Disney Just Had the Worst Summer Ever!

[@blackmanwithcomputer]

It's good that the guy in charge of all these decisions came back just in time to deal with the consequences. Came back thinking he was the conquering hero, only to turn out to be Disney's biggest villain.

[@samf.s.7731]

He is a total villain. Jesus Christ he's something... The fact that the two CEOs, Iger and Chapek were getting paid 24 and 32 million dollars respectfully while treating talent like ... dispensable objects is just disgusting.

[@Ronariverah]

Other Bob did this right? but then it takes time to see the result in time for the original Bob to deal with the mess from person HE Picked to replace him. Doh!

[@blackmanwithcomputer]

@@Ronariverah Iger was the architect for D+, he's the one that pushed for these acquisitions that put them in debt, he's the one that pushed for remakes and the over reliance on prior IP, he has yet to replace Kennedy, he refuses to NOT place it safe and, yes, he's the one that pushed Chapek in all these these positions which laid the slow demise of the theme parks and resulted in a fission with the creative elements of the company. Iger gets to fuck up and still get paid millions, while denying others liveable wages. So yeah, fuck him.

[@xger21]

Some of the issues are definitely have Iger's fingerprints, but Chapek also made his own costly mistakes

[@samf.s.7731]

​@@RonariverahIger? The guy perpetuating the strikes? That guy? 😂

[@800Ms-k6n]

The fact that The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (yes trilogy, not one movie only) cost less than Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny is actually insane to think about it. I wonder why 🤔

[@stormtraitor6545]

Disney needs to understand that tentpole blockbuster movies can be made for less than $200million.

[@DazzaS83]

Inflation, extra cost of CGI, Harrison Ford's salary, Covid adding to costs due to shut downs and start ups. Quite a few reasons.

[@ThePrinceofHisOwnKingdom]

​@@stormtraitor6545 The Creator looks great for $80 million and it's Disney.

[@elijaharroyo4846]

They overcompensated, and it clearly failed lmao.

[@MichaelWutsch]

A $200 million movie should be the best movie ever. I think you could do 8-10 spiderverse movies for the same cost

[@Shalalacls]

As a big fan of Marvel, Star Wars, and an even bigger fan of Disney, this has been oddly satisfying. It's weird that you can love something so much and at the same time be so happy to watch it burn.

[@slin2678]

It's because you love it that it's satisfying when all their bad decisions come to a head. Hopefully, they learn their lesson and can emerge with another Renaissance

[@Shelter71]

Because they're being poor stewards.

[@LexisReadz]

THIS!

[@dorianr4770]

same

[@tiffanymorrell7583]

I so agree I love Disney movies, parks, and stuff but I feel they are only catering to a single crowd that cares less for Disney and how much they can make off of us.

[@AlMoSiCe210]

This whole video can be summed by a quote that Dan himself once said, "You're invincible until you're not."

[@jjstarrprod]

Ha, that's a good one

[@BillNyeGuy]

Bob Iger really entering the villain arc after everyone was so certain he was going to come back and save Disney. All the dude was good at was buying massive companies and overexposing them. Remember he was the one who wanted a Star Wars movie a year. He was also the one behind Disney Plus and having every division release stuff on it every year.

[@garrettcarter5622]

People still have fond memories of Eisner because he's brave enough to takes his lumps, I'm not sure if that's gonna be the case with Iger. He seems to proud of himself to admit his mistakes.

[@MariaRodriguez-dx6sm]

​@@ChienaAvtzon I'll say that l Marvel acquisition and the development of the MCU up until Endgame was one of the most brilliant decisions in the entertainment industry in history. Lucas Films acquisition COULD have been just as profitable, if it wouldn't have been so badly mismanaged, specially with the dumpster fire that were TLJ and TRotS. Fox... that was just stupid, there is not way around it. The real problem is that they got greedy and thought they were to big to fail: the parks were catering to rich people... only in price, because the experience, the amenities, the atractions, the food, the services etc, were ok, but definitely not worth the praise, specially when go to Europe started to be cheaper than going to Disney. And there is not enough rich people, lets be real The MCU made the same mistakes as Marvel comics: they over extended themselves, put out too many low quality series in a short time, to the point it stopped to be entertainment and became a shore.

[@timpage9424]

Haunted Mansion should be releasing in theaters some time later this month or early October. What awful planning.

[@BlckSWANWhtRbbt]

Moving the date up almost feels to me like they were hoping they'd get the marketing in before the actor strike. I am very curious how they are going to handle The Marvels if the strike isn't over.

