Bob Iger: "‘We’ve got some pretty exciting things that we’ll be announcing over the next few months"

[Clever Name]

Eisner was negotiating a new distribution deal and those talks broke down completely with Jobs saying he was seeking other distributors. In response Disney created Circle 7 Studios to exploit their ownership of the sequel rights to Pixar's existing films.

Jobs had already shopped Pixar around to the other studios and no one would touch the deal that he was offering. Eisner knew that Jobs wanted to go with Disney and they were both playing high finance chicken. Then the idiot nephew jumped into the mess which ended up costing Disney (and the shareholders) a fortune. Had the deal been left to Eisner, Pixar would have come to Disney at a much lower cost.

But, we'll never know for sure due to the idiot nephew.

 

[Captain Neo]

Jobs had already shopped Pixar around to the other studios and no one would touch the deal that he was offering. Eisner knew that Jobs wanted to go with Disney and they were both playing high finance chicken. Then the idiot nephew jumped into the mess which ended up costing Disney (and the shareholders) a fortune. Had the deal been left to Eisner, Pixar would have come to Disney at a much lower cost.

But, we'll never know for sure due to the idiot nephew.

Your story is A)Not true and B)incredibly insulting to Roy Disney

 

[FrankLapidus]

Jobs had already shopped Pixar around to the other studios and no one would touch the deal that he was offering. Eisner knew that Jobs wanted to go with Disney and they were both playing high finance chicken. Then the idiot nephew jumped into the mess which ended up costing Disney (and the shareholders) a fortune. Had the deal been left to Eisner, Pixar would have come to Disney at a much lower cost.

But, we'll never know for sure due to the idiot nephew.

If Eisner hadn't been ousted, there is not a chance that there would be any kind of relationship between Disney and Pixar now. The relationship was far beyond repair thanks to Eisner's out-of-control ego.

 

[PeterAlt]

This pic was taken January 1968. It clearly shows all the hotels that were planned. The layout of the Magic Kingdom is basically the same, not copied and pasted from Disneyland's. Bay Lake was going to be much bigger - in case you are having trouble orientating yourself. See http://progresscityusa.com/2012/01/04/a-model-kingdom-1968/ for detailed explanations of everything.

 

[Admiral01]

No, I've seen pictures of models that showed all this that were taken around 1968. The maps showed in that film were props made for the purpose of the film. The real work - the models, etc. were not shown or were created soon after. If you're interested, I'll search for those pics and post them.

You and I agree on a great many things, but this isn't one of them. Walt didn't want to build MK in Florida. He didn't want to copy Disneyland on the east coast. He was told that he would have to build Disneyland East if he wanted to secure funding from the company for his E.P.C.O.T. Disneyland East was added to the property, in the far northwest corner in order to keep it out of the way of the main development - his city. Obviously those plans morphed at the end of Walt's life, and the park that became Magic Kingdom was part of the plans, but it was a begrudging addition for Walt Disney prior to his departure from this world.

Disney began surveying the land in November 1963. If memory serves, he was in the air when Kennedy was shot on the 22nd of November. That is neither here nor there... Disney died in 1966. Between 1963 and 1966 he presented his plan for E.P.C.O.T., and the board of directors forced him to add the park that would later be known as Magic Kingdom. By the time the 1968 models of Magic Kingdom were developed, Walt Disney was dead and the board was enacting changes to the Florida Project plans. The rest is relatively well known history - MK opened in 71; Disney's E.P.C.O.T city became a theme park called EPCOT Center which opened in 82; Horizons was torn down in 2000; the 2013 D23 convention didn't have any DHS Star Wars announcement, etc, etc, etc. You know, WDW basic history in a nutshell.

I don't pretend to know what Disney would have felt about things in his company today, but I like learning about the history of the man and his company.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

http://progresscityusa.com/2012/01/04/a-model-kingdom-1968/

That's a very nice article, but that model is from 1968 and Walt Disney died in 1966.

