Fire sale at Disney

Remember when Disney protested Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Law, which Marxists mocked as a “Don’t Say Gay” law?

Remember how neocons said DeSantis should not retaliate?

Remember when Disney owned ESPN and ABC?

It soon may sell them off because the company needs cash.

Remember when Disney stock was $197.16?

Well, it closed at $90.47 yesterday. How bad are things at the House of Mouse? Jim Cramer recommended buying it.

Maybe you should. What do I know? I’m a writer, not a stock analyst. But I do have a pretty good eye for the obvious and I can see Disney has problems with a capital P, which rhymes with T and it stands for T-girls. The tranny movement trampled Bud Light and Target because normal people — real Americans — want the perverts to leave the kids alone.

However, Disney is the biggest loser. Zero Hedge reported, “Where Is Everyone? Disney World ‘Just About Empty.’”

The story said, “Disney's market capitalization has been halved since peaking at $335 billion in March 2021.”

Going woke cost shareholders $170 billion or so. They just extended Bob Iger’s contract as CEO through 2026.

The Zero Hedge story blamed prices for people staying home but it also noted that Disney is closing a new Star Wars-themed hotel due to lack of demand. Why not drop prices first? The people running American businesses are just as loopy as the people running the government.

Yahoo bleated, “Disney CEO Bob Iger said the parks business is booming despite an ongoing battle with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.”

Iger told CNBC, “We see no sign of [DeSantis impacting attendance] at all.”

But a chart accompanying the story showed wait times at Disney World averaged 47 minutes in 2019, the last year before the panic over covid.

The waiting averaged 31 minutes in 2021 as the public began to ignore the government’s covid edicts.

But the average wait fell to 27 minutes this year as families avoid the we’re-here, we’re-queer, we’re-coming-for-your-children creeps.

Disney’s support of LGBT is its undoing. Families want to protect their children. Disney does not, which is why it lost out on the profits of a movie that cost little to make and is drawing good box office.

Screen Rant reported, “Sound of Freedom, starring Jim Caviezel, has become a surprise hit at the box office, but the journey to success was a long one for the 2023 action film.”

The film is about saving kids from prostitution. Disney tried to kill the film.

The story said, “Following the conclusion of filming in 2018, the Sound of Freedom producers made a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox. The movie should have come out way before 2023, so what happened? The answer is the Walt Disney Company. Disney officially purchased 20th Century Fox in 2019, meaning that the entertainment conglomerate also acquired all the studio's projects that were in development, including Sound of Freedom.

“However, following the sale, Disney shelved Sound of Freedom. The producers then tried for many years to get the distribution rights to the movie back, and eventually, in March 2023, Angel Studios obtained the worldwide distribution rights and released the film in July of the same year.

“According to Newsweek, a Disney spokesperson commented on the matter and shared that a deal regarding Sound of Freedom’s international distribution happened before Disney bought Fox. They said, ‘[Disney] studios had no knowledge of the film given the nature of the international acquisition pre-merger.’ Therefore, it got shelved, and the rest is history.”

Sure Disney officials did not know about the film. And I got a train trestle in Poca, West Virginia, to sell you.

Meanwhile, Sound of Freedom’s main competition at the theaters is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The Indiana Jones film is selling more tickets but it cost 10 times as much to make. On top of that, Disney is spending big on marketing the flick.

The film is a dud as Disney has done to the Indiana Jones franchise what Disney did to Star Wars.

Collider reported, “In hindsight, the release of a new Indiana Jones film after 15 years away from the big screen should be more welcomed, impactful, and highly regarded.

“In a cruel twist of fate, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny swung to an underwhelming opening weekend at the box office, grossing a minimal $60 million domestically. Worst of all, many box office predictors foresaw this outcome weeks in advance.

“The fifth installment of the Indy franchise appeared to be doomed from the start, but how could a series with such strong brand recognition, a legendary star in Harrison Ford, and a previously established commercial appeal financially falter this greatly?”

Maybe it is because Ford is 80 years old. I saw him on a rerun of The Defenders. His first movie was 57 years ago.

Maybe it is Disney being woke instead of being awake and TCB — taking care of business.

Slay reported, “Disney lost a staggering $890 million at the box office on its last eight theatrical releases, according to a new industry analysis.

“The Walt Disney Co. suffered huge losses on woke releases such as The Little Mermaid and Elemental.

“After flopping at the box office, these movies will likely expand their losses as they head for streaming.

“The company is restricting the movies to Disney+ streaming only, so they won’t appear on more popular services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime where they could generate extra revenue.”

Ah yes, Disney+ — the white elephant of streaming.

Deadline reported, “Disney+ Loses More Subscribers But Overall Streaming Losses Improve As Company Posts Solid Quarterly Report.”

By solid, Deadline meant Disney lost only $659 million instead of the $887 million it lost in the same three-month period in 2022.

But as Everett Dirksen might say, $890 million here, $659 million there, $887 million over there, and pretty soon you are talking fire sale.

Which brings me to Outkick, which cheerfully reported, “CEO Bob Iger says Disney is open to selling a portion of its equity in ESPN.

“Iger, who recently signed an extension through 2026, says Disney would also consider selling or spinning off its linear television networks ABC, FX, National Geographic, and Freeform.”

Freeform once upon a time was the Christian Broadcasting Network. Maybe they can buy it back cheap.

Iger said, “Transformative work is dealing with businesses that are no growth businesses and what to do about them, and particularly the linear business, which we are expansive in our thinking about. [Disney’s television properties] may not be core to the company.”

“And we’re going to look expansively about opportunities there because clearly, it’s a business that is going to continue to struggle.”

Oh how the mighty have fallen. This is not Trumpenfreude, rather it is the first case of DeSantisfreude.

The media still sides with Disney.

In April, Julian Zelizer of CNN wrote, “President Franklin Roosevelt launched a war against the Great Depression. President Lyndon Johnson launched a war against poverty. President Ronald Reagan launched a war against communism. Gov. Ron DeSantis — a potential 2024 candidate — has decided to launch his war against Disney, one of America’s most iconic companies and a crucial source of revenue for his home state of Florida.”

Actually, Florida can get along pretty well without Disney. Sure, it employs 75,000 people in the Sunshine State but there are 9,726,100 jobs in Florida.

Maybe Disney can move Disney World to Epstein Island.

Where it belongs.