What would happen if Walt Disney woke up from cryosleep?

A couple weeks ago, two things related to Disney World happened in my film routine—if I can call it that way—that strongly caught my eye. The first one was that I started watching The Acolyte, one of the various failed by-products of the Star Wars universe that plummeted from its premiere—even though it incredibly has a 4.1 rating on IMdB and a 3.9 rating on Peliplat. In my opinion, the show had everything to present a twist to the former—and current—mediocrity of modern projects based on what George Lucas created 40 years ago. Nonetheless, the show fell short and a frenzy in my body made me think that Disney was destroying everything, but then, the second "thing" happened.

This second thing was that, as every writer, I started asking myself questions that can be classified as even existentialistic and ridiculous. For example, just a few days ago, I had this one: What would happen if I was a film critic with The Dude's philosophy? Not only did I manage to make the audience who dares to read my articles on a daily basis a little bit interested in the subject, but I also internally healed a necessary matter: the abundance of information. So, I told myself, "Why not keep this method up?" I believe that constructive criticism and the hypothesis we formulate can spark off interesting debates and generate different opinions and points of view which, if well-presented, can change our perspective forever.

What would happen if Walt Disney woke up from his cryosleep? If I would simply ask this question, I would be minimizing this article to a meaningless void where anyone could comment without proper information and be a victim of ruthless criticism. Therefore, I consider the early and methodical investigation much more appropriate for this instance since, as every cinephile knows, talking for the sake of talking is not the best in this realm… let alone assuming—as I'm doing here—or, more adequately, presuming that the creator of one of the biggest audio-visual production companies of the world is frozen somewhere.

WHO WAS WALT DISNEY?

We repeat his surname until exhaustion, we made up an idea about the brand and we pride ourselves in believing we know everything about this universe, but hardly ever we really ask ourselves who this person was, the flesh and blood behind all the magic we experienced as kids—and also as adults. In fact, it's strange that just by googling the name of this actual artist, the first results are more commercial than personal.

Born on December 5th of 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, Walter Elias Disney spent his first years as a young artist getting rejected by several companies, forging useless alliances and investing more than what he earned. His constant failures made him consider that he was an average film director, but he had more ambitious goals. Regarding this, during my investigation, I found some facts that left me with a slight feeling of uncertainty.

• Disney was completely against Hollywood's monopolist system in the 30s. He wanted to bring joy and comfort to the audience, but, at the same time, one of his goals was to inspire others. Therefore, along with other colleagues, he was one of the founding members of the Society of Independent Motion Pictures Producers. What would happen if he saw how his own company, after almost 60 years of his death, is the one that nowadays absorbs almost all other production companies without leaving room for the competition? Don't be surprised, there's an even more unbelieve contradiction in the following bullet point.

• Years after that founding, precisely in 1953, Walt founded the film distributor Buena Vista Pictures Entertainment (currently known as Walt Disney Motion Pictures)—a subsidiary of his empire, which nowadays includes: Hollywood Pictures Company and its division of specialized films, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax Films (Harvey Weinstein's production company, which makes things even more shady) and its division of specialized films, Dimension Films, American Broadcasting Company (ABC), ABC Family Channel and ESPN (that's why you can watch the sports channel on Disney+, everything makes sense now).

An artist with a modest soul or one consumed by ambition?

The lines seemed blurred…

Walt was methodical, professional as few, loyal to his ideals and can even be described as an authoritarian boss, but he grew immensely after Mickey Mouse's creation in 1928—even though there are rumors that his partner Ub Iwerks actually created the character. Mickey was a friendly animated mouse who caused great empathy and who caught the eye of people of all ages not just in Hollywood, but in every corner of the United States—and later, of Europe—for its immense charisma and simplicity.

The success, the fame and the sudden recognition created a hole in Walt's mind which made him ponder, "What if we made the first solely animated feature film in history?" This film was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The year? 1937.

The budget? A million dollars, which were financed by a bank loan and almost ended up leading the company to bankruptcy.

The revenue? Eight million dollars.

Walt knew he had something big under his sleeve. That's why I don't believe that if, today, September 25th of 2024, our dear friend would magically wake up from his alleged lethargy, he would be shocked about his company's reality. Unfortunately, the word industry predominates in these cases instead of the word art.

Therefore, I want you to answer the question:

What do you think would happen if Walt Disney woke up from cryosleep?

BY JERÓNIMO CASCO

Posted on OCTOBER 1, 2024, 13:38 PM | UTC-GMT -3

You can also find me on Instagram as 👉 JerodeSeptimoArte

If you liked this article remember to give it a 👉 LIKE, put it in your FAVORITES, COMMENT 🗣️ , and FOLLOW ME for more movie and series content 📽