 

[PeterAlt]

You and I agree on a great many things, but this isn't one of them. Walt didn't want to build MK in Florida. He didn't want to copy Disneyland on the east coast. He was told that he would have to build Disneyland East if he wanted to secure funding from the company for his E.P.C.O.T. Disneyland East was added to the property, in the far northwest corner in order to keep it out of the way of the main development - his city. Obviously those plans morphed at the end of Walt's life, and the park that became Magic Kingdom was part of the plans, but it was a begrudging addition for Walt Disney prior to his departure from this world.

Disney began surveying the land in November 1963. If memory serves, he was in the air when Kennedy was shot on the 22nd of November. That is neither here nor there... Disney died in 1966. Between 1963 and 1966 he presented his plan for E.P.C.O.T., and the board of directors forced him to add the park that would later be known as Magic Kingdom. By the time the 1968 models of Magic Kingdom were developed, Walt Disney was dead and the board was enacting changes to the Florida Project plans. The rest is relatively well known history - MK opened in 71; Disney's E.P.C.O.T city became a theme park called EPCOT Center which opened in 82; Horizons was torn down in 2000; the 2013 D23 convention didn't have any DHS Star Wars announcement, etc, etc, etc. You know, WDW basic history in a nutshell.

I don't pretend to know what Disney would have felt about things in his company today, but I like learning about the history of the man and his company.

I like your version of Disney history! There's nothing there that I disagree with. I'm was just going by information from that article I posted. You added to that info and now we have a clearer picture!

 

[Admiral01]

I like your version of Disney history! There's nothing there that I disagree with. I'm was just going by information from that article I posted. You added to that info and now we have a clearer picture!

Good. I like being able to add to the conversation. Sorry that I doubted you, my friend.

 

[willtravel]

I would like to announce that we will announce something sometime. Thank you for your attention during this announcement.

So, Comic Con, D23, and several "presser" events pass with nothing new yet in 2013.

What an eventless year.

Oh I don't know. Ticket prices went up and hotel rates should be going up this month. That's eventful....

 

[Clever Name]

If Eisner hadn't been ousted, there is not a chance that there would be any kind of relationship between Disney and Pixar now. The relationship was far beyond repair thanks to Eisner's out-of-control ego.

The bottom line is that the deal Steve Jobs agreed to in the beginning ended up being bad for Pixar toward the end of the deal. Jobs wanted to renegotiate the deal while Eisner wanted to keep the deal. Eisner had an overwhelming advantage because the contract gave Disney full ownership of the story, character and sequel rights to all the films. Pixar owned nothing!

Jobs wanted to change the deal. He shopped other studios but they all refused because they too knew that Disney had a creative "lock" on Pixar. I bought Pixar stock back in 1995 and I was pleased when I got way more than it was worth after the Disney stock trade. Eisner was unable to complete the deal due to his hasty departure in 2005. Then, Eisner's hand picked successor was left to consummate the deal. However, due to the tumult caused by the idiot nephew, Iger was in a much weaker position to negotiate a deal and ended up paying much more than was otherwise needed.

P.S. We still have the weatherman!

 

[Captain Neo]

I can't take anyone who keeps saying "idiot nephew" seriously so I won't be responding or correcting his post. A real shame people can't behave more professionally but then again after seeing the kind of low end people who are crowding around WDW now adays I can't say im surprised when some of them are going to show up to junk up this nice site too.

 

[Clever Name]

That's a very nice article, but that model is from 1968 and Walt Disney died in 1966.

That just goes to prove that Walt's brain was kept alive for at least two years after his official death!

 

[unkadug]

That just goes to prove that Walt's brain was kept alive for at least two years after his official death!

 

[Clever Name]

I can't take anyone who keeps saying "idiot nephew" seriously so I won't be responding or correcting his post. A real shame people can't behave more professionally but then again after seeing the kind of low end people who are crowding around WDW now adays I can't say im surprised when some of them are going to show up to junk up this nice site too.

"Idiot Nephew" was Walt's euphemism for Roy E. Disney. Can I help it if Walt was right about this choice of words?

