Disney Closing Blue Sky Is Exactly What People Feared About the Fox Purchase

Disney Closing Blue Sky Is Exactly What People Feared About the Fox Purchase

Disney’s decision to shut down Blue Sky animation studio confirms people’s worries about the studio’s purchase of Fox’s assets.

You Are Reading :[thien_display_title]

Disney Closing Blue Sky Is Exactly What People Feared About the Fox Purchase

Disney sent shockwaves through the film industry when it finalized its purchase of Fox’s movie and TV assets in March 2019. However, as bold as the move was, it also raised legitimate concerns about the potential side effects of a major Hollywood player consolidating so many properties and smaller studios under a single roof. Now, if anything, the news that Disney is closing Blue Sky’s animation studio has validated much of what people were worried about when the Disney-Fox deal went through.

Admittedly, Disney’s decision to shut down Blue Sky is kind of predictable. After all, Blue Sky’s last film, 2019’s Spies in Disguise, was a commercial disappointment and even its Ice Age franchise has diminished in popularity since it peaked at the box office in 2009. What’s more, with Disney and Pixar Animation meeting the Mouse House’s demand for animated content, there wasn’t an obvious spot for Blue Sky in its present business model. As such, it’s no shock the relatively less successful former Fox animation studio has landed on the chopping block as a direct result of Disney’s financial losses over the past year due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic .

Disney Closing Blue Sky Is Exactly What People Feared About the Fox Purchase

All the same, Blue Sky closing is unwelcome news. It would be bad enough if all the employees at a major animation studio were laid off under normal circumstances, but the fact this is happening in the middle of a pandemic that has already resulted in heavy job losses makes it even worse. Similarly, from a creative perspective, Blue Sky shutting down will lead to less variety in mainstream animation for the time being. Indeed, the studio had amassed a noticeably eclectic body of work, ranging from the slapstick-driven Ice Age series to the earnest Peanuts Movie and older-skewing family-friendly genre films like Epic and Spies in Disguise.

See also  Why Frodo Had To Leave Middleearth At The End Of Lord Of The Rings

No doubt, this news also comes as a disappointment to those who were looking forward to Blue Sky’s animated film adaptation of the Nimona webcomics. Created by Noelle Stevenson, Nimona has been celebrated for its LGBTQ-inclusive elements, including the ways it bends and subverts the gender-based tropes of mainstream fantasy. Blue Sky’s Nimona movie similarly had the potential to be the first truly queer-friendly animated film released under the Disney banner, but now it won’t be able to finish production before Blue Sky officially closes its doors at some point in April.

Disney will reportedly work with Blue Sky’s former employees to try to find them open positions at its other animation studios in the months ahead. However, it’s highly unlikely this will lead to Disney or Pixar Animation making the types of projects Blue Sky was working on in its final years or deviating from their tried-and-true formulas. It’s too bad; as well-received as recent Disney-backed animated films like Frozen II, Onward and Soul have been, they arguably suffered from rehashing too many of their respective studios’ tropes and might have benefited from a fresher approach.

Sorry to say, this too supports longstanding criticisms of the Disney-Fox deal. Because the Mouse House owns so many studios in general now, those producing content (live-action or animated) that doesn’t neatly fit the Disney brand and/or isn’t quite as lucrative will be considered more expendable in times of financial crisis. Case in point: Spies in Disguise’s box office under-performance is something Blue Sky could have readily moved past if Fox’s assets hadn’t been acquired by Disney, even in the face of the continuing pandemic. Now, sadly, it won’t even get a chance to try.

See also  Harry Potter How Slytherins Locket Breaks A Horcrux Pattern

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/disney-closing-blue-sky-fox-nimona/

Movies -