Things are looking good for the Disney Co.!

[PeterAlt]

Just months ago, things were looking grim for the Walt Disney Company. Eisner was distracted by Roy Disney's campaign to oust him and Comcast was fighting to take control of the company. ABC's ratings were horiffic and the movie division had yet to produce a hit, while the company's profits came from DVD sales of last years hits Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Now things are beginning to turn around. ABC finally has a hit on their hands (Lost) and their movie division released The Incredibles, racking up even more dollars than Finding Nemo did when it first opened to theaters. The theme parks are buzzing with new construction everywhere, including new attractions and rehabs of exisiting ones.

Disney still has one more movie to make with Pixar, Cars. But that isn't the end for Disney 3D animated movies. Chicken Little, being produced entirely in-house by Disney staff, is looking as incredible as its Pixar cousins!

It looks like Eisner is trying to make things rosy at all aspects of the Disney Co. before he steps down in less than two years. This, IMHO, is very respectful. He will go gracefully, rather than in shame!

It is also apparent that Roy Disney and his savedisney.com website are biased in their reporting of Disney news, only reporting the bad. For example, the site talks about ABC's terrible ratings, but never mentions the incredible success of Lost, choosing to ignore it as if these successes aren't happening.

But they are. Let's now hope it continues.

 

[Shaman]

Something to build on I suppose...

 

[Legacy]

Just months ago, things were looking grim for the Walt Disney Company. Eisner was distracted by Roy Disney's campaign to oust him and Comcast was fighting to take control of the company. ABC's ratings were horiffic and the movie division had yet to produce a hit, while the company's profits came from DVD sales of last years hits Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Now things are beginning to turn around. ABC finally has a hit on their hands (Lost) and their movie division released The Incredibles, racking up even more dollars than Finding Nemo did when it first opened to theaters. The theme parks are buzzing with new construction everywhere, including new attractions and rehabs of exisiting ones.

Disney still has one more movie to make with Pixar, Cars. But that isn't the end for Disney 3D animated movies. Chicken Little, being produced entirely in-house by Disney staff, is looking as incredible as its Pixar cousins!

It looks like Eisner is trying to make things rosy at all aspects of the Disney Co. before he steps down in less than two years. This, IMHO, is very respectful. He will go gracefully, rather than in shame!

It is also apparent that Roy Disney and his savedisney.com website are biased in their reporting of Disney news, only reporting the bad. For example, the site talks about ABC's terrible ratings, but never mentions the incredible success of Lost, choosing to ignore it as if these successes aren't happening.

But they are. Let's now hope it continues.

Things SEEM fine, but you have to remember the long term. Lost and Desperate Housewives have a lot of buzz going for them now, but can they last more than one season? And they are still in the bottom of the big three. Now, they just aren't at the bottom all the time. The Incredibles is a success, absolutely. But after Cars, the only animated films being released with a Disney name will be from the same story-starved, character-deprived people who brought us such "classics" as Home on the Range and Treasure Planet. They may "look like Pixar's little cousins", but looks don't mean good. Remember Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within? Disney had nothing to do with the developement of Pixar's films; They just distributed. Don't think that just because they look they same, that means that they will be just as good. (A kid saving the world from aliens? Jimmy Neutron did it...)

The theme parks (Disneyland specifically) are really beginning to shape up, but that is only because of new park management, isolated to California. Disneyland Paris is still in financial straits, and Hong Kong Disneyland looks more like a city park then a theme park. The best things to come out of Imagineering recently, weren't even funded by Disney.

Don't get me wrong, things are improving in this end of Eisner's tenure, however it is too little too late. Disney is not what it was, and it will be a long time before the company can be redirected into it's former glory days of the mid-nineties. Roy lost a while ago, but he is simply trying to save face. That is why he doesn't report the good. Things maybe getting better, but the Mouse House still has a long way to go.

 

[DisneyFan 2000]

I won't see any good in the company until proper feature animation returns.. Call me a negative, Disney-bashing fool but that's my opinion. The company is lacking in the one department they're based on. IMO without their roots they simply won't excist for long.

 

[PeterAlt]

Things SEEM fine, but you have to remember the long term. Lost and Desperate Housewives have a lot of buzz going for them now, but can they last more than one season? And they are still in the bottom of the big three. Now, they just aren't at the bottom all the time. The Incredibles is a success, absolutely. But after Cars, the only animated films being released with a Disney name will be from the same story-starved, character-deprived people who brought us such "classics" as Home on the Range and Treasure Planet. They may "look like Pixar's little cousins", but looks don't mean good. Remember Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within? Disney had nothing to do with the developement of Pixar's films; They just distributed. Don't think that just because they look they same, that means that they will be just as good. (A kid saving the world from aliens? Jimmy Neutron did it...)

