This situation is going from bad to worse.
The article, which you can read here, was an investigative piece by the L.A. Times into the business dealings of Disney with the city of Anaheim, the base of their west-coast theme parks Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
Soon afterward, readers of the L.A. Times noticed that the publication had not reviewed Disney’s latest release, Thor: Ragnarok, which led to this announcement:
The annual Holiday Movie Sneaks section published by the Los Angeles Times typically includes features on movies from all major studios, reflecting the diversity of films Hollywood offers during the holidays, one of the busiest box-office periods of the year. This year, Walt Disney Co. studios declined to offer The Times advance screenings, citing what it called unfair coverage of its business ties with Anaheim. The Times will continue to review and cover Disney movies and programs when they are available to the public.
Essentially, Disney did not like the L.A. Times’ coverage, and have black-listed them from all future press screenings and events.
This led to a massive supportive response from other outlets, with some claiming they too would not cover Disney films until the black-listing against the L.A. Times was removed.
Today, the story has developed further, as four prominent film critics groups say they will bar Walt Disney Co. films from receiving awards consideration until the embargo is removed.
The full statement via 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 is as follows.
— Alison Willmore / alisonwillmore.bsky.social (@alisonwillmore) November 7, 2017
At the time of writing, there has been no official response from Disney to these actions.
