Young Woman and the Sea is a different type of movie for Disney. Why yes, the film is a resounding sports story filled with hope and determination, that of which Disney has become synonymous with releasing. Yet, the more remarkable idea to come from the film is that it’s small. The actual film itself is wonderful. The production design and score are phenomenal, supporting Daisy Ridley’s incredible performance as the first woman to swim the English Channel. It’s not a small story, but an actual small film in the grand scheme of the Hollywood machine.
We are in an age, and have been for over a decade, where only two kinds of films are released in theaters: tent poles and art house pictures. For almost all of cinema history, the differing slate of films released in theaters was robust. For every film set up to be a blockbuster with a sky high budget, at least four other movies would be released that were made with a fraction of the budget.
Young Woman and the Sea harkens back to that time, specifically within The Walt Disney Company. Alongside a new Pirates of the Caribbean and Pixar release would be The Odd Life of Timothy Green or Tuck Everlasting. Going even farther back, the smaller films were the ones that entered the cultural zeitgeist. The Parent Trap remains a classic for the company, carrying only a $15 million budget and becoming a box office success and a long lasting comedic delight.
For a time, these smaller budgeted movies were only sent to Disney+. When the service first began, things like Godmothered, Noelle, and Clouds helped show that Disney was still keen on making these types of smaller films, albeit only for streaming. As the streaming wars are coming to a vicious realization that they are largely unsustainable for the growth hungry Wall Street overlords, changes are coming to the way these smaller flicks are distributed.
Young Woman and the Sea was originally set for a Disney+ release, but according to multiple sources the test audiences scored it so high that a limited release was set. Mind you, the film received next to know marketing, but it was comforting knowing that “the smaller film” has a chance at making a theatrical resurgence within the company.
This brings me to Freaky Friday 2, the frequently teased sequel to the 2003 iteration of the film starring Jamie Lee Curtis and small-movie-queen, Lindsay Lohan. After many references to the film’s possible existence, Walt Disney Studios finally announced that it has begun filming and will be eventually heading to theaters. This news is obviously exciting for having the cast back together, but it’s even more exciting knowing that this “smaller film” is being given the chance to shine in theaters.
We know that this film will be getting the proper marketing treatment. We know the budget will be smaller, just due to the nature of the story. We know that this sequel should be a major success. Above all, I hope the lasting effect Freaky Friday 2 has within the company is its ability to see the potential in returning to smaller films in theaters. The theatrical experience is a magical one and nothing hits more than seeing a comedy or romance or tear-jerker in a packed theater and embracing the energy of the room. Let this be the dawn of a small movie renaissance.