HBO closed down their kids streaming service a few months ago. To compensate they put almost everything onto Max. What wasn't there could be found on Tubi. There are several shows, movies, and other stuff to get everything to understand the Scoobster, so it has a weird feel to it. Fans collect the DVDs and VHS all the time.
I bring this up because suddenly Scooby has been pulled everywhere. I could watch it off several streaming services or buy some DVDs at Walmart. Now, it's all missing. There are a few shows still around, but the basic stuff, and even then it's limited to Tubi and HBO Max.
It's really weird and works with a weird rumour I keep hearing about WB being up for sale, or selling parts.
Movies and shows are not quite making the money they should. We have the Superman thread here as an example. Big pushes for movies to make Billions and only making hundreds of millions. What's keeping a lot of them alive is the theme parks dedicated to them. Avatar as a movie series is incredibly forgettable. The theme park area at Disney world is full. The Star Wars movies aren't doing great, while the shows are hit and miss, but the parks for them are why people visit Disney world. A joke among people at either Disney or Universal is someone asking where Harry Potter is at Disney, or Star Wars at Universal.
So the parks are making tons from this. The new How to Train your Dragon movie was released to promote the new park. Movies and TV shows are being used to promote parks as the real money makers.
Paramount was just sold for $8 Billion, and then gave the South Park guys $1.1 Billion for a show. Is that stupid? Yeah. However, Universal Hollywood had a Star Trek experience a few months ago for geeks. It also had a D&D experience. Imagine a haunted house but it's a geek experience instead. That made a lot of money and will likely be used for the other parks like Florida, Japan, China, Singapore ECT. I don't think Paramount paid a billion for a show, I think they paid for an IP for an experience. My wife was shocked to find out Casa Bonita was a real place, and wants to go entirely for the Cartman picture.
I think a lot of companies are pushing for IPs to be used as themed experiences. Scoobert has a mini put and escape room. Universal has some rights to it because they had a Hanna Barbera experience and still regularly have meet and greets. I wouldn't be shocked if WB sold the entire thing to Universal. Paramount and WB don't have the money or know how to create parks or experiences. They are likely going to rent out or sell IP to make money for experiences.
WB may be letting more IP loose or even go up for sale. My guess is Universal will buy it, entirely for the IP for the theme parks.
I think the opposite. Generally, I think experiences are what can keep things like malls alive, vs sheer consumption of physical goods since etail has replaced retail. But correct me if I am wrong, but 20 years ago the narrative was amusement parks like Disneyland were loss leaders and really kept out of prestige. Or, the burger you sell at a loss so someone orders a $7 beer at a profit. That kind of thing.
I do know prices at parks has skyrocketed lately. How much of that is inflation driven and how much of that is increasing profit margins, I am not sure.
From my experience, my wife and I used to do to Disneyland annually. Then in 2020ish Disney/Marvel became super gay and lame and we stopped going entirely. Am I alone? Not sure. I could be in the minority. A few years back the parks being empty was circling around the rumor mill.
** ** My honest assessment is that mega corporations have lost the plot. ** **
This sounds crazy but here me out. 80% of people have forgot how to do 80% of things. It's not just Disney. It's the waiter at your local restaurant. It's the guy at the movie theater. The salesman at the car dealership. The black lady at the DMV. The (covid) shutdowns made people fucking retarded. Decades of acquired skills were lost in 2-3 years and never relearned.
That goes for execs too, and writers, and directors. And that's why everything seems worse now than it did 10 years ago: Movies Books Music TV Shows Service at any business or restaurant or hotel Sig makes guns that accidentally discharge, so it's engineers too Military aircraft keep crashing
So yes, Disney forgot how to Disney. Disney is family. Disney bought Fox which makes rated R shit not remotely suitable for kids. Disney is for family, but they priced families out of their parks. Disney is for family, but they put the message into their shit now. Disney remembers their "boomer" audience of the 80s and 90s which was gen Xers and millennials. Half of those cohorts because leftoids and Disney thought that's who they needed to continue to court to make money. Except those faggots didn't have kids. So Disney ended up creating a new park experience not for families/kids but 37 year old white liberals with pink hair who cosplay as starwars characters. And that's a demographic that won't pay dividends. And Disney forgot how to be the Disney of the 90s that everyone loved.
In other words, faggots, Disney's new audience are kiddie diddlers, and Disney has an endless supply of kids. Nothing strange here.
Correct. Weird how Disney shifted from making products for kids, to making products for people who abuse or hate kids.
Or the black ones that go there and start fights that we see on X all the time.