3 Franchises Disney Needs to Move on From (& 2 That Deserve More Attention)

It’s been a while since Disney has been trying to get back on its feet. Every now and then, the studio puts out a new movie or series that gets a good reception, but the last few years haven’t exactly been its most glorious, which is why people have started to notice the company has chosen to stay in its comfort zone: franchises. Whenever they find a story with enough potential to expand in all kinds of ways, it seems almost impossible to simply leave it alone. It’s understandable, considering its brands continue to bring in billions year after year. However, success doesn’t mean a franchise needs to keep going. At the same time, Disney also has properties that still seem far from reaching their full potential, ironically because the studio doesn’t seem to realize it.

So, we’ve picked a few examples in particular that Disney should finally start thinking about letting go, and others that could benefit greatly from more investment.

5) Move On: Toy Story

Is Toy Story good? Yes, and there’s really no way to deny that. However, the franchise started back in 1995, and its fifth and most recent movie came out this year, which makes us wonder how much longer this story can keep going. It started by following Woody, Buzz, and the other toys as Andy grew up and, in the process, built several stories around the moment when a child eventually leaves their toys behind. It’s easily one of Disney’s biggest animated franchises, but the thing is that it has already done enough, and there isn’t much reason to keep stretching it out. Toy Story 3 already felt like the perfect ending to all of this, but then the fourth movie came along and went even further by giving Woody a farewell that separated him from the other toys. It wasn’t a great idea, but audiences still accepted it.

So, Disney found another reason to give the franchise yet another sequel, this time putting more attention on technology, which is actually a pretty interesting subject given the world we live in today. On the other hand, all of this history only makes the problem more obvious: Disney is struggling to come up with new situations for a franchise that has solved its main conflict several times (not to mention the studio’s difficulty in taking a chance on other original stories). Toy Story has become a money-making machine at this point, and that’s pretty much it, because the studio is just leaning into nostalgia instead of taking more risks.

4) Deserve Attention: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

One of the biggest mistakes Disney has been making lately is not putting enough focus on Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It’s not like there is no marketing or fan support, but it’s almost as if the studio is blind to the fact that it has a gold mine right in front of it. The show is an adaptation of Rick Riordan’s book series, following a boy who discovers that he’s a demigod, the son of Poseidon, and ends up entering a world where Greek gods, monsters, and other demigods actually exist. And what’s the potential here? Each book makes the universe bigger and brings the protagonist closer to a war against Kronos. On top of that, the author’s huge involvement in the project helps make the adaptation extremely faithful and well-received.

Currently, the show is heading into its third season, which will put Percy and his friends Annabeth and Grover on a new mission while introducing important characters for what’s coming next. In short, what Disney has here is something that Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe spent years building from scratch: a universe with already beloved characters, its own mythology, and a story planned to continue for years. The difference is that Percy Jackson doesn’t need a three-hour movie every two years or a string of spin-offs. So what the studio really needs to do is prioritize the production instead of treating it like just another series. One of the biggest challenges the show has faced so far is breaking out of its bubble and reaching a wider audience, and perhaps Disney’s lack of investment is part of the reason why.

3) Move On: Pirates of the Caribbean

Maybe it’s time to admit that, in this case, Disney is trying to solve a problem that doesn’t really need to be solved, right? Pirates of the Caribbean might actually be an even worse situation than Toy Story, because the latest films didn’t get nearly the same reception as the first three, and everyone knows that without Johnny Depp, there isn’t much of an audience. The story started with Will Turner trying to save Elizabeth Swann after she is kidnapped by pirates, but pretty quickly, everything became about Jack Sparrow, curses, ghost ships, sea monsters, and all kinds of supernatural adventures. And the question that remains is: what exactly is Disney trying to bring back now, almost a decade after Dead Men Tell No Tales?

It’s been a long time since a new movie was announced, and since then, no specific information about it has been revealed or confirmed, with everything seemingly coming down to negotiations with Depp. But generally speaking, looking only at the stories that have been told so far, it’s hard to imagine a new one that wouldn’t feel like an attempt to copy what already worked. Pirates of the Caribbean is making it obvious that Disney still refuses to accept that some of its franchises have already reached their end, and that’s okay. Of course, that doesn’t mean people won’t want to watch another sequel, but it won’t be the same as it was before, because nostalgia is still a strong factor when it comes to getting an audience — however, it goes hand in hand with something called oversaturation.

2) Deserve Attention: X-Men ’97

X-Men ’97 is a continuation of the animated show from the ’90s, but it should be much more important to Disney, especially considering how Marvel is a major franchise attached to the company. Highly praised from the beginning, it picks up with the X-Men after the events of X-Men: The Animated Series, with Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, and the rest of the team trying to continue Charles Xavier’s work while dealing with a society that still sees them as a threat. However, the show’s biggest strength was understanding that bringing these characters back didn’t mean just repeating the old stories. So, what happened here was using nostalgia as the entry point while developing the entire story in a much more innovative way.

The series features new conflicts, relationships that evolve, and issues that truly change the characters’ lives, and that puts it in a very different position within Marvel: while the MCU is finally getting ready to introduce the new X-Men, the animated series has already figured out how to make these heroes work, and Disney shouldn’t waste that by treating X-Men ’97 like a side project. Actually, the show can be where Marvel tests ideas, develops lesser-known figures, and tells stories that would be difficult to fit into the movies (and there’s plenty of material for that). Disney may not be directly involved in the creative side, but it holds the rights to the franchise and, with that, can do much more to expand the show’s reach.

1) Move On: Frozen

When an original production does well, Disney tends to take that as a green light to start a new franchise with everything that can possibly be explored, which is what happened with Frozen. The first film was a global, record-breaking success, and its story was actually pretty simple: Elsa spends years hiding her ice powers, accidentally plunges Arendelle into an eternal winter, and runs away, while Anne goes after her — their relationship is the heart of the whole story. Then, in Frozen II, Elsa and Anna leave Arendelle so the origins of Elsa’s powers can be explored, only for their lives to be changed all over again. The third movie is scheduled to be released next year, but is there really any reason for it to exist other than the fact that audiences like the franchise?

There is nothing wrong with wanting to see these characters again in a new kind of situation, but a lot has already been created since the original film: short features, specials, musicals, toys, and pretty much everything else a property of this size can offer. The good news is that it’s already been seven years since the last installment, which is quite a long break, but Elsa and Anna don’t need to jump into another dangerous adventure for them to still be popular figures and for the story to remain beloved. After Frozen 3, Disney could very well close this chapter and invest in something new, because constantly going back to the same franchises simply because they are guaranteed to be profitable makes it difficult to create “the next Frozen.” At this point, the only thing missing is a live-action remake, which, hopefully, they won’t get any ideas about.

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