Disney’s boy problem

A recent article from Variety scolded Zoomers for not being, checks notes, more interested in Disney’s IP like Star Wars and Marvel. 

And the irony is completely lost on all involved. 

Here’s the scoop: 

Zoomer men aren’t interested in the junk that Disney creates, including both billion doll-hair IPs in Marvel and Star Wars.

If you were to read the Variety article, you’d learn that Zoomer men don’t like Star Wars or Marvel because they’re lonely incels drenched in Cheeto dust who spend all their time playing video games. 

But if you had just a modicum of common sense, you’d realize that Disney’s hatred of their core audience (men) is the real reason boys no longer care about Star Wars or Disney. 

At least millennials, for example, had the Star Wars prequels. We loved them at the time even though critics hated them - the reverse is true for Zoomers. The sequels were a complete embarrassment to George Lucas, but the girl boss energy made the critics fawn while the actual fans got called toxic for having standards. 

Same story with Marvel. I remember watching Iron Man in the movie theaters with my middle school football team. It blew all of our minds (especially since Spider Man 3 was a complete dud). 

But Marvel has been atrocious since End Game. Even their good movies don’t make money because they’ve torn through all the good will they’ve built up over 11 years by, you guessed it, tossing in more girl bossing. 

Even ESPN (which is owned by Disney) is in shambles. The other day they posted a collage on their socials about the “iconic sports stars” which featured 11 WNBA players and only 10 NFL players even though the NFL dominates sports (even men’s sports). Cue the Shane Gillis joke at the ESPYs where the entire audience clapped for Matt McCusker’s wife because Shane first introduced her as a star WNBA player even though it’s only his buddy’s wife. 

And again, us millennials actually grew up watching a version of SportsCenter that couldn’t exist today because, well, it was made for men. 

Back to the Variety article… 

Instead of realizing the elephant in the room - that fantasy sci-fi flicks and superhero movies are made for boys and men - that faults Disney, they spin it around and blame the Zoomers for not being interested in something that wasn’t made for them. 

And here’s the kicker:

In an attempt to add women to their core audience, they instead just alienated everyone. 

Star Wars hasn’t released a movie in 7 years. 

Marvel went from averaging a billy in box office revenue per movie to not even being able to break even. 

And ESPN hasn’t had a good programming since I was a young’n. 

Of course there’s an important marketing lesson in all this too:

Don’t hate your customers. 

It’s wild that this even has to be said. But alas, it does. 

The funniest part about all this is how easy it is to make something that boys and men enjoy: Have a male protagonist that has flaws, but morals and a sense of honor. And have him do something to save his family. 

All of Star Wars’s and Marvel’s problems would be solved. 

But this t’won’t happen because, well, Disney hates half of the population which just so happens to be their core audience. 

(Maybe they oughtta hire yours truly.) 

Anyway, if you don’t hate your audience and don’t hate making more moolah, hit reply, and let’s chat. 

John