A Kiss Goodnight for Now
Early in the day yesterday, I tweeted this:
And then, Disney tweeted this in the afternoon.
Fair is fair: I said “around eight hours away”, and Disney ended up making its announcement five hours after my tweet. I was close, though!
Seriously: closing the Disney theme parks indefinitely is both a heartbreaking decision and absolutely the correct one. I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m not a huge fan of other theme-park chains kicking the can by a few weeks. I had initially presumed that Disney noting it would pay its hourly Cast Members through April 18 might signify that this closure is hopefully going to lift on April 19. A Cast Member reached out to me on Twitter and noted this isn’t the case; there clearly is no specific opening-date target at this point.
And listen, it sucks. This whole situation, for lack of a better word, sucks. As much as the Disney theme parks can often be a balm — if there’s a reason why I love them, it’s because you can often escape the real world in Disneyland or Walt Disney World — we’re in a horrible and unique period of human history where theme parks just don’t rise to the level of essential services.
So, what now? Now, we wait and we hope that something will turn around sooner rather than later. The news last night that a medical company has figured out a way to mass-produce effective COVID-19 tests that turn results around in literally 5 minutes is encouraging, and with luck, the first step forward in a long and still uncertain path. Entertainment companies like Disney are still waiting for some of the light on that path to show itself; with the parks closed indefinitely, ESPN resorting to showing Tetris championships, and films like Mulan delayed for the time being, there’s only so much we can do but watch a company as it tries not to slip into freefall.
Right now, parks aside, my main question is what will happen to the rest of Disney’s summer-movie slate. Artemis Fowl is still set to be released on May 29, and Soul on June 19. But here’s the thing: if Wonder Woman 1984 has been pushed until mid-August, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where a Kenneth Branagh-directed adaptation of a British book series is going to be the first big film out of the gate once we lick this pandemic. I would be surprised if, come this time next week, Artemis Fowl is delayed anew.
And regarding Soul, I wonder if Pixar will have to delay the film for reasons outside of anyone’s real control. Last week, Illumination Entertainment announced that Minions 2: The Rise of Gru would have to be delayed from its July 3, 2020 release date. Notably, Illumination and Universal Pictures weren’t pushing the film out of that now-familiar canard, An Abundance of Caution. It’s because the film isn’t finished yet, and with the restrictions in Paris, the animators literally have work left to complete. Soul is set to open in just under 3 months, and Pixar — located in the San Francisco area, which is sadly grappling with this pandemic quite intensely — could have a similar issue.
I don’t imagine either film will land on VOD, unless the Trolls World Tour test goes swimmingly enough that Disney’s willing to forego the ire of movie-theater exhibitors. I imagine this next week will shed some light on the subject.
Your Recommendation for Today
Sometimes, Twitter surprises me. To wit: after the parks-closure announcement yesterday, I tweeted about one of my niche dreams for Disney+ and its future.
I wasn’t expecting that tweet to take off as it did. The theme parks aren’t exactly super-niche, but historical footage of said parks might well be. And yet! People seemed onboard with my idea. I can only hope someone at Disney+ is listening. In the meantime, since we have to go to YouTube to watch in-park video streams for the moment, you can still find something on Disney+ to whet your whistle if you want to see what the Disney theme parks used to be like: Disneyland Around the Seasons.
This is one of a few handfuls of episodes of the Walt Disney anthology TV series that are available on Disney+, and it’s quite the fascinating hourlong journey into the past. The episode, which notably aired days after the death of Walt Disney, is a glimpse into how Disneyland Park looked and operated back in the 1960s. The episode showcases early footage of Great Moments of Mr. Lincoln, It’s A Small World, and more. If you love the Disney theme parks now, you should acquaint yourself with their history, and there’s no better place to start than this special.