Disney's Lightyear (2022)

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Turo602

Tom Hanks doesn't exactly do the voice of the Woody toys either so why is it hard to imagine that the real Buzz Lightyear doesn't sound like an exaggerated doll from a cartoon series? Especially considering he's supposed to be a real astronaut and not some guy from the entertainment industry. They more than likely just wanted a much more credible actor for the role with a much more attractive sounding voice than the Tool Man.

There's definitely ways to explain it logically, in how could it happen... not why they would choose this. There isn't any way to explain it that makes sense in this charged climate beyond "we don't want to support Republicans/we don't want backlash for supporting Republicans." And obviously this would be a non-issue if this was, say, live action and not exactly the same exaggerated CGI medium as the Toy Story movies. No one would expect Tim Allen to suit up as Buzz Lightyear now in front of a camera, or even back around when Toy Story 1 came out. But it IS exactly the same medium and they're obviously not trying for, like, high art here. Of course they would get back the voice actor who has personified that character and made people care about it. But they're worried about Twitter. And this IS the same exaggerated CGI medium as Toy Story. And if the point or argument is, "But Tim Allen was doing kind of an exaggerated puffed up voice for the Toy Story movies" then that's even sillier. Because guess what you can do? Have Tim Allen not do an exaggerated puffed up voice in this. He's an actor. This is what they do.

Credible actor? Allen's movies have grossed more than 3 billion dollars. Notoriety-wise... Evans has been up for what exactly? Looks like some MTV Awards for "Best Kiss." Pretty much everything Evans has done outside of the MCU that hasn't failed is bit parts or supporting roles. Allen has led a movie franchise (not Toy Story) all on his back as the leading man, a beloved cult hit, and a long running TV show (which was stopped in its tracks because he was republican, oddly enough) and other odds and ends... and all of this is after Home Improvement which went on forever and everyone loved, which he largely carried. I mean, it wasn't because of Jonathan Taylor Thomas or that dude over the fence.

[Wildcat]

I remember he was upset ABC canceled Last Man Standing and then Fox got it. Before Disney bought it. He made comments it was his political stance and ABC said it was not. That they canceled other things at the time for financial reasons.

Is this why you think they don’t want him back?

Wait the guy in Lightyear is a real astronaut or is it a fictional movie within the Toy Story world? Like Andy would goto the theater and watch it?

I’m assuming it’s a movie within that world otherwise the aliens and lasers would also be real too. His whole toy line would be real.

I didn’t really think anything of it because it’s supposed to be a “real” guy either way but ya he could have voiced him.

[Turo602]

Just because it's an animated film doesn't mean they can't strive for something different, which they very clearly are with the way the trailer is presented. Just because you want to brush off this project as just another silly CGI film doesn't mean the people working on it are treating it as such or even have to make the real Buzz anything like the fake cartoon version of Buzz that they cast nearly 30 years ago. They're allowed to want to give the character a different presence than the toy and for all we know, Tim Allen could very well be in the film as toy Buzz Lightyear.

There's absolutely no reason to assume politics played any part in this considering Toy Story 4 came out only 2 years ago. Disney had no qualms working with Gina Carano until she started saying some stupid sh*t online. So unless Tim Allen has been recently cancelled, I don't see any reason they wouldn't work with him anymore. Not like Disney actually cares about woke sh*t considering how hard they bend to China.

[oldmanwinters]

Just felt in the mood to stream the HI openings:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlEYTW2Uu9w

[ZariusTwo]

A same sex kiss has been added back to the film after being previously cut

https://deadline.com/2022/03/pixar-l...ll-1234982061/

[ZariusTwo]

New trailer gives away the film's big twist

[Andrew NDB]

Flops. And nobody can figure out why.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/lightye...-keeps-flying/

[Coola Yagami]

Maybe cause no one really asked for this ****.

[Andrew NDB]

The Tim Allen thing (no, the "but this isn't about the toy's voice" doesn't track) was pretty dubious but the big stories about Disney mandating the lesbian kiss was for sure the lightning rod to hamstring this thing. Most parents would not take their kid to see such a thing, knowingly. If Disney just snuck it in there silently that'd probably have worked, but this was a big fiasco in the media.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Flops. And nobody can figure out why.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/lightye...-keeps-flying/

Probably because it has the exact same plot as 1998's Lost In Space...another bomb

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

The Tim Allen thing (no, the "but this isn't about the toy's voice" doesn't track) was pretty dubious but the big stories about Disney mandating the lesbian kiss was for sure the lightning rod to hamstring this thing. Most parents would not take their kid to see such a thing, knowingly. If Disney just snuck it in there silently that'd probably have worked, but this was a big fiasco in the media.

