Nimona’s Giant Approval Rating Sees Netflix Giving Disney Another Kick For Rejecting the Movie

Netflix released their latest animated offering on Friday, Nimona, which has added another critically acclaimed animated movie to the streamer’s list of past successes. Based on the sci-fi graphic novel of the same name, Nimona is an adventure comedy directed by Nick Bruno that tells the story of the shapeshifting title character, who is voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz. The movie landed itself an impressive 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from both audiences and critics, and the film has become an instant hit for Netflix, who will be taking this as a win over Disney.

Disney Pixar recently released their latest offering in cinemas, Elemental. The visually pleasing movie, like many other Disney originals failed to capture quite the level of attention it hoped to, with critics scoring it around 76%, audiences being much more generous with a 92% rating, but the box office gross after two weeks being $70 million adrift of its huge $200 million budget. Following last year’s disastrous release of Strange World, which took only $73 million worldwide, Nimona’s success on Netflix will be a big kick for Disney considering it was a movie that they could have made.

The rights to Nimona were originally acquired by Blue Sky Studios, the studio behind hits such as Ice Age, and the movie was slated to be released back in 2020. However, following Disney’s Fox merger, which saw them acquire Blue Sky Studios, Disney’s leadership reportedly pushed back against the LGBTQ+ themes of the movie and canceled the movie completely by 2021. The project was then picked up by Annapurna Pictures, and eventually Netflix picked up worldwide distribution rights. Now the movie’s arrival has certainly proven to be a missed opportunity for Disney that Netflix have more than benefited from.

Related: Exclusive: Chloë Grace Moretz and Riz Ahmed Fight Persecution in Nimona

Netflix Smashed Disney With Last Year’s Pinocchio Release

This is not the first time Netflix have put Disney in the shade on the animation side of things. Last year, both Netflix and Disney released versions of Pinocchio. Disney unveiled their live-action remake of their classic 1940 version of the story, with Tom Hanks starring as Geppetto and an all-star cast including Luke Evans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Cynthia Erivo, but the film was heavily criticized as a “soulless, inert” remake that was nothing but visual dressing.

In contrast, just a few months later, Netflix premiered Guillermo del Toro’s take on the story in a much darker stop-motion animated version of the Pinocchio story. Once again, the movie boasted an ensemble voice case of Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton and more, but unlike Disney’s own goal, this little wooden boy had legs. Del Toro’s masterful adaptation earned itself a 97% approval rate from critics, and audiences were not too far behind. The battle of the Pinocchio’s was a huge win for Netflix, and landed del Toro and Oscar to boot, and now it looks like they have taken the advantage over Disney by distributing one of their offcasts in Nimona.

Nimona and Pinocchio are both streaming now on Netflix. Disney Pixar’s Elemental is still in cinemas now, before it heads to Disney+ to join their version of Pinocchio in September.