4 ms·

If instead of buying IP and stealing from public domain works they invested more into creating new IP they could actually make a lot of money. I'm sick of them

If instead of buying IP and stealing from public domain works they invested more into creating new IP they could actually make a lot of money. I'm sick of them being allowed to increase their entertainment monopoly on children instead of being told to just create new original works. It's not like they have a shortage of talented people...

mynameisvlad 3y ago
What public domain works have their recent movies been based off of? Outside of their reimaginings/reboots, I can't think of a single recent movie that isn't an original work. And that doesn't include things like LucasFilm, Marvel and Pixar which are, obviously, original and still part of Disney.
- legostormtroopr 3y ago
  Tangled (Repunzel), Moana (uses and remixes actual Polynesian myths), Frozen (based on the snow queen), Peter Pan, Little Mermaid - a stack of recent Disney movies have been based on existing IP. You just don't notice because they culturally steamroll the originals. The most recent movie Wish - is just callbacks to other Disney movies, so does it count as original IP? And this excludes their reboots - but also excludes Pixar which has done some original albeit lacklustre stuff recently.
  - selimthegrim 3y ago
    As far as Frozen goes, at least they got something new to replace the Norway exhibit at Epcot, because it got so old and stale, that Norway disowned it, and refused to pay for the renewal
    - bombcar 3y ago
      Frozen is just Norwegian propaganda and you’ll not convince me otherwise. I wonder if anyone has worked out the actual dollar effect it is has had on Norwegian tourism.
    - giancarlostoro 3y ago
      I was a little upset, I had no idea it had anything there till after they replaced it, after years of going there... Edit: Apparently the pavillion was only partially funded by the Norwegian government. Your comment made me curious. https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/08/13/who-actually-owns-the-world-showcase-pavilions-in-epcot/ https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/08/13/who-actually-owns-...
  - mynameisvlad 3y ago
    Peter Pan is a 70-year old movie. Little Mermaid is 25 years old. There have also been many, many original movies released in that time: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Pictures_films https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Pictures... The vast majority of recent Disney content is original.
    - thaumasiotes 3y ago
      > Little Mermaid is 25 years old. You're thinking of Mulan, not The Little Mermaid.
      - mynameisvlad 3y ago
        Oh god I misread 89 as 99. Even I didn’t realize it was that old.
s1artibartfast 3y ago
IMO, their biggest problem is moving away from public domain works.
Yodel0914 3y ago
It is not possible to steal from the public domain. That's the entire point of it.
- tanseydavid 3y ago
  Go try to produce something based around the public domain story Cinderella. I doubt that Disney would take this kindly or lightly. That's the entire point of the post that you are responding to.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    There’s a French live action Beauty and the Beast which was rereleased in the US to take advantage of the hype around Disney’s remake - and it’s actually darn good for a $5 supermarket checkout movie. Disney sued nobody.
  - blackoil 3y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella#Works_based_on_the_Cinderella_story https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella#Works_based_on_th...
  - bazoom42 3y ago
    You mean like Andrew Lloyd Webbers musical Bad Cinderella?
- kmeisthax 3y ago
  It's stealing in the cultural appropriation sense, not the copyright sense. When you create a new work based off a public domain work, you own what you added to that work. If your adaptation happens to be extremely successful, that effectively recopyrights the character, because the version people care about is the one you own. If someone else wants to use the public domain character, they have to aggressively distance their use of that character from yours. Disney spent decades re-imagining Europe's folk tales[0] through his lens. Their movies are the ones people think about when you mention Snow White, Cinderella, Pinocchio, etc. Notably, the visual designs are unique enough to get independent copyright protection. So independent uses of those characters don't look like themselves. This, BTW, is why anyone who wants to renounce copyright over their creative work should opt for CC-BY-SA and not a public domain dedication. Share-alike clauses prevent this sort of gradual appropriation. [0] as filtered/censored thru the Brothers Grimm

mynameisvlad 3y ago

What public domain works have their recent movies been based off of? Outside of their reimaginings/reboots, I can't think of a single recent movie that isn't an original work. And that doesn't include things like LucasFilm, Marvel and Pixar which are, obviously, original and still part of Disney.

legostormtroopr 3y ago
Tangled (Repunzel), Moana (uses and remixes actual Polynesian myths), Frozen (based on the snow queen), Peter Pan, Little Mermaid - a stack of recent Disney movies have been based on existing IP. You just don't notice because they culturally steamroll the originals. The most recent movie Wish - is just callbacks to other Disney movies, so does it count as original IP? And this excludes their reboots - but also excludes Pixar which has done some original albeit lacklustre stuff recently.
- selimthegrim 3y ago
  As far as Frozen goes, at least they got something new to replace the Norway exhibit at Epcot, because it got so old and stale, that Norway disowned it, and refused to pay for the renewal
  - bombcar 3y ago
    Frozen is just Norwegian propaganda and you’ll not convince me otherwise. I wonder if anyone has worked out the actual dollar effect it is has had on Norwegian tourism.
  - giancarlostoro 3y ago
    I was a little upset, I had no idea it had anything there till after they replaced it, after years of going there... Edit: Apparently the pavillion was only partially funded by the Norwegian government. Your comment made me curious. https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/08/13/who-actually-owns-the-world-showcase-pavilions-in-epcot/ https://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2021/08/13/who-actually-owns-...
- mynameisvlad 3y ago
  Peter Pan is a 70-year old movie. Little Mermaid is 25 years old. There have also been many, many original movies released in that time: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Pictures_films https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Pictures... The vast majority of recent Disney content is original.
  - thaumasiotes 3y ago
    > Little Mermaid is 25 years old. You're thinking of Mulan, not The Little Mermaid.
    - mynameisvlad 3y ago
      Oh god I misread 89 as 99. Even I didn’t realize it was that old.

s1artibartfast 3y ago

IMO, their biggest problem is moving away from public domain works.

Yodel0914 3y ago

It is not possible to steal from the public domain. That's the entire point of it.

tanseydavid 3y ago
Go try to produce something based around the public domain story Cinderella. I doubt that Disney would take this kindly or lightly. That's the entire point of the post that you are responding to.
- bombcar 3y ago
  There’s a French live action Beauty and the Beast which was rereleased in the US to take advantage of the hype around Disney’s remake - and it’s actually darn good for a $5 supermarket checkout movie. Disney sued nobody.
- blackoil 3y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella#Works_based_on_the_Cinderella_story https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella#Works_based_on_th...
- bazoom42 3y ago
  You mean like Andrew Lloyd Webbers musical Bad Cinderella?
kmeisthax 3y ago
It's stealing in the cultural appropriation sense, not the copyright sense. When you create a new work based off a public domain work, you own what you added to that work. If your adaptation happens to be extremely successful, that effectively recopyrights the character, because the version people care about is the one you own. If someone else wants to use the public domain character, they have to aggressively distance their use of that character from yours. Disney spent decades re-imagining Europe's folk tales[0] through his lens. Their movies are the ones people think about when you mention Snow White, Cinderella, Pinocchio, etc. Notably, the visual designs are unique enough to get independent copyright protection. So independent uses of those characters don't look like themselves. This, BTW, is why anyone who wants to renounce copyright over their creative work should opt for CC-BY-SA and not a public domain dedication. Share-alike clauses prevent this sort of gradual appropriation. [0] as filtered/censored thru the Brothers Grimm