Well, they certainly succeeded.
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Bob Iger's contract is extended
- Thread starter Rteetz
- Start date
yeti
Well-Known Member
I'd take something I've seen two thousand times before watching Hayden Christensen sulk to a tennis ball about how much he hates sand. Damn those Lucasfilm hacks who are trying to make visually engaging films with likeable characters, sensible plotting, and serviceable dialogue - the nerve!!
Seriously though, debating the creative direction of Lucasfilm inevitably becomes another debate in film taste, and since those are impossible to decide, I'm just going to leave it there. I will say that, like Marvel, their success can be attributed to how seriously they take their jobs - it isn't just about selling plush, like the way Disney runs their theme parks.
HMF
Well-Known Member
If by that you mean A New Hope 2.0 and why is it that people hate Hayden Christensen yet when Adam Driver does the exact same thing, it's suddenly method acting. I will take the complex emotional turmoil of Anakin over what little we know about Kylo who does not move me emotionally at all.
ThemeParkJunkee
Well-Known Member
Apparently voting against him on the board of directors (not just for DIS) on my meager shares of stock is not giving enough of a hint to the BOD. How hard did they really try in their "extensive replacement search" anyway. 
HMF
Well-Known Member
Don't bother I have heard all about how my childhood ruined the childhoods of the previous generation numerous times by now. Now it's my sad duty to crap on the next generations Star Wars and the cycle continues.
DisneyFan 2000
Well-Known Member
Look, I never said that I was comfortable with the death of traditional animation, or getting to view Star Wars: A New Hope 2 but you and I are obviously a very small minority on those. I can't even respond to your Marvel claim. It is no more fit to be produced under Disney than The Muppets and I'm not seeing any outrage over that buyout. All your claims fail to acknowledge that while he may not be your cup of tea (he ain't mine either, albeit for different reasons) a lot of Disney's recent financial successes are directly tied to the company's creative successes. The public are enjoying the output, going so far as to claim thay this is WDFA's new golden age. I only mentioned merchandise since the claim was brought up that movies are not that profitable. I'm not sure what anyone is consuming to have their perceptive of reality be so warped that they can't admit these movies are bona fide hits both financially and creatively. Would I do anything differently? Heck yes, but my original point still stands - the company under Iger is nowhere near Eisner levels of disaster. That guy single handidly almost brought animation to its knees, a divorce from Pixar among other creatives and P&R's final years under his helm brought some of THE most embarassing additions (Chester and Hester, DCA, WDSP, HKDL among other things) and Pressler. Honestly, anyone claiming differently is just completely unaware as to how bad things were on a company level only 10+ years ago.
WDW1974
Well-Known Member
Simple. Appearances. The BoD kept harping on the not having another Eisner situation. But funny how that changed as the financials kept looking great and Wall Street had its collective bulge for Bob. ... The optics would have looked bad if Iger didn't do something.
Oh, I think you bring up a good point. I do think the BoD should have been more pushy. I think they kept getting distracted by Iger's acquisitions and pushing into China. And that allowed succession to get pushed down the road on a continual basis.
And Dorsey will not be Disney's next CEO. Not. Gonna. Happen.
WDW1974
Well-Known Member
Why is this not surprising to me?
WDW1974
Well-Known Member
ESPN has issues, but I think they're blown out of proportion and I also think management there is failing to make the right decisions. I have asked if Iger gets involved much and, shockingly, he is much more hands off there. Actually, hands on might be the right approach to right that ship. The basic asset is still an incredibly valuable one. But it's almost like they forgot what they are all about. ... Where at Disney have I seen that approach and result before?
Also, the international parks are not a disaster. DLP is the biggest problem and, believe me on this one, but Disney will have that fixed very quickly (provided France and Europe remain largely terror-free). TDR prints licensing money. And while HKDL slipped back into the red, we are not talking substantial dollars to a company like Disney. The expansion plans (which again are not going to be the leaked ones in total) will help that park a lot. And SDL, while not coming close to the crazy projections tossed into the media, is on very solid footing with over eight million Guests already and expansion coming (real expansion as TSL was always going in as a Phase 1B type deal). A new hotel will be announced shortly. And seasonal events should start up later this year as well. The international resorts have largely been a drag on earnings due to two resorts Paris and Shanghai construction. Disney now owns DLP and is going to make debt disappear like MAGIC and SDL is open and successful.
WDW1974
Well-Known Member
They do have little sheltered children. Not counting his kids from marriage No. 1. Remember, Willow was the Midlife Crisis/Trophy Wife deal.
