Every year the LA Times publishes a special section about all the end-of-year movie releases. This year someone is missing:
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.
The story about Disney’s relationship with the city of Anaheim—which, believe me, is hardly a secret in Southern California—is here. With no offense meant to its author, it’s a fairly routine piece of conflict reporting, pitting people who are pro-Disney, because they bring in tons of money to the city, versus activists who think Anaheim should take a tougher line in negotiations with the Mouse. It’s hardly Woodward and Bernstein material.
But in the era of Trump, apparently the answer to every single grievance is to be an asshole—not that Disney has ever needed any help in that area. So there will be no advance screenings for the Times. What a bunch of infants.
