A Spirited 15 Rounds ...

[IanDLBZF]

And partially, that is James Cameron's doing - the new Avatar movies that have been delayed now a half-dozen times should have been in the theaters before the land even opened (though I don't know if that would have really helped that much).

The reason why the new AVATAR films have been delayed so many times is because of technology. Salt meet wound. Cameron claims he wants to do "3D without glasses" in the movie theaters, but the technology isn't there (Nintendo has already a "3D without glasses" technology - the Nintendo 3DS, why can't Cameron partner with Nintendo to help develop the technology is beyond me).
Plus I haven't seen AVATAR since 2011.

 

[WDW1974]

Me and many kids who were growing up in the late 90s and early to mid 2000s would strongly disagree with that. That was our generations Star Wars and I am frankly tired of the Gen Xers whining about how their childhoods were so much more important than mine and the fact that Disney listens to them makes me sick to my stomach. I could go on a tirade about what I think of the "New" designed by committee paint-by-numbers Star Wars films but I won't because I don't want to crap on the next generation the way Gen X did on mine.

I am not getting into a urinating contest over SW films. I am no fan. I would take Star Trek at its worst over Star Wars at its best any day. I feel there was one truly great SW film (that came in 1980) and two other good to very good ones. I think two of the prequels were so bad they were basically unwatchable. One was simply not awful. And TFA was decent, but not special in any way and criminally underused Carrie Fisher.

But please don't accuse me of having any bias based on my age (I am 73 according to most here anyway!) ... I love and hate films from the 1930s right on up to 2017. I base them on how they are crafted and how they appeal to me.

I am convinced that the majority of SW fans who say they like the prequels do so because they feel they have to. Like a Disney fan who excuses every bad decision the company makes. SW and Disney are not a religion to me. I see them for what they are and I call them as I see them.

 

[WDW1974]

I'm extremely curious what you like about BGT? I'm not saying its a bad park per say, but I went on a Saturday recently and I was struck by the lack of maintenance and professionalism of the staff. A lot of the park just looked....worn.

I have to qualify this by saying my last visit was in late 2013. But I found the park to be maintained at standards better than Disney. I loved the animal exhibits and the coasters are great. They had quality entertainment as well. BTW, at that time, I had an AP to all their parks, so I was there quite a few times.

I can't speak to your experiences, obviously. And the company has been hit hard due to letting crazies and fake news decide the fate of having orcas at Sea World. But I love the place.

 

[WDW1974]

I do not expect the numbers that Paris put up in Q3 to be sustained in Q4. There was some special Disney magic puffing up those figures.

No, I know people over there and Q3 was legit and they say the summer was great. ... And they are doing things now (like a small French food and wine event at WDSP) to drag in locals at a traditionally dead time too.

 

[WDW1974]

I think we have to concede that any all future SW movies are going to be run through the Disney machine, i.e. heavily slanted towards merch sales and safe and predictable stories. I'm hoping VIII proves me wrong, but just look at how people are scooping up Porgs like there's no tomorrow. What the crud even is a Porg??? People don't know, but they know they need to own one. That's Disney marketing 101.

Yup. This a billion times over.

What is a Porg? Some creature in the next film and mindless fans just go out and buy them without even knowing whether they will like them or not. The same crap we did two years ago with BB-8. Maybe it's me, but he was no R2D2. But he sure moved the meter on selling crap. And the amount of merchandise they make is absolutely staggering.

 

[WDW1974]

That description is my opinion on so many things, namely EPCOT's festivals of higher earnings.

Yup. I watch these 24-year-old brats spend $373 in one day on eating and drinking samples and think "This has never been me. This will never be me. This is why the country is in the shape it is in."

 

[WDW1974]

You two should really start your own YouTube show: "Everything Wrong with Everything".

And who in the hell is holding a gun to your head and making you read? Addicted?

 

[WDW1974]

One of them was supposed to be gone from here. I wonder what's taking so long?

You have great reading comprehension. I never said I was leaving here. I said I was not doing these Spirited threads any longer and that I was not going to put my big news pieces here once I stopped that (for others to steal and pretend that they didn't get them from here).