[@tiffanysandmeier4753]

@@BlckSWANWhtRbbt it doesn't hurt them too much to delay. There are going to be so many weekends empty soon because the projects aren't finished in time to make the original release date. They can move it back to after the strike ends, so the actors can do promotional appearances, etc. This will hurt theaters, but it may be a boon for smaller films. If theater's are looking for anything to fill the screens, then independent films might get more screen than in the past. Or maybe the big studios will spread out the finished projects to have more space between them.

[@egoborder3203]

it should be releasing into a toilet. Soulless and unnecessary and low-quality

[@mccallosone4903]

they did it early so they couldput it on disney+ in in time or halloween

[@GusArango]

Plainly stupid.

[@ZachBobBob]

Disney's issues seem so obvious: insanely over-inflated budgets, poor release dates, a lack of creativity and quality control and too much content....and also sheer greed from it's CEOs and execs.

[@motherplayer]

It's one thing to be unsuccessful with new ideas or old/obscure properties. It's another thing to be playing with so many safe bets and having none of them pan out.

[@samf.s.7731]

Their safe bets are lackluster. They never truly are "woke" (Except Black Panther), and they have a huge following of alt right fanatics and bullies. Who wants to be a fan of this brand? Nobody with money... just MAGA internet bots. Those guys will go buy guns with their money anyway. They have catered to and enabled those people, and they sank the brand. Congrats 👏🎉 Now WB and Paramount are laughing in Barbie and Oppenheimer money.

[@egoborder3203]

they turned them into unsafe bets because no one there undestands the properties they're dealing with and hired the complete wrong people to develop them. It's like taking a bet between the Packers and a junior high football team but before the game you break the legs of all the Packers

[@christscrackers647]

Bob Iger's philosophy regarding buying every single company he could in order to make more money is the prime example of "Quantity can truly never defeat Quality". He bought way too much of several good things, and now those good things have turned against him and are either being used against him, or being taken away from him. That's what happens when you want to take everything from the world like a spoiled child.

[@ellicel]

The Disney corporation definitely deserves to struggle for the way they treat their talent, employees, VFX artists, and even competitors. Unfortunately, I think the top echelon will continue raking in the millions and all this bad news will be the excuse they'll use to be even more evil to those they were already shortchanging.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

You forgot to add unwoke viewers and buyers of their tourist crap.

[@One.Zero.One101]

Yeah the sad thing is the executives won’t feel the effects of this meltdown. They will still give themselves multi-million dollar bonuses. This happened before when bank executives gave themselves bonuses after the 2008 recession.

[@baltimorefilmmaker]

These execs need to cut their pay, not make us pay increased costs.

[@InsertCleverNameHere0]

The nice thing is that, when Dan makes a video like this, its not mindless shouting about Disney being "woke" or whatever, it's actual reporting and analysis. Keep up the good work, Dan.

[@DanMurrellMovies]

5x the work, 1/5 the audience!

[@FortKnoxMovies]

@@DanMurrellMovies Quality over quantity Dan! I know some industry insiders (writers mostly) who reference your videos! People in the know recognize your hard work!

[@youcantalwaysgetwhatyouwan8419]

If you want your points to be respected, and your work valued, put out a measured and balanced video, screaming about woke is clickbait for the intellectually brain dead.

[@One.Zero.One101]

@@DanMurrellMoviesRage-bait is a path to the dark side. You have a loyal community because of your quality content.

[@Janootz]

I saw problems coming for The Little Mermaid and Elemental coming from a mile away. Without significantly strong word of mouth, audiences are comfortable waiting for Disney's movies to hit streaming. They're a victim of Disney+'s success, and they're still losing billions on it

[@damonlam9145]

The Live Action Little Mermaid's word of mouth felt more like it hindered its growth in the long run.

[@FromDaShaolinSlums]

I'm sure adults weren't gonna watch TLM and just have their toddlers watch it when it drops on D+

[@Janootz]

@@FromDaShaolinSlums I'm not sure that's really the case. The target audience for these live action remakes aren't kids but their millennial parents who have nostalgia for the original movie and will drag their kids to the movies so they can see it. There's no need to pay for those extra tickets for kids who will be bored by the movie if mom and dad can now just watch the movie at their own leisure on a night in.

[@MariaRodriguez-dx6sm]

They are also victims of the low salaries they want to pay. Less people wants to go to the theaters because it is too expensive. Unless it is something truly special, there is not reason to drop over 40 dolars to see a bad movie

[@CalebSpears1]

I’m shocked someone green lighted that scuttlebut song, it is so far below the Disney bar for music I was in shock. It sounded like a poorly written parody

[@BDWANNEMACHER]

I'm a bit worried that the lessons that the studios are going to learn from this is that they need to diversify their studios into other countries so they can ignore unions easier.

