Tag: Bob Iger

The Fate of Disney’s Brand Hangs in the Balance

The Happiest Place on Earth is in pretty sad shape.

A lot of folks, particularly some of the major shareholders and former diehard fans, are well aware of the predicament that The Walt Disney Company currently finds itself in.

Not too long ago Disney pulled CEO Bob Chapek out of his post and brought back the company’s former CEO, Bob Iger.

Iger now finds himself facing an extremely tough task – how to stop the deconstruction of the Disney brand before its too late, and how to then lift the company back up out of the rubble.

Signs of Disney’s decline recently became manifest by the Axios Harris Poll and the 2022 Corporate Reputation Rankings.

Disney’s score on the poll was 73.4, which resulted in the company’s ranking being 65th on the list. The entertainment giant had fallen 28 places since the previous year, experiencing its worst results in the history of the Harris Poll.

The Trafalgar Group conducted its own poll in Spring 2022, which showed that 68% of Americans consider themselves less likely to do business with Disney, due to the company’s activism.

A recent incident illustrates exactly why Iger needs to act swiftly. WDW Pro, a Twitter account that specializes in all things Disney, reported that the company has engaged in something that Christians of all persuasions consider an abomination, blasphemy.

The Epcot Candlelight Processional has been a tradition at Florida’s Epcot Center for the past 64 years. The event takes place at Christmas time and is part of a larger devotional service in which narrators provide inspirational messages that contain heartfelt Christian content.

In the most recent candlelight processional, the Christian content of the messaging was somehow modified. It turns out that within the content of the revised messaging, the actual divinity of Jesus Christ was denied, not once, but five times.

Simu Liu was one of the event’s theatrical readers. The actor performed a passage that actually denied a central tenet of Christianity.

“For all the miracles of Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace himself was simply a man, a human being, and he walked through this world in the most human way possible with love…,” Liu said.

Being labeled in the scripted words as “simply a man,” Jesus Christ, who is recognized by hundreds of millions of Christians around the globe as Lord and Savior, was stripped of His divine nature.

Across all of history there have been those who have attempted to rewrite Christian dogma.

But did Disney have to get into the heretical act?

Many may not have heard, but Disney was founded by a deeply committed Christian, Mr. Walt Disney himself. Early Disney entertainment fare was filled with Christian values, imagery, symbolism and storylines.

Here are but a few examples:

Several Christian leaders offered prayers during the opening ceremonies of the original Anaheim, California theme park. The finale of the “Fantasia” film includes the hymn “Ave Maria,” music that was created to honor the Virgin Mary. And even the character of Snow White takes time out to talk to the Ultimate Maker of her universe.

During the 1940s, Walt proved himself to be an ardent anti-Communist. He founded the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a group that once stated, “We find ourselves in sharp revolt against a rising tide of Communism, Fascism and kindred beliefs, that seek by subversive means to undermine and change this way of life.”

In an article penned in 1949, Walt revealed how his religious faith had guided him in life.

“I was grounded in old-fashioned religious observance,” he shared. “My people were zealous members of the Congregational Church in our home town, Marceline, Missouri. My father, Elias Disney, who was a contractor, built our local church and was a deacon of the congregation. I was baptized there and attended Sunday School regularly.”

Walt was vigilant in making sure that the company he founded did not stray from the principles of his faith.

“I have watched constantly that in my work the highest moral and spiritual standards are upheld, whether my productions deal with fable or with stories of living action,” his article read.

The Candlelight Processional incident compelled Dr. Gregory Seltz, Executive Director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty, to call upon parents to seriously distance themselves from Disney.

“Any Christian parent who allows the glitter and glitz of Disney movies and Disneyland theme parks to take hold of our children’s imagination now delivers one’s children into the hands of people who actively seek to steal our children’s childhoods, and now, even their faith,” Dr. Seltz declared.

He concluded with the following unambiguous message for parents:

“This is about the hearts and minds of our children, not just a ride on Space Mountain. Parents of all faiths need to find other avenues for entertainment rather than anything Disney.”

Other boycotts of Disney are ongoing, including the one from One Million Moms, an arm of the American Family Association.

Iger led The Walt Disney Company for 15 years. It is time for him to do what Chapek failed to do.