The theme parks (Disneyland specifically) are really beginning to shape up, but that is only because of new park management, isolated to California. Disneyland Paris is still in financial straits, and Hong Kong Disneyland looks more like a city park then a theme park. The best things to come out of Imagineering recently, weren't even funded by Disney.

Don't get me wrong, things are improving in this end of Eisner's tenure, however it is too little too late. Disney is not what it was, and it will be a long time before the company can be redirected into it's former glory days of the mid-nineties. Roy lost a while ago, but he is simply trying to save face. That is why he doesn't report the good. Things maybe getting better, but the Mouse House still has a long way to go.

You didn't mention Chicken Little. I don't know if this was deliberate of not. But I saw the trailer for it when I went to see The Incredibles. The audience reaction to Cars was "ho... hum", but when they showed the preview for Chicken Little, the audience responded favorably. I'm sure Cars will be a great movie... everything Pixar does is great... they haven't had a bomb yet. But Chicken Little is looks like Pixar quality...

I don't know if its being made by the same people who made Treasure Planet and the others you mentioned, but I do know it is being made by Disney's brand-new 3D animation division. These are the folks who brought you Dinosaur and Mickey's Philharmagic. Albeit Dinosaur wasn't a huge success and Disney ended up losing money producing it, but it brought this new department together... the people and the equipment necessary. And I think they did an outstanding job with Mickey's Philharmagic.

Back to 2D animation. I really think it was a tragedy that Disney decided to close Florida Animation. Afterall, Florida Animation in recent years produced hit after hit, including Lilo and Stitch, while Burbank turned out bomb after bomb. Eisner's management has argued that Roy Disney was overseeing Burbank Animation, and blames Burbank's failures on Roy Disney, not the animators, and with better management, Burbank could see glorious days again. The thinking is that Burbank has traditionally been the center for Disney Animation, and that's how it should be in the future.

I'm not arguing for their point, but I understand why they made that decision. Closing Florida Animation, in my opinion is the equivalent to closing Pixar, because both have a 100% success record. Fortunately, Florida Animation departed from Disney as its own independent company (Legacy Animation) instead of going out of business. This sets itself up for SOMEONE to buy them in the future. It could be Eisner's successor (fingers crossed) or it could be Pixar or it could be Dreamworks or it could be Fox or anyone!

As for the parks... I really haven't noticed what you were talking about concerning Disneyland... I was talking about what's going on at WDW now. If something is developing over at DL other than Space Mountain and Buzz Light Year (my God when I was there, I felt embarassed for them concerning the condition of Tomorrowland, so SM and Buzz should help).

About ABC, I hope Lost isn't a fluke, but a sign of quality programming yet to come. I hope Disney succeeds in filing its primetime line-up with hit quality (and CREATIVE) series in the spirit of Lost.

 

[prberk]

Roy did not lose. He got the biggest no-vote in history for the type of corporate election that they had; and in doing so, he gave CalPers and the other pension funds and investors an open door to consider nominating their own directors.

He also opened the media up to looking inside and understanding better what operates behind the scenes at Disney.

The problems that he shed light upon were institutional and a long time coming. They will be a long time being fixed. And along the way, his website helps balance overstatements and misstatements put out by the company's strong publicity machine.

As for the good news, which there is; really there is no need for SaveDisney.com to herald it. The Disney Company does a good job of that itself. It would just be redundant.

SaveDisney has a different mission: to fix the problems and restore lost lustre. To do that, you have to point them out. And, in the case of stockholders, you usually have to put things in concrete terms.

Never forget, a good "loyal opposition" is always useful in strengthening any organization!

Paul

 

[Legacy]

You didn't mention Chicken Little. I don't know if this was deliberate of not. But I saw the trailer for it when I went to see The Incredibles. The audience reaction to Cars was "ho... hum", but when they showed the preview for Chicken Little, the audience responded favorably. I'm sure Cars will be a great movie... everything Pixar does is great... they haven't had a bomb yet. But Chicken Little is looks like Pixar quality...

I don't know if its being made by the same people who made Treasure Planet and the others you mentioned, but I do know it is being made by Disney's brand-new 3D animation division. These are the folks who brought you Dinosaur and Mickey's Philharmagic. Albeit Dinosaur wasn't a huge success and Disney ended up losing money producing it, but it brought this new department together... the people and the equipment necessary. And I think they did an outstanding job with Mickey's Philharmagic.