[@samf.s.7731]

Hope that other countries have their workers unionize too! 😊

[@ralfrudi3963]

This might be a good idea in general, because the quality of their movies was low. All their bad decisions and bad PR would be of little importance if their movies were successful. Especially the writing has been poor for a while now. Their only successful summer movie was written by Gun, who they tried to cancel and who is also about to spearhead their competitor. Either they need to change the process of choosing their writers, or they need to find writers who are less influenced by Hollywood in general. This summer has shown that people are willing to go to the cinema if you can offer them a movie with an unique idea, but won't for you run-of-the-mill Hollywood movie.

[@Dave102693]

@@samf.s.7731Korea’s and India’s entertainment industries are mostly unionized already, same with France too. The American studios will have to look towards countries with lost worker rights however.

[@brianng8350]

Sadly, Netflix has good ground on this. They got Korean and Indian movies and TV shows…

[@Nomadic813]

Not as simple as that. Writers, actors, and VFX are all specialized skills that depend on decades of tradition and industry to develop. You can't just go to a country with no union and expect them to be able to produce world class VFX artists, studios, or even access to tech which is often proprietary to individual studios out of thin air.

[@Misfitstein]

I'm so glad that the Star Wars Hotel is closing. I was always wanted to go but omg those prices are just insanely stupid. They deserve this.

[@guydammit3287]

Pay all that money and it didn't even have original fan favorite characters. It was all about the Disney movies. (Yeah man. "WHO WANTS TO BE POE,GUYS!! COME ON! IT'LL BE FUN!!"😂)

[@ChibiShi]

I went, and honestly, it was a blast and a half. But I'm also a big fan of cosplay and improv, so it was right up my alley. They probably would've been better off for long term viability of the concept if they made it a regular hotel most of the time, and just had the performance theater concept have a couple of "sailings" a month with an evolving story so people had a reason to go back. But I'm not sure how well it'd work as a regular hotel, tbh. When immersed in universe where you have to take a "shuttle" wherever you get on or off, not having a pool or access to an outdoor space or windows (there are "windows" that are viewports into space and are pretty awedome tbh) or a fancy entrance/parking lot (it felt very much like a cruise terminal or airport parking) makes sense. But for a hotel where you can just walk out and get in your car wherever you want, maybe not so much.

[@ChibiShi]

Most of the characters involved in the Starcruiser were entirely original to the Starcruiser. There were only 2 characters from the movies you could interact with (Rey and Chewie) and Kylo Ren makes an appearance for a fight scene with Rey, and that was it as far as physically there.

[@briarrose8154]

Listening to all this back to back to back to back really shoves Home how absolutely catastrophic some of these high-level decisions have been over the past couple of years and it’s just finally now all hitting at the same time

[@Sasu123456789x1]

Exactly

[@jessrl8025]

About 5 years ago, I read James B. Stewart's Disney War (a great read if you are interested in Disney history), and the impression I got after reading was Bob Iger was nothing more than a sad copy of Michael Eisner. Everything that man has done since I've read that book has not changed my mind. Iger has ripped off Eisner's ideas without really understanding why those ideas worked for Eisner at that time. Iger has yet to do anything but fail his way to the top, and now he is making many of the same mistakes Eisner made that ended up ousting him as the CEO. I feel for the Disney employees whose jobs are on the line because these massive corporations keep promoting their buddies.

[@Dave102693]

Why did Iger install Cheap-pack into CEO role in the first place?

[@ZachBobBob]

The thing is Iger made the studio billions upon billions and Eisner didn't. I feel like Iger did a good job up until the point where he left and tanked the company with his terrible exit strategy.

[@ericepperson8409]

Eisner had a great start at Disney expanding the Parks and overseeing their animated Renaissance, but he was also responsible for the mediocre box office performance of the early 2000s and disputes with Pixar and the executives that would eventually become Dreamworks.

[@A-ro-2803]

@@ericepperson8409 I agree, I think Eisner was C-tier overall.

[@A-ro-2803]

His work on expanding the parks internationally is still paying off for them. On the film side though, just so many misses. While they have a solid amount of cult-classic type support, he oversaw nearly a decade straight (1995-2005) of huge commercial failures. Iger on the other hand is arguably on the Mount Rushmore of media executives. The insane amounts of money that Disney raked in from franchises he oversaw is unmatched in media history. Walt himself is the Steve Jobs type, built the foundation, huge personality that is generally well respected. However, it was Tim Cook at apple and Iger at Disney that truly built their respective empires.

