6/25/2023 0 Comments Death spiral![]() He snapped up brand names for a fraction of what they’d eventually be worth, reestablished the essentially defunct Disney animated brand until it started pumping out smash hits such as Frozen and Moana, and largely avoided the kind of internal turbulence that had defined others in his position, such as Michael Eisner. Iger’s plans upon his return to the company are not yet clear, but what defined his successful run as CEO before was foresight. Disney+ has many subscribers and outwardly looks like a raging success, which is why the extent of the earnings losses was so shocking. But to me, he is the latest casualty of entertainment conglomerates’ insistence on massive deficit spending to fund their streaming services. During Iger’s stewardship of Disney from 2005 to 2020, the company grew its animation studio, acquired core brands such as Star Wars and Marvel, and launched Disney+ to a massive subscriber base.Ĭhapek’s tenure was tempestuous and almost entirely dominated by the pandemic, although it featured several unforced errors, including a public spat with the Marvel star Scarlett Johansson, backlash over Disney’s muddled response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and rising costs at the company’s theme parks. The news was enough of a disaster that less than two weeks later, the Disney CEO Bob Chapek was removed from his post effective immediately and replaced by his predecessor, Bob Iger. Reported revenue and earnings per share were also both below analysts’ expectations, practically unheard-of for the company. This doubling down on exclusive streaming releases appears to have had a cost: Disney+ lost $1.5 billion over the past quarter, more than double what it had lost the year before, according to a recent earnings announcement. Currently, the only major family film in theaters, the feverish-looking Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, has been chugging along for nearly two months with no other competition. Disney has given the same lackluster treatment to Hocus Pocus 2, a Pinocchio remake, and excellent Pixar films such as Luca and Turning Red. Since the pandemic began, it’s the latest in a long line of major family titles to largely skip theaters and go directly to TV. That’s because Disenchanted, the follow-up to 2007’s hit Enchanted, dropped exclusively on Disney+. Last week, Disney released a long-awaited sequel featuring a six-time Oscar-nominated star, lavish sets, CGI creatures, and full-blown musical numbers-though you might’ve missed it.
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