I have plans for a different sort of online presence. But people like Tom Bricker and Len Testa and Tim Grassey do and they all contribute to this site.

Even if I don't post for six months, which has happened and will again most assuredly, I am part of this forum and this forum is the better for having me.

But you agree with that just by reading me and commenting, so thanks!

 

[WDW1974]

Whether or not you like his SPIRITed editorials, you've been around long enough to know also he gets a lot of solid information. It is very sad, but understandable, that he's decided to pull up stakes from here.

Thanks. Truly appreciated!

 

[WDW1974]

Clarify this before I go off the deep end on you...

Now, now, take your meds, light some candles in your altar to Bob Iger and hum. You'll be fine.

But to be fair, the post didn't read clearly (I apologize, but I've spent much of the last 8-9 days in hurricane mode, which is no fun at all!)

I felt like Carrie was criminally underused in TFA. You don't cast her, bring her in and then give her almost no material. That was the point I was trying to get out. Hope it is clear now!

 

[IanDLBZF]

Thanks. Truly appreciated!

While I may have had a grudge towards you Spirit, I really understand now why you're stopping the threads. Here's to the best.

 

[WDW1974]

This comment doesn't come from a place of meaning well or being nice, but I am dead serious when I admit, that seeing images of this guy makes me reconsider my entire life. It actually gives me an existential crisis, that I could share any interests with this guy.

This is part of my decision to change my online presence a bit and cut down my role here. ... These people are so slimy that you can feel it on you when you are reading it through an electronic device. I have seen pics of some of his Disney toys and realize I have some of them too ... and, suddenly and sadly, they don't seem as beloved.

I absolutely hate what social media, blogging, podcasting, Twitter, iPhones etc have done to the fan community. Everyone has a voice, no matter how ignorant, hateful or undeserving (sorta like in elections).

 

[AEfx]

The reason why the new AVATAR films have been delayed so many times is because of technology. Salt meet wound. Cameron claims he wants to do "3D without glasses" in the movie theaters, but the technology isn't there (Nintendo has already a "3D without glasses" technology - the Nintendo 3DS, why can't Cameron partner with Nintendo to help develop the technology is beyond me).
Plus I haven't seen AVATAR since 2011.

That's never going to happen anytime in the next decade at least, and it's BS if that's the excuse.

Nintendo did it because it's easy on a tiny little screen that you put in front of your face straight on. And to be honest, the first version didn't work that well until they added cameras with face-recognition technology so it could follow your gaze and adjust on the fly. The technology just isn't there and won't be for a really long time. They can't even get it reliably working with TV-sized screens yet, let alone cinema. The viewing angle just isn't there - you have to be facing it straight on.

It's been delayed because Cameron sees it as high magnus opus and thinks the first film was successful for all the reasons it wasn't.

 

[WDW1974]

While I may have had a grudge towards you Spirit, I really understand now why you're stopping the threads. Here's to the best.

I was about to sign off. A nice hot shower awaits ... but curious ... why did you have a grudge against me? I don't recall us ever having issues (unless you're Aussie Alex).

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Now, now, take your meds, light some candles in your altar to Bob Iger and hum. You'll be fine.

But to be fair, the post didn't read clearly (I apologize, but I've spent much of the last 8-9 days in hurricane mode, which is no fun at all!)

I felt like Carrie was criminally underused in TFA. You don't cast her, bring her in and then give her almost no material. That was the point I was trying to get out. Hope it is clear now!

Before Carrie died, the plan was for IX to be Leia's film where she would have confronted her son, wittle Kylo.

 

[nevol]

What IP you would've been put into Animal Kingdom instead of Pandora if you were in Bob Iger's shoes unless you wanted the park to become even more stale before Zootopia came out?

Not trying to throw feces, but I have an alternative perspective on this that I need to share. Zootopia is about anthropomorphic animals, not real animals, and the themes of nature's power and beauty. This is why the buildings in animal kingdom don't overshadow the natural environments. Zootopia is 100% about people, it just uses cute animals as a roundabout way to discuss contemporary identity politics and a hero's journey of self-actualization in the face of challenges prevalent in our society. Zootopia belongs in Animal Kingdom as much as Robin Hood or Dumbo belong in animal kingdom; they don't.

