We already suspected that Disney was in serious trouble — Box office flops (“Wish,” “Haunted Mansion,” “The Marvels“), their stock isn’t what it once was, their streaming service is losing subscribers by the millions and some shakeups at the top will certainly cause panic.
During an investor conference Q&A, Disney CEO Bob Iger tried to calm down worried investors who wondered if the company’s best days were behind it. When put on the spot, Iger had to admit that Disney has “killed a few projects already that we just didn’t feel were strong enough,” as the company tries to reverse a box office slump.
“You have to kill things you no longer believe in, and that’s not easy in this business, because either you’ve gotten started, you have some sunk costs, or it’s a relationship with either your employees or with the creative community,” Iger said. “It’s not an easy thing, but you got to make those tough calls. We’ve actually made those tough calls. We’ve not been that public about it, but we’ve killed a few projects already, that we just didn’t feel were strong enough.”
He further added that he’s been “spending a lot of time with the creators, watching these films, giving detailed notes in these films, engaging in a respectful process that results in improvement.”
So, he’s basically admitting to interfering with the creative process of his filmmakers. As if that’ll make things any better.
Iger hopes Disney’s pandemic and strike-induced box office drought will quickly turn around. The executive said Tuesday that “we’re doing a lot” to steer the Disney ship in the right direction, adding that the feature film business “hit on hard times that needed addressing.”
Iger also refused to believe in what many are calling “superhero fatigue”, saying that it was “not an accident” that Marvel’s first 33 films generated just under $30 billion at the box office.
A lot of people think it’s audience fatigue, it’s not audience fatigue. They want great films. And if you build it great, they will come and there are countless examples of that. Some are ours and some are others. Oppenheimer is a perfect example of that. Just a fantastic film. Focus is really important. We reduced the output of Marvel, both number of films they make, and the number of TV shows, and that really becomes critical, but I feel good about the team. I feel good about the IP we’re making. I talked about a lot of the projects. We look years ahead, really. And it’s iterative.
Last year’s earnings report stated that Disney's stock fell from $350 billion to $154 billion in just over a year, losing $196 billion in value, a 56% drop off. A few months later, in a major shakeup, Sean Bailey left as president of Motion Picture Studios after 15 years and was replaced by Searchlight co-president David Greenbaum.
At least Iger has acknowledged an intention to stray far away from the “culture wars” the company has been embroiled in these last few years. He’s also insisted in releasing less content, especially Marvel movies. Will it all work out for him? Who knows. Disney’s brand has taken a beating, and we don’t know if the recovery process has even begun.
The next big test for Disney will be this coming May’s “Deadpool and Wolverine,” a movie that Iger cannot afford to have fail.