The Imagineering Story on Disney+

[Anders Limpar]

Chapek has all the personality and enthusiasm of a wet towel.

 

[mf1972]

enjoyed the series, but liked the early disney episodes better. seeing it all from the beginning.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Chapek has all the personality and enthusiasm of a wet towel.

I like how he had about 5 seconds of screen time in the entire series. Less than Paul Pressler.

 

[DoleWhipDrea]

I like how he had about 5 seconds of screen time in the entire series. Less than Paul Pressler.

I found that interesting, too. Iger got a lot of screen time - not that he hasn’t been involved, but for a CEO that says they like to have those in charge of their own departments (especially the parks) take the lead on things, Chapek seemed like supporting background.

You know who got even less screen time, though? Tom Staggs. I only remember seeing him in a clip they used for the Galaxy’s Edge announcement from that D23 Parks presentation.

 

[jt04]

I found that interesting, too. Iger got a lot of screen time - not that he hasn’t been involved, but for a CEO that says they like to have those in charge of their own departments (especially the parks) take the lead on things, Chapek seemed like supporting background.

You know who got even less screen time, though? Tom Staggs. I only remember seeing him in a clip they used for the Galaxy’s Edge announcement from that D23 Parks presentation.

He also got a cameo during the Pandora segment.

I don't blame Iger for ensuring he gave his perspective. Social media for the most part hasn't exactly been objective towards TWDCs accomplishments during his tenure.

 

[tirian]

He also got a cameo during the Pandora segment.

I don't blame Iger for ensuring he gave his perspective. Social media for the most part hasn't exactly been objective towards TWDCs accomplishments during his tenure.

It depends on whether you’re a classic Walt fan. As I’ve said before, I watch my stock gain financial value while lamenting the loss of the company’s values and heritage. Slapping Walt quotes on construction signs is meaningless.

Iger grew the company buy purchasing other people’s IP and throwing the weight of Disney marketing behind them. This is the same man who wanted to sell Parks and Resorts, yet he autographed the finial on top the Shanghai castle to sign it as “his” park. That tells you everything you need to know about him.

 

[tirian]

Episode 6: All hail King Iger, savior of the (Disney) world. Revise the facts to ensure your legacy!

Also, there are some really cool looks at Shanghai.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Episode 6: All hail King Iger, savior of the (Disney) world. Revise the facts to ensure your legacy!

It dawned on me the other day that part of the appeal of doing all these live action remakes may be so Iger can brag about HIS hit films like Lion King, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. Never mind that they were never his. Or the idea of doing a live-action BatB was Eisner's going back to at least 2002. The same is true for Star Wars.

Acquisitions, remakes, spin, there's not much creativity or original thinking in Iger's Disney.

 

[tirian]

It dawned on me the other day that part of the appeal of doing all these live action remakes may be so Iger can brag about HIS hit films like Lion King, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. Never mind that they were never his. Or the idea of doing a live-action BatB was Eisner's going back to at least 2002. The same is true for Star Wars.

Acquisitions, remakes, spin, there's not much creativity or original thinking in Iger's Disney.

It’s disconcerting. Also consider his wife’s expertise in crafting a story to fit an agenda, plus how he’s surrounded by an army of yes-men and PR spin docs, and you realize the company is a mega conglomerate that supports one man’s outsized ego.

He doesn’t have a creative bone in his body, but to his credit he doesn’t pretend to do anything other than buy IPs and milk them.

Disney is the new Time Warner, or Viacom, or whatever faceless corporation you choose.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

It’s disconcerting. he’s surrounded by an army of yes-men and PR spin docs, and you realize the company is a mega conglomerate that supports one man’s outsized ego.

Hey, wasn't that what people were saying about Eisner 15 years ago?

The ONLY difference now is that the product is selling better. Which is why nobody outside the company asks questions and treats him like a benevolent genius.

Disney is the new Time Warner, or Viacom, or whatever faceless corporation you choose.

The Disney brand being watered down and rendered meaningless was a frequent criticism by @WDW1974

It's only become truer over the past few years.

 

[RobWDW1971]

Hey, wasn't that what people were saying about Eisner 15 years ago?

The ONLY difference now is that the product is selling better. Which is why nobody outside the company asks questions and treats him like a benevolent genius.



The Disney brand being watered down and rendered meaningless was a frequent criticism by @WDW1974

It's only become truer over the past few years.

I would argue Disney+ is one of the smartest branding Disney has ever done. It brings all of this great content under the “Disney” brand and will define what it means for the next generation.