[@christianogden2825]

After 10 years of this studio trying to act like the evil empire and buy all of Hollywood, I think I speak for everyone on the planet when I say “Disney, no one feels bad for you. In fact, watching you fall as flat on your face as you have has been ungodly cathartic.”

[@michaelnally2841]

Only thing that sucks about this is the people at Pixar suffering as well. Especially since they probably suffered the most throughout the pandemic and the one movie s they had afterwards were mostly flops. I’m happy elemental has made a bit of a 180. But I hope they can recover

[@ivanvoronov3871]

​@@michaelnally2841well they haven't made a good film since encanto or even arguably coco

[@michaelnally2841]

@@ivanvoronov3871 Pixar didn’t make Encanto that was Disney’s animation studio. Pixar released soul, Luca, and Turning red which all of them I have enjoyed and I wish I got to see soul and turning red in theaters but hey it wasn’t meant to be. And hey say what you will about the quality of some at least they were Original films unlike Disney’s live action division

[@ivanvoronov3871]

@@michaelnally2841 yes I forgot about encanto. I really didn't like turning red. I Luca is underrated but know one went to see it. Soul I wish was more like ratatouille about a man and his love for Jazz based in the real world without any of the supernatural crap. Still I think the last truly great film they made is coco

[@michaelnally2841]

@@ivanvoronov3871 i personally disagree for what Soul is I thought it was great especially it’s message of “don’t spend your entire life solely focused (no pun intended) chasing your dreams”. Spend a little time to smell the flowers, enjoy a slice of pizza, and enjoy the company of people you may not know as well as you think. That spoke to me especially because I had just graduated from college at that point and had recently gotten a job in my field and I even had that “so what now” moment in the movie. Before lightyear there wasn’t a real Pixar film I untterly disliked or thought was terrible besides cars 2. So if a Pixar film comes out I’ll still give it a chance but I won’t say it’s terrible because it’s not “great” because imo even a mid tier Pixar film is still better than a lot of the schlock Hollywood produces.

[@stevenrosenhaus4571]

I got your Columbo reference, Dan. 😊

[@soerenbode]

Here in Germany Disney is aggresivelly advertising to sign up for Disney+. Offering 6 EUR for three months (so 2 EUR / month). Now I understand.

[@punnia123]

Bob Iger is like the dog calmly sitting in the room on fire with the tagline "this is fine"

[@renskedunnewold1995]

I had forgotten or not heard about half of these things. Put together like this, it's astonishing how many bad decisions one company can make in such a short timespan

[@ChrisEdwards7910]

The CNBC article the other day was illuminating. Most of these issues are on Iger, who never really stepped away.

[@acejumper1681]

The past few years have definitely been rough for Disney to say the least. I am predicting that the SAGAFTRA strike might result in a similar outcome as the strike that the Newsies musical was based off of, because of how the Pulitzer severely underestimated how important the newsboys were to the success of newspaper sales, similar to how movie studio executives such as Bob Iger are underestimating how important writers and actors are to their businesses as well.

[@chadchadly3564]

You won’t ever see John Campea make a video like this

[@FameyFamous]

It’s hard to believe that the producers have decided to let the strikes keep going. How much would it cost them to pay the workers what they are demanding?

[@123Yellowberry123]

Agreed, but based on Dan’s other videos, it looks like there are other things at play with the strikes, like the ability to use AI. Writers and actors seem to want AI banned while the producers are reluctant to give into that request.

[@twincast2005]

It would cost them less than 2% of their profits. And for what it's worth, there has been ample movement on this regular wage negotiations front. What the conglomerates aren't budging on are the use of AI and related issues, obviously salivating over the prospect of cutting down production expenses for literally all types of creatives down to near-zero in the near future.

[@joneau261]

There’s also belief that Netflix is the big player dragging out the strikes. As they’re the one dedicated specifically to streaming, they have the most to lose accepting the deals.

[@FameyFamous]

@@joneau261 Is the union insisting on a deal with all or none of the major studios? If Disney and the unions want to make a deal and leave Netflix behind, I bet they can do it.

[@ChicCanyon]

Hmm, release films and lose money or pay people more so you can get back to releasing films that lose money...difficult choice

[@wizzzer1337]

I wonder though, how much Disney+ affected their box office, I know personally people at my workplace who decided to skip Little Mermaid simply because they knew they would see it on Disney+.

