For studios, the money isn’t the same. They get a higher percentage of the $20 ticket in the first week than they do in the second or third.

Agreed. It definitely doesn’t have the same feel as Fury Road. This feels too slick, too polished, too artificial.  (None of those are exactly right, because FR was all those things too, just... in a different way).

Are you like Chapek’s cousin or something?

You could limit attendance without implementing a bunch of annoying new functions and without raising rates or adding nickel-and-dime fees to already outrageously expensive tickets.  Covid doesn’t make any of that necessary.

Shooting very minimal coverage is a tried and true method for directors to maintain control over the edit.  The problem is that unless you’re phenomenally good at it, it can get you in a lot of trouble.

Chapek can 100% be blamed for park-related issues. A lot of the new fees, overall increase in rates, as well as actively trying to minimize the number of season pass holders, can be laid at his feet. IIRC, the whole reservation system (a source of confusion for a lot of people that don’t plan the ever-loving shit out…

“It’s the same shit that rendered the comics all but unreadable for awhile”

THIS, so much this. One would think that the company that nearly killed its own industry once with this bullshit would know better than to repeat those mistakes, but obviously one would be wrong.

Ultimately though, the proof is in the box office and uh, that wasn’t good.

Most genre movies have at least one “gimme”. You could do a lot worse than “freak weather event” as an inciting incident, especially when everything that follows is fairly tight.

It’s disappointing for the same reason The Phantom Menace was — we were excited to see a return to a beloved franchise by the guy who started it, only to learn that he had no idea what made it work.

“Higher?” No, sir. It’s very well shot and designed garbage, flawed from the initial concept all the way through to the script and staging.

Moana gets better every time I’ve seen it, and with two young kids in the house, I’ve seen it a lot.  It’s up there with just about anything else in the Disney canon.

The problem isn’t that current movies are political- as you say, movies have always had political viewpoints.

The current problem is that they’re often just not very good movies, and it’s often because the people making them are more concerned with about the politics they’re trying to convey than they are with making a…

That’s so blatant it has to be on purpose. Especially since it’s been around for over a hundred fucking years.

Ah yes, but for Freddy or LotR?

Look, the man has a brand*, and he’s going to stick to it.

I think it’s because you’re equating doing something lovingly done by hand with CGI. It’s not that CG can’t be just as emotionally affecting (Jesse’s Song, anyone?) but it’s kind of like asking why a master painter can’t just switch to photography.

That’s what a retainer is.

Oh, I get it now.  You’re a moron.

What is it like to live a life completely devoid of humor and joy?