Disney’s newest animated movie — which features an openly gay character — got crushed at the box office … and the LGBTQ crowd is worried this might’ve been the plan all along.

We’re talking about “Strange World,” which came out this weekend to abysmal ticket sale numbers — raking in just $18.6 million over the 5-day weekend, starting Wednesday. That’s well behind projections … where ‘SW’ was supposed to be coming in between $30-$40 mil.

According to reports, the film is expected to end up in the red long term — somewhere in the ballpark of at least $100 million, considering the $180M budget and marketing expenses.

It’s that same marketing, however, that’s got allies upset at the Mouse House … they feel like there wasn’t a peep about this flick pre-release, and that it’s no wonder it tanked. In fact, some are going into conspiracy mode — suggesting Disney was banking on a failure.

Here’s the theory … Disney could use the poor performance as rationale to not include LGBTQ characters going forward — pointing to this new character, Ethan, as evidence to back the would-be decision. Out there, we know, but that’s a legit convo taking place right now.

Of course, there’s no evidence to support this … at least not yet. Still, some are floating it anyway and think Disney was looking for an excuse for less representation on-screen.

Naturally, there’s another side of this discussion — the “Go Woke, Go Broke” faction, who’ve been thumping their chests about Disney’s efforts to include more diversity in its characters of late … which they think is the real reason for flops like this and ‘Lightyear,’ among others.

The good news(?) … Bob Chapek is out as CEO, and Bob Iger‘s back in … something that just about everyone seems happy about. Time will tell if the move affects future offerings.

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