News Christine McCarthy to step down from her role as Chief Financial Officer

[MrPromey]

You’ve read A LOT into my response that wasn’t there. I’m in no way a “genre snob,” in fact quite the contrary - you won’t believe the schlock I’ll enjoy, and I’ll argue (and have argued here) that mainstream superhero comics, B-movies, and theme parks are legitimate art and should be considered as such. You’re way off base.

What seems to have set you off is my entirely accurate description of Blumhouses business model and even the slightest non-celebratory mention of A24. As I’ve said before, Blumhouse’s entire model is that if they release enough formulaic horror like Purge, Insidious, Ouija, and Paranormal Activity (full disclosure - I enjoyed the second Purge and some bits of the Insidious series, but on the whole am not a fan of those franchises) they’ll make money consistently and occasionally launch a surprise like Get Out. I said above that the major studios should probably diversify their output in the way you’re suggesting (you seem to have missed that), but low-budget horror is actually the one thing most of the studios are producing alongside tentpoles since it’s consistently profitable, so whatever lessons Blumhouse has to teach have likely already been learned.

As to A24, it is absolutely a very successful and often adventurous independent studio - but it IS an independent and not one of the majors, and I’m sure A24 itself wouldn’t dispute that. Many of the studios have independent arms, of course, and since Disney acquired it, their independent arm Searchlight has released The Favorite, Ready or Not (that low-budget horror again!), Jojo Rabbit, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Nomadland, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, The French Dispatch, Antlers, Nightmare Alley, Good Luck to You Leo Grande, The Banshees of Innershin, and The Menu. So, yeah, if we’re including independent studios and divisions, the idea that Disney is completely adverse to creative risk and adventure starts to ring more hollow. But we weren’t talking about the independents, we were talking about the majors.

I wrote way more than I needed to here the first time around* and went off on tangents so here's my slightly condensed take that even ties in better to the subject of this thread:

I wasn't trying to point to Blumhouse and A24 as the sole beacons of creative risk-taking in Hollywood.

I think as actual independent studios rather than vanity labels of bigger studios, the risks they take are far more real for them as businesses which is why I pointed them out but you're point about Searchlight seems to back up what I'm saying - not everyone is adverse to taking creative risks in Hollywood right now.

The problem here is that the main studios have moved to this model where they want to get big returns that spawn reliable "franchises" with sequels and spinoffs and merchandising and everying else that goes with it and their method for doing this is plugging ungodly amounts of money into things where the result has to make insane money to not be a failure.

Since they have to make over half a billion dollars not to fail, their appetite for risk drops to near zero since every release suddenly seems to have to either do spectacularly well or be deemed a complete failure.

I don't think that's sustainable and I feel like they've done this to themselves.

I also think the natural end to this journey will be peak vanilla when it comes to story telling which will be when the whole thing starts to crumble unless they figure out how to start making things on budgets that allow them more creative flexibility without fear of headlines like we've been seeing for Elemental.

I don't know if McCarthy had a hand in that or not. As CFO, her job was to focus on the money so I can't really fault here there but in her talks about directions the company was taking with certain projects, it made it seem like she was far more in the weeds of certain endeavors than you'd want a pencil-pusher to be when you're trying to make a good product, to me.

After all, when you're a pencil-pusher, the wold appears to be nothing but pencils to you, right?

I guess we'll see, though.

*that may be surprising to some given how much I've written, this time.

 

[Trauma]

Indeed. When it did pop up from $87 to $94, I don't remember anyone posting about that and crediting Iger for it...

That’s because it’s still down around 25% over the last 5 years even when it pops.

With no dividend.

Don’t be silly.

 

[Trauma]

Who do we think Iger will throw under the bus next week?

 

[Riverrafter21]

Who do we think Iger will throw under the bus next week?

Lol, anyone with a name plate that doesn't say "Iger"

 

[Cliff]

The DIS stock is dropping so fast even the OceanGate CEO is getting nervous

View attachment 725770

I think that general public awareness if what Disney is pushing is slowly increasing. Disney's problems have been very well conceiled from the public for years. Today...this stuff is just beginning to get well known a d is coming to tge surface.

The the general public is starting to say:

"Eeww...is THAT what is going on at Disney?...yuck!"

 

[MisterPenguin]

"Eeww...is THAT what is going on at Disney?...yuck!"

And what exactly is the thing that would make the general public say 'eeww' and 'yuck' if they knew it?

 

[flynnibus]

That’s because it’s still down around 25% over the last 5 years even when it pops.

Except the argument is about what it's doing RIGHT NOW... and painting as extremes.

Yet, the example given was even MORE EXTREME... just validating all this is garbage noise.

No market person is freaking out over 2-3% swings along with the market. Yet here on wdwmagic... the sky is falling while pointing out a 0.40c midday drop... It's comical.

