“Wish” is an animated movie that was specifically developed as a celebration of the 100 year anniversary of Walt Disney Studios, and combined traditional hand-drawn animation with modern CG animation. It’ll be accompanied by a short titled “Once Upon a Studio,” which sees characters from the wide history of Disney animation all coming together. And with a release set for Thanksgiving weekend, when families will be out in theaters, “Wish” certainly looks set up for success.
There are a few things working against it, though. First, there’s competition from “Trolls Band Together,” which releases the previous weekend and is an established franchise. Second, the timing for a celebration of Disney is kind of poor, given that Disney productions are currently shut down due to the writers and actors strike, and also the fact that this summer saw a round of layoffs at the Disney-owned Pixar Animation Studios. Finally, there hasn’t been much hype for “Wish” since the trailer debuted, perhaps because the story looks almost painfully generic. The attempt at creating a “classic” Disney movie has resulted in a synopsis that kind of reads like it was generated by ChatGPT:
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Wish” is an animated musical-comedy welcoming audiences to the magical kingdom of Rosas, where Asha, a sharp-witted idealist, makes a wish so powerful that it is answered by a cosmic force — a little ball of boundless energy called Star. Together, Asha and Star confront a most formidable foe — the ruler of Rosas, King Magnifico — to save her community and prove that when the will of one courageous human connects with the magic of the stars, wondrous things can happen.
Things could turn around if the reviews are strong enough, but right now it seems unlikely that “Wish” will take the top spot.