Disney Playing catch up with Universal... Potter Disney's biggest mistake in 20 years...

[CinematicFusion]

From Yahoo News. Not the type of national buzz Disney wants to have.

Link: Universal makes big bet on Harry Potter — again
video on link, from Yahoo news..

"Universal management never expected the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to become as successful as it has – and neither did Disney (DIS). The media giant dropped its bid for the licensing rights to Harry Potter in 2006. “That was [Disney’s] biggest mistake in the last 20 years,” says Neil Begley, senior analyst at Moody’s Investors Services. Disney passed on Potter because it was costly and J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. controlled the intellectual property, which goes against Disney’s modus operandi. “Universal was the beneficiary of that,” Begley adds.

Wizarding World’s popularity may have driven Disney to sign a long-term licensing agreement with "Avatar" director James Cameron, his producing partner Jon Landau and 20th Century Fox, to build an “Avatar”-themed land based on Cameron’s mythical planet of Pandora (expected to open at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in 2017).

“Disney did not want another ‘Harry Potter’ on its hands and is now playing catch up,” says Begley. The "Avatar" deal shows Disney is “willing to break the formula where essentially they had to own all the intellectual property and all the films and the rights around it, and they're doing what's necessary to remain fresh and attractive for consumers.”

 

[danlb_2000]

This should lead to some nice, calm, level headed discussion.

 

[lostpro9het]

This should lead to some nice, calm, level headed discussion.

Hey, a billion dollars may gave gotten UNI a handful of new potter rides and a couple new environment experiences but Disney spent a billion so I could have 30 magic bands. Now there's a real treat!


EDIT:
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[WDWDad13]

well I'll bite first... I completely disagree.... I for one am glad Harry Potter did NOT come to Disney..that's not to say they don't need to be doing other things though, just never thought HP was a good Disney fit

I'm not sure about Avatar being a good fit for them either...however I can see them doing some really cool stuff with it

 

[Bairstow]

Jim Hill has told some really interesting stories about Rowling's meetings with WDI when they were still in the race to get Potter, and the way Universal supposedly gave Rowling Audrey Geisel's phone number and invited her to call her and ask her opinions of how Universal treats the owners of their IP.

Anyone know where those are? I can't remember if that was on a podcast or in one of his articles.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Harry Potter fans (including myself) should rejoice in the good fortune that Disney did not get their hands on that franchise. Could you imagine Harry, Ron, and Hermione wearing Mickey ears??? (((shutters at the horror)))

 

[nor'easter]

A

well I'll bite first... I completely disagree.... I for one am glad Harry Potter did NOT come to Disney..that's not to say they don't need to be doing other things though, just never thought HP was a good Disney fit

I'm not sure about Avatar being a good fit for them either...however I can see them doing some really cool stuff with it

Ok, so neither is a good fit, but you can see them doing cool stuff with Avatar. But they couldn't do cool stuff with Harry Potter? I don't understand your logic.

 

[Bairstow]

A


Ok, so neither is a good fit, but you can see them doing cool stuff with Avatar. But they couldn't do cool stuff with Harry Potter? I don't understand your logic.

Disney's acquisition of the Avatar IP was almost certainly a reaction to Universal's success with Potter.
Since Universal has re-written the book on how to properly exploit an IP, any of Disney's attempts going forward (like Avatar) will be informed by what Universal Creative has already done.

In other words, Disney may very well do a good job with Avatar, but it will probably be because Universal has taught them how.

 

[Gomer]

I think this article is a good thing. Articles like this in national media (nothing against the Orlando papers, but no one outside of Florida really reads them) calling attention to Universal’s victory lap, only make Disney changing their motus operandi more likely.

Its felt for a very long time like the only people arguing these points were isolated from the masses. If the perception that Disney is failing to keep up hits critical mass, then they will have no choice left but to act to restore reputation. Whether you believe letting JK walk was actually Disney’s biggest mistake in the last 20 years or not (I’m going with not, as I think this would have happened with Universal and Disney no matter what large IP Universal ended up with) in the end, the public buying into the belief that Disney has to do more will only be a good thing for those of us who have wanted to see more from Disney for a long time.

 

[Horizons1]

Yes, we all know this. It isn't new. Avatar is an attempt to recreate the success Uni is having with Harry. It is a misguided attempt, however.

