Walt goes to the movies - "Zootopia 2"

In "Zootopia 2 Proves All Box Office Failure Excuses are Lies" Breitbart News' John Nolte reports that over the Thanksgiving weekend, the Disney Grooming Syndicate’s Zootopia 2 grossed $556 million worldwide, $156 million domestically. A pretty amazing counterpoint to what entgertainment industry "experts" call "the ongoing collapse of the box office".

The "experts" say that people are shunning Hollywood's shoddy slop not because of appeal or quality, but for reasons completely unrelated to the fact that the industry is run by political leftists determined to push the DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity) agenda.

They're producing movies filled with political messaging, obnoxious girlbosses, gay stuff, and woketard record scratches, and all sorts of other loony liberal propaganda. As Walt found out yesterday, Disney has its own "Diversity and Inclusion" team, which gets a credit near end of the length scroll following Zootopia 2.

The libtards running the show seem totally unaware that the not-so-liberal general public -- people like you and me -- are fed up with the DEI crap... sick, sore and tired of it. So when a young lady of whom I am quite fond asked to be taken to see Zootopia 2, I asked myself; why should I go and see another lousy product from a tired and out-of-touch bunch of  wokesters.

But (I thought) the original Zootopia was pretty good, in spite of the DEI sub-text, and if "Flash" (the sloth who works at the DMV) is going to be in the sequel, he'll be good for a laugh. So I watched the trailer...

... and decided to give it a chance. I'm glad I did. Zootopia 2 is better (IMHO) than the original. Of course it's still all about equity and inclusion, celebrating our differences, working together for a woke new society yada yada yada, but the main story line is strong enough that you aren't bothered by the quiet propaganda. There's lots of action, a plot which is simple enough to follow (maybe not for pre-teens), and the animation and characterization are excellent! 👍👍👍👍 (out of five)

We return then to Mr Nolte's article. "If Zootopia 2 can make $556 million over a single weekend (he writes), why can't everything else? That’s not a sarcastic question, and the answer is an easy one: because not every movie has the same broad appeal as Zootopia 2. That’s not a criticism. It’s just a fact. 

"The answer to so many box office bombs, however, is decidedly not these relentless lies and crybaby excuses of: COVID, streaming, theatrical window, whine, whine, whine, whine… No, not every movie can deliver the same broad appeal of a Zootopia 2, but…and this is important…enough people all over the world obviously, obviously still want to go to the movies if the movie holds some appeal for them.

"The problem is that Hollywood removed sex appeal and sensuality (unless it's gay sex appeal and sensuality). The problem is that Hollywood chose divisive political messaging over universal appeal and themes. The problem is that Hollywood chose to alter and poison human nature with so much woke, no one can relate to the characters or their relationships. 

"Movies like Zootopia 2...prove one thing: Americans still love going to the movies, and what’s stopping them is not StreamingCOVIDTheatricalWindow. What’s stopping them is a a smug, spoiled, bigoted, and insulated industry that hates its own customers."

Noted in passing:

- Being a cheap SOB, I went on a Tuesday afternoon when admission at the Fort Mudge cinema is half-price. Even so, the auditorium was no more than 20% full. Maybe it''s because it was a school day.

- The aforementioned cinema doesn't have a ticket window any more. If you haven't booked online (a buck extra for the "administration fee"!) you can get your ticket at an ATM-like machine in the lobby, or from the pimple-faced kid who sells you the popcorn-like snacks.

- The lobby of yesteryear has been transformed into an arcade where the slack-jawed yokels can play more-or-less violent games like Exterminator and Transformers until their thirst for flashing lights and loud noises has been quenched. Not recommended for those prone to seizures.

- The cinema now offers a gadget -- a tiny screen mounted on a flex pipe that fits into your cup-holder -- which displays subtitles in English or ??? for those who can't keep up. The screen is low-light, green-on-black, quite unobtrusive, and a good idea. 

That's Walt's one-and-only movie review for this year. I just might go again next year, by which time I'm sure there'll be a Zootopia 3!

Hollywood "celebs" join "impeachment task force"

(((Scott Dworkin))), a staunch Democrat, is concerned about Still-President Trump's "Impeachment Defense Taskforce". An ad posted recently for the IDT said "I want to know who stood with me when it mattered most, which is why my team is making me a list of EVERY AMERICAN PATRIOT who adds their name and joins the Official Impeachment Defense Taskforce."

Mr Dworkin's reaction? "Trump's propaganda machine is going to be in overdrive for the foreseeable future, so we need to be fighting every day, in every way." His "every way" includes organizing what he calls a "Democratic Coalition" -- a gang of Hollywood celebs who vow to hold President Trump's feet to the fire, and make sure he is impeached.

According to a report in Newsweek, the "force" includes such B- and C-listers as Alyssa Milano, Debra Messing, Tom Arnold, George Takei, Ron Pearlman, and, inevitably, Rosie O'Donnell. [What? No Joy Behar? Ed.] Mr Dworkin predicts that his group will grow rapidly within the coming weeks and plans to take Trump head-on. Old Joe Biden, Fauxcahontas and other Presidential wannabes have not yet given the DC (geddit?) their stamp of approval.

