this post was submitted on 08 May 2024
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Disney is banking on a password crackdown and spate of sequels as it pushes to make its streaming business profitable. 

The company, which is under pressure as audiences move away from traditional pay-TV and cinema, said it was on track to meet its goals after new subscribers and price rises helped to narrow losses in its streaming business.

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[–] [email protected] 82 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I dare them to cut me off. Every dollar not spent on streaming will go to selfhosting and piracy.

[–] [email protected] 87 points 6 months ago (5 children)

You should spend that dollar on self-hosting and piracy anyways, it's a better value.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I know this. Decisionmaking among extended family is rarely so simple however.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago

God, ain't that the truth. Getting my mom to give up Netflix was like pulling teeth. When people are used to something, they never want to give it up. I still haven't gotten her to drop cable, but I am essentially her DVR now, for all intents and purposes.

It's been a fun evolution though. My parents and extended family all use it now, and my mom keeps asking me why I don't make money from this stuff. Had to explain to her that selling pirated material is a 'dick move' plus I didn't wanna put myself out there like that.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Not only that, it's a better product.

I pay for Fubo because I can't find a way to watch my team's games any other way. If I record something like The Daily Show I have to use their skanky interface to scrub through ad breaks. If I add the show to my Sonarr I get it shortly after it airs with the ads removed already.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

What sport? I might be able to help point you in the right direction

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Thanks!

Football/soccer, specifically EPL, cup and Champion's League games. It's the only thing the *arr apps don't seem to be able to get.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Ah sorry brotha, no help from me on that. I don’t watch much football/soccer, and if I do I just use sportsurge

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

No worries, thanks anyway!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago

or for the people who don't want to selfhost and like the convenience of a streaming app Kodi + Pov addon + Trakt +Alldebrid subscription

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 6 months ago (3 children)

The password crackdown will work, sadly. However is it going to be enough to make up for the fact that Disney's got nothing right now except shitting out sequels?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I don't know that it will work. How many additional people sign up when these password sharing crackdowns happen? I doubt it's enough to make their number crunchers happy.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (9 children)

How many additional people sign up when these password sharing crackdowns happen?

Several million

Which every company saw, and that's why they're all gonna do this too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I know I'm just an anecdote but Netflix had some ridiculous deal where I paid $75 for a year of Starz and I got Netflix for free. So they got to pretend like they didn't lose me when in reality I was imminently going to quit due to the password crackdown.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

So much of modern business is just hoodwinking investors into thinking infinite growth is possible.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago

The same was said about Netflix. That didn't appear to manifest

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (3 children)

There is a lot of selection bias here on lemmy. The majority of us are technical enough to either know where to find free streaming sites or torrent.

The large majority of customers aren't.

It's why these crackdowns work. They've done the math. They know they'll make more money then they'll lose.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Disney has Hulu, and that's enough for some people.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Onward, elemental, wish, soul, reya... Some of the original properties that Disney has released in the last 5 years and nobody went to see. The only originals that have done well were Encanto and turning red.

People like to shit on Disney's lack of originals, but nobody goes to watch them when they release them. People only want sequels so that's what they get. In truth, people like you who complain about Disney's lack of original films don't actually watch Disney films

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago (2 children)

How many of those were actually good, though?

Genuinely asking, I only saw 3 out of the 5 and don't remember being blown away by any of them. I'm not sure I even remember the plot of some.

But I can still immediately recall songs from both Encanto and Moana and I haven't seen either of those in years.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

This guy's full of it claiming that the only complainers are people who don't watch the movies. I've seen all these movies as I have a kid and a lot of them are "meh". Frozen was an original property and it blew up big. Same with Moana, Inside Out, Encanto, Big Hero 6, Wreck it Ralph, Brave, etc.

Furthermore they're ignoring the rest of the Disney catalog and rehashed sequels outside of animated films "of the last 5 years." What about all the terrible live-action remakes? What about all the Star Wars and Marvel sequels? Those have all done terrible as well.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I would personally say all of the movies mentioned range from good to amazing. I think all of them would be worth seeing in theaters (not that they're all must-see movies though).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

2 of those came out in 2020 and Raya was still during COVID, so it's really not fair to lump those in. I was mostly talking about the movies they released just last year, their big 100th year. Indy 5, Wish, The Marvels, Ant-Man 3. None of them did as well as Disney needed.

Meanwhile movies about long-established toys like Mario and Barbie each made a billion+, and people were willing to go see a 3-hour docu-drama about a scientist. So we know it's not the "people don't go to the theaters anymore" excuse. People just aren't getting dressed to watch crap and that's what Disney's been known for lately.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Gentlemen . . . to evil!

clink

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

ice statue starts shaking and erupts

"Piratebay!"

shooting ensues

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago

So looking forward to all the useful idiots shilling this crap without even realizing how they're being manipulated into doing it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Netflix has been such a staple for so long it took a full Arr suite to get my wife to be ok that I cancelled it. When it came to Disney plus, she didn't care because she's not into Star wars and she hulk soured her on marvel. My 5 year old niece and nephew only ask to watch Netflix when they come over. As someone who has witnessed them kill so many franchises I love, I think Disney cracking down on password sharing is a great idea.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

That's wild. Netflix has been kinda shit for so long, when they upped their prices we quit no problem. I'll probably sub for a month when Sandman or Stranger Things comes back.