 

[FrankLapidus]

The bottom line is that the deal Steve Jobs agreed to in the beginning ended up being bad for Pixar toward the end of the deal. Jobs wanted to renegotiate the deal while Eisner wanted to keep the deal. Eisner had an overwhelming advantage because the contract gave Disney full ownership of the story, character and sequel rights to all the films. Pixar owned nothing!

No one is disputing that, I think it was Ed Catmull who said that ending the relationship with Disney felt to Pixar personnel like they were given up their children. Jobs was right to want a better deal, Pixar had been incredibly successful and was pretty much wiping the floor with Disney's own animated efforts, not surprising given that Eisner had targeted the animators for daring to side with Roy E. Disney and placed David Stainton in charge of the division to effectively cut costs to the bone.

Eisner's departure wasn't a "hasty" one, it was a long, drawn-out process that he was the chief architect of through his poor and divisive management in the later years of his time at Disney. Even when he was on the way out, Eisner tried to convince Iger not to buy Pixar and presented a plan to the Disney BOD not to sanction the deal; Iger refuted each and every point in Eisner's argument and the board sanctioned the Disney/Pixar merger.

 

[disneylandfan95]

"Idiot Nephew" was Walt's euphemism for Roy E. Disney. Can I help it if Walt was right about this choice of words?

Actually that title can be attributed to Card Walker, not Walt.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

If you go to 7:20, you can see exactly what MK was two months before Walt Disney's death... a copy of Disneyland. If you go fullscreen and look closely, you can see the show buildings for Mansion and Pirates right next to each other in their familiar places in New Orleans Square, the Motorboat Cruise lagoon, the Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland tracks next to TSI, small world's show building up on top, etc.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

That just goes to prove that Walt's brain was kept alive for at least two years after his official death!

Like your avatar's character, you are really good at "shaking the bag".

 

[Clever Name]

Actually that title can be attributed to Card Walker, not Walt.

"Author Bob Thomas, who wrote biographies of Roy Oliver as well as Walt, described Roy Edward as: "He isn't impressed with himself, or what he has done. He is essentially a very shy person. He was an only child, so the family doted on him. He also was always in the shadow of his uncle."

Roy is the nephew of Walt Disney, and used to take some amusement in sharing the story of Walt taking him around the Disney Studio and saying, "Here is my idiot nephew," an unfortunate nickname that stuck for many years."

http://www.mouseplanet.com/9094/Remembering_Roy_E_Disney

Oh and yes, the phrase can be attributed to Card Walker along with many other Disney people that knew Roy E. Disney. He (Roy E.) was not well regarded in TWDC. Card Walker was just repeating the phrase that he had heard Walt use on many occasions. The nickname "Idiot Nephew" stuck with Roy E. Disney for good reason.

 

[PeterAlt]

No one is disputing that, I think it was Ed Catmull who said that ending the relationship with Disney felt to Pixar personnel like they were given up their children. Jobs was right to want a better deal, Pixar had been incredibly successful and was pretty much wiping the floor with Disney's own animated efforts, not surprising given that Eisner had targeted the animators for daring to side with Roy E. Disney and placed David Stainton in charge of the division to effectively cut costs to the bone.

Eisner's departure wasn't a "hasty" one, it was a long, drawn-out process that he was the chief architect of through his poor and divisive management in the later years of his time at Disney. Even when he was on the way out, Eisner tried to convince Iger not to buy Pixar and presented a plan to the Disney BOD not to sanction the deal; Iger refuted each and every point in Eisner's argument and the board sanctioned the Disney/Pixar merger.

Eisner was playing brinksmanship, while also building up an in-house 3D animation studio just in case. Actually, it was used as a bargaining chip. They would have been a deal at the very last minute but on terms no one would like. You're forgetting that during this period, Comcast was bidding for a hostile take-over, so this has to factor in as well. There will be a peace deal in the next several months between Israel and the Palestinians but it won't look like it at all even up to the day it will be signed - because they will do what Eisner did - bargain with a strategy of brinksmanship.