First of all, let’s let a single tear trickle down our cheeks for Disney losing money. Now that said nonsense is over let’s put it this way, they gained more than they lost in this deal since keeping the surprise of Baby Yoda an actual surprise has paid off in a big way as Mike Floorwalker of Looper would agree. The efforts of Jon Favreau to keep the little guy under wraps to speak were wise since by not giving up who was bound to show up Disney managed to keep quiet on one of the most iconic characters to come about in quite a while. Yoda’s race has been a mystery ever since he showed up in The Empire Strikes Back, and even after all this time there have only been a few like him that have been shown in the games, movies, TV series, and comics. And of those few all of them are gone now save for Baby Yoda, though given the fact that he exists in the past timeline since The Mandalorian is taking place five years after Return of the Jedi it’s hard to say if he’s going to be alive in the most recent timeline. Keep in mind that a lot of people do happen to think that he’s either headed for exile or for something a little darker.
But as far as costing millions, huh boy. Disney lost out on about $2 million give or take, and to the corporation that makes billions of dollars from its theme parks and movies this is pocket change, so starting an alarm for the company at this point would be like calling the fire department after someone lights a cigarette, beyond pointless. The money they stand to make with the likeness of Baby Yoda and the Mandalorian alone is enough to recoup that ‘loss’ since had they sprung the images of BY a little sooner so as to hopefully boost merchandise sales it’s possible they would have lost out on even more in the long-term. At this point they should be able to coast along with Disney+ if they decide to do so despite the loss in revenue from people dropping their subscriptions after the end of The Mandalorian. Jessica Rawden of CinemaBlend has more to say on the matter. Being forced to realize that The Mandalorian was the only reason that a lot of people were willing to sign up to Disney+ is kind of a hard pill to swallow but at the same time it’s not about to break Disney, just set them back a minor amount if the streaming service doesn’t continue to perform as well as it did initially.
Anyone panicking about Disney losing money is going to get a lot of odd looks since really the corporation isn’t about to go under or even look like they’re in trouble after losing a couple million only to gain so much more by showing at least a little bit of patience in revealing an astounding and game-changing character. Where BY’s arc is going at this point is tied directly to the Mandalorian’s but it’s still enough to say that it’s not bound to go anywhere great since he lives a rather rough lifestyle and his search for the little guy’s home isn’t bound to be much less dangerous than it was in the first season when Mando/Din was trying to keep him away from the Imperials. Now that it’s been established that Moff Gideon is still alive and has the darksaber it’s going to be even tougher for the Mandalorian to keep evading those that want to see BY captured and used to whatever end the Empire seems to want. There is still a theory that the resurrected Palpatine will want the little guy for the power he holds, but whether or not that’s the case is yet to be seen. It would make a good bit of sense considering that the emperor would need a substantial amount of power and possibly Force energy to keep himself from sliding over the brink and into the realm of death before the Rise of Skywalker.
But as far as Disney losing money, that’s one of the biggest and possibly the last nothing-burger of 2019 since there’s no way that losing a couple million will be remembered in the next month or two when the reality of what’s been gained by the minor loss is tallied. Disney is still going to be killing it in 2020 since there are plenty of movies coming out and shows that will be in production or coming out eventually that will gain the attention of the people and keep them coming back for more. In fact, now that the Fox properties are under the Disney umbrella you can’t help but wonder if there’s anything that will topple the Mouse House in this lifetime since most sources would agree that it’s in a very strong and stable position and should be for some time to come. Brandon Katz of Observer has more to say about this.
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