Zootopia belongs in EPCOT's world showcase far more than it belongs in DAK. This is the kind of story that would make epcot personal and relevant to audiences. The problem with their first approach was that it was like riding textbooks, and not only that, people are selfish and see the world through their perspective. The pavilions did nothing to give people a sense that the stories were about them, relevant to them, or could resonate with them. The way with which future world divides all of these topics into isolated pavilions speaks directly to this problem. They would all be far more interesting if we had a narrative, human-focused, personal story weaving through them. a survival story, like the rides at Disneyland, that beg us to pay attention and remember and contextualize the random facts we are being exposed to. It would make people understand why these topics are relevant to them.

 

[AEfx]

Now, now, take your meds, light some candles in your altar to Bob Iger and hum. You'll be fine.

But to be fair, the post didn't read clearly (I apologize, but I've spent much of the last 8-9 days in hurricane mode, which is no fun at all!)

I felt like Carrie was criminally underused in TFA. You don't cast her, bring her in and then give her almost no material. That was the point I was trying to get out. Hope it is clear now!

I'll stop lighting my candles when you stop obsessively poking pins into your set of Iger and the Mrs. Voodoo dolls.

But thanks for the clarification.

 

[nevol]

That's where you lose me.

A "risk-taker and disruptor" wouldn't get the job to begin with, and they wouldn't stay very long if they somehow managed to.

Bob Iger saved the feature film and animation divisions of the company, and turned it into the biggest movie studio in the world. When you look at what they were releasing previously ("Cinderella III", "Home on the Range") and the live-action direction (with few and far between mainstream hits) it's a remarkable recovery.

Yes, the parks suffered - but I'd argue that with the Wall Street environment, and the high profitability of those parks - it wouldn't have been much different with anyone else that Wall Street would have tolerated.

Bob took a lot of risk too. He spent, what, $17 billion acquiring Pixar, LucasFilm, and Marvel? Those aren't the type of spending practices that wall street favors in their quarterly earnings reports. The wall street complex doesn't incentivize those types of long-term investments and CEOs don't typically make them, despite their long-term earning potential and the potential to create jobs and innovation. His successor too could and will be a risk-taker. I'm merely defining "risks" in that case as "any interest in or understanding of the Disney Parks division whatsoever." Iger is setting up the company nicely through acquisitions, saving of their film divisions, embracing technology, and setting up the company for a more successful navigation of the technological storm/disruption in cable chord cutting/digital streaming/box office slumps. Who is to say that Parks or Disney Consumer Products, with their Disney stores in shopping malls that are closing by the thousands as people shop online, won't need some life support between 2019 and 2029?

 

[IanDLBZF]

Bob took a lot of risk too. He spent, what, $17 billion acquiring Pixar, LucasFilm, and Marvel? Those aren't the type of spending practices that wall street favors in their quarterly earnings reports. The wall street complex doesn't incentivize those types of long-term investments and CEOs don't typically make them, despite their long-term earning potential and the potential to create jobs and innovation. His successor too could and will be a risk-taker. I'm merely defining "risks" in that case as "any interest in or understanding of the Disney Parks division whatsoever." Iger is setting up the company nicely through acquisitions, saving of their film divisions, embracing technology, and setting up the company for a more successful navigation of the technological storm/disruption in cable chord cutting/digital streaming/box office slumps. Who is to say that Parks or Disney Consumer Products, with their Disney stores in shopping malls that are closing by the thousands as people shop online, won't need some life support between 2019 and 2029?

Even Eisner took many risks, some of which were mostly mistakes, including acquiring Fox Family & Saban Entertainment (which included the Power Rangers franchise & the US English-dubbed version of Digimon).

 

[AEfx]

Bob took a lot of risk too.

You are preaching to the converted. As you can see from the comment above from the thread starter, I'm thought of as an Iger-lover around these parts for my middle-of-the-road view on him.

I just see Avatar as a the one big gamble that clearly didn't pay off. In a dozen years of being a CEO, I don't think that's a terrible track record.