Disney has reached new levels of desperation in trying to gain a younger audience and sell tickets for “Tron Ares.” Now they have put YouTube star Mr. Beast in a teaser for the upcoming film.
File this under opinion, I guess, because this is so stupid.
Disney has been stalling out at the box office when it comes to anything other than live-action reimaginings and sequels. They have somehow killed both Marvel and Star Wars and have failed to gain the box office momentum with younger audiences. “A Minecraft Movie” and “KPop Demon Hunters” have gone viral, engaging the target demographic that Disney so desperately wants. So what do they do? Hire Mr. Beast.
I get it. It isn’t a terrible idea from a business perspective. Use a top YouTube star to shill your film, and hopefully, the younger generation will turn up and boost your box office. On paper, it is super smart. But it also smacks of desperation as they released it when tickets for “Tron Ares” went on sale.
Here is the teaser Mr. Beast posted on TikTok,
@mrbeastThey wouldn’t let me keep the bike. Check out Tron: Ares in theaters October 10th!
Disney has been trying to leverage YouTube for a while now.
Way back in 2014, Disney bought Maker Studios and with it access to some of the biggest YouTubers at the time. PewDiePie and Markiplier were among them.
We were also part of Maker Studios. When Disney came in, they even had a contest to find new shows and talent, optioning ideas. I know, because we got paid to be optioned. Then Disney learned that you can’t always control YouTubers when PewDiePie was dropped over accusations of antisemitism.
It was all downhill from there. Disney rolled Maker into their Disney Digital Network in 2017, and Maker Studios was ultimately shut down in 2019.
The company has a long history of trying to utilize social media and platforms like YouTube. Yet, they haven’t reached the success that Warner Bros. has had with “The Minecraft Movie” or Netflix has had with “KPop Demon Hunters.”
Now they have gotten Mr. Beast to advertise “Tron Ares”.
Maybe it will work out for them this time. Honestly, it isn’t one of the films that experts predict a big return on. Perhaps this move can change that?
“Tron Ares” releases to theaters on October 10, 2025.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
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