Back to 2D animation. I really think it was a tragedy that Disney decided to close Florida Animation. Afterall, Florida Animation in recent years produced hit after hit, including Lilo and Stitch, while Burbank turned out bomb after bomb. Eisner's management has argued that Roy Disney was overseeing Burbank Animation, and blames Burbank's failures on Roy Disney, not the animators, and with better management, Burbank could see glorious days again. The thinking is that Burbank has traditionally been the center for Disney Animation, and that's how it should be in the future.

I'm not arguing for their point, but I understand why they made that decision. Closing Florida Animation, in my opinion is the equivalent to closing Pixar, because both have a 100% success record. Fortunately, Florida Animation departed from Disney as its own independent company (Legacy Animation) instead of going out of business. This sets itself up for SOMEONE to buy them in the future. It could be Eisner's successor (fingers crossed) or it could be Pixar or it could be Dreamworks or it could be Fox or anyone!

As for the parks... I really haven't noticed what you were talking about concerning Disneyland... I was talking about what's going on at WDW now. If something is developing over at DL other than Space Mountain and Buzz Light Year (my God when I was there, I felt embarassed for them concerning the condition of Tomorrowland, so SM and Buzz should help).

About ABC, I hope Lost isn't a fluke, but a sign of quality programming yet to come. I hope Disney succeeds in filing its primetime line-up with hit quality (and CREATIVE) series in the spirit of Lost.

I honestly think the plot line for Chicken Little is lame. It's aliens who are trying to take over the world. Jimmy Neutron's movie did the exact same thing. This 3-D animation is now stealing ideas from other studios (Rapunzel Unbraided is a Shrek wannabe). I really hope the Wilbur Robinson movie is good, but to be perfectly honest, with it not playing off Disney's strong point (a truely classic story), I'm afraid it will be a bomb also.

Dinosaur was a good movie, but I just think it was too far ahead of its time. Philharmagic can't be used to judge how well they can do on a full-length film. My point was that, it doesn't matter how good a film LOOKS, its success runs deeper. Disney has forgotten that, and instead is hooked on the novelty of CGI animation (which is still more limiting than traditional animation is).

Legacy Animation disbanded due to a lack of financing, so the Florida animators being brought back to what they were isn't happening.

Now, I know it sounds like I am being extremely negative, but I'm not trying to be. I desperately want Disney to be Disney again, but it's going to take a refocusing of the entire corporation that I just haven't seen yet.

And as far as Roy not losing, granted... he did make history with the largest No-Vote in stock market history, but you can't say they accomplished what they wanted.

 

[Shaman]

The thing with Disney is, its way too big...this is sometimes good, but other times its a big negative...if anything I think they should work at getting smaller...after all the bigger they are the harder they fall...

 

[MouseRight]

Great post Peter.

For al of you naysayers out there, it is time to look at the glass half full like Peter has and see that good stuff is happening at the Mouse. Who cares if its beacuse Eisner wants to leave a legacy or beacuse Roy put the heat on. Fact is Disney is on the move and that is good for all Disney fans. More money coming in combined with the morale boost of successes in all of the divisions filters through the Company and breeds more creative success.

As to ABC, yes the current hope is based on the success of 2 shows - Lost and Desperate Wives. However, for those of us who have worked in TV and follow the industry, we know that the TV business is one of cycles where one of the networks leads for a while and then one of the others gets a hit and begins to bring audiences in to watch those hits which brings in samplig of its other shows, and so on and so on. ABC in the 70's became # 1 on the heels of its success with Happy Days. NBC did it in the 80's with Cosby. The real news here is not only ABC picking up audience but the fact that the old leader - NBC - is starting to really fall. Thursday night is in jeopardy for NBC for the first time in years. So with ABC going up and NBC going down, it is only good news for Disney.

As to animation - Disney needs to get back into 2D hand drawn animation big time. I don't agree with the rest of the world that says that 2D is dead. Give us a good old classic Disney film with a rich story, great songs, and beautiful animation and no one will care whether it was hand drawn or CG. Actually, I think the time is ripe for doing so.

When you wish upon a star.... I wish for continued success and new and wonderful creative output from the Mouse.

 

[PeterAlt]

Legacy Animation disbanded due to a lack of financing, so the Florida animators being brought back to what they were isn't happening.

