'Romulus' and Disney Plus

Disney has spent years carefully cultivating its brand image. Could that come back to bite it?

Cailee Spaeny in “Alien: Romulus” (20th Century Studios)

The Gist

• “Alien: Romulus,” the latest movie from Disney’s 20th Century Studios, is looking like a hit this weekend with an estimated $100 million globally.

• Parents on social media aren’t very happy about Disney+ promoting the movie, though.

• Is this the kind of dilemma Disney faces in the streaming age, after years of carefully crafting its brand image?

After seven years, a new “Alien” movie is in theaters thanks to *checks notes* Disney?

Yes, the first in the franchise since Disney bought 20th Century Fox (now 20th Century Studios), “Alien: Romulus” will finally kick “Deadpool and Wolverine” (also Disney! Also R-rated!) from the top of the box office this weekend. “Romulus” is expected to make around $100 million globally over the weekend, including a bit over $40 million in the US. With an $80 million budget — less than the last two movies, “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant” — it’s off to a good start, especially considering it was originally conceived as a straight-to-Hulu movie, like the Predator film “Prey.”

Disney is on a role this summer. After a couple years of pandemic-era turbulence for pretty much all of its film divisions, from Marvel to Pixar, the Mouse House has released two billion-dollar global grossers with Marvel’s “Deadpool and Wolverine” and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2.” And now, “Alien: Romulus” is following “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which came out in May, as a 20th Century movie that’s actually working after years of duds since the acquisition, “Avatar: The Way of Water” notwithstanding (“Kingdom” came in just below $400 million worldwide, the lowest of the modern “Apes” prequels, so it wasn’t a roaring victory. But it probably earned more than most expected it to).

Even just a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable for Disney to release a single R-rated movie to theaters, let alone two in one summer. Over the 2010s, the company leaned pretty much exclusively into event movies from its main brands that all could enjoy.

Disney has taken great care to cultivate that four-quadrant appeal. But with its purchase of Fox in 2019, it inherited IP like “Deadpool,” “Alien,” and “Predator” that didn’t exactly appeal to young kids and families. With “Romulus,” the company known for banning smoking from all of its movies is distributing a violent, gory, hard-R-rated monster-horror feature to theaters — and marketing it on Disney+.

Not everyone is very happy about that last part.

I’ve noticed increased chatter this weekend from people on X and Threads complaining that Disney+ is featuring images from “Alien” films in the top banner, the first thing that appears when you open the app. These people are throwing a fit that their kids are freaking out at the sight of the (to be fair, very scary) xenomorph, or the teaser image from “Romulus” of someone getting face hugged by a facehugger.

“Nothing like opening Disney+ for my 1-year-old and being met with an Alien Romulus promo,” said one Tweeter (uh, I mean, Xer?). Another called out Disney+ for showing an Alien banner “on the kids section,” to which the Disney+ Help account responded to give feedback at the Help Center website. Helpful!

On my own account, the first thing I see when I open Disney+ is an image suggesting I watch “Aliens” to prepare for “Romulus,” followed by the “Romulus” promo when I scroll over. But I was curious to see what all the fuss was about (Disclaimer: I don’t have kids), so I set my parental controls to G-rated. Sure enough, the second image in the top banner was an “Alien” film-collection promo, with a very scary xenomorph standing over a row featuring “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” and “Super Kitties” (below). Granted, it wasn’t the first thing to pop up, but all it took was one scroll over. I then set it to the most kid-friendly setting possible, the one I assume even infants can enjoy, and there it was again.

Disney+ homepage. (Screenshot)

This is the dilemma Disney faces in the streaming age. The mature Fox properties make for great Hulu assets, but Hulu is now integrated into Disney+, which is why you’re seeing so much “Romulus” promotion on the app, similar to how the platform hypes up every MCU release with a dozen previous movies to get up to speed on. And for parents who have Disney+ specifically to keep their little ones happy, it’s apparently unpleasant.

In reality, this seems like an easy fix. Disney could simply not suggest any “Alien” content if the controls are set below, I don’t know, PG-13 (The fact the app doesn’t already do that is head scratching, admittedly; is it the tech? The algorithm? I wonder if Netflix would have that issue). Of course, that doesn’t fix the problem for adults watching on their own accounts and their kids happen to walk in the room and see. I don’t know what to tell those people; you’re on your own. But no matter the solution, this kerfuffle raises an important question: Disney made a name for itself on family-friendliness and universal appeal — could all that brand building actually come back to bite it?

On one hand, Disney doesn’t want to alienate (pun absolutely intended) its core audience. On the other, broadening its content library for the streaming platform is a must. It can’t just rely on “Bluey,” which it doesn’t even own, and disappointing “Star Wars” and Marvel shows. At 118 million subscribers worldwide (154 million including Disney+ Hotstar), the service still has a long way to go to catch up to Netflix’s nearly 280 million members (still true even if you add Hulu’s 51 million). If Disney+ wants to be one of the thee or four streamers that the average household keeps a subscription to, then Hulu and 20th Century IP will be essential.

