News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[CaptainAmerica]

So you think neither company has any skin in the game because the lay don't know? And they just don't care about their own deals?

You go with that...

Try to keep up, you joined this conversation midway through.

Messy aisles at Target are not evidence that the closure of Disney Stores was a bad idea. I never said nobody "has skin in the game."

 

[TheGuyThatMakesSwords]

It only matters if something changes... betting it will take 10 years to undo 2 years worth of damage .

 

[Sir_Cliff]

 

[hopemax]

Good…because that is important.

Now I need to get him on the couch and discuss this god complex for Frank wells

I'm on his side, BTW, about Eisner. I am old enough to have attended the Shareholder's meeting in Seattle with the big rollout for Go.com and Eisner was not speaking as someone who had any understanding about the Internet. It felt like it was something Disney was doing because everyone else was doing it. I'm also old enough to remember when he declared Animation, especially princess musicals as a dying business (for the 2nd time!). I have 90% confidence that if Eisner had stayed, there would never have been a Frozen, because there would have been no animation. They would have left it as a co-producer enterprise with Pixar. Let them carry most of the burden if they believed in the art of it. Also, I remember original DCA and the 2nd Paris park and HKDL and the reasoning for why they were built. In the late 90s, early 00s he seemed like a man that no longer had faith in Disney's core animation (if he ever did) and theme park product as growth industries going forward. I would hope we could look at the last 15 years and see how wrong that would have been. And he also seemed like one who had little personal interest, and therefore understanding of the emerging Internet landscape to effectively capitalize on that as a replacement. It would have been a disaster. I am no Iger fan, but I believe he did understand the speed and value of how fast technology was changing our world. Implementation in the trenches... that's another thing.

Disney has lacked a leader for a long time, who had true passion and faith in the core products. I do believe they all really enjoyed being CEO of the Walt Disney Company and thought that by having that title was proof that they must possess the characteristics that everyone associated with Disney. Creativity, innovation, quality, etc. But every time the ground got a little shakey, they all turned away from those. In favor of jumping on trends, and leaning into preconceptions. Disney isn't the only company, I would say this about. In among all the other crisis the world is facing, I think really developing true talent, building a deep bench is one of them. Too much with the people can be easily swapped out with cheaper, younger models, as if raw ore can be refined into valuable metal without anyone with skill holding the tools.

But after fighting this battle for 25+ years, I don't care anymore. So otherwise, I'll leave you too it.

Edit for one final thought. I'm also old enough to have attended many talks with the old Disney guard via the NFFC and some other things. And I remember the many times these people expressed their admiration for Frank Wells. I don't remember them making comments in the same vein about Michael Eisner. Of course, they are always polite toward talking about the boss, and mostly not disparaging... Although, Jim Cora was an exception. To me, that means something, because these people weren't there to talk about Frank Wells. But it came up anyway.

 

[Tha Realest]

I hope not.

given their debt situation and the need for D+ to succeed, I think it’s unlikely they have the cash to make any acquisition that will stop the bleeding.

I’ll go a step further - I think it’s likelier that Disney is acquired in some form or fashion in the next few years than they acquire a hot and valuable IP on the level of Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm.

Okay, let me lay a marker: Bob Iger won’t be coming in to help find the next CEO. Bob Iger is going to be Disney’s last CEO.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I have 90% confidence that if Eisner had stayed, there would never have been a Frozen, because there would have been no animation. They would have left it as a co-producer enterprise with Pixar. Let them carry most of the burden if they believed in the art of it.

I think if Eisner had stayed, they would have also lost Pixar. Remember what he thought could replace the hole a potential Pixar loss would leave for the company:

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

It only matters if something changes... betting it will take 10 years to undo 2 years worth of damage .

