Disney barred L.A. Times critics from advance screenings of recent blockbuster Thor: Ragnarok and said they would also bar the paper from upcoming screenings, presumably including December’s blockbuster-in-waiting, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.Jonathan Olley
The critics have spoken.
Responding to a cascading wave of negative reaction, the Walt Disney Company on Tuesday reversed its decision to bar the Los Angeles Times from press screenings of its movies.
"We've had productive discussions with the newly installed leadership at the Los Angeles Times regarding our specific concerns, and as a result, we've agreed to restore access to advance screenings for their film critics," Disney said in a statement.
It was revealed last week that Disney, upset over what it deemed to be unfair coverage of the company's business affairs, did not allow Los Angeles Times movie writers to take part in advance screenings of its Marvel blockbuster Thor: Ragnarok, and that the newspaper would be banned from upcoming screenings as well, presumably including December's blockbuster-in-waiting, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
That Disney decision did not go well over well in film and media circles. News outlets, including The New York Times, said they would boycott advance screenings of Disney movies in solidarity with the Los Angeles Times.
"A powerful company punishing a news organization for a story they do not like is meant to have a chilling effect," The New York Times said in a statement on Tuesday. "This is a dangerous precedent and not at all in the public interest."
Entertainment writer Alyssa Rosenberg of the Washington Post had already declared she would no longer attend media previews of Disney films. "As long as Disney is blocking the critics from the Los Angeles Times from press screenings," she wrote, "I can't in good conscience attend similar showings or write reviews in advance."
CNN news correspondent Jake Tapper responded to the growing fiasco on Twitter: "I just took out a subscription to the L.A. Times in honour of Disney boycotting the newspaper because it engaged in journalism."
Joining in the protest were prominent film critics' groups: the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics, and the National Society of Film Critics. In a joint statement, they announced they would not consider Disney titles for their forthcoming year-end awards.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA) also gave the thumbs down to Disney's punitive action when its member voted to disqualify Disney films from its year-end award lists as well. "We fully support press and intellectual freedoms," TFCA president Peter Howell said in a statement, "and we urge Disney to do the same by lifting its ban of the L.A. Times."
Minutes later, Disney did indeed back down.
The furor began as a result of a Los Angeles Times story in September that dug into Disney's business ties with the city of Anaheim, Calif., home of its Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks.
Disney and Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok opened last Friday with an estimated $121-million (U.S.) haul at the box office.