It’s been a curious week for Disney. First, the second Aladdin trailer went viral for all the wrong reasons. The much-anticipated reveal of Will Smith’s Genie had folks criticizing – and worse, mocking – the perceived low quality CGI used to bring the character to life. But then, a few days later, we got our first look at Frozen 2, which has gone down pretty well, with the internet psyched to see more of Elsa and Anna in the sequel to the smash hit 2013 movie.
A trending tweet on social media commented on the close release of both trailers by joking that Disney deliberately dropped the Frozen 2 teaser to counteract the negative reception to Aladdin. It’s a funny idea, but it’s not actually on to something…is it?
Disney: *releases Aladdin trailer*
Internet: OMG GENIE LMAOOOOO
Disney: *presses IN CASE OF EMERGENCY RELEASE FROZEN 2 trailer button* https://t.co/8WtkGbXpwd
— D-Piddy 🎭 (@_dpiddy) February 13, 2019
Well, according to industry insider Daniel Richtman, Twitter user @D-Piddy could be bang on the money. “Yup,” Richtman wrote. “In fact, it was supposed to come out next month…”
Yup. In fact it was supposed to come out next month… https://t.co/e4CCuF6TYV
— Daniel Richtman (@DanielRPK) February 13, 2019
It sounds like releasing the Frozen 2 first look was a deliberate PR choice from the Mouse House in order to make up for the unexpected backlash against the latest Aladdin trailer. Disney were clearly certain that fans would react well to the glimpse at Elsa’s next adventure and they were right on this occasion. Although, given the popularity of Frozen, they probably could have just given us 30 seconds of Olaf being cute and folks would’ve gone crazy.
So, are Disney getting worried about Aladdin? Well, probably not. Just because Twitter users are poking fun at the movie doesn’t mean they won’t show up to watch it on opening weekend. The general criticism of the studio’s practice of remaking their classics in live-action has never damaged their box office performance before, after all. If it isn’t up to standard, bad word of mouth might stop it from reaching Beauty and the Beast levels of success, but it’s surely going to make a hell of a lot of money regardless.
Aladdin flies into cinemas (on a magic carpet) on May 24th, while Disney will let Frozen 2 go on November 22nd.
