Why Lightyear Failed

WhatCulture

Breaking down why Pixar's Toy Story spin-off failed to connect with audiences.

Transcript

00:00To say it's been a rough week for Pixar is quite the understatement.

00:03The beloved animation studio just released their first theatrical film in two years in light year

00:08and sadly it wasn't quite the big comeback that everyone hoped for.

00:12With a $200 million budget, the movie is going to have to make around $500 million just to make a profit

00:19and given the opening weekend's box office numbers,

00:23it's actually looking unlikely that it's even going to break $400 million.

00:27Now $400 million might be a lot of money to me and you,

00:30but in Pixar terms and especially in Disney terms, that is not a good margin.

00:35Consequently, in the days since, everybody has been trying to rack their brains to figure out why this happened.

00:42Why did a spin-off to one of the most successful movie franchises ever completely fall flat?

00:48Well, there isn't really just one reason.

00:50There are a bunch of elements which informed Lightyear's failure.

00:54With that in mind then, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com and this is why Lightyear failed.

00:59Now, one of the biggest reasons why Lightyear didn't make a dent

01:02with the millions and millions of Toy Story fans around the globe

01:05is the simple fact that this isn't our Buzz Lightyear.

01:09Fans, of course, love this character.

01:11I mean, anyone my age probably grew up with a Buzz Lightyear toy.

01:15But the version that we see in this movie, a human voiced by Chris Evans,

01:20is a far cry from the neurotic toy that we all fell in love with to begin with.

01:25Knowing that the goofy Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story films was inspired

01:29by a relatively poor-faced version of the character from a 1995 movie isn't all that appealing really.

01:36Quite simply, this is a movie that is clearly cashing in on nostalgia.

01:40But the issue is, fans are only nostalgic for the version of Buzz Lightyear that they grew up with, that they know.

01:46In fact, it's the same issue that Solo, A Star Wars Story had.

01:49And yes, be warned, I will be mentioning that movie throughout this editorial

01:53because the similarities are too obvious to ignore.

01:56Like Buzz Lightyear, people love Han Solo,

01:58but they didn't like this imposter who was calling himself Han Solo

02:02that Disney decided to make a movie about.

02:05So, had Lightyear been presented in the style of the Star Command movie or TV show,

02:09with Buzz being a version of his toy self,

02:12then it would have attracted the interest of long-time fans rather than what we got,

02:18which didn't really interest long-time fans

02:20and also didn't have enough original pull to get a brand new intrigued audience.

02:26Talking about the new Buzz as well,

02:28it would be remiss to not mention the fact that the voice actors had changed,

02:32with original actor Tim Allen being swapped for Chris Evans, like I mentioned earlier.

02:36Now, of course, that does make sense.

02:38As I've mentioned, this is a different version of Buzz,

02:40we're not talking about the toy,

02:41so getting a new actor in isn't sacrilege or anything like that.

02:45However, the swapping of the actors does just strengthen the idea to audiences

02:50that this isn't the Buzz that they know,

02:52and why should they care if they don't have that connection to him?

02:56Now, am I saying that Tim Allen's involvement would have made this a billion-dollar movie?

03:00Absolutely not.

03:02I'm just saying that the instantly identifiable switch between voice actors,

03:07again, strengthens the fact that this is a very different movie

03:11from the thing that people actually remember.

03:14And all of this can be rolled into one of the most common complaints

03:17ever since the first trailer dropped,

03:19and that's the question of,

03:21who is this movie actually for?

03:22Now, the obvious answer to that might, of course, just be,

03:25well, Toy Story fans, you idiot,

03:27but you need to bear in mind that the first trailers for this movie

03:31kind of underplayed these Toy Story connections.

03:34Instead, it focused initially on the gritty sci-fi elements,

03:37and then in later trailers, the emphasis was on the goofier comedy.

03:40Yet, the final film itself is an awkward stew of elements that don't quite cohere.

