News Bob Iger is back! Chapek is out!!

[MrPromey]

Harmonious was the best thing to come out of the 50th…. Yes the bar was low.

Remember, we still have a month and a half, officially - this could still be completed by then if they really commit!

 

[Casper Gutman]

Chapek being fired.

if it did so well, why is Disney+ in trouble and why was Chapek fired.

Everyone, Wall Street and Hollywood, knew the streaming services would lose billions for years when they were launched. It was considered a price worth paying to build the completely new entertainment industry. Now the gilt has rubbed off the gold-hued vision of the "streaming future" and Wall Street has decided to panic about losses they anticipated and accepted. Its a great example that, despite Americans' reverence for them, investors and executives can be just as panicky, arrogant, illogical, and prone to groupthink as anyone else - arguably moreso. A bunch of stampeding gazelles.

And again, D+ is the streaming service that is coming the closest to making the "new" model of entertainment distribution work.

 

[MrPromey]

You mean the one film that performed like the good old days?

When I went to see it, I think I may have been the only person in that showing who wasn't in their 20s or 30s when the first one came out.

Not saying that is representative of the nationwide audience... but it wasn't 3pm on a Tuesday, either.

Still, I liked it!

 

[Skywise]

Everyone, Wall Street and Hollywood, knew the streaming services would lose billions for years when they were launched. It was considered a price worth paying to build the completely new entertainment industry. Now the gilt has rubbed off the gold-hued vision of the "streaming future" and Wall Street has decided to panic about losses they anticipated and accepted. Its a great example that, despite Americans' reverence for them, investors and executives can be just as panicky, arrogant, illogical, and prone to groupthink as anyone else - arguably moreso. A bunch of stampeding gazelles.

And again, D+ is the streaming service that is coming the closest to making the "new" model of entertainment distribution.

Doubt that. That's why Chapek is out.

 

[HMF]

Is there also hope for Splash Mountain to stay as-is now that Chapek is gone?

No.

 

[MrPromey]

I’m not disagreeing with you.

Remember what happened today: a gigantic media company just had to publicly admit that it was being poorly run.

That’s shocking on all levels

Even more shocking, the name of that gigantic media company wasn't Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., as nearly everyone would have predicted.

 

[Findus]

Many a year lurker and reader of this place but my first post.

In terms of the parks what are your opinions on what will change short and medium term with Bob’s return.

Does Iger need or have the power to implement “quick wins” for the parks? And if so what would you want to see first?

 

[HMF]

Many a year lurker and reader of this place but my first post.

In terms of the parks what are your opinions on what will change short and medium term with Bob’s return.

Does Iger need or have the power to implement “quick wins” for the parks? And if so what would you want to see first?

I would be surprised if much changed as far as the parks are concerned.

 

[MrPromey]

Let me be clear here:

Chapek was the worst executive in Disneys history and it’s not close.

But Iger needs to do better.

What?!?!?

Yes. BETTER.

Period.

Start with a line of succession…then get the creative houses in order…then get the parks reinforced as they face a threat at Least in Orlando…get over the China thing - it’s not gonna hold…
Then exit gracefully once they are more stable

Hopefully, that whole succession and graceful exit thing was a core part of the discussion.

For Disney, a chance to right the ship and for Iger the kind of do-over for his exit that only the blue fairy is usually capable of doling out.

 

[TwilightZone]

Does Iger need or have the power to implement “quick wins” for the parks?

I think he needs to. Now obviously, IDK what the budget for disney is rn, but the best thing he should do is remove all the unneccessary new D23 announcements that fans did not like:

No moana and zootopia in AK, no san fransokyo, no beyond thunder mountain (well except maybe Villain's land, I'm actually fine with that believe it or not, though I totally understand those who dislike it).

Announce a proper reimagining of Spaceship Earth and/or Figment at the very least. Also clear up what is happening to Play.

Open Tron for goodness sake!

IF and only IF disney does this and follows through. No more false promises.

 

[SamandplanningUK]

I could NOT be happier to hear this! Such relief this morning for WDW fans.

 

[MrPromey]

I’m still worried about the road signs.

I miss 'em too but they're never coming back.

 

[TwilightZone]

I miss 'em too but they're never coming back.

If Iger announces roadsigns 2.0 tomorrow I would, unironically, be so happy.