[@TheBobbyBrown22]

In the long run- I think Disney is too big to fail with valuable IP and tons of physical assets in the parks division. That said it’s wild to see the string of bad luck/decisions made this past year. I’ll be very curious to see their end of year financial statement and how all these events impact the bottom line.

[@tiffanysandmeier4753]

Some of the decisions aren't even from the last year. We are seeing things that started years ago.

[@GulshanBanu-c9w]

No company is "So big" that they can't fail. Every one has to pay the price. They r burning from everywhere. It's just a matter of time unless they will change.

[@A-ro-2803]

As long as they don’t panic sell rights to these valuable properties, they are definitely in great position.

[@tiffanysandmeier4753]

I think someone commented elsewhere that Disney has had boom and bust cycles many times in its history. We just might be seeing a bust. We never know the future, but as long as they don't do many majorly stupid things, they will still be around for years to come. And it would take many bad decisions to bring them down. They are trying to course correct currently, but we will see how it goes.

[@JohnSmith-tl8pq]

@@tiffanysandmeier4753 The Disney brand may still exist in the future, the question is will Disney remain its own independent company or be gobbled up by a massive multinational corporation?

[@josefsilvia5360]

I think my favorite thing this summer was when Haunted Mansion flopped, because who decided to release a Halloween movie in summer? I feel like Walt's ghost is laughing at the company he once loved.

[@ianlister7333]

Its so hard to "support" any big company these days, but the strikes have made it all but impossible for me to do so.

[@Phelie315]

Seeing it all laid out like this in a row sure is something...

[@WolfRamAndHart]

Dan, based on his "Timeline" Closing arguments, would have made an excellent attorney. Seriously, when you have a day-by-day, step by step, recollection, it can be extremely helpful for both organization and objectivity. (I suppose those matches at Screen Junkies also helped in his Moot Court abilities.)

[@freemantle85]

The one thing that was missing in the video was how Disney treated physical media. They have ended physical media releases in Australia and tried to do it quietly. It has been seen as a testing ground to see how it would work in a fairly small market before doing a similar move in North America and Europe. Physical media collectors were horrified when they thought Disney was going to release a discless steelbook of WandaVision. Now they are releasing some of the Disney+ shows on physical media. I think Disney+ has ruined Disney since it isn't the money maker that it thought it was going to be. Disney, along with the other studios thought the streaming boom was going to continue because of Covid and they ended up shooting themselves in the foot since audiences are now thinking why bother going to the cinema when the film could be released on Disney+ in a few weeks or months. Studios pushed for reducing the theatrical window and they are paying the price. I am sickened by the idea of content purges since it's treating films and TV shows as disposable. I know it's wishful thinking but I feel that if a company pulls contact off for tax reason then their rights to film or show should be forfeited.

[@RYMAN1321]

Less people are buying DVDs, Blu Ray, CDs, etc anymore though. Best Buy already discontinued CDs in early 2018, and Netflix will no longer ship DVDs in the mail by this months end.

[@ianwestc]

Look, it's consumers that have ended physical media, not the media companies. The media companies would love to sell you a blue-ray for $20-$30 a pop, that's a hell of a lot more than they get through streaming services. But consumers decided they were over it.

[@MrRapmaster19]

Buying 21st Century Fox is going to go down as debatably the worst corporate purchase decisions in entertainment history. Taking on all that debt to buy Fox has led to most of these problems they face now, plus the overinvestment in Disney+

[@garrettcarter5622]

The biggest reason why Disney bought Fox was so they could finally use Fantastic Four and X-Men in the MCU. So it's really funny that they haven't even been able to get to that point yet in all this time.

[@egoborder3203]

it wasn't the purchase, it was the lack of any creative vision for what they purchased. It's because there isn't anyone in a leadership position anywhere at Disney who understands what fans want. Iger bought Fox the way people collect coins: they've been doing it for years, so why stop now? I doubt he could even articulate what the X-Men are

[@Spoogebro]

I don’t understand why these companies rushed to make streaming services when they could have made way more money leasing ip out to other services. Disney already had majority shares of Hulu. Why make another service when you already have a profitable one?

[@MrRapmaster19]

@@Spoogebro it's very stupid, so many of these companies were so obsessed with whether they could they never stopped to think if they should. Now, they're pretty much reverting to the cable model with ads again except a far worse customer experience due to how disjointed it all is. Disney needs to first merge D+ with Hulu and ESPN+ to create a unified service, then make the whole watching process easier.