The problem is a lot of it was “old new bob’s” Damage…and he NEVER made a mistake.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I'm on his side, BTW, about Eisner. I am old enough to have attended the Shareholder's meeting in Seattle with the big rollout for Go.com and Eisner was not speaking as someone who had any understanding about the Internet. It felt like it was something Disney was doing because everyone else was doing it. I'm also old enough to remember when he declared Animation, especially princess musicals as a dying business (for the 2nd time!). I have 90% confidence that if Eisner had stayed, there would never have been a Frozen, because there would have been no animation. They would have left it as a co-producer enterprise with Pixar. Let them carry most of the burden if they believed in the art of it. Also, I remember original DCA and the 2nd Paris park and HKDL and the reasoning for why they were built. In the late 90s, early 00s he seemed like a man that no longer had faith in Disney's core animation (if he ever did) and theme park product as growth industries going forward. I would hope we could look at the last 15 years and see how wrong that would have been. And he also seemed like one who had little personal interest, and therefore understanding of the emerging Internet landscape to effectively capitalize on that as a replacement. It would have been a disaster. I am no Iger fan, but I believe he did understand the speed and value of how fast technology was changing our world. Implementation in the trenches... that's another thing.

Disney has lacked a leader for a long time, who had true passion and faith in the core products. I do believe they all really enjoyed being CEO of the Walt Disney Company and thought that by having that title was proof that they must possess the characteristics that everyone associated with Disney. Creativity, innovation, quality, etc. But every time the ground got a little shakey, they all turned away from those. In favor of jumping on trends, and leaning into preconceptions. Disney isn't the only company, I would say this about. In among all the other crisis the world is facing, I think really developing true talent, building a deep bench is one of them. Too much with the people can be easily swapped out with cheaper, younger models, as if raw ore can be refined into valuable metal without anyone with skill holding the tools.

But after fighting this battle for 25+ years, I don't care anymore. So otherwise, I'll leave you too it.

Edit for one final thought. I'm also old enough to have attended many talks with the old Disney guard via the NFFC and some other things. And I remember the many times these people expressed their admiration for Frank Wells. I don't remember them making comments in the same vein about Michael Eisner. Of course, they are always polite toward talking about the boss, and mostly not disparaging... Although, Jim Cora was an exception. To me, that means something, because these people weren't there to talk about Frank Wells. But it came up anyway.

You don’t have to tell me that it was time to go on him…I worked for him in the “bad years”

But I also know that they went from a small potatoes operation to about ruling the world at an impressive pace.

Iger does nothing…he falls flat…if he didn’t have all that capital to use when he slid in.

You can separate the bad from the good.

Eisner did not light the place on fire…he stayed too long.

That’s an important lesson.

 

[MrPromey]

That's shocking. Google Assistant / Google Home are far superior products to Alexa / Echo, but I guess iOS users are reflexively anti-Google.

Huh?

You do realize Google is the default search engine in all Apple products, right?

Or do you just mean anti-Google for everything except the one consumer thing Google is most known for?

 

[dreday3]

I never understood why anyone would want to be away from home/family's home for Christmas. I like the WDW Disney parade show on Christmas morning, but besides that, plenty of better times to go.

I'm going next week, after Thanksgiving obviously, and it is usually less crowded.

You haven't met my family.

When my parents are no longer with us, we plan to spending Thanksgiving and Christmas traveling!

 

[Br0ckford]

Anyway to merge the Iger threads?

It makes it harder to follow.

I stopped following the other one. If you're not in this thread,is Chepek even fired?

 

[MrPromey]

People here dislike Studios because they've seen all of the shows a thousand times. If you're skipping Frozen, Indy, Beauty and the Best, Lightning, etc. then there's not quite enough to do. If you watch all the shows you need at least a day and a half.

This can't be overstated.

If they'd bother to change up these things every decade or two, at least, it wouldn't be a problem.

But things like the Little Mermaid (RIP) and Beauty and the Beast were always closer to Disney on Ice than Broadway in terms of quality.

That's not a knock against the people who work on them - they were designed to be shallow and simple cliff note versions of the movies but that approach severely limited the rewatchability of them.

I mean, you can only see the Nemo show so many times, too but as a more complex production, it's got a little more power, there although I don't think I'd want to see it still there in another decade, either.

 

[BobPar]

You don’t have to tell me that it was time to go on him…I worked for him in the “bad years”

But I also know that they went from a small potatoes operation to about ruling the world at an impressive pace.