Also on a sidenote now chat has died down (for now), I think its super funny that this happened the same day as a new defunctland video.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Many a year lurker and reader of this place but my first post.

In terms of the parks what are your opinions on what will change short and medium term with Bob’s return.

Does Iger need or have the power to implement “quick wins” for the parks? And if so what would you want to see first?

I don't think there will be any positive changes to the parks. Quality/budget cuts and price hikes for the US parks (especially WDW) have always been Iger's go-to strategy for dealing with any sort of financial problem. He did it to cover the cost of his studio acquisitions, as well as when FP+ and Shanhai went way over budget.

 

[MrPromey]

Wall Street and Hollywood bet everything on cinemas dying. They didn't, and have confounded expectations by being incredibly resilient in the post-pandemic environment. Iger is absolutely in denial - he's clinging to the previous groupthink-produced notion of a permanent, total shift away from movie theaters and towards streaming despite mounting evidence that that didn't happen. There's money at the cinema but the studios (outside of Paramount and, to a lesser extent, Universal) aren't grabbing it, instead continuing to dump feature films onto streaming services that are losing billions.

For feature films, streaming is a new post-cinema distribution model. Its essentially a replacement for DVDs. Its a big deal, but the kind of change Hollywood has experienced periodically in the past, not the unprecedented revolution Wall Street and Hollywood convinced themselves was happening, burning billions in the process.

I really like going to movies.

I can't speak for others but the pause button gets way to much of a workout for me at home because my attention is split so I never see anything straight through.

Going and sitting in the theater is like a depravation chamber for me and I was one of those early people who went back as soon as they reopened (with my can of Lysol, just to be safe - Tenet didn't do poorly because of me!).

I still go to the theater, even for stuff that is simultaneously streaming.

My evidence is entirely anecdotal and local but of the three theaters I visit, I have yet to go to a movie that's even close to half full and I never see lobbies as busy as they were pre-pandemic. Often times, they're eerily quiet.

The studios seem to be making money but locally at least, I don't see how the theaters are.

I'm glad the ones around me are all open but I often wonder how they're managing to stay open, even with closing ticket booths to reduce staff and push concessions by forcing people who didn't buy in advance to those lines for their tickets.

Hopefully it's a lack of movies but it was me and six other people at The Menu Friday night and Black Panther was suprisingly empty the weekend before... though opening weekend for that, they had one starting every hour so that may have played into it a bit.

 

[MisterPenguin]

WRT parks: Iger was always concerned about Guest Satisfaction Surveys (GSAT). That is why Park Reservations aren't going away. Not only does that allow them to control costs with matching the right number of guests to attendance, but, an overcrowded park is a park that gets low GSAT, and that hurts the brand, and Iger carefully protects the brand.

So, look to Iger to give the go ahead to fix what is currently getting low GSAT. If they weren't already axing the Stargate and DE, I'd say they'd be on the chopping block.

And look for popular IPs to make an even stronger appearance in the parks.

 

[GhostHost1000]

I know we are all excited chapek is out but I caution everyone thinking Iger is going to return the magic to the parks anytime soon.

 

[MrPromey]

Not sure who Daniel is.

Josh I hate to say will probably survive this and has probably already disappeared up Iger's Rear end

That would be Kareem Daniel.

Bob C turned a lot of heads both in the company and in the industry when he put this bean counter with absolutely zero experience ever managing a creative project in charge of almost everything creative in the company and instantly capping every creative executive in the knees in the process by taking away their autonomy and putting this guy in control of them.

This didn't get a lot of play in mainstream media (why would it?) but it was one of his more tone-deaf moves which really showed he knew nothing about the company he'd worked for over the span of nearly 30 years.

 

[zombiebbq]

Why exactly is bringing in the same CEO yet again exciting? It screams of poor Board leadership. I'm happy Chapek is leaving but Iger coming back is "meh" news. This is more to try and stave off further losses than for Iger to come in and reverse any poorly received decisions the company has made recently. Who honestly believes fast pass is coming back? C'mon.

 

[TP2000]

One has to wonder what happens to Brian Chapek, Bob's son who has had a meteoric rise at Marvel Studios (Surprise! How'd that happen?) for the past decade? Brian Chapek is now an Executive Producer for Marvel Studios.

At the very least, it's gonna be a little awkward when Brian checks back in at the Burbank office next Monday after Thanksgiving with the family.