He has to dissociate the Magic Kingdom from woke Hollywood. He has to stand up to anyone within or without the company who seeks to undermine Walt’s legacy. And he has to rebuild the public trust in the once-beloved Disney brand.

Woke Disney is Risky Business

New York Stock Exchange Disney CEO Iger, USA - 27 Nov 2017

Entertainment behemoth Walt Disney Company, which as a business startup had a focus on child-oriented product, now has a CEO who has taken an anti-child stance on a significant societal issue.

In a Reuters interview that took place prior to the dedication of Disneyland’s newest land, “Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge,” Disney head Bob Iger was asked whether or not the company would continue to use the state of Georgia as a location for the filming of its projects.

The reason the question was posed to Iger is because Georgia recently passed a state law that bans abortion procedures after a fetal heartbeat can be detected (approximately six weeks of gestation). Iger was letting the world know which side Disney is on in the culture war that continues to surround abortion.

The CEO stated that it would be “very difficult” for Disney to continue to engage in its on-location production activities in Georgia if the new law were to take effect.

Georgia is a preferred locale for many of Hollywood’s film and television projects, due to a 20 percent base transferable tax credit. The Peach State brought in $2.7 billion in revenue from such projects in 2018.

“Well, I think if it becomes law, it’ll be very difficult to produce there,” Iger told Reuters. “I rather doubt we will. I think many people who work for us will not want to work there and we’ll have to heed their wishes in that regard.”

Iger continued, “I think it’s also likely to be challenged in the courts and that could delay it. …But if it becomes law, I don’t see how it’s practical for us to continue to shoot there.”

A sizable amount of The Mouse House’s production has been based in Georgia locales, including that of its blockbusters “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Endgame.”

A number of aptly termed “heartbeat bills” have already been passed, and/or are in the process of moving forward in states that include Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Ohio, using legitimate legislative processes that express the will of the people and allow citizens to exercise their right of self-governance in each respective state.

By choosing to weigh in on one of society’s most controversial concerns, Iger may have inflicted harm on his company’s well-honed brand by slighting a significant segment of Disney’s customer base.

The company recently acquired 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets and is planning to launch its new Disney+ streaming service this year, which will reportedly be loaded with family friendly content. Disney also plans to capitalize on its collection of beloved characters from its “Star Wars,” Marvel, and Pixar catalogs.

Interestingly, at the same time Disney’s CEO is talking about pulling out of Georgia, the company he heads is operating a theme park and distributing movies in China, a country that is known for banning parts of the web, depriving people of their liberties, and engaging in human rights abuses.

Disney recently filmed a live-action adaptation of its 1998 animated film “Mulan” in China. Marvel, a Disney subsidiary, has actually been criticized for caving to censors in China by changing a character’s ethnicity from Tibetan to Celtic.

Iger recently discussed with the Saudi crown prince the prospect of having an amusement park in Saudi Arabia, a place where women are forced to endure second class status.

The comments of Iger followed those of Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos, who not only said that Netflix’s production would be exiting Georgia, but also indicated that the streaming company would support legal efforts to overturn the democratically passed heartbeat law.

Netflix filmed its hit series “Stranger Things” in Georgia as well as the upcoming sci-fi show “Raising Dion.”

Sarandos told Variety, “We have many women working on productions in Georgia, whose rights, along with millions of others, will be severely restricted by this law… Should it ever come into effect, we’d rethink our entire investment in Georgia.”

However, Netflix does not seem particularly concerned with women’s rights, or even human rights for that matter. The company pulled an episode of “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj,” which criticized Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. This was purportedly done so that it would be unable to be viewed by Saudis following a “take down request” from the Saudi Arabian government. Netflix additionally shot “Marco Polo” in Malaysia, a place in which Sharia law is imposed.

Shortly after Disney and Netflix weighed in on Georgia, other Hollywood companies saw fit to jump on the virtue-signaling bandwagon as well, including WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal, AMC, CBS, Viacom, and Sony, indicating that each may also withdraw from using Georgia production sites.

The Georgia law also prompted a group of Hollywood celebrities to speak out, which included Kristen Wiig, Jason Bateman, and Alyssa Milano. Directors J.J. Abrams, Jordan Peele, and Ron Howard for the moment are filming there but have plans to donate money to the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups opposing Georgia’s duly passed legislation.