Iger does nothing…he falls flat…if he didn’t have all that capital to use when he slid in.

You can separate the bad from the good.

Eisner did not light the place on fire…he stayed too long.

That’s an important lesson.

May i ask what your job was inside the Company?

 

[Sir_Cliff]

You don’t have to tell me that it was time to go on him…I worked for him in the “bad years”

But I also know that they went from a small potatoes operation to about ruling the world at an impressive pace.

Iger does nothing…he falls flat…if he didn’t have all that capital to use when he slid in.

You can separate the bad from the good.

Eisner did not light the place on fire…he stayed too long.

That’s an important lesson.

If Eisner had of stayed on a few more years, I think it's very likely they would have lost Pixar, struggled with animation and continued trying to buy cheap CGI films from other studios on which to slap the Walt Disney name, be cranking out titles like Pinocchio 6 and Tarzan 5 for DTV release, made more weird purchases like Fox Family that didn't seem to do what Eisner thought they did, and kept hammering on Go.com as their response to the rise of the Internet until a bigger company swallowed them up. I remember for a while there was speculation Yahoo! might buy Disney as it's market cap was far higher for a while there.

So, I don't see an alternate reality of Eisner staying on and Iger never becoming CEO as a good one for Disney. For one thing, Eisner couldn't work with anyone and seemed to have a knack for alienating people Disney should have been doing business with.

 

[flynnibus]

Try to keep up, you joined this conversation midway through.

Messy aisles at Target are not evidence that the closure of Disney Stores was a bad idea. I never said nobody "has skin in the game."

Non-sense. You said "Why the hell should Disney care if some Target in Poughkeepsie is a craphole?" because you thought some former CMs trying to highlight the company's decision was immaterial.

You got replies that said why the company should care.. stop trying to deflect away why your broad dismissive retort was itself junk.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

If they'd bother to change up these things every decade or two, at least, it wouldn't be a problem.

I don't see why they can't change them up within a given day. Do what they do with Impressions de France / Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along in Epcot. Use each theater for more than one show in a given day. Obviously that doesn't work for Indy since it has such a specialized stage and props, but the others should be able to flex.

 

[flynnibus]

I don't see why they can't change them up within a given day. Do what they do with Impressions de France / Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along in Epcot. Use each theater for more than one show in a given day. Obviously that doesn't work for Indy since it has such a specialized stage and props, but the others should be able to flex.

Sure, go tell all the stage hands and techs that what they do is really just something that should be swappable in an hour.

 

[MrPromey]

I don't see why they can't change them up within a given day. Do what they do with Impressions de France / Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along in Epcot. Use each theater for more than one show in a given day. Obviously that doesn't work for Indy since it has such a specialized stage and props, but the others should be able to flex.

That might be a tough pull with something like these due to the props, costuming set pieces and how they've been designed to run - there's only so much back stage space and if they didn't build for that kind of usage, I can see it being a problem but I was being sarcastic when I said every decade or two.

Instead of getting a 20 minute preview of a movie, I think one of these spaces should be updated to present a live show.

And your idea would be great if they designed a flex theater or shows that would accommodate that kind of quick change-over.

With the automation options available today it seems like they should be able to make something like that work considering the limited level these shows are done at.

 

[CaptinEO]

Many are saying Andor is the best Star Wars work since Empire and I haven't seen anyone who didn't fall in love with the bundle of joy that was Ms. Marvel.

Well reviewed but not any viewers per the creator of it:

'Andor' Showrunner Admits Show Is "Chasing The Audience" After Expecting To Have a "Gigantic Instantaneous Audience"

Tony Gilroy, the showrunner and creator for the most recent Star Wars series, Andor, recently admitted the show is "chasing the audience."

boundingintocomics.com

 

[MrPromey]

Why stop now? The Chick-fil-A down the street had a long line last night and the first thing I did was blame Chapek. He earned it.

Now that's an example of where he could shine. I imagine there are a lot of people who could get behind the idea of ILL for Chick-fil-A drive-through!