Bob Iger is Back!!!

[UmbrellaFish]

A book about Bob Iger’s return to the Disney company is coming: https://wdwnt.com/2023/05/bob-iger-and- ... ercollins/

It will sit nicely on my shelf next to Disney War.

[Disney's Divinity]

No way would I buy the book of an executive. I wouldn't buy books by Eisner or Katzenberg either, and I don't even dislike any of them as much as Chapek (or Lasseter).

Disney Stock Falls on Uncertainty Over Streaming Profitability, Ad Weakness
https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/d ... 235609713/

Not surprising. I expect the stock to keep falling for a while after PP&W and TLM. Hopefully Wish will be the beginning of a turn around for the company considering it looks like a good one, but who knows.

Even for me, Disney is coming right up to a precipice of sounding stark-raving bonkers. It's one thing to feature more diversity, to show female characters in a less romance-driven way, etc., but when they start going down a road of "There can be no 'princesses' in our films anymore because monarchies aren't democratic," they've lost all grip with reality.

[UmbrellaFish]

The book about Bob Iger’s return to Disney is being written by the Wall Street Journal’s Robbie Whelan.

[Farerb]

It's strange to write a book about something that happened only 6 months ago.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

No way would I buy the book of an executive. I wouldn't buy books by Eisner or Katzenberg either, and I don't even dislike any of them as much as Chapek (or Lasseter).

Disney Stock Falls on Uncertainty Over Streaming Profitability, Ad Weakness
https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/d ... 235609713/

Not surprising. I expect the stock to keep falling for a while after PP&W and TLM. Hopefully Wish will be the beginning of a turn around for the company considering it looks like a good one, but who knows.

Even for me, Disney is coming right up to a precipice of sounding stark-raving bonkers. It's one thing to feature more diversity, to show female characters in a less romance-driven way, etc., but when they start going down a road of "There can be no 'princesses' in our films anymore because monarchies aren't democratic," they've lost all grip with reality.

I disagree on TLM since that film may overperform at the box office against even those who wish for it to fail.

[Disney's Divinity]

It's definitely possible.

[UmbrellaFish]

Chapek and other past and present Disney execs being sued for allegedly misleading investors about Disney+

https://wdwnt.com/2023/05/bob-chapek-na ... ut-disney/

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Chapek and other past and present Disney execs being sued for allegedly misleading investors about Disney+

https://wdwnt.com/2023/05/bob-chapek-na ... ut-disney/

Already knew about this since late 2022.

[Farerb]

Disney Begins Third Round Of Planned Layoffs
https://deadline.com/2023/05/disney-lay ... 235375920/

[Disney's Divinity]

On the eve of Elemental looking to flop and TLM still undecided (possibly well in North America, possibly not well overseas)--I'm not surprised. Not to mention last year's Lightyear for PIXAR and Strange World for WDAS. Avatar 2 is the only big win for Disney recently, I believe?

WDAS will be fine with Wish, Frozen III, and Zootopia 2, imo. PIXAR shouldn't have went back to formulaic buddy roadtrips for the millionth time; they should've continued to pursue new things like Turning Red and Luca. They can course correct somewhat with Elio, since it looks like it may only have one protagonist rather than the usual buddies who are opposite and need to learn from one another, but its genre could end up hampering that one, who knows. I'm not sure what to expect with Toy Story 5, except that I'd think it would still do decent business if it suffered a downturn from TS4?

The division overseeing the remakes is in a much worse position than either of those, imo. They could course correct and make Hercules, Hunchback, Lilo & Stitch, and Moana more faithful remakes rather than continuing to rip things to shreds as with Mulan, TLM, PP&W, and SW. That means including the original soundtrack without cutting songs here and changing lyrics there, and getting a good cast. Hunchback and Moana at least have Josh Gad and Dwayne Johnson respectively. L&S has Sanders back as Stitch and at least didn't start off by cutting characters like Cobra Bubbles--I'm not sure if voice actors for Jumba, Pleakley or the Grand Councilwoman have been cast though.

