First you watch a parade, and then you buy PIXAR
Well, it might not have gone exactly like that, but it is the story of Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger who, while watching the Parade during the opening from the Theme Park in Hong Kong, made the decision to buy PIXAR.
Watching the Parade he noticed that most of the characters passing by are from PIXAR movies.
“Disney, home of Mickey Mouse, Snow White and Cinderella, hadn’t created any recognizable animated characters in the past decade”, Iger said. The recent animated characters in the parade were from Pixar, Steve Jobs’ animation studio, which Iger agreed to buy for $7.4 billion.
“It really hit me hard that we had had 10 years of real failure, keeping animation strong is incredibly vital.” Iger said. “Animation creates more of a ripple effect than any other business at Disney, the world’s second-largest media company”
You see, all you have to do for a good business idea is watch a magical Disney Parade. Not sure if I can use that excuse for a next visit.
You can find the full story on the Orlando Sentinel website.
March 3rd, 2006 at 9:26 am
I can’t disagree more strongly with what Bob Iger said there!
The past decade? Well I assume he does not mean the last decade (which would be 1990s) since that included top money makers like Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. So I assume Bob Iger spoke about the last 10 years, which would have been the time as of 1995 since HKDL was opened already in 2005.
Hmmm … no recognizable animated characters in that time frame??
Sure there wasn’t any big mega blockbuster like the Lion King (which was released 1994) but really no recognizable animated characters??????
Anyone Tarzan here? Ah, no noone would recognize Tarzan if he sees them. But then, true, not necessarily everybody would make the connection between Tarzan and the animated Disney feature.
BUT: what about Stitch?? He isn’t recognizable?? SORRY that is just stupid. As much good decisions Bob Iger has made, here he made a big mistake. Stitch is widely popular even outside the regular die-hard Disney fan groups (in fact I sometimes have the impression among the die-hard fans there is more of a love and hate relationship). If he wants proof maybe he could take a look at the box office of the movie which was spectacular considering the terrible cut-back marketing budget the movie had, the merchandise sales still going strong in all the resorts, the popularity of Stitch as a walk around / photo-op character in the park. Heck, they even created a whole attraction based on Stitch (even if not really sucessful so far), direct to DVD sequels and a TV-show.
Now can really anyone say Stitch is not recognizable. I doubt it!
In fact if Disney would finally start managing Stitch decently instead of risking a merchandise overexposure he could become one of the long time stars in the animated character stable of Disney.
March 6th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
I agree with Dirk here.
Bob Iger reckons that ther has been “10 years of animation failure”.
Okay, lets look shall we? Not in order, but there was Hercules, Kuzco, Mulan, Huncjback Of Notre Dame, Lion King 2, Lion King 3,Treasure Planet, Toy Story 1, Toy Story 2, 101 Dalmations Live Action, 102 Dalmations, Monsters Inc, The Incredibles, Chicken Little,and also Lilo & Stitch, amongst many other successes.
It is true to note though, that the majority of these productions are “sub-let” to other production houses, such as Pixar, and Disney has not, as Bob rightly points out, produced any “home grown” characters.
But what I see as being wrong here, is what Bob is NOT saying.
What he would like to say, in my view, is that Disney has produced huge grossing films since forever and ever.
The reality of the situation is that the majority of the non Pixar produced films were FLOPS, some just breaking even in the box offices.
So, Bob chooses to ignore the “little earners”.
Just because a Disney produced film does not gross as much as the Lion King, or Beauty & the Beast, is it right to “forget it”, as Bob seems to do.
This only reflects what a capitalistically driven person he really is.
“It really hit me hard that we had had 10 years of real failure, keeping animation strong is incredibly vital.” Iger said.
Would Bob be suggesting here that his predecessor was a “real failure”??? If that is the case, I would remind Bob that now Mikey is out, it’s time to get Disney back on the rails and clear up the mess left.
I would also mention that during the ME reign, most of the animation studios across Europe were closed down because of the coming of “digital” technology, at ME’s demand….
With correct marketing techniques that avoid “total saturation” such as the “….. 2″ generation of Disney DVD’s, for example, the original Disney product can be sold, but due to actions of his past predecessor, and a saturation of the market through a desire to send out Disney produced films on a more frequent basis, Bob Iger is the victim of his companies success, or failure, depending on how you look at it.
All the Best,
MR E
March 6th, 2006 at 10:45 pm
The other danger here, to my way of thinking, if that Disney gets completely fixated with ensuring anything new in the parks comes ONLY from new films (or ’successful’ films). Why do they have to wait for a ‘hit’ film before deciding it has something of value to add to the parks? Surely they can come up with original new elements for the parks without waiting for Stitch, Monsters Inc, Cars, etc? In fact, we know they can, with the debut of the amazing Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom showing the Imagineers CAN still produce a tour de force when they have the budget. What I suspect Bob Iger is overlooking here is that Disney is currently short of good STORY-telling, not just films. Every theme park element (not to mention the whole park itself), must come with a good story, which was Walt’s underlying commitment to his parks. Look at the park elements worldwide which have been big failures in recent years and you see the lack of a good story to underpin them; SuperStar Limo at DCA, The Television Studios Tour at WDS, Journey Into Imagination at Epcot and Timekeeper at both MK and DLP. So, perhaps the focus should return to good, old-fashioned story-telling, plus a fully committed input from WDI, and we will get more Everests and fewer Limos!