Also finally having all of the old animated and live action Disney films in one place allows Disney+ to live up to the brand umbrella potential Disney Channel never did.

 

[brb1006]

I would argue Disney+ is one of the smartest branding Disney has ever done. It brings all of this great content under the “Disney” brand and will define what it means for the next generation.

Also finally having all of the old animated and live action Disney films in one place allows Disney+ to live up to the brand umbrella potential Disney Channel never did.

And giving more exposure to Disney's lesser-known films and shows of the past. I'm planning on checking out Babes In Toyland sometime before Christmas. The only film that I'm still waiting to show up on Disney+ is "So Dear To My Heart".

 

[RobWDW1971]

And giving more exposure to Disney's lesser-known films and shows of the past. I'm planning on checking out Babes In Toyland sometime before Christmas. The only film that I'm still waiting to show up on Disney+ is "So Dear To My Heart".

And “Song of the South”.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Also finally having all of the old animated and live action Disney films in one place allows Disney+ to live up to the brand umbrella potential Disney Channel never did.

The Disney Channel gave plenty of exposure to older Disney stuff until 2002 when the Vault Disney programming block was replaced with reruns of whatever was on earlier in the day. The plan was to turn Vault Disney into a line of DVDs, but that didn't last very long, so then Disney just dropped all the older content altogether, only occasionally releasing back catalog stuff to their members only Movie Club.

There was no reason it couldn't have still done that. Disney+ makes the economy of distribution cheap, but so did cable TV.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I would argue Disney+ is one of the smartest branding Disney has ever done. It brings all of this great content under the “Disney” brand and will define what it means for the next generation.

Yes, who could forget such classic Disney films as Home Alone 3 and The Simpsons Movie?

"Disney" itself, used to mean something. If you said "we're going to watch a Disney movie", you knew the kind of family entertainment you are getting. Slapping "Disney" onto whatever does not make it "Disney". There's a reason why in the 80s they branched off with Touchstone when movies like The Watcher in the Woods and Night Crossing were not selling under the Disney label. Marvel and Star Wars are like the Miramax and Hollywood Pictures of today, but this time there's an explicit attempt to market those as "Disney" too. My point is trying to have it both ways waters down both brands.

Heck, the thing is called "Disney PLUS" because they have to communicate to consumers that the service is not just Disney cartoons.

 

[RobWDW1971]

.

Yes, who could forget such classic Disney films as Home Alone 3 and The Simpsons Movie?

"Disney" itself, used to mean something. If you said "we're going to watch a Disney movie", you knew the kind of family entertainment you are getting. Slapping "Disney" onto whatever does not make it "Disney". There's a reason why in the 80s they branched off with Touchstone when movies like The Watcher in the Woods and Night Crossing were not selling under the Disney label.

Agree on the past, but that’s not how Disney sees itself today and into the future. Today, “Disney” means quality, family entertainment so Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and yes, even “Home Alone” fit under that much wider umbrella.

Now whether or not the Walt Disney Studios family classic “Something Wicked This Way Comes” would fit under that family friendly umbrella today is a different story

 

[lazyboy97o]

Yes, who could forget such classic Disney films as Home Alone 3 and The Simpsons Movie?

"Disney" itself, used to mean something. If you said "we're going to watch a Disney movie", you knew the kind of family entertainment you are getting. Slapping "Disney" onto whatever does not make it "Disney". There's a reason why in the 80s they branched off with Touchstone when movies like The Watcher in the Woods and Night Crossing were not selling under the Disney label. Marvel and Star Wars are like the Miramax and Hollywood Pictures of today, but this time there's an explicit attempt to market those as "Disney" too. My point is trying to have it both ways waters down both brands.

Heck, the thing is called "Disney PLUS" because they have to communicate to consumers that the service is not just Disney cartoons.

And who shut down Touchstone and Hollywood Pictures and sold off Miramax because Disney should focus on Disney-branded content?

 

[jt04]

It depends on whether you’re a classic Walt fan. As I’ve said before, I watch my stock gain financial value while lamenting the loss of the company’s values and heritage. Slapping Walt quotes on construction signs is meaningless.

Iger grew the company buy purchasing other people’s IP and throwing the weight of Disney marketing behind them. This is the same man who wanted to sell Parks and Resorts, yet he autographed the finial on top the Shanghai castle to sign it as “his” park. That tells you everything you need to know about him.

I've never seen it confirmed, but if he did suggest selling p&r I'm guessing it was a way to motivate people. No way the board approves it anyway. After Eisner anyway. IMO.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Yes, who could forget such classic Disney films as Home Alone 3 and The Simpsons Movie?

