Over the last couple of weeks, several of the big name-brand studios in entertainment released big budget movies and tv shows, and only one didn’t flop. Why did this movie, Top Gun: Maverick, not crash and burn? Simple, it wasn't garbage. End of story.
Other movies released included Jurassic World: Dominion and Lightyear, as well as the tv shows Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ms. Marvel. All of these underperformed, bringing in less revenue than was initially expected and are all continuations of previously established franchises. For Lightyear alone they had to lower their projections by thirty-five percent in the domestic box office on the opening weekend.
The criticism has been leveled at Hollywood that they are creatively bankrupt, devoid of new ideas and limping on because of the constant refurbishing of beloved movies and series created and dreamed up by people who were greater than they are. Top Gun: Maverick is also a rehashing of an already established franchise but it was successful because it felt different and added to the Top Gun franchise instead of taking away from it.
More importantly, it wasn’t leftist tripe. The original Top Gun encapsulates the invigorated American spirit in the 1980s, after it had taken serious beating from the Carter administration. It was unapologetically over the top, brash, and unashamedly pro-America. Something you don’t see enough of today.
Good movies become a part of the culture, great movies define and shape the culture, and that is exactly what the original Top Gun did. It defined US military exceptionalism and the triumph of the American spirit and willpower.
The new Top Gun is the same. It still focuses on the distinct culture and comradery of pilots in the Top Gun School, but tells new stories and feels like its own movie. It does this in a way that reflects the real changes that occur over time, but keeps the part of the original that made it the favorite movie of so many.
Jurassic World, Lightyear, Kenobi, and Ms. Marvel on the other hand are blatant money grabs with leftist ideological messaging shoehorned in. Jurassic World and Ms. Marvel don’t add anything to the series they are a part of and actually distract from the great movies and shows that came before them in their series.
Lightyear was made by people who clearly don’t understand the source material and who are ideologically motivated. The creators did not set out to make a movie that is in keeping with what made the other movies a success.
One of the first things they did over at Pixar was exclude Tim Allen, arguably the voice that made Buzz Lightyear famous, because Tim Allen is a moderate Republican and the Left cannot be seen associating with others with different opinions.
Tim Allen isn’t really even one of those no good, very bad conservatives. Allen supported John Kasich in 2016, who is a weak Republican on a good day. The problem is that Tim Allen isn’t as insane as the rest of them and that is not acceptable. That is why they handpicked Chris Evans to replace Allen. Evans is a fanatical leftist and so was obviously the ideal choice to replace Allen.
That is what initially turned off many to the new movie but then took it a step further by inserting a lesbian kiss scene, which was initially taken out because it did not add to the story and added to the run time, but added it back in after some uproar from their woke employees and to spite those that have fought them on their overt propagandizing like Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Florida Republicans.
Obi-Wan Kenobi on the other hand had a lot going for it, but failed because of mediocre writing and a parent company and writing team that cannot take criticism or be held responsible for their mistakes. This is a trend that has purveyed many of Disney’s new movies and tv series.
Whenever the fans are unhappy with the liberal, mediocre product that Disney has served them, those behind it begin name calling and circling the wagons because anybody unhappy with the work they have done must be some form of bigot, angry at all of the ‘diversity’ they are cramming into their products. It can’t be the fact that some of the executives who wrote the movie or tv show by committee couldn’t even write a compelling children’s book.
It is not hard to make a movie that pleases audiences, you just have to not look at the audience as revenue streams or malleable minds to indoctrinate. That is why Top Gun: Maverick did so well because unlike everything else out there, it does neither and focuses on what we have in common instead of what is different and usually divisive.
If Hollywood ever wants to get back on track, they should take notes from the new Top Gun Movie, and lots of them because they seem to be completely unaware of what the audience and American people want and that isn't woke garbage.