Arguably the most divisive CEO Disney has ever had, Micheal Eisner is a big name for the company, good and bad. Some people see his time at Disney as a creative age of remarkable growth. Others see his time as CEO as one failure after another. However, I personally believe that he was just fine, even if he made a lot of blunders. Why do I think that? I'll tell you.
Prior to joining Disney, Eisner was the CEO of Paramount Pictures. Then, in 1984, he was recruited by Disney to lead the company. Alongside Frank Wells, former producer for Warner Bros., they banded together to help the struggling company. In that day, the animation studio was dealing with box office bombs and the theme park industry for the company was idle. Luckily, Eisner helped solve both of those problems. He revived the park designers, giving them the immortal name of "imagineers" and helping them build many new additions to the parks. They brought the animation studio into a creative Renaissance, ushering in the Golden Age of Disney Animation. In addition, they would partner up with studios like Lucasfilm and Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer to create new attractions. During their golden age, they opened many classic attractions such as Star Tours, Splash Mountain, and the park Disney-MGM Studios.
However, in the middle of their reign, the duo of Eisner and Wells entered dark times. While their Golden Age continued in America with the development of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Indiana Jones Adventure, they met some trouble overseas. They wanted to build a park in Europe, and although they were intending to build it in Spain, the French government offered more land, and so they took it. Eisner built the biggest and most beautiful Disney park in France, but there was one problem. The two of them focused too much on Europe and not much on the homeland of France. This thing, alongside the park's questionable name (EuroDisneyland), would result in a debt crisis and lead to the cancellations and improvisations of many of their planned projects. To make matters even worse, Frank Wells would be killed in a helicopter crash two years later. Eisner was reluctant to make more parks after this tragedy, but he tried to press on, developing relations with Pixar and trying to preserve the projects they had been hoping to make. He was able to launch the Disney Cruise Line as well as open Disney's Animal Kingdom (with slight adjustments), but as the Century turned, Eisner was met with criticism and unpopularity. Although he had a few successes such as Tokyo Disneysea, more hits from Pixar, and the acquisition of the Muppets, the company entered a Great Depression. The animation studio entered another era of box office bombs, and rather than trying to fix it, the company spent more time developing direct-to-video sequels. With his confidence in big parks destroyed by EuroDisneyland, Eisner tried to make small parks and spend as little money as possible, resulting in the pitiful disasters of Disney's California Adventure, Walt Disney Studios, and Hong Kong Disneyland. With all of the company's problems blamed on him, Eisner resigned in 2005 and was replaced by Bob Iger.
Now, after all of this, Eisner should appear as a zit on the face of Disney. I, however, see him as a misunderstood man who tried his hardest. He started out as this revolutionary man who saved the company from bankruptcy. His leadership brought the company several animated classics as well as new CGI-animated films. I believe that he and Wells tried hard with their many projects, even EuroDisney. They were probably very pressured to make their mark, so they had to do something to make the park unique. Even if the park didn't turn out the way they hoped it would, it has since evolved into a top tourist destination for Europeans and French people alike. Not to mention, their attractions that they developed are timeless and cannot be rivaled.
I personally believe that Eisner's big dip towards the end of his time at Disney was because he was mentally ill. His most ambitious project had been a financial catastrophe. So many of his ideas couldn't be brought to life because of his mistakes. His co-worker best friend had died. If I didn't know any better, I would say that he was depressed. He was probably self-blaming for the financial issues he had brought upon the company and heartbroken that he had lost so much. It must've been so much for him that he had just stopped caring by the time the Twenty-First Century turned. He needed some help, but nobody gave it to him.