"Disney" itself, used to mean something. If you said "we're going to watch a Disney movie", you knew the kind of family entertainment you are getting. Slapping "Disney" onto whatever does not make it "Disney". There's a reason why in the 80s they branched off with Touchstone when movies like The Watcher in the Woods and Night Crossing were not selling under the Disney label. Marvel and Star Wars are like the Miramax and Hollywood Pictures of today, but this time there's an explicit attempt to market those as "Disney" too. My point is trying to have it both ways waters down both brands.

Heck, the thing is called "Disney PLUS" because they have to communicate to consumers that the service is not just Disney cartoons.

What exactly did "Disney" mean? Plundering public domain stories? Gobbling up IPs to make movies out of? And this was all done during Walt's lifetime and continuing thereafter.

Below are Disney animations listing IPs that were public domain (and therefore, not an original Disney IP) and bought/licensed. These are stories that were never originally created by Walt, his staff, or the company after his death. Disney (with and without Walt) has always been an aesthetivore, eating up other people's creativity. If you think there is something uniquely Disney that precludes bought-up IPs, then the thing that is uniquely Disney is their salesmanship making you think that.

And I haven't even touched their live action "work" such as the quintessential Disney property, Mary Poppins... which isn't Disney.

Public domain appropriations by Walt:

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• Pinocchio
• Cinderella
• Alice in Wonderland
• Sleeping Beauty
• The Sword in the Stone
• The Jungle Book
• Robin Hood
• Johnny Appleseed
• Pecos Bill

Other People's Work that Good Ol' Walt Bought and Made into being "Disney"

• Mr. Toad
• Bongo
• Little Toot
• Dumbo
• Bambi
• Song of the South
• Peter Pan
• One Hundred and One Dalmatians
• Lady and the Tramp

Public Domain Appropriation Post-Walt

• Oliver & Company
• The Little Mermaid
• Beauty and the Beast
• Aladdin
• Pocahontas
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Hercules
• Mulan
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire
• Treasure Planet
• The Princess and the Frog
• Tangled
• Frozen
• Sleepy Hollow
• Jack and the Beanstalk

Licensed/Bought IP by Disney Post-Walt

• The Rescuers
• The Fox and the Hound
• The Black Cauldron
• The Great Mouse Detective
• Tarzan
• Meet the Robinsons
• Winnie the Pooh
• Big Hero 6
• Marvel
• Indy
• Star Tours, et al.
• Pandora
• Pixar

 

[brb1006]

What exactly did "Disney" mean? Plundering public domain stories? Gobbling up IPs to make movies out of? And this was all done during Walt's lifetime and continuing thereafter.

Below are Disney animations listing IPs that were public domain (and therefore, not an original Disney IP) and bought/licensed. These are stories that were never originally created by Walt, his staff, or the company after his death. Disney (with and without Walt) has always been an aesthetivore, eating up other people's creativity. If you think there is something uniquely Disney that precludes bought-up IPs, then the thing that is uniquely Disney is their salesmanship making you think that.

And I haven't even touched their live action "work" such as the quintessential Disney property, Mary Poppins... which isn't Disney.

Public domain appropriations by Walt:

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• Pinocchio
• Cinderella
• Alice in Wonderland
• Sleeping Beauty
• The Sword in the Stone
• The Jungle Book
• Robin Hood
• Johnny Appleseed
• Pecos Bill

Other People's Work that Good Ol' Walt Bought and Made into being "Disney"

• Mr. Toad
• Bongo
• Little Toot
• Dumbo
• Bambi
• Song of the South
• Peter Pan
• One Hundred and One Dalmatians
• Lady and the Tramp

Public Domain Appropriation Post-Walt

• Oliver & Company
• The Little Mermaid
• Beauty and the Beast
• Aladdin
• Pocahontas
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Hercules
• Mulan
• Atlantis: The Lost Empire
• Treasure Planet
• The Princess and the Frog
• Tangled
• Frozen
• Sleepy Hollow
• Jack and the Beanstalk

Licensed/Bought IP by Disney Post-Walt

• The Rescuers
• The Fox and the Hound
• The Black Cauldron
• The Great Mouse Detective
• Tarzan
• Meet the Robinsons
• Winnie the Pooh
• Big Hero 6
• Marvel
• Indy
• Star Tours, et al.
• Pandora
• Pixar

What about "So Dear To My Heart" or "The Aristocats"?