March 7th, 2006 at 8:35 pm
Hi Simon,
Some good points raised. You may also want to consider the fact of time and success.
For so long, Disney was renowned for quality story telling - real classics, not re-hashed classics with a different name ( take Treasure Planet as a prime example).
Then the competition arrived and said, “Why should Disney have all the glory?”
And the competition started to do things better than Disney did, putting Disney in the situation in which it finds itself today.
Perhaps if they ( Disney) had negociated better with the people who negociate, we would have had Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings under the Disney name. Through scepticism and over self confidence, we lost these two productions to other film companies, gaining only The Narnia Chronicles.
I am sure that Disney can still make classic animated films, but the errors of time, the past, and their past success are now turning on them, as other companies advance faster in new technological ways, making going to the cinema an even more exciting experience.
All the Best,
Mr E
March 8th, 2006 at 2:48 am
Hi Mr E!
This is a good debate, and I think to give Mr I some credit, he is aware of how far Disney have fallen (or been overtaken) in animation terms. Pixar have enjoyed unprecedented success in the last 11 years, with six solid gold hits and no ‘misses’, and their success rate puts EVERYBODY in the shade. Disney’s animation division is a bit thin by comparison in the same period (14 animated films - plus 8 released by DisneyToon Studios, which were all pretty awful - with Pocahontas, Hercules, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dinosaur, Mulan, Tarzan, Lilo & Stitch and Chicken Little as the generally accepted ‘hits’ - all in the top 200 all-time worldwide box office - and Fantasia 2000, Emperor’s New Groove, Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Brother Bear and Home on the Range as the definite ‘misses) but they have still had a reasonable number of successes.
What Disney haven’t had, and which Dreamworks (Shrek, Shrek 2, Madagascar, Wallace & Gromit), Fox (Ice Age) and Pixar have all enjoyed is a serious blockbuster or an Oscar-winner, and I think that is what Mr I is most referring to here. None of the great animated characters of the last six years (with the one exception of Stitch) have come from a Disney designer, and that is what is hurting their animation studios most. There obviously have been a lot of management errors in the past 15 years (letting go a lot of senior animators, moth-balling the Orlando studios, bad choices on some movies - The Emperor’s New Groove? Puh-leeeze! - and missing out on franchises like LotR and HP) but I think it is now clear the new management are looking to re-establish Disney’s pre-eminence, with the hope that closer links with Pixar will have benefits in both directions. It remains to be seen whether Disney have anything left in their animation locker (Chicken Little left me rather bemused, I’m afraid, and their forthcoming titles, which include The Wild - too late after Madagascar - and Meet The Robinsons, just don’t seem to carry much pizzazz) or if their mantle has truly passed to Pixar, Dreamworks and Fox.
Just don’t get me started on the subject of Disney movies and theme park ’synergy’…………!
March 8th, 2006 at 3:01 am
(Just forgot to add………!!)
But, as Dirk points out, Mr I is wrong to label the last 10 years as a complete failure. Not only does that overlook Stitch and Tarzan but, going back to 1995, it omits Pocahontas, the Hunchback of ND, Hercules, Mulan, Dinosaur (which Disney thought good enough to rename a ride for at Animal Kingdom), Brother Bear and Chicken Little, while even the Treasure Planet characters made appearances at the parks for a while. Perhaps the problem was more with the parade being biased towards recent Pixar movies…………..?
March 16th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
Hi Simon,
Whilst true that the Disney Cinema Parade(DCP) does contain Pixar characters, the WWDP (reduced version) in the Magic Kingdom still keeps the Disney classics.
Unfortunately, DLRP bought the DCP concept from a belgian company named Franco Dragon, and has been obliged to keep it for 5 years due to copyright rulings and wear and tear/value for money. At the time that the concept was approved, no one knew how successful the Pixar contribution would be to the Disney family, and DLRP did not have the finances available to consecrate an entire float unit to just Pixar productions.
Result? A Disney based Parade through Studio Land, with Pixar characters “thrown in” to fill out the Parade a little.
On a lighter note, have you ever thought that Mrs Incredible in the DCP Vehicle leading the Parade looks more like a glorified pole dancer???
With the 5 year period up in 2007, this coincides with the WDS 5th anniversary, and as I have already mention on the web site, new Parades are coming soon, for both parks…
Another light note - is Chicken Little Disney’s response to War Of The Worlds?
All the Best,
MR E