We’ve been down this road before with Disney. While the company has always been synonymous with its classic animated features, it wasn’t always only known for franchise tentpoles. In the ‘90s, it bought a little studio called Miramax, behind Oscar winners like “Chicago” and “Shakespeare In Love” (we won’t mention the founders here), and in 1999, it released a little movie called “The Sixth Sense.”

Disney is still going to be all in on its core franchises; at recent events like San Diego Comic-Con and its own D23 convention, it touted pretty much exclusively sequels and remakes, like “Avengers: Doomsday,” “Incredibles 3,” “Toy Story 5,” “Frozen 3,” “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” “Snow White,” and more. But 20th Century expands the palette, i.e. the audience.

Besides, when it comes to Disney+, international markets have had these 20th Century titles on the platform for years via the Star hub because Hulu isn’t available outside the US. Here’s what one guy had to say about it on Threads: “Hulu isn’t a thing in the UK, so we’ve had the full mix of content since day 1 of the Disney+ launch in the UK. So it doesn’t feel weird to us at all here to have Pixar and the Alien franchise on the same service.”

Maybe Americans just need to lighten up?

Hulu homepage (screenshot)

But no, I don’t think the “Alien” movies being promoted on Disney+ are a nail in the coffin. In fact, the juxtaposition of my Hulu and Disney+ experiences are telling: on the Hulu standalone app, I don’t see any “Alien” content until I scroll down almost a dozen rows, while it’s the first thing I see on Disney+. Disney clearly sees Disney+ as the future of the company; it’s the main app for all of its properties, and the place to promote them. Disney is the brand people know, and now it will be known for “Alien” content, too.

Maybe some people will cancel because of that, but as we’ve learned with Netflix, most people don’t actually cancel a streaming service out of protest, even if they threaten to. Better reasons to cancel would include: too expensive and not enough content worth watching. So if Disney+ keeps raising prices, it’s going to need more content to justify that.

I found a Threads post in my “research” that perfectly captures that sentiment (and the fears of all of Hollywood): “I think if it didn't have that content [20th Century content], I'd have long since canceled. I don't care for their attempts at original programming outside of the Star Wars stuff, and that's got a poor release cadence. I could easily get by with just YouTube Premium.”

“Alien: Romulus” (20th Century Studios)

RELATED: What’s the state of the “Alien” franchise?

Yes, “Romulus” is performing well this weekend. As I mentioned, it cost $80 million to produce, less than the $130 million for “Prometheus” and "$100 million for “Covenant.” It’s a budget more in line with the small-scale horror setting “Romulus” is taking the franchise back to.

“Prometheus” earned over $400 million worldwide, but “Covenant” topped out at $240 million. “Romulus” could get to the latter and probably profit. It’s reportedly doing so well internationally partly because of China, of all places, which has been allergic to most Hollywood releases post-pandemic. Yet, “Romulus” could earn nearly $25 million there over the weekend. So just two markets, the US and China, will account for about 65% of its global opening.

But with all that said, does that mean the “Alien” franchise is healthy? After inflation, both “Prometheus” and “Covenant” earned $70 million and $46 million in their domestic openings, more than “Romulus.”

But it’s impressive for the ninth installment in a 45-year old series; as industry analyst David A. Gross noted, the only other horror franchise to open bigger with its late sequels is “Halloween.” The international numbers are favorable; just a a few days ago, Deadline had reported that “Romulus” would open to $75 million worldwide, and now it’s looking more like $100 million.

And most importantly, audiences seem to be digging the movie. It got a B+ grade from CinemaScore, which surveys audiences on a movie’s opening night, a good score for an R-rated horror movie (“Prometheus” and “Covenant” both got a B). 60% of the audience was under the age of 35, despite the franchise’s age (maybe it’s that Disney marketing magic? The horror roots?). The movie basically has the next few weeks to itself, as “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is the next major tentpole release on September 6, so it could have legs.

If “Romulus” can sustain the momentum, the “Alien” franchise should be fine — just in time for the franchise’s first TV series, “Alien: Earth,” premiering next year on Hulu (and Disney+).

Beyond the Traverse

🪃 Indiewire asks why Warner Bros. Discovery wants to kill its cartoon legacy, after shutting down the Boomerang and Cartoon Network websites.

🧜‍♂️ “The Conjuring” and “Aquaman” director James Wan is making a “Creature From the Black Lagoon” remake.

• Speaking of Universal monster movies, I recently rewatched “Van Helsing,” a childhood favorite of mine despite it being a critical and financial flop. Guess what: I still love it. Here’s my Letterboxd review (follow me!)

📀 James Cameron’s message for people complaining about the “grain structure” of 4K transfers of his movies: “Move out of mom’s basement and meet somebody.”