[@ianwestc]

@@Spoogebro There is something to be said with your name being a "brand." IE, everything on Disney+ should be something you think you can safely park your 10-year-old in front of. That's the Disney brand. That's why Disney released a number of movies under the Touchstone label, because they were inherently more adult and they didn't want the Disney name to change. Hulu fulfills the same role here -- releasing stuff that they own but they don't want to call it Disney.

[@KeithBelow]

If Barbie never released or wasn’t as good as it was, I would say David Zaslav and Warner Discovery would be up there as worst summer.

[@timothymarr2267]

Agreed, but then they had a unicorn

[@jjstarrprod]

@@timothymarr2267 Yeah, but for one Barbie, they had a Shazam 2, a Flash, and a Blue Beetle, all 3 of them bombing hard, on top of Dune 2 being reported to next year, and Zaslav being one of the most reviled figureheads of all of Hollywood now, so I'd say they're having quite a nightmarish year so far too.

[@MoramothHauntz]

They're probably miffed the pissed off Nolan

[@WolfRamAndHart]

@@MoramothHauntz Karma, mate.

[@theitaIianstallion]

Dan, glad you include stuff like financials bc that stuff factors into entertainment decisions in the end regardless if fans like it or not

[@vincentwood3450]

I could listen to how much money Disney is losing all day. Music to my ears

[@RYMAN1321]

Oh they’re not even close to going bankrupt. Their current net worth is over $140 billion

[@ShaneyBright]

Always thoughtful and concise reporting, Dan. I clicked on the video immediately.

[@Nicholasmcmath-cr1xl]

Same

[@Pythagoras_was_right]

Same. I heard the same things on other channels, but regretted clicking them: they were all raging anti-woke polemics. Dan brings sanity.

[@Alejandroigarabide]

No clickbait, no weird thumbnails, no exagerations, just pure objective numbers. That's true journalism, and that's why we love your channel, Dan. EDIT: A Columbo reference?????

[@dorianr4770]

I thought it was Monk, oh but that's "here's the thing..."

[@Alejandroigarabide]

@@dorianr4770 "Here's what happened"

[@robinkomin]

It hurts man. They make joyous stuff, but in the end it's just another company at the top level. I just know that there are passionate people working there. Elemental had heart, so did Haunted Mansion. Still have my hopes up for Wish. Just sad to see that so many projects got absorbed by the Disney+ machine.

[@punxsydawn]

I actually think the roleplaying of the star wars hotel sounds super fun. For substantially less money. I love immersive experiences like that.

[@rubydown3329]

Right!! There's an allegedly haunted hotel in a tiny town I've been to, that does murder mystery weekends and gets local businesses involved. They get the local theater troupe involved to play all the characters and it's SO FUN. I'm not really a Star wars fan, but I totally would have done an immersive experience thing like that, if it wasn't so **** expensive

[@tiffanymorrell7583]

I agree it was the price that sank it. If it was more like $100 it would have been booked all the time.

[@chowt002]

I just have no idea why they released Haunted Mansion in the summer, in the middle of Barbie and Oppenheimer. Around haloween, I would've absolutely been up to going to see it with some friends, but in the summer people just don't care about the concept enough to go. Only thing I can take from it is they just have no belief or interest in theatrical releases, so they got it out now so they can put it on plus in time for Halloween

[@Shelter71]

Excellent video and if this were a film it would be tempting to watch it unfold through my fingers while cringing in my seat. That things would ultimately blow up was apparent when they became a monopoly and weren't checked. This over the course of several months is just wild, and I feel bad for all of the creatives caught in this. I'd completely forgotten about the Hulu issue and actually laughed out loud when you Columbo'd into the topic because holy cow. What a ride.

[@terrybradford3727]

I'm over 50.... I know Columbo, lol. Love all the research and reporting you do. Thank you.

[@Qwazin]

As a famous rebel once said to the leader of an evil empire: "Your overconfidence is your weakness".

[@samf.s.7731]

Or maybe, just maybe, they're an evil corporation because they're run by bad people 😂 The same people actually don't care for the company or the brand, and especially not the workers

[@TrekBeatTK]

Your faith in your [union] friends is yours!

[@jtp22090]

The heads at Disney seem to be very bad with money and they do not seem to know the audiences they are aiming for when they green light a project. Why the hell would spend 300 million on indiana jones when audiences hated the 4th movie and were very skeptical about seeing another film in the franchise. They seem to greenlight all these tv shows and movies that no one was asking for, then sit there and wonder why no one paid to see it.

