Good or bad, Disney dominated summer 2019

The all-powerful Disney banked several huge box office successes this summer. “Avengers: Endgame,” “Toy Story 4,” “The Lion King” and “Aladdin” each grossed more than a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, and Disney had a creative hand in the only other billion dollar earner this summer, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far from Home.”

Even Disney mega-fans (myself generally included) must be a little concerned about the studio’s stranglehold on the market. With Disney’s newly acquired slate of 20th Century Fox films underperforming so far (most notably the “X-Men” entry, “Dark Phoenix”), moviegoers probably shouldn’t expect the studio to risk money on anything other than sequels, reboots and Marvel Cinematic Universe installments. That’s bad news for people who like to see original ideas and bold creative risks in their popular entertainment.

I’d be less worried had Disney delivered quality across the board this summer. Yes, “Avengers: Endgame,” was a genuine blast, and “Toy Story 4” was better than any third sequel has any right to be, but the remakes of “Aladdin” and “The Lion King” were soulless cash grabs that misinterpreted almost everything that made their animated source material so special in the first place.

Of course, Disney didn’t own all the bad movies this summer. “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” upped the giant monster mayhem but still populated the movie with some of the most ridiculous human characters to ever appear in a “Godzilla” movie (and that’s really saying something). Sony decided to make a “Men in Black” movie without Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, so that obviously didn’t work out. We already touched on the expensive crash and burn of “Dark Phoenix,” but it’s not like modestly-budgeted horror movies like “Annabelle Comes Home,” “Child’s Play” and “Ma” will be landing on anyone’s top 10 list either.

Summer always poops out a few duds. Of greater concern to me was how audiences generally ignored the good movies. Three very funny wide release comedies — “Long Shot,” “Booksmart” and “Late Night” — all underperformed. The brilliant (and admittedly divisive) horror epic “Midsommar” only managed a modest return. And look, while nobody expected “Dora and the Lost City of Gold” to be a major moneymaker, that movie is shockingly decent, and the filmmakers should be financially rewarded for pulling off that magic trick.

Many will point to the financial success of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” as the singular ray of hope this season, as it’s the rare non-franchise, original concept that managed to gross more than $100 million at the box office. But remember that Tarantino is a bankable brand all his own, and that brand may be gone if he decides to retire after his next movie. Then who do you have? Martin Scorsese already bailed for Netflix, Steven Spielberg is trying to launch “Indiana Jones 5” against everyone’s wishes, nobody seems to go to the theater to see Wes or Paul Thomas Anderson movies, and a bunch of other exciting directors are locked in with projects at Disney.

OK, enough negativity. The summer did give us one truly amazing action adventure in “John Wick: Chapter 3.” In fact, let’s give Keanu Reeves the Summer MVP trophy for “Wick,” his scene-stealing character in “Toy Story 4” and his hilarious cameo in the Netflix film, “Always Be My Maybe.”

I’ll also cop to enjoying “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw,” if only because I got to enjoy The Rock and Jason Statham punching 1,000 bad guys in the face without having to endure Vin Diesel’s insufferable monotone acting.

Thanks to my A-List subscription at the AMC in downtown Spokane, I also got to see several terrific smaller movies this summer, most especially Lulu Wang’s “The Farewell.” I already mentioned the brilliance of “Midsommar,” but it’s also worth seeking out “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” “Luce,” and “The Peanut Butter Falcon” any way you can in the coming weeks.

Rather than coming to some smart conclusion about the “Summer of Disney,” I’ll just take this final opportunity to point out how much better the Elton John musical biopic “Rocketman” was compared to last year’s atrocious (and Oscar-winning) “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Rami Malek won an Oscar for lip-singing last year, but I suspect Taron Egerton won’t even be nominated this year, despite doing the actual singing in a significantly better movie.

Shame on everyone who helped “Rhapsody” make $900 million at the box office last year and didn’t go out to see “Rocketman.” I might be more worried about you than Disney.

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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.