Root for the bad guys

Image: Disney

For several years, there were three popular rumors about the fifth gate. The most prevalent of them is the one that makes the most sense. Since the introduction of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into pop culture in 1937, NO ONE has created more memorable villains than The Walt Disney Company. I mean that in terms of quality and quantity. Beginning with the Evil Queen Grimhilde, we could spend the rest of this article describing memorable evil-doers and why they’ve stood the test of time in the memories of Disney fans. We’re obviously not going to do that, but let’s hit the high points.

No list would be complete without mentioning Maleficent, first introduced in 1959’s Sleeping Beauty, the character was brought into the realm of live action in 2014 when Angelina Jolie portrayed the titular lead. Captain Hook shows up in every Peter Pan movie, and he’s also quite popular on ABC’s Once Upon a Time. Gaston from Beauty and the Beast is more than just a hilariously egomaniacal foil for Belle. He’s also a viral video sensation. Cruella De Vil doesn’t just have devil in her name; she’s also the source of inspiration for one of the greatest Simpsons songs ever.  Then, there’s Uncle Scar, who single-handedly sets back familial relationships among the kings of the jungle through his actions in The Lion King.

Finally, if we bring the concept up to date through a recent Disney purchase, think about Star Wars from the perspective of cult of personality. Luke Skywalker was never as popular among fans as Han Solo, the ne’er do well imprisoned by Jabba the Hutt due to poor relationship choices. His lack of team spirit is right there in the name, yet he eventually joins forces with the good guys to stop the Evil Empire. And no matter how popular Solo is, no matter how much debate he provokes about who shot first, Han Solo is nowhere near as established in the pop culture zeitgeist as Darth Vader.

The Dark Side has more than cookies…

Image: Disney

As much as anyone else here, Darth Vader exemplifies how people perceive villains. Walter White never becomes a cultural icon unless he develops the Heisenberg persona. Nobody cares about Dr. Jekyll until he devolves into Mr. Hyde. John McClane is an angry man in danger of becoming a weekend dad before Hans Gruber invades Nakotomi Plaza. And Batman is merely an uptight billionaire with anger management issues without the Joker cracking jokes while wreaking mayhem on the suckers still inexplicably living in Gotham.

In every realm of storytelling, villains differentiate and elevate heroes. Since Disney has the world’s greatest catalog of evil-doers, their rogues gallery represents a competitive advantage in the theme park industry. By monetizing the bad guys, they could theoretically double sales. Think about it from a different perspective. A product that appeals exclusively to women excludes 49 percent of the population while one catering to men is even worse; it excludes 51 percent of humanity.

The same rationale applies to merchandising sales, Disney’s bread and butter. Selling The Lion King toys without releasing a Scar brand is a mistake. They miss out on a key component of their revenue stream. We know this from Star Wars sales. A recent study of the revenue generated by each character determined that Darth Vader leads the pack. Disney figuratively leaves money on the table every time they ignore potential villain revenue.

Disney has recognized this for a long time now. Even before they owned the Star Wars license, they had their own data that suggested they should merchandise bad guys more often. The problem is that performing this action requires a fundamental change in behavior after more than half a century of sameness. They would have to do something bold to display their villains in the most buzz-worthy manner possible. The Walt Disney Company realized exactly what they needed, and it was a…

Dark Kingdom

Image: Disney

Rather than start marketing a wide variety of merchandise for villains seemingly out of nowhere, Disney came up with a great plan. They would build an entire park full of evil doers, and then they would capitalize on the word-of-mouth to launch an entirely new line of products. It was exactly the kind of visionary thinking predicated upon potential revenue increases that make Disney a Fortune 100 company in the first place.

Once they started evaluating the issue, however, a few holes popped up. Since literally the first day at Disneyland, children had struggled with the scarier elements of some rides. Initially, it was Snow White’s Scary Adventures that frightened children. They didn’t enjoy the too lifelike Evil Witch, which is to say that she absolutely terrified many kids. To a certain extent, that’s the idea of putting the bad guys on display for everyone. It’s supposed to add an extra burst of adrenaline and a bit of entropy to the experience.

A park featuring Disney’s rogues gallery could offer more thrill rides and more excitement than, say, the basic attractions at Magic Kingdom. They could also use the world’s most popular theme park as a basis for an antithetical location. If a Disney Princess would have her own castle as the central point of Magic Kingdom (Cinderella’s Castle) and Disneyland (Sleeping Beauty Castle), logic dictates that one of their enemies host a castle at Dark Kingdom.

Image: Disney

The plan was for Maleficent to lord over the villains as the hostess of Dark Castle, a sort of Mirror Universe concept. The park would offer twisted versions of established Disney attractions. If Ariel has an Under the Sea ride, it’s only fitting that Ursula offer a nefarious counterpart. Dark Kingdom plans included mountain peaks matching the famous ones at Magic Kingdom, albeit with a dark spin. Think of them as evil mountain ranges with Disney villain themes.

In the end, Disney couldn’t justify a new park with such a bold premise. They would have to risk too much for potentially little gain if the idea didn’t prove mainstream enough. Eventually, they rebooted the plan a bit as Shadowlands, an extension within Magic Kingdom that would include some of the same premises. It didn’t seem like a great fit with the kid-friendly themes of the rest of the park, though.

Alas, Disney chose to populate their theme parks with bad guys in a more general sense rather than build an entire park recently. The recent Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party included a Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular, a returning favorite from past years. Also, during May of 2014, the Memorial Day 24-hour celebration, Rock Your Disney Side, included a villainous pre-parade. Starting in January of 2016, Disney will even add the Club Villain experience at Hollywood Studios. At a hefty price of $99 per person, you can enjoy dinner and dancing with evildoers such as Cruella De Vil, Maleficent, the Queen of Hearts and Dr. Facilier. Clearly, this idea isn’t going away anytime soon, and I for one hope that Disney eventually brings Dark Kingdom to life.