From a business perspective, they certainly have many reasons to move all-in on Disney+ releases. It's annoying as a movie theatergoer, but a business' #1 priority is to make decisions that generate the most profit, little/nothing else. Is there a reason, as a business, to continue to pursue theatrical releases for anything but the biggest of big films that are likely to do $1 billion like the Marvel films? I can't really think of any as long as Disney+ continues to do so well.

I question if Encanto would have been so popular, and its songs/soundtrack especially so (making history), if it was a theatrical exclusive. Just assuming it did Moana numbers in normal times, I don't know if that level of audience would have taken the songs/soundtrack to the levels of success they're seeing now. Disney+ did allow it to reach who knows how many more people across various platforms.

Does it matter that so many people watch something if they are not paying for it?

I don't see how a theatrical window keeps films from being popular on Disney Plus. Like will people see a film on Disney Plus and be like "oh that was in theaters, think I'll skip it!" Like were people only watching Soul, Luca and Encanto on Disney Plus because of their abnormal releases?

I think it's pretty reasonable to think if someone is anticipating a movie and it's only available on D+, it would push them sign up to see it more than if it's in theatres. There being multiple straight to D+ movies a year also helps people who might have cancelled D+ to stick with it.

If someone signs up to see Encanto, even on the first month alone you almost made as much as a theatre ticket. But the value of someone signing up for D+ now and staying for the next 10 years is like a theatre ticket times 120. So I'm not surprised they like subscription model. Magnus when he was here was talking about how theatres are important to build buzz for a movie but it probably depends on the genre, Encanto blowing up like it did it proves at least its genre doesn't need it and as mentioned if anything a movie like Moana might have had more buzz in D+ era.

Strange World looks to be the blandest and most unappealing Disney animated product in perhaps decades?

Chapek is now moving forward with big cuts and a hiring freeze.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/busin ... 235260531/

He seems to be a Tim Cook type ops focus guy but not necessarily attuned to the fact creatives drive a lot of the business. Bob gave him a smooth running ship. Even with the uncertainty in the world feels like this run isn't going to end well for Disney. 25% chance Iger is asked to come back imo within a year.

The streaming business, which I believe is the future and has been growing, is not delivering basically the kind of profitability or bottom line results that the linear business delivered for us over a few decades.