Do you think Disney needs to make change after so many flops?

[achilles]

I don't go to theaters anymore. The last movie I saw in theaters was Lone Ranger film starring Johnny Depp as Tonto. I am averse to crowds. And whenever somebody open their mobile phones in front of you, the light from the phone monitor is so distracting. It's hard to ignore the food-munching noises or noises caused by crushing of candy wrappers.

There was a movie with Dustin Hoffman and Donald Sutherland in the 90s, called Outbreak. It featured a scene where the monkey born virus is coughed up into the air in the packed theatre, where they went micro to show the virus infecting the moviegoers. I haven't been great with crowds ever since. Thanks for that, movie.

What little I know of Disney's finances says that their movie and TV businesses are relatively small parts of the much larger whole. Most of their revenue comes from ESPN, their single most valuable asset. Then the parks and cruise businesses, neither of which they can sell as they are too branded. No one for example would buy Disney World; the only value would be the actual real estate and the park itself would be an actual detriment to a sale. ABC is a minor part of their business, they way overpayed for Fox, their biggest blunder by far.

The movie and TV business for Disney is very visible, and mistakes or triumphs are amplified by that, but in terms of actual money...I think it's a more minor player for them.

As to what Disney should do, I have no idea. It may be on a long, slow, unavoidable death slide. Or it may ride this out as a lesser company. One thing though that is obvious is that they need a complete housecleaning. All of their top execs need to go, especially Iger and KK, who at this point is just a distracting meme, and not without justification.

[Slowpokeking]

Had Disney actually made less money? I mean, in total, not just box office. I haven't been going to see Disney movies in cinema since before the pandemic, because I usually buy the DVDs anyway and I don't particularly want to spend that much time among screaming children. Now that I have Disney+, I just wait for the movies to be there, same with Marvel movies. I suspect many families do the same, especially those who have more kids and would pay horrible amounts for tickets for the full family. Disney also makes a lot of money on merchandise, parks and other stuff that is based on the movies, it's not just movie tickets.

I find it funny that when the topic was the strikes, the general consensus was that streaming companies, the greatest evil of current times, were supposedly making billions of profits that they refuse to share with the creators, but when it's time to complain about "woke agenda", suddenly Disney is losing all of that money left and right because they dared to show some diversity. (As if Disney movies were particularly woke, lol.) So, which one is it?

And Disney+ also lost a lot of money, dude.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/09/b...-earnings.html

Robert A. Iger’s urgent need to overhaul Disney — to turn its streaming division into a profitable enterprise and pull back on its troubled traditional television business — came into sharp relief on Wednesday.

Disney’s streaming operation lost $512 million in the most-recent quarter, the company said, bringing total streaming losses since 2019, when Disney+ was introduced, to more than $11 billion. Disney+ lost roughly 11.7 million subscribers worldwide in the three months that ended July 1, for a new total of 146.1 million.

Even their CEO has come out to speak, it's not as good as you think.

[Slowpokeking]

I can't believe it, Disney has blown out some of their biggest franchises, flopping so hard in their box office, and keep bleeding from Disney plus.

Even some of their own members have come out to speak, and ppl still think they are doing fine?

[Immortal Weapon]

Disney needs to scale back the production budgets of their projects. They need less $200 million+ movies. They aren't giving these films enough room to be profitable even if they do well.

[Slowpokeking]

Disney needs to scale back the production budgets of their projects. They need less $200 million+ movies. They aren't giving these films enough room to be profitable even if they do well.

Even if they cut budget, most of their bombs would still be bombs.

[Agent Z]

No it doesn’t! They always pretend he’s lost it at the start, with a shaky hand and stuff, but by the end he’s mowing down bad guys with his tiny pistol like he’s playing Time Crisis. Not even sure what you were going for there.

(And in Skyfall he fails the physio test, but five minutes later manages to ride the outside of an elevator up a skyscraper with his fingertips - something an elite free climber probably couldn’t do.)

He dies in the last movie.

[choptop]

The 9nky reason budgets were so high these past few years is due to Covid. Just about every major film released this year was shot during the restrictions, so you'll see a lot lower budgets moving forward.

Not really they were spending 100-200 million per movie before covid hit.

[80sbaby]

Not really they were spending 100-200 million per movie before covid hit.

And that's not high for a blockbuster budget. What is high is $250-$300 million.

[80sbaby]

He dies in the last movie.

Doesn't it literally say at the end "James Bond will return"?

[choptop]

And that's not high for a blockbuster budget. What is high is $250-$300 million.

It is win you are spending 100 million on marketing.

[80sbaby]

It is win you are spending 100 million on marketing.

No, it still isn't. Times change and inflation is a thing. This isn't the 90s anymore.

[Gaastra]

Had Disney actually made less money? I mean, in total, not just box office. I haven't been going to see Disney movies in cinema since before the pandemic, because I usually buy the DVDs anyway and I don't particularly want to spend that much time among screaming children.

Less disney made money was in the 70s and early to mid 80s aka "dark disney". Every movie was a dud, disney was known as "uncool" by teens up and no one in their mid teens would be caught dead in a new disney movie. Only the older animated rereleases and herbie did well. Disney channel was struggling also. Disney was so bad they almost got bought and ips sold to other studios by a jerk who hated disney! They released high budget animated films that were duds and got torn apart by critics asking if disney lost its magic! Sound familiar?

Black cauldron disneys biggest budgeted animated film got its butt kicked by care bears movie at the box office! Tron was a fail and return to oz had so many bad critic reviews people stayed away!

Past repeats itself huh? Who framed roger rabbit and little mermaid would lift disney out of the dark days and teens saw disney as cool again. However today is not like then. In two years we had a billion avatar 2 and $800m gotg 3 something 80s disney wishes they had

[choptop]

No, it still isn't. Times change and inflation is a thing. This isn't the 90s anymore.

It's still a 100 million infection and time haven't changed that that still a lot of money to drop on something a movie that cost 100-200 million go's to 200-300 + million so you need to make at least 300-400 million just to make your money back.

I mean look at the marvels they sent 50-100 million on marketing so it probably cost 350 to 400 million.

[80sbaby]

It's still a 100 million infection and time haven't changed that that still a lot of money to drop on something a movie that cost 100-200 million go's to 300 + million so you need to make at least 400 million just to make your money back.

Right and $400 million for a blockbuster is chump change (or should be.) And yes, times have changed that much. Go look up the average cost of movie tickets now compared to the 90s. Or inflation in general.

[Username taken]

Disney needs to scale back the production budgets of their projects. They need less $200 million+ movies. They aren't giving these films enough room to be profitable even if they do well.

Exactly this.

In addition, they should put out less movies. The tent poles all the time strategy doesn't work especially since they've doubled down on streaming.