Recapping One of the Wildest Disney News Days Ever
May 18th, 2023, will go down in Disney history as one of the company’s most memorable dates.
In future years, when Justin Hermes writes This Day in Disney History, the May 18th entry will be almost entirely from 2023! That’s how much happened.
Let’s recap one of the wildest Disney days ever.
Cancellation of Lake Nona Campus
Bob Iger pulled a sleight-of-hand trick yesterday. Without mentioning Governor Ron DeSantis’s name, Iger threw the governor under the bus with the Lake Nona project.
Disney announced it will cancel the construction of the new headquarters, thereby costing Florida 2,000 jobs at an average salary of $125,000 per year.
That’s a lot of tax dollars Disney just took from the Sunshine State’s coffers due to the Florida feud.
Notably, Disney wanted to cancel the project anyway, as it was a Bob Chapek initiative.
So, Iger gets what he wants while making DeSantis look like the bad guy.
There are two losers in these political machinations, though.
Lake Nona residents no longer have the opportunity to work for Disney in high-paying jobs.
Meanwhile, some poor cast members switched coasts only to learn that their jobs will go back to California.
Closure of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser
Disney hid some of its bad news under the cover of the Lake Nona story, which has garnered national headlines.
For example, the company also announced the impending permanent closure of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.
On September 28th, guests will embark on the final intergalactic voyage on the USS Halcyon.
On September 30th, after the tourists disembark, Disney will close the Star Wars Hotel forever.
Through conversations with some Disney travel agents, I’ve learned that this news isn’t that shocking.
After Disney met the first wave of demand from Star Wars enthusiasts, a second wave never materialized.
In running the calculations on the Star Wars hotel, I’ve recognized the need for the high cost of the Galactic cruise concept.
Even at $5,000 for every two guests in the 100-room hotel, the profit margins are lower than you might expect… and that’s assuming maximum occupancy.
In short, once the place stopped selling out, Disney faced two suboptimal options – lowering the price or closing the place.
I’m surprised they chose the latter, but here we are.
Disneyland Forward Update
Disneyland Resort previously announced a series of community coffee sessions about the Disneyland Forward project.
Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock has also started a goodwill tour and spent part of yesterday showing a new economic impact study.
According to Potrock, Anaheim could generate more than $240 million in transient taxes by agreeing to Disneyland expansion plans.
The company is currently negotiating with Anaheim officials over the interpretation of zoning ordinances from the 1990s.
Potrock and other Disney officials remain hopeful that Anaheim will expand the interpretation, thereby liberating Disney to build out Disneyland resort more.
According to Disney’s calculations, every $1 billion the taxpayers spend on this project would return $1.1 billion.
Honestly, that’s not a massive return on what is probably an optimistic evaluation.
That’s okay, though. Anaheim only needs Disney projects to be net zero to justify such plans.
The city will make up any other revenue shortcomings with ancillary revenue.
ESPN Switches to Digital
The Wall Street Journal ran a story that’s a long time coming.
ESPN leadership is currently embarking on a project it has nicknamed “Flagship.”
The initiative entails Disney switching ESPN content to ESPN+.
Currently, streaming services like Peacock and Paramount+ allow guests to watch content from their linear channels.
ESPN currently lacks that ability. However, Disney is currently getting its ducks in a row via contract renegotiations with various cable companies and sports leagues.
Soon, ESPN will convert to a digital service rather than a linear network.
This move will have staggering financial ramifications for Disney and likely signal the death spiral of cable television as we’ve known it.
Indiana Jones Debuts at Cannes Film Festival
Here’s the one you probably missed, but it may make you the happiest.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny debuted for the first time at the Cannes Film Festival.
The final Indiana Jones movie earned a rapturous five-minute standing ovation from the admittedly applause-inclined Cannes audiences.
Early reviews of the film are decidedly mixed; however, the people publishing the critiques thus far are the ones primarily in attendance at Cannes.
We’re talking about an art film crowd rather than a popcorn cinema bunch.
As such, I’m not worried yet. In fact, the trailers for the film have me wildly optimistic about its underlying quality.
Removal of Disney+/Hulu Content
During Disney’s earnings call last week, executives casually dropped the tidbit that the company would write down $1.5 to $1.8 billion in digital streaming content while removing the products from the service.
The other shoe dropped on Thursday, as Disney listed the titles it will remove.
Last week, I speculated on my podcast, Streaming Into the Void, that expensive products like Big Shot and Willow were likely to fall victim to this cost-cutting measure.
Sure enough, Disney confirmed those titles among several others that are either high-profile or costly.
Other examples include Diary of a Future President, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, Disney Fairy Tale Weddings, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, and Y the Last Man.
You can read the full list here.
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Feature Photo: Disney