For a final comment, Walt turns to Scott Adams' Dilbert.

Note from Ed.: You can't know how often Walt wants to run a Dilbert strip as an editorial comment on one of our posts, but we know Dilbert is copyrighted, so we don't do it. Walt hopes Mr Adams won't mind, just this once.

VIDEOS (2): How leftie political correctness ruined "Star Wars"

Dave Sussman and Bill Whittle discuss how Hollywood has rewritten crucial scenes in Star Wars to accommodate a new politically correct, inclusive, diverse, yada yada yada view of heroes and society, and how it enrages a large swath of millennials. Mr Whittle explains the "walk away" strategy, and how it can be used to weaken the Democratic Party and win the culture war.

Don't miss Bill's riff, around the 17 minute mark, on how Star Wars is (and was intended to be) a religion for a post-Christian world.



As someone who liked the first three Star Wars movies (Parts IV, V and VI), disliked the next three and was so put off by the trailers for those that followed that I didn't even see them, I give this two thumbs up.

Footnote (Footvideo?): Did Han Solo shoot first? Ed. found Bill Whittle's earlier (2012) video in which he discusses the issue. Here it is.



Now I understand -- thanks Bill! -- why there hasn't been a movie made in the last five years that I've found worth seeing. American movies stink! Hollywood stinks! Political correctness and leftist ideology stink! A pox on the lot of them!

Another footnote: If you enjoyed listening to Bill Whittle demolish Star Wars and American cinema, you'll surely get a chuckle out of "Story Time: Bill Reads a Hillary Clinton Children's Book!" Posted in February 2016, it wasn't the only reason why Hellery lost the election, but I'm sure it helped! LMAO!

Why Walt hasn't written about (((Harvey Weinstein)))

During Campaign 2016, Hellery Clinton, the Democrats and le Tout Hollywood were all over Donald Trump (now PRESIDENT Trump) like a rash for having said, in a casual remark to a media nobody that he (Trump) could grab a woman by the pussy and get away with it. If he wanted to. Not that he had actually eer done so. For that, Mr Trump was roundly castigated [Can you be squarely castigated? Ed.], pilloried as a male chauvinist pig. [Now there's a phrase you don't hear much any more. Ed.]

The progressive Forces For Good who denounced Mr Trump and advocated the candidacy of La Clinton -- champion of gender equality and fighter against sexual abuse that she is [LOL. Ed.] included President 0 and just about every celeb who ever appeared in any movie produced, financed and/or promoted by Hollywood mogul (((Harvey Weinstein))). Mr (((Weinstein))) gave millions of hard-earned dollars to the Clinton campaign, signalling his support for Mrs Bill's courage in standing up to that "creep" Trump.

It turns out that, unlike Mr Trump, who said that he could grab women by the pussy if he wanted, (((Harvey Weinstein))) actually did grab women by the pussy, and much more. And he got away with it... until this month. Now numerous Hollywood personalities are coming forward, snail-like, to say that they were abused by the Tinseltown Lothario, although they didn't want to say anything about it at the time because... well... errr....

The Democratic National Committee has allowed as how it maybe should give back some of the money donated by Mr (((Weinstein))). Not all of it, you understand, because even a loathsome pervert is entitled to his political convictions, right? But the Democratic ex-president and the last Democratic candidate for the presidensity have said, errr, nothing. Nada. Rien. When the Prez and or Hellery "What Happened" Clinton speaks out on the (((Weinstein))) scandal, I will have something further to say. Don't hold your breath.

VIDEO: Pope Francis honours Hollywood lefties

On Monday Walt shared with you "6 ways Pope Francis promotes political liberalism", an excerpt from an article by Christopher A. Ferrara which you can read by following the link in my post.

Mr Ferrara's article was written before the latest egregious example of Francis the Humble's pandering to the liberal elites. I refer to a ceremony held at the Vatican on Sunday in which the Pope bestowed his "Olive Award" on three Hollywood stars -- George Clooney, Richard Gere and Selma Hayek -- who are all activists in the promotion of environmentalism, gender ideology, gay rights and suchlike liberal secular humanist claptrap.

One of these paragons of virtue claims to be a Buddhist. The other two are apostates -- lapsed Catholics -- or, I should say, not just "lapsed" but actively anti-Catholic! Listen to what The Remnant's Michael Matt has to say about them and about why the Pope is taking a leading role in destroying our Western Christian culture.

Biggest box office flops of all time

Walt's a big movie fan, but hasn't darkened the cinema door lately because, IMO, there just haven't been any "big movies". Sorry, Avatar doesn't count. Other than the SFX what was it? Just another "noble savage" story.

At least Avatar made some money. Many others didn't or won't. Here, from inMovies.ca is a list of the ten biggest box office losers of all time. How many of these turkeys did you see? How many did you even hear of? My score: seen 0; heard of 1.

Footnote: For the record, the last two films I paid my sawbuck to see were Slum Dog Millionaire and District 9 -- both excellent, and both foreign. Perhaps that says something about the state of Hollywood today.