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No word yet from Bob Iger about who might run Walt Disney Studios after Rich Ross was pushed aside as chairman last month. But the CEO told the Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference today that his film strategy is “clear.” It includes two animated films a year, one from Pixar and the other from Disney. Soon it could increase to two Pixars and one Disney. In addition, “we intend to make two Marvel films a year and that slate is well defined” for the next few years. Iger says that while “we’ve got a business that has done well on the animated and Marvel front,” the live-action films “have been inconsistent, this year in particular” with a disaster in John Carter and mega-hit with The Avengers. He’ll want the studio’s new management to address that. But Iger’s still keeping expectations modest. “We’re not in the business of making 24 films a year, or more than that.”
Related: Why Rich Ross Was Fired At Disney: What Does It Say About Bob Iger’s Leadership?
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Hey Mr. Iger,
Don’t forget the wonderful legacy Rich Ross left at Disney…the 200 million plus budget (prints and advertising and financing costs not included) for The Lone Ranger. Disney must be feeling great about the prospects after seeing Johnny Depp and Dark Shadows box office.
I agree, Bob…make fewer films…but, make them good films. The Johnny Depp/Jerry Bruckheimer run is over.
Iger has so much contempt and distrust for the movie buisness that I. Think it’s a great thing he is stepping down in 2015. he more intrested in outsour ing for creative content(marvel, Pixar, dreamworks,) instead of focusing on getting the Disney tentpole movie brand back on track. Which is the most iconic entertainment brand in the world. Say what you will about Micheal Eisner, one thing we all have to admit is Eisner thought of himself As the head of Disney and Bob Iger just thinks of himself as the head of a company. And now his corporate suite politics are have came back to bite him in the ass.
Yes, Michael has a love of movies and that showed through in the projects that were released under him. They may not have all be gems, but he allowed the movie division to take chances and always stood by them, whether they performed or not. He was a real leader at Disney; he truly loved the place, it seemed.
That is, when he wasn’t bashing Pixar and them pushing away. Or shutting down traditional animation.
Obviously you didnt work with him. Go pull up all the accounts of how much of a despot Eisner was to those that worked for the mouse. The only people that liked him were those in the upper enchelons who were paid high saleries for mediocre work performance.
“My genius plan. Make movies that make money. Stop making movies that don’t.”
amazing. why hasn’t anyone else thought of that before.
s
“We’re not in the business of making 24 films a year, or more than that.”
What do you people think we are, a movie studio? Well we’re not, we’re a licensing company.
Iger bought Pixar and Marvel (and he was lambasted for over paying for both). They are the only parts of the film division making money and have increased the valuation of the company significantly. Any wonder why Iger is pushing those two entities to the fore? Give the man the credit he deserves. You may not like the fact that he’s not making a bunch of non-tentpole live action films but his instincts thus far have been pretty good — admittedly the Rich Ross decision was a mistake (Dick Cook was doing just fine). Besides he has Dreamworks to fill the non-marvel, non-Bruckheimer pipeline (snicker at will)…
If Dick Cook had still been at Disney, John Carter would’ve been a hit (most of their movies would’ve been hits if Cook was still there). He would have seen to it that it had promotion and ties-ins worthy of a big budget movie. He green lit it after all. Instead, we had the B-promo plan with no fast food tie-ins, toys, etc. The Disney stores had no merchandise. You could only find books at Barnes & Noble or online. The Marvel comics were out, but no big promotion for those. They could’ve run specials on the Disney Channel and ABC talking about Edgar Rice Burroughs, how his John Carter was the inspiration for much of today’s and the last 100 years of science fiction. People would’ve known going in what the movie was and that it had romance and was a ton of fun. Instead Iger and Ross didn’t get the film and did nothing to turn around the promotion, even though they already had test screenings saying it was a movie audiences liked and had no problems following unlike the stupid critics who couldn’t follow what a 13 year old or 55 year old could.