That can't be the entire reason this movie underperformed, there's no way. They spent weeks in the lead-up to "Beauty and the Beast" talking about the big "gay moment" and the movie still made boatloads of money in its opening weekend - well before the whole thing was revealed to be a nothingburger. Parents knew there'd be a "gay moment" and took their kids anyway, even before they knew "Oh, its just literally one second of two dudes dancing"

I think it's probably got more to do with the fact that - as Coola alluded to - nobody actually asked for or wanted this movie in the first place.

Besides... nobody gets offended when lesbians kiss. It's only gross when guys do it. People pay good money to see women kiss, like every day. If anything that's a draw.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

The Tim Allen thing (no, the "but this isn't about the toy's voice" doesn't track) was pretty dubious but the big stories about Disney mandating the lesbian kiss was for sure the lightning rod to hamstring this thing. Most parents would not take their kid to see such a thing, knowingly. If Disney just snuck it in there silently that'd probably have worked, but this was a big fiasco in the media.

Sorry, but that's ********.
If anything movie failed, because, it was a mediocre movie. Simple as that.
Most people are not obsessed with cultural war to the degree, where they choose their media based on "sides".

[Coola Yagami]

While not a factor, Disney did take out the gay kiss first and then purposely put it back in because 'hey, we must show our LGBT support and that we don't support the anti-groomer bill!'.

It wouldn't have made so much news if they just stuck to their guns in one direction or the other and not flip flop on it.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Sumac

Most people are not obsessed with cultural war to the degree, where they choose their media based on "sides".

No, sides and politics have nothing to do with it. Most parents just don't want their small children watching gay stuff in their cartoons and they certainly don't like paying to take them to see gay stuff in movies. It's as simple as that. And with every newsflash about "Disney pulled lesbian kiss from this country" and "Disney put it back in for that country!" and then all the stuff responding to that, the word got out. And then there's also all the stuff in the last couple of months in the news about Disney fighting Florida to allow them to talk about sexuality to kindergartners... so the word is out on that with parents, too.

The Allen thing coupled with the "it's super important we have a lesbian kiss in our kids movie" just paint a pretty good picture of their intent. Might be a bit problematic to have lesbian kisses in a movie "led" by Tim Allen, and so on. But it's all just academic at this point.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Sumac

Most people are not obsessed with cultural war to the degree, where they choose their media based on "sides".

You have no choice. Sooner or later it comes for you and you're forced to choose a side. Even something as simple as taking/not taking your kids to a movie you've been informed about that will have a gay kiss in it (during Pride mind you) is choosing a side.

Kinda like Negan said 'You better make a decision quick cause not making a decision is a BIG decision."

[Leo656]

I will say, after skimming a few articles (and Comments sections) about why the movie flopped, the only reason anyone is giving out loud as to why they didn't see it, or bring their kids to see it, IS actually because of the gay kiss. So okay, that's worth listening to, I guess. I haven't seen one person say, "It just looks bad" or "I'm sick of stuff about Toy Story" or any of that. But there are LOTS of comments about "indoctrinating children into filth" and "You can't pander to 1% of the population and expect it to go well", and all that stuff.

So okay, it might be a bigger factor than I'd thought. But it still makes no sense why it's different This Time. There was just as much hullaballoo around Beauty & the Beast, Avengers: Endgame, and other semi-recent movies that had same-sex content teased during their build-up, and in spite of those Comments sections being full of pretty much the exact same stuff, word-for-word and 1:1, those movies all still did big huge business in spite of that.

I'm inclined to think most people just think the movie just looks rather bad and that this is an easy thing to use as justification to not see it. You get to save a few bucks AND "take a stand" by saying "Keep this stuff away from kids". Except this is the first time it's really mattered. So in spite of what they say out loud, I still think there are other factors in play.

[Turo602]

The last few Pixar films have gone straight to Disney Plus, so I'm sure that played a role in its performance. But I also feel the marketing for it has been rather confusing and maybe just put people off of it entirely because they couldn't grasp the concept they were selling.