Not all left-wingers are united on ways in which to handle the Georgia law, though. Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is seeking to avoid a boycott over concerns that the citizens of Georgia could be hurt. And more than 3,300 women have signed a “We Work Here” Change.org petition, initiated by The Women of Film in Georgia, expressing opposition to any boycott of the state.

Superheroes Save Hollywood’s 2018 Box Office

marvel-movies

After a great deal of handwringing, Hollywood is breathing a sigh of relief.

The 2018 box office showed growth, and the movie business owes its positive performance to an aggregate of superhero films.

After hyper-anxiety over the possibility that streaming entertainment was going to kill the movie theater business, Hollywood ended up raking in a record $11.9 billion in revenue last year.

The 2018 domestic box office was up 7 percent over 2017 as well as being up 4 percent when compared to 2016. The audience has grown, and although the actual number of tickets sold remains below the high mark that was set in 2002, attendance for 2018 was higher than the previous year by 4 percent.

With more than 26 percent of all domestic box-office revenue in 2018, Disney commands an unprecedented portion of the market share. CEO Bob Iger’s strategy of buying franchises and rights to superhero characters paid off enormously, and the company’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets is expected to close in the first half of 2019.

Disney’s share of the market is likely to increase in 2019, with the planned release of another “Star Wars” film and the fourth and supposedly final “Avengers” movie, as well as two animated features and three live-action versions of classic Disney tales.

Based on the 2018 box-office performance, filmgoers can expect movie studios to continue to deliver two predictable types of entertainment product in 2019: 1) additional sequels; and 2) more cinema that features costumed crusaders with super-human powers.

Of the top five box-office films of the year, four were superhero films, and amazingly the ten highest-grossing films of 2018 were either superhero movies, sequels, or both.

The top film of 2018 was the superhero offering “Black Panther,” which earned over $700 million domestically making it the third highest-grossing movie in the history of cinema. Following close behind was another superhero flick, “Avengers: Infinity War.”

The biggest take from last year’s ticket revenue arrived courtesy of the superhero genre, with four out of the top five films bringing in more than $2.3 billion. The “Spider-Man” spin-off “Venom” and “Ant-Man and The Wasp” hauled in another combined $429 million. The newly released “Aquaman” and “Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse” added an additional combined $300 million to last year’s superhero gross.

The enduring success of comic book characters that come to life begs the question: What is it about these superhero movies that draws people to the multiplex?

Family films pay the bills for Hollywood, and since parents are on an eternal quest for places to take their little ones, superhero films provide a relatively wholesome type of fare that adults and appropriately-aged children are able to enjoy together.

That the superhero phenomenon has become so deeply ingrained into the fabric of our culture suggests something more significant is occurring within the public consciousness. People instinctively long for stories in which moral tensions in plot lines are ultimately resolved in a fundamentally fair manner. Similar to the mythological gods of antiquity, superheroes possess powers and abilities that can rectify unjust situations. Superheroes also travel through storylines in which forces of good and evil have clearly marked boundaries and good generally triumphs over evil. In this fanciful realm, the universe is ordered and stability secured.

The successful releases in the superhero category typically feature characters with extraordinary powers, who, as they go about saving the world, must deal with ordinary relatable problems. When superhero characters possess an aura of authenticity, the stories surrounding them communicate a sense of hope that problems can be solved and obstacles overcome.

A study that took place in Kyoto, Japan, published in January 2017, explored attitudes of very young children toward heroic characters.

Six-month-old infants were presented with animations that depicted a character bumping into another character while a third onlooker watched from a distance. The onlooker intervened in one version and in a second version ran away.

When the infants were given the opportunity to select a real life replica of the intervening character or non-intervening character, the young subjects were more likely to choose the intervening character as opposed to the one who ran away.

The findings of the research indicate that pre-verbal six-month-old infants are able to recognize heroism, suggesting that the ability to identify a hero is an innate one.

This innate human attraction to heroism has been capitalized upon by the motion picture industry and explains, in part, the omnipresence of superhero characters in movies. Hollywood executives will soon debut even more superhero films. Scheduled for release in 2019 are Disney’s “Captain Marvel” and “Avengers: Endgame,” Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” and Fox’s X-Men sequel, “Dark Phoenix.”