Disney Arrives at a Crossroads After 'Lightyear' and Its Lesbian Kiss Flop

Bonchie reporting for RedState 

The recent success of “Top Gun: Maverick,” the sequel to the 1980s blockbuster original starring Tom Cruise, has presented a golden opportunity for Hollywood to reset and start producing non-woke, non-divisive films people actually want to see.

Will they take that chance? The answer is almost certainly not. Depending on where you watched the new “Top Gun,” the previews prior to the massive box office hit were filled with exactly what you’d expect. In my case, three superhero movies and a really terrible-looking Jordan Peele offering.

Then there’s what was released after it. Having gone to see the latest “Jurassic Park” offering on Friday evening, it was full of the typical leftwing narratives, from “Big business is evil” to “Global warming is going to kill us all.” Every film is trying to preach to a choir that probably isn’t even in the theater, and it’s tiring for those who just want to go be entertained.

Enter the latest “Toy Story” movie, simply titled “Lightyear.” Disney (which owns Pixar), a company with a long-woke history, decided to shove a lesbian kiss back into a film meant for small children to own Ron DeSantis in Florida. The press praised the move as transcendent and historic. If you disagreed, well, you were a bigot.

So how’s the movie doing?

Understand that these types of flicks, aimed at kids and part of long-standing, huge blockbuster franchises, are supposed to print money. They are the safest bets in Hollywood, and that “Lightyear” hasn’t done well is genuinely surprising. Even with the cultural controversy, most expected it to still put up good numbers.

That’s not happening, though, and there’s every reason to believe the in-your-face actions of Disney culturally have everything to do with it. Parents have a right to decide what they want to expose their children to. They have a right to instill their values, including those undergirded by religion, and many are choosing to exercise that right.

Further, Disney’s choice to alienate the lion’s share of its audience in favor of woke signaling isn’t even earning them praise from those they seek it from. The LGBT activist community threw a fit over Pixar’s last offering, “Turning Red,” a children’s movie about a girl starting her period, because the LGBT themes were only “hinted” at. You can’t win with the left, and that major corporations keep trying is an exercise in beating one’s head against the wall.

That leaves Disney at a crossroads. They can learn the lesson that “Top Gun: Maverick” is so expertly teaching the movie industry, or they can keep going down the road of calling their audience bigots while pandering to those who will pan them anyway. The smart business decision is staring them in the face. Will they make it? I can already answer that: No.