[@LinkMarioSamus]

But dude the previous four movies were big hits! And by that logic Disney shouldn’t have spent so much money on Star Wars movies because people hated the prequels! And I mean, people used to wonder who was asking for a sequel to Avatar but that was still a monster hit. Sometimes you just never know.

[@Maitch3000]

I remember in the 90's, Disney would dilute their brand by making cheap direct to video sequels to animated classics. This was stopped by John Lasseter when they bought Pixar and made him head of both. Now they are doing the same. Diluting all their brands, by making rushed sequels or remakes and doing it in such a tempo that people can't keep up and remain excited. This time however, the projects are not cheap. They can't keep this up. Iger needs to go and a new course should be set. Iger is all about the rushed sequels, even in his firm term as CEO of Disney.

[@luismedrano6680]

And yet bob iger reign at disney from 2005 to 2019 is where the disney media empire reached its peak quality and commercial outlook. Just track its stock price during bob bob Iger's reign til now. Iger has been correctly chapek mistake in prioritizing subscription numbers, price gauging theme park tickets offset their losses due to the pandemic

[@Maitch3000]

@@luismedrano6680 Iger is all about fast tracking sequels and reboots. He did that in his first term and carries on doing it now. The difference is now that people are tired of the franchises.

[@Trumani]

This analysis is next level. You rock!

[@samf.s.7731]

Dan is the man! 😊

[@goatcheese4me]

I remember a friend of mine telling me after Disney bought Star Wars that this wasn't a good thing. I said it was good because they are taking the keys away from the 90 year old driver that keeps hitting mailboxes. His point was Disney would milk the crap out of the franchise to the point that Star Wars would become watered down, less appealing, would lose its luster, etc. Turns out we were both right.

[@Welles009]

Don't worry, Dan. Not only do I remember Columbo, I have the DVD box set.

[@CalebSpears1]

It’s nice to get info without being shouted at😂 thank you! Hope your channel grows quickly 🙌🏼

[@EmeraldUltima713]

What a fantastic way to celebrate 100 years of the Walt Disney Company! God, what a disaster.

[@victornewmanforever]

Fortunately, there is the acclaimed Snow White reboot coming up. 😏

[@cinne2135]

Is that sarcasm? Genuine question. The remakes are a huge part of the problem imho.

[@ZUIKMedia]

​@@cinne2135yes the emoji he used definitely implied sarcasm

[@jimmyboy7817]

Better writers and restrained budgets would help. And why not take inspiration from some of the gems of the past like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday where some family fun could make a good original movie. Also, the Parent Trap and Freaky Friday are examples of remakes done right. They were appropriately updated in style for modern audiences while still remaining faithful to the original story.

[@samf.s.7731]

Bob should take a pay cut to pay the writers. Just saying!

[@heatheraggus7501]

I actually rewatched HiStK last night with my parents (I'm almost 43) and it holds up!

[@dorianr4770]

agreed!

[@MrEffectfilms]

And also both happen to Star Lindsey Lohan, not saying that's connected but it's a strange coincidence at least.

[@lamecasuelas2]

It also hielps when you have a god tier performance by Jamie Lee Curtis

[@jasonnelson5251]

On the Star Wars hotel, you omitted that it's theme wasn't based on the original trilogy characters/locales

[@Denes2005]

8:54 yep, that is definitely France

[@Shak2k11]

Good, I'm glad the reception and box office reflects their bad decisions and quality. They deserve nothing less if not worse

[@Tomhyde098]

Disney has become so sanitized and clean cut and safe that the movies are all just boring and predictable.

[@frogeater8659]

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 wasn’t that though.

[@ricobuttonpusher7061]

Yup. Disney wants to appeal to a global audience

[@MuhammadAhmad-oj6mf]

Frankly, they just don't want to loose their conservative audience.

[@chadchadly3564]

@@MuhammadAhmad-oj6mfthey don’t want to lose their conservative audience? Uhh buddy, have you been paying attention to anything lately? They’ve lost that audience and made it really clear they don’t care 😂

[@TrekBeatTK]

Except where it comes to forcing antiracism and LGBTQ stuff into everything, which is also costing them subscribers. Even their frigging preschool Star Wars show has lesbian moms in it. At the very least they could include content warnings for those concerned about it same as they do for swearing or smoking.

[@MisterAlex86]

Genuine question: are these Bob Iger / Disney failures reaching the depths required to feature in business college? I cant imagine how a company could be run more poorly?

[@Spoogebro]

Yeah in like 10 years

[@omrmajeed]

I welcome Disney being knocked down a peg or two and competitiveness brought back into the industry.