 

[roj2323]

Hey, a billion dollars may gave gotten UNI a handful of new potter rides and a couple new environment experiences but Disney spent a billion so I could have 30 magic bands. Now there's a real treat!


EDIT:
!

At least you will not have to buy christmas ornaments this year.

 

[Lucky]

It fits better at Universal, and they needed it more.

 

[roj2323]

Yes, we all know this. It isn't new. Avatar is an attempt to recreate the success Uni is having with Harry. It is a misguided attempt, however.

I agree but what does disney have to do to blow Universal out of the water? The only thing I think legitimately has a chance is star wars.

 

[lostpro9het]

At least you will not have to buy christmas ornaments this year.

Or ever..

 

[flyerjab]

Sometimes, the burnt hand teaches best. And did Disney ever get burnt on this one. Yeesh!

 

[TP2000]

well I'll bite first... I completely disagree.... I for one am glad Harry Potter did NOT come to Disney..that's not to say they don't need to be doing other things though, just never thought HP was a good Disney fit

And that makes sense from the standpoint of a well-informed and opinionated Disney theme park fan. But we represent 1% or less of Disney's potential customers. (Disney already has us as customers, actually, so what do they care?)

But the bigger issue here is that Disney has lost the media narrative on Potterland. With national news articles like this getting out to low-information tourists and potential tourists, the narrative is now that Disney goofed big time by letting Universal get Potter and now look how amazing the Universal parks are because of it! Honey, let's take the kids to Universal Studios!

Just like there are tens of millions of low-information voters who pull levers on election day only based on a few 45 second slanted summaries or sound bites of the candidates and issues (or media-ignored issues or scandals entirely) by the biased mainstream media, there are also tens of millions of low-information tourists. Disney has lost the narrative on the Potter story, and Universal won this battle.

And I'm not a Potter fan and have no current plans to visit a Universal park. But I'm man enough to admit that Universal won the Potterland battle and the news media has now picked up on that.

 

[Bairstow]

Sometimes, the burnt hand teaches best. And did Disney ever get burnt on this one. Yeesh!

See, I'm not sure if that's the case.
Universal has had tremendous success with Potter- they spent a lot of money and got a lot of money in return.

Disney, meanwhile, didn't spend millions of dollars on building new attractions and offerings... and still made a ton of money off of returning guests with nostalgia.

In fact, the argument could be made that Disney has made as much money off of Potter as Universal has: I'm sure a lot of families have vacations to Orlando specifically to see the new Potter expansion(s), but between the two Universal parks you can really only spend 2 days, 3 days max. To make a 5-6 day vacation, Disney seems like the obvious answer for how a family with kids will spend the other 3-4 days and justify airplane tickets to Florida.

Just because Disney didn't make the same move Universal did doesn't mean they made a mistake.
Universal and Disney might be competitors, but they're not playing the same game.

 

[lebeau]

Sometimes, the burnt hand teaches best. And did Disney ever get burnt on this one. Yeesh!

They got burned. But did they learn anything?

 

[RandomPrincess]

If Disney had gotten Harry what would it have looked like? I seem to remember that they were not planning on going all out like Uni has. I think there was dark ride and Character M&Gs.

 

[nor'easter]

And that makes sense from the standpoint of a well-informed and opinionated Disney theme park fan. But we represent 1% or less of Disney's potential customers. (Disney already has us as customers, actually, so what do they care?)

But the bigger issue here is that Disney has lost the media narrative on Potterland. With national news articles like this getting out to low-information tourists and potential tourists, the narrative is now that Disney goofed big time by letting Universal get Potter and now look how amazing the Universal parks are because of it! Honey, let's take the kids to Universal Studios!

Just like there are tens of millions of low-information voters who pull levers on election day only based on a few 45 second slanted summaries or sound bites of the candidates and issues by the biased mainstream media, there are also tens of millions of low-information tourists. Disney has lost the narrative on the Potter story, and Universal won this battle.

And I'm not a Potter fan and have no current plans to visit a Universal park. But I'm man enough to admit that Universal won the Potterland battle and the news media has now picked up on that.

It didn't have to be this way. Disney could have matched them on great attractions instead of spending on magic bands.