For nearly a century, ever since its founder and namesake released his first Mickey Mouse cartoon, the Walt Disney Company has been the king of animation.
Unfortunately for Disney, a new movie from another prominent film company is suggesting that those days might be over.
According to Deadline, Universal/Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” a new release, is on track for a $368 million global five-day start, which would make it the biggest animated opening of all time.
This record would beat out Disney’s “Frozen 2,” the 2019 movie that currently holds the top spot at $358 million.
The audience scores speak for themselves. Although it has only received a 56% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, with the movie receiving an audience score of 96%.
In addition, Yahoo News says Illumination might turn the Mario Bros into film stars as big as Gru and the Minions of “Despicable Me” fame if audiences like the company’s take on the characters, which it seems they do.
With these two massive, beloved intellectual properties under their belt, Illumination might topple Disney as the king of animation.
Naturally, Disney will look for answers as to why it is being beaten out by competitors in a field the company has dominated. Unfortunately for Disney, the company will not be able to rely on the tried-and-true method of blaming racism. That’s because nearly a plurality of the audience for “Super Mario Bros” has been Latino, according to Deadline.
But this should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been following cultural developments in the past few years, as Disney has gone the way of almost every other mega-corporation in embracing and promoting the woke ideology.
The company currently is embroiled in a feud with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over its opposition to the Parental Rights in Education Act, which bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade in the state.
In addition, Disney has been relentlessly pushing leftist talking points into its content over the past few years, much to the dismay of parents who do not want their children exposed to this content.
Therefore, it is no surprise that parents would want a family-friendly alternative to Disney.
Instead of trying to preach woke ideology, Illumination chose to take an intellectual property that is beloved by millions of people globally and make a story that remains true to the world created by Nintendo.
In addition, it helps that the Mario character in the film is voiced by Chris Pratt, a Christian actor who has openly talked about the importance of faith and prayer in his life.
This is a film that seeks to tell a good story and entertain audiences of all ages rather than ram wokeness down people’s throats.
Disney, on the other hand, seems never to learn from its mistakes. Despite all the bad press and the drop in audience, the company continues to go down the same destructive path.
Disney needs to quickly change course; otherwise, its days as a leader are numbered.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
