch by focusing on selling to the kids they abandoned.
Likewise YA Lit, and to a smaller extent, genre fiction.
Harry Potter, Twilight and Hunger Games drove a gold rush (and movie deals) largely thanks to what was branded the Twlight Mom demo.
Publishing focused on that cash cow, to its detriment.
Harry Potter, Twilight and Hunger Games drove a gold rush (and movie deals) largely thanks to what was branded the Twlight Mom demo.
Publishing focused on that cash cow, to its detriment.
The average age of a typical YA reader is 25 or older. Not a lot of kids read YA stuff... and especially these days the sales numbers reflect that.
The former core audience of YA fiction, ie kids, now turns to video games, fanfics, or manga, because those are aimed at kids.
The former core audience of YA fiction, ie kids, now turns to video games, fanfics, or manga, because those are aimed at kids.
We may actually be seeing publishing wake up to that shift in time to avoid the iceberg - even then, it took every other chain bookstore in America gutting the YA and genre fiction shelves to sell more toys and manga.
Knock on wood anyway.
Knock on wood anyway.
There will always be more kids and teens that will gleefully buy any book with a rocketship or dragon in it, and often become a genre reader for life, than there are single 30 somethings that enjoy a narrow flavor of YA romance with the occasional genre twist.
At last we come to Disney... a company that literally made a branding empire on generational nostalgia, and being the company that more than any other in Hollywood, owned kids and families lock, stock and barrel.
Fads and trends some and go. There will always be more kids.
Fads and trends some and go. There will always be more kids.
Something changed in the past decade. Something is the Disney adult.
Disney, like the comic book and YA industry before them, found a ton of short term gain in dumping the long term profit from kids and families for a demo willing to shell out more money now.
Disney, like the comic book and YA industry before them, found a ton of short term gain in dumping the long term profit from kids and families for a demo willing to shell out more money now.
That's starting to bear some bitter fruit.
Disneyland was once designed to be an affordable family vacation. A family of four could go for just over $100 bucks as late as the 90s.
A single ticket now costs almost twice that. They literally priced out Disney's former core demo.
Disneyland was once designed to be an affordable family vacation. A family of four could go for just over $100 bucks as late as the 90s.
A single ticket now costs almost twice that. They literally priced out Disney's former core demo.
Thier biggest new attraction, the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser, is a windowless concrete bunker where you eat chicken tenders in cosplay for a weekend for price of a used car.
The Most Magical Place on Earth is now Neverland for rich yuppies.
The Most Magical Place on Earth is now Neverland for rich yuppies.
Hell, to kick Star Wars while its down, the biggest reason Disney killed that particular golden goose isn't "wokism" or "toxic fanboys" - its that except for maybe The Mandalorian, kids haven't clicked with any of Disney Star Wars.
Just look at toy sales - even at its pre-Disney low point, Star Wars merch/action figures were ubiquitous. Every kid in America had a few, often of characters who don't even have a line in the movies.
Meanwhile, you could be forgiven for thinking Rey's last name was "Clearance".
Meanwhile, you could be forgiven for thinking Rey's last name was "Clearance".
Hell, even today, the most popular Star Wars merch is all focused on the same three characters kids have loved since 1977: Luke, Leia and Han.
Characters whom the Disney sequels all turned into miserable failures they promptly killed off one by one.
Characters whom the Disney sequels all turned into miserable failures they promptly killed off one by one.
Hell, look at the box office this year.
Two of the most expensive box office failures of 2022 were what once would have been considered a guaranteed slam dunk just a few years ago: Disney animated movies.
Two of the most expensive box office failures of 2022 were what once would have been considered a guaranteed slam dunk just a few years ago: Disney animated movies.
Disney has priced out, chased out or ignored the group that was once the very lifeblood of the company: families with kids.
Maybe Disney can win them back or correct course. Because if not, there's a word for something that's lost its lifeblood.
Dead.
Maybe Disney can win them back or correct course. Because if not, there's a word for something that's lost its lifeblood.
Dead.
I actually have a viral tweet thread AND something to plug at the same time.
My first anthology, #WorldsLongLost, came out this month, give it a look if you are some inclined!
My first anthology, #WorldsLongLost, came out this month, give it a look if you are some inclined!
https://twitter.com/SCWKorsgaard/status/1605327112633610240?t=KKxquPGdFSMlopkE-ZynCw&s=19
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