Disney's New Movie 'Wish' Slammed

Disney's new animated feature, Wish, has left some movie fans underwhelmed after seeing the first trailer.

The animated musical-comedy is set in the magical kingdom of Rosas, where Asha (Ariana DeBose) is a sharp-witted idealist and makes a wish so powerful that it is answered by a cosmic force.

That force is a ball of boundless energy called Star and they work together to defeat the ruler of Rosas, King Magnifico (Chris Pine), giving Asha the chance to save her community.

asha in disney's wish
Ariana DeBose voices Asha in Disney's new animated feature, "Wish." The film has been slammed by some on social media. Disney

Wish also stars Alan Tudyk, Evan Peters, Harvey Guillén, Ramy Youssef, Niko Vargas, Natasha Rothwell and Jennifer Kumiyama.

The movie marks the 100-year anniversary of Disney studios, but some audiences were not so impressed with the trailer which was released on Thursday.

"Story is interesting but the jokes are really bad," wrote one person on X, formerly Twitter.

Another added: "I don't need more woke garbage."

And a third commented: "A magician with immense power being challenged by a young girl with an animal sidekick? That's just cut and paste Disney."

Despite some naysayers, Wish's official trailer managed to become Disney's most watched trailer since 2019's Frozen II, according to the company.

It quickly racked up 66.5 million views online and has become the most viewed Disney trailer on TikTok.

The impressive viewing figures are a boost for Disney, which has had a lackluster performance at the box office this year, as many expected hits underperformed, including Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Haunted Mansion.

As a result, Disney is on track to not have at least one movie in the top three earners of the year. It is the first time that has happened since 2009 at the international box office and 2011 domestically.

The company also lost subscribers to its streaming service, Disney+.

It dropped subscribers during the most recent financial quarter, it had 146.1 million globally, below the quarter's target of 154.8 million.

Disney CEO Bob Iger promised a gathering of Wall Street analysts and investors at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, last month that Disney+ would be profitable by 2024. It planned to do so by implementing a range of measures including, cost cutting, changes to subscription pricing, cracking down on password sharing and expanding its ad-supported plans to more markets.

"The studio has had a tremendous run over the past decade, perhaps the greatest run that any studio has ever had, with multiple billion dollar hits[...]that said, the performance of some of our recent films has definitely been disappointing and we don't take that lightly," said Iger.

Wish premieres at cinemas on November 22.

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Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more

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