News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[Magenta Panther]

As interested as I am to know the story behind all of this, I highly doubt this will have a positive impact for the fans/customers. I see no reason to celebrate. I don't see any reason to think that Iger would have run the company any differently than Chapek over the past couple of years. He jumped ship like a rat JUST before Covid started really affecting the company, leaving Chapek to deal with the mess.

Chapek is a bad leader, but he's really just a bland continuation of Iger's policies. The only substantial difference I noticed is that Chapek blurted out his intent to price gouge customers publicly like a brainless dolt. Iger at least had the sense to keep his trap shut while doing the same thing.

Yep, pretty much this. Iger's got more charisma than Chapek. But he's just as greedy and soulless, and has certainly done his part to tarnish Walt's legacy, particularly in the parks. Just remember that, instead of fixing the Yeti in EE, he put a strobe light on it. His idea of a "Potter Swatter" was dippy Pandora. I see very little to celebrate about his return.

 

[BobPar]

Fast Pass will definitely be back.

Not in a free version. I cant see them passing up that revenue stream. Fix system maybe include every ride & finally start adding capacity

 

[PirateFrank]

AFAIK, Disney was looking at rather broad layoffs in the immediate future. While Chapek is largely considered the reason for the company's dire situation (whether appropriately assigned blame or not), layoffs under his watch would not have gone over well. I think everyone in the boardroom knew this.

Im just spitballing here....but bringing in Iger, a known entity and a perceived steady hand, is no accident right before potential layoffs. He can, without culpability (something Im not too sure of), claim that he's left with no choice -- he's "cutting off the leg to save the soldier." CMs throughout the company will reluctantly accept it, coming from Iger....whereas they may have mass revolted if it were Chapek swinging the axe.

Bob Iger 3.0 is basically this guy:

 

[Casper Gutman]

Because they aren't managing to actually create much of it? I mean, whether you're talking movies, TV, streaming, or parks, is anyone really happy with the content they are putting out?

Yes. A lot of Disney's film and streaming output is excellent. Andor is the best Star Wars since Empire. Many of the MCU streaming shows, like WandaVision, Loki, Hawkeye, Werewolf by Night and particularly Ms. Marvel, are excellent. Across streaming and the big screen, the MCU remains the most consistently successful franchise in pop culture history. Disney animation, whether from Pixar or Disney, remains reliably great. Encanto is as good as anything modern Disney has ever done.

Just because the parks aren't being well managed doesn't mean the quality of the filmed entertainment Disney produces has declined.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Laughing so hard right now at the apologists who were rolling with the narrative that since the board had extended Chapek's contract, he was obviously doing a great job.

I admit, I was taken in by the lies.

"Bob Chapek has our confidence."

"Bob Chapek's contract has been renewed."

"Bob Chapek is fired. Byeeee."

 

[MisterPenguin]

Best case scenario is they brought back Iger as a temp and will find a theme park culture loving CEO

That's the real reason Iger was brought back: The labor shortage!!

 

[MisterPenguin]

disney stock was at $91. 00 this week.. and the word on the street , is that attendance is dropping like a rock..PLEASE TELL ME THE GENIE IS GOING BACK IN THE BOTTLE... bring back the magical express.. fix it all this week.. please..

All the very expensive Christmas party nights were sold out. So...

If the day-guests are having a lull, then Disney just calls in less employees and there is no overtime. Thanks to park reservations, they can determine that more efficiently. Less income is offset by less expense.

 

[Magenta Panther]

Wonder what this means for EPCOT

Since Iger bought Marvel, EPCOT will get more Marvel characters, no doubt.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Was Chapek a patsy?

At the least, pasty.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I‘m with @MrPromey in thinking that Iger is coming back in legacy mode thinking about the big picture and what he wants to be remembered for. I’m hoping he’ll try to cast himself as a creative genius by bringing WDI back from wherever they were banished to, greenlighting some creative stuff on Disney+, and maybe doing a Walt Disney Presents…-style streaming show.

Igers legacy was being tarnished with every unpopular decision Chapek made, they were so intertwined I think his legacy was the sole reason he came back.

He has more money than he could ever spend so it certainly wasn’t for a paycheck.

 

[_caleb]

So Disney parks are suffering a labor shortage and ALSO they’re planning massive layoffs?

 

[MisterPenguin]

Who else is getting the boot? Kathleen Kennedy seems like a good place to start

Iger likes KK. He personally took the blame for locking SWL in the sequel trilogy timeline because The Force Awakens made $2B.

And he took the blame for Solo tanking, pushing for an oversaturation of the SW market.

So, no. It ain't happening. Especially with SW on D+ doing gangbusters.

 

[Zummi Gummi]

Scott Gustin has won twitter tonight.

 

[OrlandoRising]

Was Tom claimed credit for Chapek's firing yet?

 

[JustInTime]

Scott Gustin has won twitter tonight.

This is HILARIOUS Omg

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

This is not good. Chapek was bad. Iger is worse - he basically created every problem Disney is having right now. Is there anything that can be solely blamed on Chapek?

This is Disney looking at Twitter and Warner Bros and saying, "Hold my beer."

Yes Chapek can be blamed, without question. He had an entire year to change any polices he inherited but he did not do so. He doubled down on sucking the soul from Disney for a cheap buck.

Iger is not the demi god some think he is, but at least things will not get worse.

 

[fgmnt]

Yes. A lot of Disney's film and streaming output is excellent. Andor is the best Star Wars since Empire. Many of the MCU streaming shows, like WandaVision, Loki, Hawkeye, Werewolf by Night and particularly Ms. Marvel, are excellent. Across streaming and the big screen, the MCU remains the most consistently successful franchise in pop culture history. Disney animation, whether from Pixar or Disney, remains reliably great. Encanto is as good as anything modern Disney has ever done.

Just because the parks aren't being well managed doesn't mean the quality of the filmed entertainment Disney produces has declined.

As someone who finds a lot of the stock pumping of streaming and other tech companies to be completely bunk, I think Disney is probably the only major streaming entity that will still be able to call the division a strength in 3 years. The potential mess with a Warner Bros Discovery / ComcastNBCU merger is going to make the 20th Century deal actually look like sane business, to say nothing of the dying star of Netflix and all of the other goofy albatrosses created.

 

[Casper Gutman]

I‘m with @MrPromey in thinking that Iger is coming back in legacy mode thinking about the big picture and what he wants to be remembered for. I’m hoping he’ll try to cast himself as a creative genius by bringing WDI back from wherever they were banished to, greenlighting some creative stuff on Disney+, and maybe doing a Walt Disney Presents…-style streaming show.

But we know how Iger conceives of his legacy. He absolutely does not want to bring back WDI, he wants to have his legacy be making them largely obsolete. To a considerable extent his legacy is acquisitions, and at the moment it is likely Iger sees building his legacy as digesting and justifying the Fox acquisition and stabilizing stock prices - which probably means more belt tightening at WDW. The most likely physical manifestation of an Iger legacy push in the parks will be a starchitect structure like the tabletop to prove he can be creative like Eisner.

 

[_caleb]

Honestly I think it just came down to the beard.

 

[vikescaper]

Please stop responding to the troll account. It will be deleted shortly.

Already ignored the person.