Their wording was originally that this was the real Buzz and not only until recently have I heard that this was now a movie Andy saw that made him want the toy. The film even opens up with text explaining that, because they've struggled to provide proper context for the film's existence and admitted they didn't know how to explain the movie to people. It honestly seems like a last minute "fix" to rope in more viewers by using Andy, despite the film itself contradicting some of the Buzz Lightyear lore established in Toy Story.

If making this a movie within the Toy Story universe was truly their intention from the start, you'd think the Toy Story universe could have been worked into the film better than just opening text. Otherwise, there's nothing about it that feels like it's supposed to be a movie from another time/universe. It's just a movie about Buzz Lightyear on a random space mission.

Personally, I thought the movie was okay, but it certainly didn't live up to the tone and premise they were setting up. There's too much focus on other characters even though Buzz is still the protagonist through and through, but you never really learn anything about him or where he came from. He's just a guy doing things who's dedicated to his mission. So he basically acts just like the toy rather than a real human like they made it seem originally. We already had the Buzz Lightyear: Star Command series and this basically fulfills that same purpose but as a Pixar movie.

Honestly, I think it would have been much more interesting and worthwhile had they approached the movie from the angle that this was a movie from 1995 or as something that actually happened in Andy's world that started a Buzz Lightyear phenomenon. I think audiences would have connected with that more and it certainly would have added some much needed depth that I think some people were looking for. It was still a fun movie all things considered and it definitely has franchise potential, but rather than make a sequel as the post-credits sequence hinted, I think a project like this would be better served as a Disney Plus series.

[IMJ]

It flopped because it was opportunistic woke $#!( and regular people are turning away from it in droves. The country isn't comprised mostly of the @$$holes who went out in the streets to complain that any life-negativity is someone else's fault or racism or whatever while looting buildings and hitting people in the back of the head.

Instead, the country is actually comprised of people who pay their living expenses and cut their grass or work towards a better life. Those people reject this woke $#!(.

One financial failure after another. People are catching on. Don't pay for woke $#!(. Let it f'n rot.

[mrmaczaps]

To bankruptcy and beyond! Lol This film couldn't even beat the 2nd weekend of the 3rd (6th) Jurassic flick. hooooboy.

[superstaff]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I will say, after skimming a few articles (and Comments sections) about why the movie flopped, the only reason anyone is giving out loud as to why they didn't see it, or bring their kids to see it, IS actually because of the gay kiss. So okay, that's worth listening to, I guess. I haven't seen one person say, "It just looks bad" or "I'm sick of stuff about Toy Story" or any of that. But there are LOTS of comments about "indoctrinating children into filth" and "You can't pander to 1% of the population and expect it to go well", and all that stuff.

So okay, it might be a bigger factor than I'd thought. But it still makes no sense why it's different This Time. There was just as much hullaballoo around Beauty & the Beast, Avengers: Endgame, and other semi-recent movies that had same-sex content teased during their build-up, and in spite of those Comments sections being full of pretty much the exact same stuff, word-for-word and 1:1, those movies all still did big huge business in spite of that.

I'm inclined to think most people just think the movie just looks rather bad and that this is an easy thing to use as justification to not see it. You get to save a few bucks AND "take a stand" by saying "Keep this stuff away from kids". Except this is the first time it's really mattered. So in spite of what they say out loud, I still think there are other factors in play.

Yeah. Because people are becoming radicalized on both sides, and are repelled or emboldened by anything they deem 'woke'.

I still remember people here, and in other parts of the interwebs claiming that The Batman was 'full of BLM propaganda'. Yeah...no. People keep saying stuff like Lightyear is '90% about the lesbian couple in the movie'. I think, based on reading the synopsis on Wikipedia and reviews, that's a bullsh*t lie. The movie seems like a clusterf*ck but not because of a 3 second lesbian kiss. But nah, nobody really cares about the plots of these movies. The Batman, Sonic f*cking 2, Turning Red, Doctor Strange 2, The Bad Guys, Fantastic Beasts 3, and so on are all movies I've seen knee deep in political discourse of some kind or another. It's inescapable. That's life now. Whether we like it or not, the plots of these movies don't matter at all, bad or not. It's all about politics, even when the movies themselves aren't political.