For decades, Walt Disney Pictures and its subsidiaries have dominated the film industry with productions that strike a deft balance between commercial success and genuine artistry. Recently, however, it’s gotten a lot harder to enjoy the House of Mouse’s output. Bloating budgets, poor working conditions, and back-to-back disappointments at the box office have affected everything from Marvel to Star Wars. Disney films just don’t look or feel the way they used to, and much of the fault lies with the company’s corner-cutting, especially where its visual effects are concerned.
Dubious behind-the-scenes practices have percolated across the industry for years, and Disney isn’t the only perpetrator. But tensions between the studio and the industry’s VFX houses, along with the non-unionized VFX workers employed by Disney, came to a head in 2023. Marvel’s abhorrent practices were also unearthed in a handful of exposés, each of which painted a portrait of an industry ready to blow. When the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild went on strike, it felt like a step in the right direction. Disney’s in-house visual effects teams then took their own measures to unionize and negotiate for better working conditions.