03:46The sci-fi adventure story is too formulaic and familiar

03:48to make much of an impression with older viewers,

03:51while the time dilation mechanics will simply be too complex

03:55for younger viewers to make sense of.

03:57And one of the biggest criticisms leveled at this movie

03:59is that despite supposedly being Andy's favourite movie ever,

04:03his Star Wars,

04:05it's actually a little bit too drab and a little bit too boring

04:08for kids to even get excited about.

04:10And that's criminal, right?

04:11This is supposed to be the movie of Andy's formative years,

04:15yet in real life, it can't even keep kids engaged

04:18for the full duration of the runtime.

04:20The marketing for the movie just generally as well

04:22was also needlessly convoluted.

04:25Like, you needed to know Toy Story lore

04:27to fully understand what Lightyear even was.

04:30This should have been a straightforward sci-fi romp,

04:32but instead, you needed to know all of his backstory going into it.

04:36This confusion led to people watching the first trailer

04:38and assuming that it was an in-universe biopic

04:41of the real Buzz Lightyear

04:43that the toy in Toy Story was inspired by.

04:47It was only later trailers which revealed

04:49that this is actually a 1995 movie in-universe

04:52that Andy saw when he was a kid.

04:54Throwing confusion over its tone

04:56with it at once being this serious sci-fi movie

04:59as well as a goofy family drama,

05:02and many people were just going into it confused

05:04as to what Lightyear was.

05:06How was it related to the franchise it was spinning off of

05:08and what kind of movie was this going to be?

05:11Speaking of brand confusion as well,

05:13I can't talk about the next point

05:14without jumping into spoilers for the film,

05:16so if you haven't seen Lightyear and you do want to see it,

05:19this is your warning that I'm about to spoil the big twist.

05:22By far, the most divisive aspect of the Lightyear story

05:25is the fact that they completely change Zurg's origin.

05:28As you may know, in Toy Story 2,

05:30villain Zurg is revealed to be Buzz Lightyear's father,

05:33but in this movie, he's actually an older Buzz Lightyear

05:37from an alternate dimension.

05:39Yeah, this is a multiverse movie,

05:41like we haven't had enough of those this year and last.

05:43Now, this twist naturally rankled many long-time fans,

05:46because like I mentioned,

05:47this goes against the canon that was previously established.

05:50More than that, many felt like it was just an attempt

05:53at shock value, to change something,

05:55because otherwise the movie would have been

05:56even more predictable,

05:58because this beat had been revealed previously.

06:01So, despite people understanding why

06:02a change like this might have been made,

06:04and despite actor Josh Brolin being fine in the role,

06:07a lot of Toy Story fans were just annoyed

06:10that it was going against the canon,

06:11and again establishing itself as this different entity

06:14that didn't really even have connections

06:16to the thing that it's spinning off from.

06:18And so, the vitriolic response to this big reveal

06:20ultimately didn't help the movie garner

06:22any strong word of mouth after it came out,

06:24and if anything, only further put people off

06:27who were on the fence to see fan reactions.

06:30Outside of the movie's own quality in its marketing, though,

06:33it's also important to put it into context,

06:35because animation movies generally on the big screen

06:38haven't fared all that well recently.

06:41And while yes, many might put that down

06:43to services like Disney+, putting some movies day and date,

06:46it doesn't account for the animation industry at large.

06:50This isn't just a Disney+, problem.

06:52For instance, since the pandemic started,

06:54the highest grossing animated movie in theatres

06:57has been Sing 2, which got $407 million

07:00at the box office, which is paltry

07:02compared to the highest grossing live action movies

07:05even in the pandemic era.

07:07And the reason for this, well, it could just be

07:10that families are struggling to justify a trip to the cinema

07:13to see a movie like this,

07:14because when you take into account tickets,

07:16parking, petrol, snacks, and everything else,

07:19you could be looking at $100 plus for this trip

07:23when the movie is going to drop on a streaming service

07:26in like six weeks anyway,

07:28and that streaming service generally has a lot of material

07:32that would please the family already.

