Product Marketing vs. the Creative Process

Whether the World of Color at Disney California Adventure is a great show or not is a subject up for debate but nobody can deny it is a grand spectacle of monumental scope and shows some of the best of Disney imagineer creativity in recent years. The show provides about 25 minutes of "oohs" and "ahhs" as it was conceptually designed with some of the scenes working better than others. In the end, you can't walk a way from a performance without being impressed (even if you have been standing on your feet for a couple of hours by the time the show ends).

And now comes the premiere of the 2011 summer blockbuster movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, almost a certain guarantee to become one of the highest grossing movies of all time. I'm willing to bet that 95% of the people who stand to marvel at World of Color already have it their minds to make it over to their local multiplex to see the film first hand. So the question is, does Disney really need to extend World of Color 4 minutes to insert a WOC promotion for the movie in front of a group of people who already have seen or will see the movie? The YouTube video posted here that shows the extended Pirates segment from its original 30 seconds is impressive but is it necessary? I'll be in the minority here for sure but I'm saying no. If you want to change World of Color to improve the pacing, the flow, the building to a breathtaking climax, then go for it.  If you want change World of Color to shamelessly promote a movie that really needs no promotion, then that seems to be undermining the creative process that went in to producing the show to begin with.