Disney CEO Bob Iger announced The Walt Disney Company would be creating new sequels for Toy Story, Frozen, and Zootopia during the company’s Q1 2023 earnings call.
Following Iger’s announcement, Allen took to Twitter where he revealed he would be returning to voice Buzz Lightyear in the fifth Toy Story film.
Allen wrote on Twitter, “See ya soon Woody, you are a sad strange little man and you have my pity. And off we go to a number 5! To infinity and beyond!”
Allen’s return to the character comes after he was replaced by Chris Evans in Lightyear, which bombed at the box office after it was revealed that the film, aimed at children, prominently featured a same-sex kiss.
The film only grossed $218.7 million at the global box office with only $118.3 million at the domestic box office. Blu-ray and DVD sales only totaled $2.3 million according to The-Numbers. The film had a reported production budget of $200 million.
RELATED: Chris Evans Calls Critics Of Lightyear’s Gay Kiss “Idiots” As His Film Is Banned In the Middle East
Not only was the film clearly trying to groom its audience with the inclusion of the same-sex kiss, but it also further exposed Chris Evans as a radical activist more so than an actor. Not only did it depict him as a radical activist, but it showed just how poor his own personal character was.
Speaking with Reuters about the film and specifically on those criticizing the grooming attempt in the film, Evans said, “The real truth is those people are idiots. I mean, I think throughout history you can see every time there’s been social advancement as we wake up, the American story, the human story is one of constant social awakening and growth and that’s what makes us good.”
He continued, “And then, you know, when that happens, there’s always going to be people who are afraid and unaware and trying to hold on to what was before. But those people die off like dinosaurs.”
“The goal is to pay them no mind, march forward, and embrace the growth that makes us human,” he concluded.
RELATED: Lightyear Director Confirms That LGBTQ Character Was Not A Part Of The Early Development Of The Film
Following the film’s utter failure at the box office stemming from both the attempt to groom children and Evans’ heinous comments, the film’s director Angus MacLane told the LA Times that the inclusion of the grooming initiative in the film was not originally part of the film’s original plans.
MacLane revealed, “Alisha as a character wasn’t there in the original pitch.” The LA Times notes “earliest versions of the story paired Buzz with a fellow Space Ranger and pilot with whom he also shared a romantic relationship.”
MacLane scrapped the idea after he supposedly realized “he didn’t think Buzz worked in romantic relationships.”
MacLane explained, “when it was suggested to make Alisha a queer character, that was awesome for two reasons. One, representation. And two, [Alisha] can live her separate life and you’re never feeling like there’s jealousy there … it’s more about how she lived a life.”
The director also indicated the grooming was done not just by him but by queer personnel at Disney. He stated, “We had a lot of queer personnel on the film. There’s a lot of really fantastic representation that means a lot — more than I can understand. For them to be so excited about that and have it be so personal, it means a lot to me.”
And if you didn’t think it was an attempt at grooming actress Uzo Aduba made it clear to the LA Times, “The exciting thing is that every kid, young and old, will be able to watch a movie like ‘Lightyear’ and see a piece of themselves in it.”
“That’s really important for our LGBTQ children and all voices. That’s taking stories to infinity,” she declared.
MacLane would later lash out at critics of the film after Lightyear was summarily embarrassed by Minions: The Rise of Gru that had an opening weekend gross of $107 million.
He retweeted Lon Harris who claimed critics were “poisoned” on Twitter, “Gonna get 100% serious for a moment. If you are reading this, and you think LIGHTYEAR vs. MINIONS represents a real political or social debate, such that you can read deeper meaning into their box office totals, log off the internet immediately. You have been poisoned.”
From there he called people giving the film poor reviews “trolls.”
RELATED: Tim Allen Criticizes Disney’s Lightyear For Not Connecting With It’s Audience
Following the film’s release Allen criticized the movie in an interview with Extra.
He explained why he didn’t voice the character saying, “The short answer is I’ve stayed out of this because it has nothing to do as I’ve said a long time ago. We talked about this many years ago and it came up in one of the sessions. I said, ‘What a fun movie that would be.’ And that was what we spoke about it.
He continued, “But the brass that did the first four movies is not — this is a whole new team that really had nothing to do with the first movies and they’re as I said, I thought it was a live-action when they said were doing a live-action that’s what I thought. It would mean real humans, not an animated thing.”
Allen further asserted, “There’s really no Toy Story Buzz without Woody. I’m not sure what the idea — I’m a plot guy and this was done in 1997 it would seem to be a big adventure story and I see it’s not a big adventure story. It’s a wonderful story. It just doesn’t seem to have any connections to the toy and that’s what, it’s a little, it’s a little, I don’t know…”
He added, “It has no relationship to Buzz…it’s just no connection. I wish there was a better connection to it.”
What do you make of The Walt Disney Company bringing back Tim Allen to voice Buzz Lightyear after the woke failure of Chris Evans and Angus MacLane’s Lightyear?