WDW1974
Well-Known Member
There has become -- and Disney isn't certainly the only example of this -- a desire to stamp a company so closely to a CEO that it appears that the company can't go on without them. Look at it this way, in the 1960s tiny Walt Disney Productions was able to replace Walt himself and open the incredibly costly WDW (that place was a smashing success after a slow first 6-7 weeks as all the history bloggers write) and go on. Sure, it lost its vision a bit. But it still did some amazing stuff from EPCOT Center and TDL to the Disney Channel to Touchstone Pictures to looking at European expansion.
If you can replace Walt Disney, you damn well can replace Robert A. Iger.
Wall Street just wants stability and MORE growth. If it could keep The Weatherman another 20 years it would.
Viacom had a vastly different set of circumstances, although it absolutely needed fresh blood. One might argue that it needed it five years ago, but had an owner who wasn't really all there but insisted on having multiple prostitutes living in his home and the business really suffered. They have assets that are still quite valuable (see my ESPN comments) that simply have been withering.
But, yeah, there are many people out there who could run Disney and run it better than Iger for the long term.
WDW1974
Well-Known Member
Do I want to support Michael again? Have this same debate? ... Talk about how Iger was a big part of the business back then too? Talk about how the Disney Stores had overexpanded and become less special, but that business unit exists today because of Michael. Talk about how Michael had a bad relationship with Pixar, but that was also on Steve Jobs (not a nice guy, despite what the cultists want to believe) and John Lasseter (can be a major diva when he isn't drunk, and he wasn't much back in those days). Talk about how Michael's last days with P&R included opening masterpieces in DAK and TDS (as well as turds in DCA and TDS) and launching DCL. Nah ... because I generally feel like Michael should have left between 1998-2000. But the idea that this is black and white is crazy.
WDW1974
Well-Known Member
And people at all of the above, most especially Pixar, have complained about Disney interference in their products.
But the fact is Disney went out and bought that talent, Iger did. With shareholders money. ... It is not fundamentally growing or expanding the business. It isn't Card Walker opening EPCOT Center. It isn't Ron Miller launching the Disney Channel. It isn't Michael Eisner opening retail stores, making Disney a true hotel chain, launching a cruise line or a theatrical unit. It's simply going on a buying spree. Bob has done well. But those moves were ones anyon...wait ... nope, I've said this here like 764 times in just the last 18 months. Time to step away.
DisneyFan 2000
Well-Known Member
It is important to note I am not arguing his merits, to say I'm not a fan of his would be an understatement. I'm merely pointing out that Eisner's final lap was far, FAR worse than the current situation. That does not make Iger great (or even just OK), just better by comparison.
BrianLo
Well-Known Member
His one major growth initiative was Shanghai. Everything else was organic (i.e. we need more cruise ships) or acquisitions, definitely agree.
Shanghai was (for better or worse) his legacy.
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
In making many of us not want to visit the parks at all anymore
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Or creating the once great DVC, And let's not forget the creation of 'The Disney Institute' which failed largely because corporate America stopped investing in their workforce.
Yes it still exists as a short program for HR drones.
But at one time if you were an executive who had TV production in your portfolio you could spend a couple of weeks with real producers actually making a production. So at the end you THOROUGHLY understood the PROCESS and the costs and how
to budget a production realistically.
Same was true for Education, food service, art and photography and of course Customer Service
It was hands on but it was designed to teach you best practices in the given industry
ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
Nothing mean spirited about it
In academia the general consensus is Willow was given the job BECAUSE of who she's married to not because of her journalistic or academic credentials which are thin by any objective standard. No Pulitzer Prizes or well regarded journal articles. She was the first woman reporter on CNN's Moneyline. Yeah big time academic credentials here.
There are a lot of women journalists with Pulitzer Prizes and strong academic credentials who are far better qualified for the job than Willow will ever be some are even people of color and ethnic minorities for the trifecta
Her appointment allows the school to think that they will have influence over a broadcast network.
It's just another example of a publicly funded university sucking up to a major corporation in search of influence and donations. If this was not a university it would be called corruption.
As to Iger himself we've seen how badly he stumbles when left to his own devices (NFL in LA presentation) he's nothing special other than being in the right place at the right time. His assistant Zenia would probably be better at the job than he is
Both are mere functionaries and in writing this I gave both of them more of my time and attention than they deserve.
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ford91exploder
Resident Curmudgeon
It's not a surprise to anyone UBER is two billion in the hole and they need a financial engineer