 

[monothingie]

That’s because it’s still down around 25% over the last 5 years even when it pops.

With no dividend.

Don’t be silly.

It's actually a 45% drop from the March 2021 all time high. After the Iger part 2 bump, there is nothing about Disney which is attractive to institutional and retail traders.

 

[Trauma]

Except the argument is about what it's doing RIGHT NOW... and painting as extremes.

Yet, the example given was even MORE EXTREME... just validating all this is garbage noise.

No market person is freaking out over 2-3% swings along with the market. Yet here on wdwmagic... the sky is falling while pointing out a 0.40c midday drop... It's comical.

Yeah fair enough.

But honestly 25% over 5 years is really really bad.

 

[flynnibus]

Yeah fair enough.

But honestly 25% over 5 years is really really bad.

Yup, which is why one should see how this year plays out and if the corrective moves start making a dent.

Honestly, so much of the deflation of their bubble is fueled by the uncertainty of yet-to-be-won markets in DTC and how the legacy businesses are going to be impacted for it. Add that to the leadership question mark... you can expect the stock to keep being bearish even with good signs like a dividend or beating estimates. The long story in front of the company is still foggy. Until there is a clear bright FORWARD OUTLOOK for those segments... the stock is going to languish and not grow 20%.

And outlook isn't just 'D+ is profitable' - the whole story of how D+ or something else will supercede how cable, broadcast, and theatre all contribute is needed to get things back to bullish. Everything before that is going to be the company trying to sell healthy, stable, pitches... and spinning subscriber growth.

 

[MrPromey]

And what exactly is the thing that would make the general public say 'eeww' and 'yuck' if they knew it?

Whatever it is, if I had to guess, it's happening in the kitchen of Pecos Bill's.

 

[FettFan]

Whatever it is, if I had to guess, it's happening in the kitchen of Pecos Bill's.

Or the restroom at Nine Dragons.

 

[pdude81]

“Josh” is a nothing

“On deck” for what? Another hired to be fired like chapek.

The park numbers are Inbound DOWN. I’m sure they’ll try to say Disneyland is awesome and “Florida?…where’s that?”…but if they aren’t down…THEN they are committing illegal sec fraud. For the first time ever.

Take your medicine, Bobby…

But when that happens…you don’t think skinny jeans will be used as a human shield? Highly possible.

I read the tea leaves differently this time. Chapek was just the only person within a mile of the chair when the music stopped. Something is different about the way Iger interacts with D'Amaro in public, and the lack of random shade and hit pieces. I actually believe he's who Iger wants to take over, or at least string along until Parker makes it clear they aren't renewing Bob's contract.

 

[Disstevefan1]

Market goes down - Disney stock goes down.

Market goes up - Disney stock goes down.

 

[Indy_UK]

I read the tea leaves differently this time. Chapek was just the only person within a mile of the chair when the music stopped. Something is different about the way Iger interacts with D'Amaro in public, and the lack of random shade and hit pieces. I actually believe he's who Iger wants to take over, or at least string along until Parker makes it clear they aren't renewing Bob's contract.

With Cash D’maro it will be more of the same then, TV and movies will continue to dive and while I think Josh would throw more money at the parks, I think it would be literally thrown in with even less thought than things do now

 

[Cliff]

And what exactly is the thing that would make the general public say 'eeww' and 'yuck' if they knew it?

Everything negative about the company. From how they treat their employees to all of the politics they engage in to identity philosophy to gender idiology to racist themes....all of it is just "yuck" to many people. Just stay out of the culture war and treat your employees right.

Do that and Disney will be fine....for ALL people no matter what they believe in.

 

[el_super]

Just stay out of the culture war and treat your employees right.

The employees want to express their believes through their product. That's why they are engaged int he culture war as it is.

You can't have both.

 

[Dranth]

Or the restroom at Nine Dragons.

That is what ends up in the kitchen of Pecos Bill's

 

[el_super]

I actually believe he's who Iger wants to take over

It makes perfect sense. Iger wants someone from Disney that understands Disney's culture, and appointing someone from Parks has the benefit of not upsetting the studio apple-cart by appointing one studio peer over the rest. The parks are also the most successful and steady part of the company right now.

I still think Chapek ruined this for a long while though, and the board/investors will insist on bringing in someone from the outside.

 

[Casper Gutman]

I’ve asked versions of this before but… do people really think that Disney stock falling and the company facing real financial problems is going to make execs go, “We need to take more financial risks with our films, hand creative control back to adventurous filmmakers, and invest massive amounts into the parks with no demonstrable ROI - that’ll really impress Wall Street!”

I understand that some folks now just want to see Disney fail for political reasons, but most on these boards, myself included, used to want to see Disney FIXED. This isn’t the way that happens…