Disney Headlines for July 12th, 2023
Is Bob Iger ready to extend his contract with The Walt Disney Company? Has Disney chosen Threads over Twitter? And is the latest Indiana Jones film a bomb?
The answer to at least two of these questions is yes. We’ll discuss them in this week’s Disney Headlines.
The Hot Bob Iger Rumor
I’m writing this on Monday, but it probably won’t go live until Wednesday. That makes me nervous because this story might break by then. (Editor’s note: Yes, this happened!)
According to a report of somewhat questionable veracity on Fox Business, well, here’s what it says:
“People close to Disney tell Fox Business (that Bob Iger) is likely to seek a contract extension beyond his current one (expiring in Dec 2024) as the company giant faces hurdles in finding a successor.”
This is dangerously close to “my mother’s cousin’s hairdresser…” in terms of reliability.
However, several reports like this have cropped up in recent weeks. In chasing the various stories, the throughline is unmistakable.
All the outside observers watching Disney have figured out something MickeyBlog has mentioned a couple of times already this year.
A 24-month contract goes a lot faster than people realize. On July 20th, Bob Iger will have completed one-third of his Disney CEO contract!
Disney’s Board of Directors restored Iger as CEO in hopes of returning magic to the business.
Obviously, that process has proven challenging, even for someone with a hard-earned reputation as the best media CEO alive today.
Iger is currently redefining theme park pricing, Disney film distribution model, and the future of the streaming service he invented, Disney+.
All of these processes have taken more time than anyone could have expected, and Disney has suffered several setbacks along the way.
We’ll even talk about one of them in the next section. And that’s the overriding problem here.
Many of Disney’s current struggles require immediate, constant attention.
If Iger were to name a successor, it would need to happen soon. Otherwise, they’d be just as positioned to fail as Bob Chapek had been.
Is Bob Iger Staying?
I’m no expert in peering into Madame Leota’s crystal ball.
However, I said last month that the sudden absence of Christine McCarthy came with a message.
In pushing out Disney’s CFO – and that’s apparently what happened – Iger knew that the Board of Directors wouldn’t perform two simultaneous searches.
First, Disney would need to settle on a new CFO before evaluating CEO candidates.
The reverse is possible, but it makes less sense for an obvious reason. Until January 1st, 2022, Bob Iger led that Board.
Almost all the people on Disney’s Board are there because Iger wanted them. Carolyn Everson joined the Board while Iger was away.
Other than that negotiated selection, Iger controls Disney’s Board and has for a decade.
If Disney’s CEO wants a new CFO in place before succession negotiations ensue, that’s what will happen.
To a larger point, the board members will likely feel relief if Iger indicates the intent to stay. Nobody wanted him to leave in the first place.
I’m one of the people who believed that Iger anticipated the pandemic and left Chapek holding the bag.
Now, Iger enjoys a rare opportunity to rewrite history by repositioning Disney for success and then selecting a worthy replacement CEO.
There’s a ticking clock on the deadline for that, and it’s November 2024. Therefore, I fully expect Iger to sign an extension soon.
So, while the headline and its source may be highly questionable, the underlying thought process is sound.
UPDATE: After this article scheduled for publication, Disney announced a two-year contract extension for Iger.
Indiana Jones and the Too Little, Too Late
In 2016, Steven Spielberg agreed to return to one of his favorite storytelling genres by making another Indiana Jones movie.
At the time, Harrison Ford was 73 years old, which is four years older than Sean Connery had been when Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade debuted.
Then, script problems delayed the fifth Indy movie. Eventually, Spielberg bailed on the project…right before the pandemic occurred.
If Disney had a re-do on this one, the film division would have cut its losses on the idea.
At a later date, Disney could have recast the role and started anew, which WILL happen at some point. The only question is when.
Alas, the Lucasfilm team hated the thought of the franchise ending with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. So, they pushed hard for the fifth film.
Disney signed off on the project, and it was finally filmed during the pandemic. By this point, Disney had incomprehensible sunk-cost losses.
Sadly, the creation of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will be remembered as an excellent demonstration of throwing good money after bad.
While I looooved Dial of Destiny, the public has voted with its collective wallet. This one’s a bomb.
Including marketing costs, Disney spent a minimum of $325 million on the project.
After ten days in theaters, including a holiday week, the film has earned $121 million domestically and a grand total of $247 million worldwide.
With that much money invested, even allowing for previous write-offs, Dial of Destiny would need a minimum of $750 million to be a success.
This one will finish on the annual list of worst box office failures of the year.
On the bright side, Ford broke one record. He’s the oldest person ever to star in a Disney film. Yay?
Check Out Disney’s New Threads!
On Thursday, July 6th, @DisneyParks posted this:
https://www.threads.net/t/CuVeEMeP8sK
The notable part isn’t that Disney posted the message. It’s the where. As that URL indicates, it’s the first post on the new social media app, Threads.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Threads is the de facto Instagram-based social media replacement for Twitter.
Obviously, Twitter will have something to say about that, but Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, owns Instagram.
Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and current Twitter owner Elon Musk aren’t friends. And everyone knows that Twitter has struggled since Musk took over.
By the time you read this, Threads will have surpassed 100 million downloads, which sounds impressive…because it is.
However, we should also note that there are 1.63 billion Instagram users, including MickeyBlog.
You could argue that many of the sign-ups came from people less interested in Threads than in securing their user ID on a new service.
Nobody has any idea whether Threads will emerge as a legitimate long-term rival to Twitter, which places Disney in a precarious position.
The company must support the new social media app. In doing so, Disney risks the wrath of Musk, who has notoriously manipulated Twitter results.
Disney still advertises on Twitter, which opens a different can of worms in the discussion.
Some Wall Street analysts are wondering whether Disney is tiptoeing toward full abandonment of Twitter.
I doubt that happens anytime soon, but Disney’s social media team has already mastered the ascending TikTok format.
@disneyparks POV: Daydreaming of the perfect Disney World day 😍 #Disney #DisneyParks #DisneyWorld #MagicKingdom #EPCOT #HollywoodStudios #AnimalKingdom #Transition
An emphasis on Threads over Twitter wouldn’t surprise me, though.
PS: Check out our TikTok account, too!
@mickeyblog_ Send this to someone you want to go to Disney with✨🏰🐭🎆✨ #disney #disneyworld #waltdisneyworld #disneyparks #fyp #magickingdom #mickeymouse #cinderellacastle #disneymagic
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Feature Photo: AFP