Faced with resistance from critics’ groups across North America over banning the Los Angeles Times from press screenings of its films, the Walt Disney Company backed down on Tuesday (November 7).
No sooner had the Toronto Film Critics Association voted to stand with critics associations in Los Angeles, New York and Boston by disqualifying Disney’s releases from end-of-year awards consideration than the studio announced it was reversing its decision.
In a statement, the company cited “productive discussions with the newly installed leadership at the Los Angeles Times regarding our specific concerns.”
Disney had barred Los Angeles Times critics from attending press screenings of its most recent release, Thor: Ragnarok, in retaliation for the newspaper’s investigative report earlier this fall into the company’s dealings with the municipal government of Anaheim, California where Disney operates Disneyland and the California Adventure theme parks.
The studio had also indicated that the paper’s writers would be unwelcome at future press screenings. Upcoming Disney releases include the animated film Coco (which opens on November 22) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay also tweeted her support. The director of the forthcoming Disney film A Wrinkle In Time said she was “standing with” Washington Post critic-at-large Alyssa Rosenberg after she decided to boycott future Disney screenings.
The purely punitive nature of the action motivated the Los Angeles Film Critics Association to push back, announcing that Disney films would be excluded from consideration in its 2017 awards. The Boston Society of Film Critics, the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle and the Toronto Film Critics Association all announced similar measures over the course of the day.
Full disclosure: I am a member of the TFCA. Also, hooray for this tiny moment of triumph over the giant corporation that owns Star Wars, Pixar and the Muppets.
