Eisner vs Iger how do they match up

[Matt_Black]

At least then, Harry Potter wasn't as big. There was NO excuse when they opened Winnie the Pooh against that year's installment of the HP franchise.

But yeah- both of those movies are truly under-appreciated. They really should show those more on one of the TV channels to drive up interest, with Disney XD being the most logical choice. By a similar extension, if Disney's licensing fees were a bit more reasonable, I bet there'd be a lot of indie designers in various media who'd love to make products of those- video game developers, tabletop RPG designers, etc.

 

[Brer Panther]

Hypocrisy plays a big factor here too. If those movies were CGI, they probably still wouldn't have made that much money.

 

[POLY LOVER]

Movies are all about timing the release properly. Release it at the wrong time up agaisnt unbeatable opposition and the movie fails. Many good movies and actors have been vicitms of this.

 

[Brer Panther]

And bad movies, it seems, always make mucho moolah at the box office.

 

[Matt_Black]

And bad movies, it seems, always make mucho moolah at the box office.

Not necessarily. Fantastic Four barely broke even, if I'm not mistaken, once you factor in the foreign markets.

 

[DisneyManOne]

I just thought of something--did Eisner ever shove a movie down our throats the way Disney under Iger is doing with Frozen?

 

[Hakunamatata]

I just thought of something--did Eisner ever shove a movie down our throats the way Disney under Iger is doing with Frozen?

IIRC Lion King was all over the place back during its run. Don't get me wrong. Probably my favorite animated classic but it was marketed heavily.

 

[Marc Davis Fan]

I don't understand the view that Iger hasn't been good for the parks. Iger's administration seems to be saving the parks. They just can't do it all at once:

They had to focus the company's resources on the biggest emergencies: DCA, HKDL, and WDSP. Those parks saw nearly-immediate, huge investment, in order to make them Disney-quality.

Now that those have relieved their first-stage improvements, Disney can turn to DL Park and the WDW parks, which is exactly what it's doing now.

One understandable objection is whether WDW improvements should have come before Shanghai, but on the other hand I can see why they viewed it as important to enter the mainland China market before getting crowded out by the current theme park boom there (including the Universal park in the works).

I also wish the new attractions were not all IP-based, and I hope they'll again construct edgy attractions like ToT, but these concerns don't outweigh the positive changes for me.

 

[raven]

Eisner needed to go. He did great things at first but then everything went to his head.

Now Iger on the other hand....er, wait...he's doing the same now.

 

[Chef Mickey]

. They just can't do it all at once:.

I'd say EPCOT and DHS have been emergencies for almost 10 years.

Iger did well with DCA, but Shanghai was greed and should have never happened before love was brough to the flagship WDW.

New Fantasyland was a disappointment and Avatar has taken too long. Who knows about Star Wars and Toy Story.

Point is, they could have done some EPCOT and HS improvements along the way. They waited until DHS was in shambles and finally announced projects to address it, but itremains in shambles. We haven't heard anything on EPCOT and it's already long overdue.

WDW sees more guests than anywhere and it's a shame Iger has let it erode to its current state. It speaks to how great the parks were at WDW before Iger arrived that they continue to attract guests and still be a lot of fun.

 

[raven]

I just thought of something--did Eisner ever shove a movie down our throats the way Disney under Iger is doing with Frozen?

Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid to name a few.

 

[DisneyManOne]

Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid to name a few.

True, but at least they were done in moderation. With Frozen, it feels as though Disney forgot that any other film existed. Not even Big Hero 6 and Wreck-It Ralph had big merchandise sales, and I'm pretty sure Zootopia won't be big in merchandise either.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Eisner. At least he mostly kept things in-house and didn't purchase unrelated properties. The parks have been basically stagnant since his departure, with the exception of DCA. There was tremendous growth when we had Eisner, even if things weren't perfect.

 

[DisneyManOne]

Eisner. At least he mostly kept things in-house and didn't purchase unrelated properties. The parks have been basically stagnant since his departure, with the exception of DCA. There was tremendous growth when we had Eisner, even if things weren't perfect.

Well, I'm sure Iger's replacement will do more for the theme parks. After all, it's gonna be either Staggs or Rasulo, and both have served as chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

 

[Matt_Black]

True, but at least they were done in moderation. With Frozen, it feels as though Disney forgot that any other film existed. Not even Big Hero 6 and Wreck-It Ralph had big merchandise sales, and I'm pretty sure Zootopia won't be big in merchandise either.

The thing is, was there as much a demand for merch from either of those films as there was for Frozen? Certainly, regular cuddly Baymax sold well, but I saw plenty leftover armored Baymax stuff whenever I went into the Disney store.

 

[anchorman314]

The thing is, was there as much a demand for merch from either of those films as there was for Frozen? Certainly, regular cuddly Baymax sold well, but I saw plenty leftover armored Baymax stuff whenever I went into the Disney store.

Exactly. Frozen was a "perfect storm" of marketable qualities. It had appealing characters for both girls and boys. It had the built-in Disney Princess brand. It was actually a good story. It was released just in time for the Christmas shopping season. Add to that the current rush to 'keep up with the Joneses' (if one child got an Elsa dress, all their friends needed to have one too), and you have a recipe for a marketing blockbu$ter.

 

[Brer Panther]

I just thought of something--did Eisner ever shove a movie down our throats the way Disney under Iger is doing with Frozen?

What about "Lilo and Stitch"? Four movies, a TV series, a few theme park attractions (one of which was promoted up the wazoo), and Stitch at one point start joining Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and the others on merchandise.

 

[Matt_Black]

What about "Lilo and Stitch"? Four movies, a TV series, a few theme park attractions (one of which was promoted up the wazoo), and Stitch at one point start joining Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and the others on merchandise.

Not to mention that at one point, he met at all four parks and had a character meal besides. There was also the manga. Stitch is HUGE in Asia.

 

[PhilharMagician]

Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid to name a few.

Thankfully! TWDC was just about out of the animation gig until this string of animation blockbusters revitalized not just the animation side but the entire corporation.

 

[PhilharMagician]

What about "Lilo and Stitch"? Four movies, a TV series, a few theme park attractions (one of which was promoted up the wazoo), and Stitch at one point start joining Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and the others on merchandise.

Lilo and Stitch was not all Michael Eisner. By 2003 Eisner was up to his eyeballs with Roy Disney and Stanley Gold pushing the Save Disney campaign. Remember, Iger was second in command as COO starting in 2000 and in 2005 started his transition into CEO as Eisner announced his departure for 2006.

I wonder where TWDC would be today if Eisner had replaced Wells with Katzenberg? So much of Eisners creative edge left when Wells died.