07:34Likewise, taking into account

07:35the current global inflation crisis,

07:37it's easy to see why this is an expense

07:40that people will just be cutting out,

07:42because again, these movies will trickle

07:44onto streaming services sooner rather than later.

07:47And in Lightyear's specific case,

07:49it didn't help that it was going up against two titans

07:51in the form of Top Gun Maverick

07:53and Jurassic World Dominion.

07:55Both of these were just box office smashes.

07:57In the case of Top Gun Maverick,

07:59that has been helped by strong word of mouth

08:01and some incredible reviews,

08:02while Jurassic World Dominion,

08:04well, it's Jurassic World, isn't it?

08:05That thing is just an excuse to print money.

08:08Still, even with all of these in fact,

08:09is the prevailing idea is that animation

08:11just generally is in a kind of weird place

08:14on the big screen.

08:14Likewise, it is somewhat ironic

08:16that Pixar's first big screen effort in two years

08:19is actually probably the most Disney plus feeling movie

08:23that they've ever released.

08:25Now, that's not the slight Disney plus movies at all.

08:27There is a lot of great material

08:29that comes straight to that service,

08:31but simply the fact that Lightyear

08:33lacks the finesse that defines almost all of Pixar's work,

08:37including their three prior films,

08:39Soul, Luca, and Turning Red,

08:41which were themselves sent straight to Disney plus

08:43when they probably should have been in theaters.

08:46Despite its stonking $200 million production budget,

08:49which is way more than the previous three movies

08:51I just mentioned, by the way,

08:52this feels like an amusing little Toy Story spinoff,

08:56something designed for a Disney plus audience.

08:59Yeah, the visuals might be something else,

09:01but every other element feels too safe.

09:03Furthermore, while it would be silly

09:05to call Lightyear a critical dud or anything like that,

09:08it did score 76% on Rotten Tomatoes

09:10with a 6.8 out of 10 average score,

09:13which definitely puts it on the lower end

09:15of the Pixar spectrum.

09:17Considering the film's aforementioned marketing wars,

09:19then these three-star tepid reviews

09:21didn't really get people excited

09:23to want to go out and see an amazing movie.

09:26Strong reviews can lead to better box office.

09:28I mean, again, like I mentioned,

09:30just look at something like Top Gun Maverick,

09:32which did insanely well,

09:33partly because critics were calling it

09:35the best movie of the year.

09:37In Lightyear's case,

09:38they were just calling it a movie of the year.

09:40And yet, perhaps the primary reason why Lightyear failed,

09:44well, it was just a spinoff, ultimately,

09:46that nobody asked for,

09:48and when they got their first look at it in the trailers,

09:50weren't all that interested in.

09:52It's the same issue that killed Solo.

09:55You can't just take a recognizable name

09:57and slap it in the title and put it in the trailers

10:00and expect to print $1 billion in return.

10:04If moviemaking was that easy,

10:06let me tell you, I'd be doing it,

10:07and I'm a fool.

10:08Stories need intrigue.

10:10They need some kind of justification.

10:12And to quote Ed from Shaun of the Dead,

10:14audiences aren't just a bunch of performing monkeys.

10:17We're not just gonna go flock out and see something

10:19because we recognize the thing.

10:21So yeah, I guess the moral of the story

10:22is that if you're going to drop $200 million

10:25on a brand new blockbuster,

10:27probably make sure people are interested in seeing it

10:31before you, you know, spend the money.

10:33I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below.

10:35What did you think about Lightyear?

10:36Do you think it deserved a bomb?

10:38Or do you think it's an underrated gem?

10:40Let us know.

10:40And if you can, while you're down there,

10:41could you please give us a like, share, subscribe,

10:43and head over to whatculture.com

10:44for more lists and news like this every single day.

10:47Even if you don't though, I've been Josh.

10:49Thanks so much for watching and I'll see you soon.

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