If Hercules cuts the Muses and the soundtrack from that film, it's going down in flames, too. Disney should think about the fact that the Muses and soundtrack would allow them to include some big names with that film--like JHUD and Lizzo--that could help lift it. That's if pissing off the fans by slicing and dicing yet another film isn't enough reason to do so. SW may end up doing around the 600-700 million level (same thing I expect for TLM really) thanks to Gal Gadot lifting it and the fairy tale being one of the biggies. Aside from that, L&S and Moana are the biggest properties the remake fad has left to milk successfully if they don't screw them up, since I doubt Hercules would have an enormous box office even in the best case scenario. The best case scenario for Hercules--if they included the soundtrack and Muses, and adapted it faithful to the animated film--would just get it to Cinderella / Mistress of Evil level numbers, I believe, going off of nostalgia and potential big names. You take away the nostalgia by changing everything and that film will do even worse than that, much like all the other Hercules live-action adaptations of the myth over the years. I could see Moana doing well at the box office with Johnson back. I don't know how TLK2 will do--that may be what DIsney is waiting on before they decide to greenlight an Aladdin 2 more than anything else. There are other properties they could make, but the only real big hitter brands they have left after Moana and L&S would be remakes for Tangled and Frozen. I don't think Bambi could do big numbers even if it's a universally remembered. I don't think they'd want to do Frozen just yet with the original series ongoing, but a remake for Tangled could do well simply because "Rapunzel" is a well-known fairy tale even if its not for the Disney film specifically (just going by the animated series struggling with brand recognition and changing it's title to include "Rapunzel" in the name midway through). And perhaps they could even use the remake as a way to re-brand the animated film as Rapunzel, too...

Aside from remakes, live-action Disney could look at a POTC6 that reunites Depp, Bloom, and Knightley potentially. Although that's unlikely, it's still more likely than live-action Disney coming up with an original live-action film that's any good. I don't follow Marvel and Star Wars closely. I think GOTG3 is doing well? But I read something about Black Adam having underperformed in the comments here when the Moana remake was announced.

[Farerb]

Disney Finishes Laying Off 7,000 Employees
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/disney ... 235629809/

[blackcauldron85]

BREAKING: Christine McCarthy Stepping Down as Disney CFO
https://wdwnt.com/2023/06/breaking-chri ... isney-cfo/

Christine McCarthy’s Disney Departure Could Mean Bob Iger Staying on as CEO Longer Than Expected
https://wdwnt.com/2023/06/christine-mcc ... -contract/

Bob Iger and Christine McCarthy Reportedly Clashed Over Disney Spending
https://wdwnt.com/2023/06/bob-iger-and- ... -spending/

Andy Hopkins Becoming Interim Disney Parks CFO as Kevin Lansberry Takes Over for Christine McCarthy
https://wdwnt.com/2023/06/andy-hopkins- ... -position/

[UmbrellaFish]

I hope the book about Iger’s return covers this. It will be so juicy.

[Disney's Divinity]

Nobody believed Iger was going anywhere. He's an egomaniac and once his political aspirations died, he had nowhere but back to Disney to go.

[Sotiris]

^Agreed. To those who are surprised by Iger firing McCarthy given she was instrumental in his return, don't forget this is the man who fired Tom Staggs despite the fact he literally saved his life.

[Sotiris]

Disney Succession: Will a New CFO Have Keys to the Kingdom?
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/busin ... 235518529/

How the Sudden Exit of Disney’s CFO Complicates CEO Bob Iger’s Succession Plans
https://www.thewrap.com/what-disney-cfo ... -analysis/

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

Just get Alan Bergman and Dana Walden as CEO, kind of like how Michael Eisner and Frank Wells used to work as a joint CEO partnership.

[Farerb]

Disney’s Chief Diversity Officer Latondra Newton Exits
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/disney ... 235650198/

[carolinakid]

HALLELUJAH!!!!

Six years worth of damage!

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

HALLELUJAH!!!!

Six years worth of damage!

Replacing Splash Mountain with Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is not damage, dude.