Daly Mann

Ah, December. The one month a year where there’s nothing better than putting on your fuzziest socks and grabbing a steaming cup of hot chocolate to settle in on the couch for a classic Christmas movie. As you are guzzling down that sweet hot chocolate, the warm fuzzies seep all throughout your body as you sink into the couch, and your friend clicks the remote to start the movie. You think, ‘surely a classic Christmas film will revolve around a child learning “the true meaning of Christmas” or a scrooge meeting ghosts of various eras in time.’ But you’re wrong. This classic Christmas movie suddenly thrusts you into a plot that revolves around Bruce Willis fighting off terrorists who’ve hijacked a Los Angeles skyscraper. What classic Christmas movie is this? Well, it’s Die Hard, of course! Happy Holidays. Oh, you don’t think Die Hard is a Christmas movie? Well, what do you think makes something a Christmas movie?

For most FSU students, including myself, The Muppet Christmas Carol premiered in theaters before we were born. Lucky for us, this delightful film’s legacy lives on and can be streamed on Disney+. Featuring Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge and Gonzo as Charles Dickens, The Muppet Christmas Carol does not disappoint.

Do you ever sit down to watch a classic Disney movie you loved as a child only to find out it is not nearly as great as you remembered? Do the jokes no longer hit now that you’re above the age of thirteen? Do the life lessons now seem like common sense to you? Luckily, you will experience none of those kinds of feelings or somewhat upsetting sensations if you choose to rewatch Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove.

In the late days of November 2002 came the release of a film that should have been another multi-million success story for Walt Disney Studios. After all, how could it possibly do bad? A movie about space pirates combined with striking colorful visuals and the first Disney film to use a combination of 2D and CG animation? Every seat in a theater for the next few months should have had a butt teetering on the edge in anticipation for the lights to dim and for Treasure Planet to play. This, however, was not the case. Being awarded one of Disney’s greatest flops, Treasure Planet only made about $110 million worldwide while the film cost about $180 million to make. This means Treasure Planet lost Walt Disney Studios around $70 million even though it included the mighty allure of pirates in space and a hoverboarding angsty teen. So, why didn’t Treasure Planet fully set sail at the box office?