That's really sad! I am really shocked that some forward-looking CEO didn't snag them up. That just tells me that the industry as a whole is in bad shape! I wonder if Disney offered any of them jobs in Burbank? If Disney had to choose Burbank over Florida for animation production, and they wanted to keep Burbank opened over Florida, but the Florida animators are obviously doing a better job, then the smart move would have been to relocate Florida animators to Burbank. Does anyone know if that option was even considered?

 

[PeterAlt]

Great post Peter.

For al of you naysayers out there, it is time to look at the glass half full like Peter has and see that good stuff is happening at the Mouse. Who cares if its beacuse Eisner wants to leave a legacy or beacuse Roy put the heat on. Fact is Disney is on the move and that is good for all Disney fans. More money coming in combined with the morale boost of successes in all of the divisions filters through the Company and breeds more creative success.

As to ABC, yes the current hope is based on the success of 2 shows - Lost and Desperate Wives. However, for those of us who have worked in TV and follow the industry, we know that the TV business is one of cycles where one of the networks leads for a while and then one of the others gets a hit and begins to bring audiences in to watch those hits which brings in samplig of its other shows, and so on and so on. ABC in the 70's became # 1 on the heels of its success with Happy Days. NBC did it in the 80's with Cosby. The real news here is not only ABC picking up audience but the fact that the old leader - NBC - is starting to really fall. Thursday night is in jeopardy for NBC for the first time in years. So with ABC going up and NBC going down, it is only good news for Disney.

Thanks for the good words! I just want to point out that in the late 70's Eisner was head of primetime programming at ABC. During this period ABC was #1. Shows Eisner green-lit for production during this time frame include Happy Days, Lavern and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, Love Boat, Fantasy Island, among others. He is also credited for creating the concept of the mini-series (multi-part movies aired as a series) during this time period.

What I can't understand is that now that ABC ultimately answers to him, why we haven't seen a repeat of what happened with ABC in the late 70's. I think it may have something to do with the sheer size that Disney has become and that Eisner can't possibly be as hands-on with the programming aspect of ABC as he would like, since other divisions of the company consume his time.

I do know that Who Wants to Be a Millionair was his idea. But, other than that, Eisner hasn't been directly involved in ABC's programming since Disney bought them... until now (maybe). Right after the stock holder's conference, I read an interview he gave. The interviewer questioned him about Roy Disney, the stock-holder revolt, and ABC's lack-luster ratings.

His answer to the ABC question was "I believe that if I spend an hour a day doing nothing but focusing on ABC's programming, I can turn it around." He went on to say he did something similiar to that for the company's movie divisions, saying that they didn't know what they were doing and that he straightened them out.

I think in the days since that interview, Lost may be the product that "hour a day" attention to ABC programming. But I have not read anything to confirm it. But Lost does have that "flavor" of the 70's shows, especially Fantasy Island and the Love Boat, so my bet is that Eisner has micro-managed production of Lost and is currently developing more new shows.

 

[prberk]

As to animation - Disney needs to get back into 2D hand drawn animation big time. I don't agree with the rest of the world that says that 2D is dead. Give us a good old classic Disney film with a rich story, great songs, and beautiful animation and no one will care whether it was hand drawn or CG. Actually, I think the time is ripe for doing so.

When you wish upon a star.... I wish for continued success and new and wonderful creative output from the Mouse.

I agree completely with this. But they hurt themselves when they fired the Florida and some Burbank feature animators. They had institutional memory that just went out to sea.

A good story well executed and marketed IS a good story well executed and marketed, period: CGI or hand-drawn. Truth be told, the best is really a mixture of the strengths from both.

Our local reviewer today called the new CGI film, "The Polar Express," completely creepy, despite its $170 million price tag and "state-of-the-art" effects. I said the same thing when I saw the previews. The devil is in the details. While computers can get the mathematical details right and make arms move perfectly -- sometimes it is too perfect. Hand-drawn animators can add a sense of IMperfection and even art that is hard and expensive to create by computer -- especially since so many more people are involved.

Disney was always best when it explored and used new and emerging technogies to ENHANCE, but not to replace, the story, art, and collective wisdom of its storytellers and animators.

And this concept goes a long way in other divisions also. Build on and continually improve on what works -- don't put all of your eggs into someone else's trendy, new basket.

Or to put it another way: Build your house on the rock, not on the shifting sand.

Paul

 

[ImaginEAR]

I won't see any good in the company until proper feature animation returns.. Call me a negative, Disney-bashing fool but that's my opinion. The company is lacking in the one department they're based on. IMO without their roots they simply won't excist for long.

Couldn't have said it better myself.