Bob Iger Returns/Disney CEO Thread (2022)

[rageofthegods]

Comcast played their hand well. Upping the price of the disastrous Fox acquisition has certainly weakened Disney.

That's a huge part of it (and I'm sure Roberts just loves watching what's happening at Disney) but also the assets just weren't as valuable as initially appeared. Star in India, a huge part of why they acquired it, is an expensive boondoggle while Hulu just keeps costing them more and more money and debt. In retrospect, Fox was also the point when Disney ran up against the limits of the all IP strategy; .the Home Alone, Cheaper by the Dozen, etc remakes all failed to move the needle.

Edit: speak of the devil: Disney Mulls Selling Indian TV & Streaming Business — WSJ

 

[tielo]

I get it, Iger wants to stay and see Epic Universe open while Disney has done little to nothing to compete while loosing market share at an alarming speed.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Depends which parks we're talking about. If it's the domestic parks, then yeah, they're printing money. Paris & Hong Kong though? That's another story.

Paris is doing fine. Hong Kong suffers from China's decision to build another one.

 

[GAcoaster]

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Something interesting that Andy Greenwald noted in The Watch was that all of Iger's major successes have turned into issues he's called on to address (the creative stagnation of Pixar, the oversaturation of Marvel, and the mismanagement at Lucasfilm)

 

[fryoj]

In before "they need to bring back Chapek"

 

[Jerroddragon]

As a CA naive.

That's almost nothing to live in the state , especially the hollywood area. It's such a joke we can't just pay people what they are worth

 

[Jake S]

As a CA naive.

That's almost nothing to live in the state , especially the hollywood area. It's such a joke we can't just pay people what they are worth

co-sign. that’s essentially what I make and I would struggle to find somewhere to live if we weren’t a two-income home.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

As a CA naive.

That's almost nothing to live in the state , especially the hollywood area. It's such a joke we can't just pay people what they are worth

This is why Reno is basically becoming the Bay Area, as all my Reno native friends love to complain about.

 

[Grabnar]

Something interesting that Andy Greenwald noted in The Watch was that all of Iger's major successes have turned into issues he's called on to address (the creative stagnation of Pixar, the oversaturation of Marvel, and the mismanagement at Lucasfilm)

This is how it always goes, look at Eisner

 

[Nick]

This Fox deal really screwed them in a lot of ways. I'm surprised that there hasn't been more blowback and blame on Iger for pursuing it as hard as he did. In whatever sequel to DisneyWar comes out in 30 years I think it's really going to be seen as a key misstep in the company's history.

Personally, I think a lot of the stuff they got out of the Fox deal is far more worth it to them than ABC and ESPN are. Also of note, I can see them selling ABC, but no way they sell ABC Signature, which would include them selling off CONTENT. The actual network to them is fairly worthless to Disney, especially when they could just air shows on streaming.

The main thing that ABC gives them is a way to synergize all of their products, but it's not worth keeping the network just for that sole purpose. Also getting out of ESPN would finally get them out of the market of spending billions on sports deals.

 

[Nick]

Changing gears for a second, Bob does seem to at least have his finger on the pulse on what is hurting the brands:

MCU Disney+ releass certainly have diluted the brand and i'm glad he seems to realize this. in 2021 when MCU shows started on Disney+, Secret Invasion would've been a big deal. Now no one even cares that it's happening.


He's majority correct here. Disney+ releases certainly hurt Pixar. However, Pixar's quality has also dropped which is something that needs to be fixed.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

It probably also doesn't help that most of those shows were bad .

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Changing gears for a second, Bob does seem to at least have his finger on the pulse on what is hurting the brands:

MCU Disney+ releass certainly have diluted the brand and i'm glad he seems to realize this. in 2021 when MCU shows started on Disney+, Secret Invasion would've been a big deal. Now no one even cares that it's happening.


He's majority correct here. Disney+ releases certainly hurt Pixar. However, Pixar's quality has also dropped which is something that needs to be fixed.

He’s getting there, but still missing the creative rot. This really feels like a great time for smaller projects, god willing.

 

[Mad Dog]

Changing gears for a second, Bob does seem to at least have his finger on the pulse on what is hurting the brands:

MCU Disney+ releass certainly have diluted the brand and i'm glad he seems to realize this. in 2021 when MCU shows started on Disney+, Secret Invasion would've been a big deal. Now no one even cares that it's happening.


He's majority correct here. Disney+ releases certainly hurt Pixar. However, Pixar's quality has also dropped which is something that needs to be fixed.

Spot on.

 

[Nick]

He’s getting there, but still missing the creative rot. This really feels like a great time for smaller projects, god willing.

The show American Born Chinese on Disney+ was a great "smaller project" that also had wide appeal if Disney would've actually marketed it. More shows that AREN'T Marvel or Star Wars (or based on pre-existing brands) are sorely needed. Give us fresh content.

Hulu is doing it right and most of the content over there is Disney owned. Why can't Disney apply the same strategy to Disney+?

 

[Jerroddragon]

I mean I hope less is more but no idea why antman/Thor script would be affected by secret wars or Hawkeye

If these movies and shows were good people would want to watch them

But really only moon knight, Falcon, Wanda, and Loki show get lots of love after the fact and the Halloween special (not saying they are all perfect but they still have fans)

 

[Andysol]

Insightful tweet.

I think we should have one of those writers replace Iger.
We should just put their names in a hat and pick one. Running Disney is easy enough that anyone can do it.

Changing gears for a second, Bob does seem to at least have his finger on the pulse on what is hurting the brands:

MCU Disney+ releass certainly have diluted the brand and i'm glad he seems to realize this. in 2021 when MCU shows started on Disney+, Secret Invasion would've been a big deal. Now no one even cares that it's happening.


He's majority correct here. Disney+ releases certainly hurt Pixar. However, Pixar's quality has also dropped which is something that needs to be fixed.

While I’m not a huge Iger in parks fan, that guy has a great pulse for TV and movies.
Always has.

He desperately needs to right the ship there.

 

[Grabnar]

It probably also doesn't help that most of those shows were bad .

Honestly they’ve been substantially better than the movies, by and large

 

[Andysol]

For me the marvel drop off is going to be dissected in detail for a while.

Quality and saturation have both been mentioned.

But I think the biggest issue was the years long build up to, for all intent and purpose, an ending in infinity war. And it was a phenomenal ending at that.

Then it was just a fizzle restart of more of the same. Why continue (for the viewer) after a solid ending?
Count me in that camp.
I quite enjoyed WandaVision and Loki, but I’ve maybe seen 2 marvel movies since infinity war? And it was because the ones right after, well, sucked.
So why commit another years long hundred hour movie/show journey on an inferior experience?