You never know what you’ll get when you wad into Disney’s waters, but an investigation by the state is likely not on your list. Unfortunately, that’s exactly the bad news that befell one Florida teacher this week after she found out firsthand just how deep Governor Ron DeSantis’ vendetta against the House of Mouse runs. On the other side of the world (or should we say solar system) an obscure direct-to-streaming original dropped on Disney Plus today to, well, let’s just say less than stellar reviews. That’s not all — it went practically marketed-less (a new word I just made up) which leaves one to wonder why on Earth it was bothered to be made in the first place.
Of course, there’s also some good Jared Leto news on the Haunted Mansion front, so let’s just dive in and get the ball rolling, shall we?
In Florida, showing a Disney movie in class will reportedly land you under investigation now
One Florida teacher thought she was simply showing an innocent Disney movie — Strange World — to her students, but after a student reported the “issue” to their parent and the parent filed a complaint, Florida’s Department of Education got involved and now the teacher is reportedly being investigated for “alleged misconduct… to determine if disciplinary actions should be pursued against a Florida Educator Certificate.”
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why. Florida’s problem with Disney isn’t because it’s Disney. It’s because Disney has come out in opposition to the state’s loosely-termed “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and Strange World just happens to have an openly gay character as the main lead (a first in the company’s history). Never mind that the movie has nothing to do with being gay (because contrary to popular belief, being gay is not actually all there is to a gay person’s life) — instead, the film focuses on one family’s quest to restore a planet of its main source of energy while trying to set aside their personality differences. Yet, the simple fact that a gay person exists in mainstream media is enough for Florida’s Department of Education to consider stripping a teacher of her credentials over “inappropriate behavior.” The absurdity would be funny if it wasn’t so terrifying.
Crater drops on Disney Plus to rotten criticism despite almost no one having heard of the movie in the first place
Movies require a great deal of time and money to make. As much as we’d love to just make art for the heck of it, it doesn’t always work like that in America. People need roofs over their heads and money to keep said roofs intact. Which is why it makes practically zero sense for Disney not to invest its well-oiled marketing machine into its latest direct-to-streaming project, Crater. Take a quick peek at the studio’s social media channels — you’ll find barely a handful of posts promoting it. Did Disney… forget Crater existed amidst all the Peter Pan & Wendy hubbub? Did it foresee the film’s 52 percent Rotten Tomatoes score? We’ll likely never know. Either way, there’s a new film on Disney Plus should you wish to check it out. Surprise.
Jared Leto’s spine-tingling performance in Haunted Mansion promises to scare the pants off of audiences
Haunted Mansion might not be getting as much love as, say, The Little Mermaid or Peter Pan & Wendy, but there are still a couple of months to get this hype train moving along. Based on the popular theme park attraction of the same name, the movie is the second of its kind following the 2003 The Haunted Mansion, which delivered a more comedic spin to the spine-tingling premise. This time around, Justin Simien’s Haunted Mansion is serving up all the ghoulish, ghastly, spookie-ookie thrill we so desperately missed from its 2003 predecessor. And now, we have a reportedly “menacing and terrifying” performance from Jared Leto as the hallway stalking Hatbox Ghost to look forward to. According to Simen, Leto “knocked it out of the park.” Naturally, that remains to be seen, but something tells us his performance actually will scare the pants off of us or result in a fit of internet-wide laughter. Time will tell.
Ta-ta for now, Disney fanatics. We’ll see you back here in no time.