As for Bob Iger, I see him as the real person who drove Disney into darkness. I see his time over the company as the "GIlded Age" of Disney, because even though it looks good on the outside, it is very bad on the inside. Iger walked a similar path as Eisner. He came in to help a struggling company. Like Eisner, he started out good. He helped bring the Disney Animation Studio to new light with the Revival Era, he helped boost Eisner's tiny trio over several years of expansion and overhaul, and he secured Disney's CGI success with the acquisition of Pixar. However, Iger's thirst to expand the company was his downfall. He attempted to draw more adults into the parks by acquiring Marvel and Lucasfilm, but rather than basing things off of success, he used the parks to promote the films, especially in Tomorrowland at Disneyland Park. He made Innoventions a Marvel promotion tool and then a Star Wars promotion tool, as well as Space Mountain and other things in the area. He demanded the impossible, placing new attractions in parks for more draw. He ended up turning Disney's California Adventure into a promotion tool, using things like Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission BREAKOUT, the Incredicoaster, and the Avengers Campus area to promote their new IPs, even if they hadn't turned out to be successful yet. Now, the park doesn't have much of the California feel to it anymore and just feels like a promotion tool for IPs. Although Iger stayed loyal to Marvel for most of the 2010s, Star Wars faced a dip in popularity, because they had no ties with George Lucas, reused so many old ideas and, chose to tie everything in Star Wars canon together, and focus more on the die hard fans rather than those who just watch the movies.(Okay, so I resent these sayings because I actually enjoyed the Star Wars sequel trilogy, even if they were a little off. I also enjoyed Mission: BREAKOUT and Incredicoaster, even though the former didn't fit at all in Hollywood Land). Iger's actions would also lead to Epcot turning into another amusement park rather than the educational-based park it once was, and the theme parks would slowly go woke under his guidance. It started with the removal of the wenches and it all went downhill from there, now leading to one of Eisner's classic attractions, Splash Mountain, to be destroyed just because of the racially insensitive background it comes from. II, for one, see Iger's biggest misdeed as the acquisation of 20th Century Fox. It disturbs me that another film company, one that has been bloated by gain in the decade prior, would buy a whole other company just to get more. Plus, after this, Disney became more focused in expanding the Marvel Universe that they started to lose some of their quality. (In my opinion, they should've stopped making Marvel movies after the Infinity Saga was complete.) Not to mention, Disney had become corrupt under his leadership, focusing more on money and gain and not on good attractions.
So here's the part where I come to my conclusions. It was clear that Eisner didn't have the best reign over Disney, but Iger was the one who made things even worse. Although it was true that Eisner used a few attractions to promote IPs, Iger's the one who made it a parkly thing. Eisner may have been a mentally ill man who made poor decisions, but he wasn't a Robber Baron like Bob Iger. I think that after all Iger's done, Walt Disney would be ashamed of what his company had become
Prior to joining Disney, Eisner was the CEO of Paramount Pictures. Then, in 1984, he was recruited by Disney to lead the company. Alongside Frank Wells, former producer for Warner Bros., they banded together to help the struggling company. In that day, the animation studio was dealing with box office bombs and the theme park industry for the company was idle. Luckily, Eisner helped solve both of those problems. He revived the park designers, giving them the immortal name of "imagineers" and helping them build many new additions to the parks. They brought the animation studio into a creative Renaissance, ushering in the Golden Age of Disney Animation. In addition, they would partner up with studios like Lucasfilm and Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer to create new attractions. During their golden age, they opened many classic attractions such as Star Tours, Splash Mountain, and the park Disney-MGM Studios.
However, in the middle of their reign, the duo of Eisner and Wells entered dark times. While their Golden Age continued in America with the development of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Indiana Jones Adventure, they met some trouble overseas. They wanted to build a park in Europe, and although they were intending to build it in Spain, the French government offered more land, and so they took it. Eisner built the biggest and most beautiful Disney park in France, but there was one problem. The two of them focused too much on Europe and not much on the homeland of France. This thing, alongside the park's questionable name (EuroDisneyland), would result in a debt crisis and lead to the cancellations and improvisations of many of their planned projects. To make matters even worse, Frank Wells would be killed in a helicopter crash two years later. Eisner was reluctant to make more parks after this tragedy, but he tried to press on, developing relations with Pixar and trying to preserve the projects they had been hoping to make. He was able to launch the Disney Cruise Line as well as open Disney's Animal Kingdom (with slight adjustments), but as the Century turned, Eisner was met with criticism and unpopularity. Although he had a few successes such as Tokyo Disneysea, more hits from Pixar, and the acquisition of the Muppets, the company entered a Great Depression. The animation studio entered another era of box office bombs, and rather than trying to fix it, the company spent more time developing direct-to-video sequels. With his confidence in big parks destroyed by EuroDisneyland, Eisner tried to make small parks and spend as little money as possible, resulting in the pitiful disasters of Disney's California Adventure, Walt Disney Studios, and Hong Kong Disneyland. With all of the company's problems blamed on him, Eisner resigned in 2005 and was replaced by Bob Iger.
