It is without a doubt that Disney has had a major influence on the entertainment industry but if you go back a decade, things weren’t looking so great for the media giant.
It was only after the acquisition of Marvel and Lucas Films that Disney started to get a lion’s share of the entertainment business. Marvel helped usher in a new age of superhero films with a ton of CGI to mask the shortcoming of mere mortals and give them ungodly power.
Market Share
Disney did not stop with these two acquisitions bt also managed to get Fox and all its properties, the culmination of which resulted in Disney earning over 33% of the entire market share in 2019.
Films like Captain Marvel, Avengers Endgame, Aladdin, Lion King, Toy Story 4, and Frozen II have all earned more than a billion dollars worldwide and the recent Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is still in theatres closing in on that number.
Nostalgia
Disney’s strategy is plain and simple, though it may not look big during the inception, Disney is banking on the nostalgia factor. All the films mentioned above are part of a much larger series, and while individually it may seem small, everything ties in together.
Disney’s large market share is a constant reminder that they now have the market under control which means that any and every trend that prevails will be helmed by Disney and the top executive that work there.
Monopoly
This is a worrisome factor as Quentin Tarantino had previously stated that Disney tried to meddle with his film The Hateful Eight during its release which was clashing with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Now, this may have been a one-off instance but it still shows the fact how this media giant can dictate which films to show and not.
It is a scary future we’re heading into as such a market share will eventually lead up to a monopoly. Hopefully, there can be an equal share in this decade but looking at how aggressively Disney is pushing content with films and tv shows with Disney+ it is hard to see any other outcome.