I hope the DVD sales rock next week and for the next year!
There was a time when Jerry Bruckheimer was good for 3 movies a year that each made money. He’s experienced with terrific commercial instincts–I’d love to see him run the studio for a few years and turn it around. Plus he’s amazing at marketing.
I am still waiting for Disney to realize that Depp gives them one hit for every three flops he makes. Does that really constitute the huge salary he is paid to do the same character over and over again?
THATS NOT TRUE- LIKE THEM OR NOT ALL THE PIRATES MOVIES MADE A LOT OF MONEY
I think you’re wrong, name ONE Disney film that Johnny Depp has been in that has flopped, Alice in Wonderland was a hit, and ALL of the POTC movies made money, especially overseas, when Depp strays from Disney his movies tend to do poor. With The Lone Ranger no one really knows what will happen.
As for Eisner, he was great in the beginning then he pissed Steve Jobs off and Disney almost lost the crown jewel Pixar, it was Iger that patched things up with Jobs.
Iger has added value to Disney with two great purchases Marvel and Pixar, as much as the Hollywood types want Disney to be a studio it isn’t it’s a marketing machine NOT a studio, films are designed around marketing toys, merchandise not some great art, maybe that’s why Miramax was a bad fit for Disney you can’t market toys based on Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love, or Dogma.
@ Aleric. Johnny Depp has made 5 movies with Disney: 4 Pirates movies and Alice in Wonderland. Not a flop among them.
Unless you’re counting Ed Wood for Touchstone? Maybe you’re counting Ed Wood, but I doubt he made a huge salary on that one.
Warner Brothers, on the other hand, should reconsider his payscale.
Yeah, Disney’s not a 24 movie a year studio. They’re not a 10 movie a year studio either. The reality is, Disney is no longer a movie studio. It’s a distribution co-op for other companies.
You hit the nail on the head. And it is confounding to see how top-heavy the live-action staff is. A staff that is quadruple the size of the movies they put out per year. And headed by a guy like Sean Bailey a vestige of the Rich Ross disaster whose taste is anything but Disney.
I can’t wait to order the John Carter Blu-Ray next week. Love that movie. Hate that everyone was against it before it even hit the screen.
That’s not entirely true. People were against John Carter after it hit the screen as well.
Disney you want to know where things went wrong with your action films n box office, contact me, ill be more then happy to tell you as a life long Disney fan i am disappointed.
I love that he wants to address “inconsistencies” in the movie business. The industry is ALL ABOUT inconsistencies. And I don’t think Pixar was a genius move – it was basically a lay up with a steep price.
It’s sad to see the business these days when the studios have lost all the balls and magic the founders originally instilled in them…
Disney seems to be all over the place. I think they are putting out too many movies a year.
If it were up to me, I’d make Disney Feature Animation only for traditional animation, and leave the CGI to Disney/Pixar. I would also release 1 animated film a year, alternate one year for Disney/Pixar, and one for Disney feature animation.
I like the 2 Marvel films a year, I think that works well.
Obviously since Disney made the deal with Dreamworks, I would have Disney make 1-2 live action films a year, and leave the rest for their distribution deal with Dreamworks, Studio Ghalbi, and Disneynature.
John Carter was a great film, but it was marketed horribly just like Hugo. Who wants to go see a two hour long movie about a jumping hippy at Burning Man for aliens? If the trailers had done a better job laying out what the movie was about, it would have done much better opening weekend.
After reading the interviews in which he discussed changing the name from John Carter of Mars to just John Carter, I understand why he did it. The problem is his rationalization required there be a sequel, which obviously isn’t going to happen now. Let this stand as a cautionary tale of just how dangerous it is to make risky “creative” marketing decisions with these 200+ million dollar mega movies.
Maybe Disney could make no movies. Would that be low-risk enough?
Mark my Words: Disney will convert all of it’s classic animated fare to live action. Since now they own the rights to the Pizar collection, I can see a live action Toy Story coming in 2020.