{"id":30263,"date":"2023-07-10T18:10:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T22:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=30263"},"modified":"2023-07-11T10:53:20","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T14:53:20","slug":"sound-has-legs-elon-musk-should-should-buy-disney-and-combine-it-with-twitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2023\/07\/sound-has-legs-elon-musk-should-should-buy-disney-and-combine-it-with-twitter.html","title":{"rendered":"“Sound” has legs + Elon Musk should should buy Disney and combine it with Twitter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 07\/10\/23<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"SoundJim Caviezel as Tim Ballard<\/strong><\/p>\n

Disney cast-off<\/a> Sound of Freedom<\/em> continues to defy Hollywood expectations. <\/strong>The relatively inexpensive Angel Studios<\/strong> hit (a taut true story about true-life hero Tim Ballard<\/strong>‘s daring heartfelt quest to rescue a sex trafficked child) took the third spot on this weekend’s box office chart<\/a>, just behind Disney<\/strong>‘s big-budget, much-hyped and fading Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny<\/strong> <\/em>which, BTW, played on nearly twice as many screens (4600 compared to 2852).<\/p>\n

As The Hollywood\u00a0 Reporter<\/strong><\/a> notes Sound of Freedom, <\/em>which amazingly opened atop the box office rankings on July 4th, copped an A+ CinemaScore<\/strong> from theatergoers and finished Sunday with a domestic take of $40.2 million. That’s on a reported overall production budget of just $14.5 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Disney’s lack of Sound<\/em> judgement is, of course, Angel Studio’s gain –\u00a0 and, as Variety<\/strong> reports<\/a>, is the latest example of the Magic Kingdom losing its fabled magic touch. Of course, while noting the company’s string of box office misses, faltering Disney+<\/strong>, loss of profitability for once sure-fire brands like Pixar<\/strong>, Marvel<\/strong>, Star Wars<\/em><\/strong> and even ESPN<\/strong>, and thinning theme park attendance<\/a>, the article seems to go out of its way to avoid the Woke elephant in the room personified by things like this<\/a> and this<\/a>. Essentially, the once unabashedly American (as opposed to global) company took its faith-and-family brands turned them upside down and inside out and spit in the eyes (and at the values) of their loyal audiences who, frankly, have been left feeling disrespected and betrayed. The company’s blatant attempt to use its financial clout to meddle in Florida’s education curriculum<\/a> also didn’t endear it to parents. Add to this, the company’s struggling ABC<\/strong> broadcast network (for decades the home of such broad-based – and long-gone – family-friendly hits as Happy Days<\/strong><\/em> and Who Wants to be a Millionaire<\/strong><\/em>) and you have a corporate giant that seems disconnected from its customers and is paying the consequences<\/a>.<\/p>\n

IMHO<\/strong>, when it comes to analyzing the problems at Disney<\/strong>, I think podcaster Megyn Kelly<\/strong> and her guest conservative commentator Charlie Kirk<\/strong> came much closer to hitting the nail on the head. My somewhat out-of-the-box (if not out-of-my-mind) idea for fixing things follows.<\/p>\n