Has Hollywood FINALLY learnt its lesson? Non-woke movies become summer blockbusters – after slew preachy films bombed

Two of the summer’s biggest blockbusters have defied the recent trend for overtly political, woke films and convinced some that Hollywood has gotten the message.

Twisters made waves at the box office this past weekend, grossing an estimated $80.5 million for its debut, exceeding expectations and marking the highest opening for a live-action film this summer so far.

Meanwhile, Inside Out 2 continued to be a huge hit for Pixar, finishing in third place and grossing nearly $600 million in the U.S.

Inside Out 2 has grossed $1.4 billion in international box office sales and Twisters has grossed $574.4 million worldwide, far exceeding the film’s $155 million budget.

One critic believes this is a sign that audiences are no longer willing to let Hollywood refrain from making films with moralizing messages.

Kyle Smith of the Wall Street Journal said that in recent years the major studios “only seemed to listen to the left-wing half of the country.”

He called films like Frozen 2, Lightyear and the Disney flop Strange World “woke propaganda disguised as a children’s film.”

Twisters, on the other hand, is a film about natural disasters, without wanting to tell the audience about left-wing climate alarmism.

“I just wanted to make sure that we didn’t feel like there was a message being conveyed with the film,” director Lee Isaac Chung said CNN before the movie came out.

“I just don’t think movies should have a message,” the Academy Award nominee added.

Chung argues that the film does show the “reality” that we are experiencing disastrous weather much more often these days, but that it is not its job to tell the audience what to think.

“I wanted to make sure that we never felt like we were sending a message, because that’s definitely not what cinema should be about, to me,” he said.

“I think it should be a reflection of the world.”

“I just wanted to make sure that we didn’t feel like there was a message being conveyed with the film,” said director Lee Isaac Chung

Meanwhile, Inside Out 2 continued to be a huge hit for Pixar, finishing third and grossing nearly $600 million in the US.

Smith also believes that Disney’s Pixar – recently accused of catering to the woke mafia – has returned to the conventional side with Inside Out 2.

The film is “funny, smart and sometimes sharp in its analysis of what teenage girls are concerned with, but it doesn’t get involved in the culture war,” he adds.

After a summer in which two of the biggest hits – Barbie and Oppenheimer – had clear political messages, Smith believes films are slowly starting to settle down.

“Hollywood is relearning an old lesson: Viewers don’t like being told to eat their spinach when they reach for their popcorn,” he wrote.

Of the top 10 films that grossed the most in the United States this year (including Inside Out 2 and Twisters), only Dune: Part Two has an explicitly political theme.

Many of these are sequels – Bad Boys For Life, Despicable Me 4 – or variations on existing franchise characters – Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Late last year, Disney warned its investors that the company’s products and political positions may not be in line with what viewers want, which could hurt the company’s bottom line.

House of Mouse has struggled to successfully present its expensive films to audiences lately, reportedly losing $1 billion on its last four high-profile releases.

At an investor meeting in September, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company will “quiet the noise” around cultural issues and focus on creating content that is entertaining

The House of Mouse has announced a lengthy delay for the release of the live-action Snow White remake – with the film likely being reworked to be less ‘woke’

House of Mouse recently delayed the release of its $330 million Snow White remake by a year after lead actress Rachel Zegler went on a woke rant against the 1937 original and promised the remake would be more progressive.

The company’s SEC filing, which is being filed so that investors, analysts and regulators can get a clear picture of the company’s performance, says Disney’s success “depends on our ability to continually create compelling content.”

If creators do not gain “sufficient consumer acceptance,” profits will decline, the report warns.

Disney has been embroiled in several political controversies in recent years, leading some parents and consumers to feel that the brand’s values ​​may no longer align with their own.

Notably, the company took a strong stance against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” law — actually called the Parents’ Bill of Rights — which bans sex and gender curricula for public elementary school students. Since then, the company has continued to churn out agenda-driven content.

CEO Bob Iger assured investors in September that he would aim to quiet the “noise” surrounding the company’s involvement in cultural issues, which have proven to be bad for business.

Twisters has become the surprise hit of the summer for Universal. The film earned a lukewarm 78 percent review from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences loved this thrilling adventure featuring a hot team of storm chasers.

Although the project did not feature any returning characters from 1996’s Twister, which starred Helen Hunt and the late Bill Paxton, its box office grosses seemed to reflect audiences’ love for the now-classic film.

Twister’s run at the top of the box office may be short-lived. Next Friday, the film will face stiff competition from the release of Deadpool & Wolverine.