On the other hand, we have Disney running most of the time. When it's not playing Bluey and Spidey and His Amazing Friends, it's playing one of their movies. And when the kids go to sleep I'm watching X-Men '97.

Also, I thought She-Hulk was fantastic. But it's kind of crazy to me that THAT was what soured the MCU. Thor Love and Thunder and Quantumania soured it for me (and on the TV side, Echo has Secret Invasion and Echo were not good). I didn't even see The Marvels, which turned out to be fine.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

We actually both enjoyed most of she hulk, it was the ending going off the rails that was too much for my wife. She had no idea who Kevin was and all the other stuff didn't really pay off. I've been sour on the MCU since falcon and the Winter soldier cringe fest, but I keep watching the movies because I would find someone enjoyment to balance out the frustration of missed opportunities to adapt old comics storylines.

For my case we have been family sharing subscriptions and Netflix was always our responsibility even though I'm well versed in the skill set needed to sail the seas, and for years it worked out great. But the family sharing nonsense has finally made it inconvenient enough to go back to the sea. Cocomelon and love is blind show on Netflix a must have for the family.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Dang, Falcon and the Winter Soldier was my favorite of the shows and John Walker is my favorite new character in awhile.

And yeah, the She-Hulk ending is legit something that would have happened in her own solo book. But I can see it not landing with people not familiar with her. Kind of like Fantastic Four meeting Jack Kirby would be comic accurate, but would probably be too weird for a movie.

I think Cocomelon has a free app, at least it does on our Roku.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The US agent plot line was the best part of the show, and his story arc made sense. The I feel like the flag smasher plot line kinda went off the rails, and they wanted to make them sympathetic characters but lost the plot in the process. Zemo on the airplane was both entertaining and a little cringe. But the police officer stepping between falcon and the Winter soldier was so cringe I had to pause for a moment, like how does someone in America after endgame not recognize one of two avengers standing in front of him, when one has a full metallic arm. I think I would have liked it better if I wasn't hoping for a 24 or NCIS with superheroes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

IMO, the Flag Smashers were just a plot device for the rest of the show to happen around. They were definitely the worst part, but I also didn't care about them.

I loved Zemo though. Every second. I don't remember the police officer at all.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (2 children)

People shit on Disney for only doing sequels, yet when they release original properties like they have the last 2 years, people ignore them and don't watch them. No wonder they go to sequels, viewers clearly don't want to gamble on new stuff. And all the people bitching about Disney only doing sequels, don't watch Disney movies anyways

[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I get what you mean, but I really feel like the quality of original stuff is not up to the standard that they were putting out 30 years ago. I just rewatched Lion King the other day and I couldn't believe how well it holds up. Every performance ranges from great to fantastic, every song is really good, the score is fucking phenomenal, the animation truly pushed the boundaries for the time, and the story and dialogue are straight up Shakespeare. Encanto and Onward are good, but they're not Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Lion King, and Beauty and the Beast good.

At the end of the day, Disney is not in the business of making art this century; they're in the money making business. They make a product, not art. It's more profitable to make something that's just good enough to get people's money, and that's all they actually care about. Remember that with every culture war stance they take. They don't actually give a shit about LGBTQ rights or representation, they just know that they can get extra attention and sales from barely doing anything, and it's not far enough to alienate the Chinese market. Win-win. When they fight that dorky Florida meatball, understand that they're not on your side; they're on their side. If they could have it their way, they would own all media and distribution, and you'd never see another movie or TV show again without first forking over everything they can get out of you.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago

and the story and dialogue are straight up Shakespeare

Well it is a cartoon animal version of Hamlet.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

What original properties? Not a rhetorical question, I'm curious

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I assume they mean "Wish", also known as "how many Disney references do I need to make for them to count as a movie"

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I wouldn't have minded the references if the movie was good. It wasn't and the songs were subpar.

In the past ten years, I thought Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Moana, and Encanto were good. Raya, Strange World, and Wish were not for me... and those were three of the last four Disney animated original movies.

For Pixar, they've been hit or miss for me too. I liked Inside Out, Coco, Soul, Luca, and Elemental. Didn't care for The Good Dinosaur, Onward, Turning Red, or Lightyear.

But sequels can be hit or miss too.

One of the best animated movies I've seen in recent years (apart from Spider-Man) is The Mitchells vs. the Machines. It's completely hyper, but original and funny.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (10 children)

The ones you didn't like my kids loved, so maybe you're just not the target audience anymore?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

I definitely am not the target audience for Turning Red. I admit that. And kids probably didn't like Soul as much as adults. But if Disney/Pixar wonders why they aren't getting the numbers they used to, they need to target the four quadrant audience, but more importantly have better writing overall.

Kids like a lot of things... sometimes things that are truly awful. I used to be a kid who liked awful stuff growing up too. You can have a monkey character who says "poop" every other word and kids would find that hilarious. Doesn't make it good. I'm not the target audience for Bluey, but I can tell it's better than most things out there.

Also, it's definitely subjective. I've watched a lot of movies and television so I can see more unoriginality than others. I used to like the Knock Knock joke about the banana and orange... and the chicken crossing the road. But now, what else is new? How many stories about a character turning into an animal to learn a lesson do we need?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Wish, soul, onward, elemental, Luca, reya, strange world, Ron's gone wrong. I would add Encanto and turning red but those actually became popular, at least Encanto did

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