Now, after all of this, Eisner should appear as a zit on the face of Disney. I, however, see him as a misunderstood man who tried his hardest. He started out as this revolutionary man who saved the company from bankruptcy. His leadership brought the company several animated classics as well as new CGI-animated films. I believe that he and Wells tried hard with their many projects, even EuroDisney. They were probably very pressured to make their mark, so they had to do something to make the park unique. Even if the park didn't turn out the way they hoped it would, it has since evolved into a top tourist destination for Europeans and French people alike. Not to mention, their attractions that they developed are timeless and cannot be rivaled.
I personally believe that Eisner's big dip towards the end of his time at Disney was because he was mentally ill. His most ambitious project had been a financial catastrophe. So many of his ideas couldn't be brought to life because of his mistakes. His co-worker best friend had died. If I didn't know any better, I would say that he was depressed. He was probably self-blaming for the financial issues he had brought upon the company and heartbroken that he had lost so much. It must've been so much for him that he had just stopped caring by the time the Twenty-First Century turned. He needed some help, but nobody gave it to him.
As for Bob Iger, I see him as the real person who drove Disney into darkness. I see his time over the company as the "GIlded Age" of Disney, because even though it looks good on the outside, it is very bad on the inside. Iger walked a similar path as Eisner. He came in to help a struggling company. Like Eisner, he started out good. He helped bring the Disney Animation Studio to new light with the Revival Era, he helped boost Eisner's tiny trio over several years of expansion and overhaul, and he secured Disney's CGI success with the acquisition of Pixar. However, Iger's thirst to expand the company was his downfall. He attempted to draw more adults into the parks by acquiring Marvel and Lucasfilm, but rather than basing things off of success, he used the parks to promote the films, especially in Tomorrowland at Disneyland Park. He made Innoventions a Marvel promotion tool and then a Star Wars promotion tool, as well as Space Mountain and other things in the area. He demanded the impossible, placing new attractions in parks for more draw. He ended up turning Disney's California Adventure into a promotion tool, using things like Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission BREAKOUT, the Incredicoaster, and the Avengers Campus area to promote their new IPs, even if they hadn't turned out to be successful yet. Now, the park doesn't have much of the California feel to it anymore and just feels like a promotion tool for IPs. Although Iger stayed loyal to Marvel for most of the 2010s, Star Wars faced a dip in popularity, because they had no ties with George Lucas, reused so many old ideas and, chose to tie everything in Star Wars canon together, and focus more on the die hard fans rather than those who just watch the movies.(Okay, so I resent these sayings because I actually enjoyed the Star Wars sequel trilogy, even if they were a little off. I also enjoyed Mission: BREAKOUT and Incredicoaster, even though the former didn't fit at all in Hollywood Land). Iger's actions would also lead to Epcot turning into another amusement park rather than the educational-based park it once was, and the theme parks would slowly go woke under his guidance. It started with the removal of the wenches and it all went downhill from there, now leading to one of Eisner's classic attractions, Splash Mountain, to be destroyed just because of the racially insensitive background it comes from. II, for one, see Iger's biggest misdeed as the acquisation of 20th Century Fox. It disturbs me that another film company, one that has been bloated by gain in the decade prior, would buy a whole other company just to get more. Plus, after this, Disney became more focused in expanding the Marvel Universe that they started to lose some of their quality. (In my opinion, they should've stopped making Marvel movies after the Infinity Saga was complete.) Not to mention, Disney had become corrupt under his leadership, focusing more on money and gain and not on good attractions.
So here's the part where I come to my conclusions. It was clear that Eisner didn't have the best reign over Disney, but Iger was the one who made things even worse. Although it was true that Eisner used a few attractions to promote IPs, Iger's the one who made it a parkly thing. Eisner may have been a mentally ill man who made poor decisions, but he wasn't a Robber Baron like Bob Iger. I think that after all Iger's done, Walt Disney would be ashamed of what his company had become