[@sebagonzalezmusic]

The room of that Galactic Starcruiser hotel looked more like the cells in that ocean prison in Andor😳. Especially with "no window."👀

[@McNaireXstream]

Bob Iger impressionist : "eh hem, well, um, you didn't have to like put it all together like this..."

[@DanielSolis]

21:37 You'd be surprised how much low key meme buzz Colombo has.

[@CountOrlok22]

That's without even getting into numerous MCU delays and controversies/legal problems surrounding Jonathan Majors and Tenoch Huerta Meija.

[@jamesasmus]

Oh man, I knew all these from following ent news, but its something else to see it all together. Great (nonsensationalized) work, Dan

[@michaelrichardi6047]

Universal...sony...paramount sipping tea watching Disney and WB be such massive messes

[@gjchawks17]

In terms of worse summer for a corporation, BP's 2010 summer was pretty bad. Stock went down 51%, lost $105B

[@mat3714]

You only loose money if you sell. Stock going down doesn't mean you loose money.

[@gjchawks17]

@@mat3714 The company lost billions in value/reputation and spent hundreds of millions for cleaning up their oil spill. I'm fairly certain it was a bad summer for them

[@mat3714]

@@gjchawks17 Absolutely but I'm simply pointing out that shares losing value doesn't equal hard cash losses. Stocks goes up and down but your checking account doesn't move. They didn't lose a 105b of real money, they've momentarily loss trading value and it went back up.

[@bzporto]

Why is Succession's opening theme stuck in my head while I watch this?

[@jennythapamagar7914]

I still have a bit of faith in Ryan Reynolds and Deadpool 3

[@shiftymcgee9359]

Wonder how much Disney’s bad summer has on the Disney+ price increase notification I just received.

[@DanLinzmeier]

I haven't gone through all the comments, so someone has probably mentioned this already... The most significant issue facing Disney, and ultimately the whole steaming industry, is the lawsuit against them regarding over-evaluation of Disney+. I expect to see more investor lawsuits against the other media companies regarding this same issue. (The only big ones that may be safe are Sony, Amazon and Apple... I fully expect Netflix to eventually get swallowed up in a lawsuit regarding future growth as well.)

[@ianwestc]

I'm not sure if the lawsuit will go anywhere because they didn't really promise huge Disney+ profits. Profits were even entirely beside the point. All the streaming companies were doing the same thing -- low prices, expensive content, try to get as many subscriber numbers, and it's for one reason: Wall Street didn't care about streaming company profits. That's right, for this one, strange, short period of time, profit was no longer king, and profit for this specific sector was not rewarded with increased stock prices, nor was lack of profit punished through low stock prices. We might think there was this great plan, and it seems like there SHOULD have been a great plan on the part of these millionaire CEOs of giant companies, but they looked at what Netflix was doing, saw that no one cared Netflix wasn't giving shareholders its high profits, and it was basically getting away with it. So they said "huh, I guess that's what it takes to make a successful streaming company. We're just going to do that until it doesn't work anymore." That's it. That was the plan. There was no coherent route to profitability, just a vague hope that once Wall Street started to care about profit again and they had to make cuts, that their subscribers would just stick with the service and keep paying, probably with a higher per-monthly fee.

[@hallopino]

I heard the worst mistake they did with Galactic Starcruiser was to call it a "hotel" and not an "experience" or "immersive over-night experience". Calling it a hotel set up all the complaints you mentioned which the project was never going to solve.

[@Flashfm3000]

They could've called it whatever they wanted and people still would've expected the hotel experience, as one should when staying at a Disney resort. The public does not abide by corporate nomenclature. That's why everyone refers to Galaxy's Edge and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter as "Star Wars Land" and "Harry Potter World."

[@tambarskelfir]

Turns out Bob Iger is the core problem with Disney. Was that not always obvious?

[@gantz0949]

Not at all. Everyone was hating Chapek and thought Iger was the savior

[@Spoogebro]

@@gantz0949stupid people maybe

[@PhilDonaldson]

Great take (as usual), Dan. 😁

[@seankale5116]

thank you for making this video. as to the VFX CGI artist, im a 3D artist but I work in video games and ive been asked why i never went into film. Well, im from L.A and i grew up seeing how poorly people in the industry are treated and worked and paid. like why on earth would i want to do that? work my ass off for ungodly hours, to be underpaid and work on something for months to have it in a film or TV show for 7 seconds. Nah, im good. ( but also dont get me wrong, Games has issues too ).

[@Mallus01]

This should be a wake up call for Disney

[@adampellett4917]

It looks like 2023 became the WORST year period for everything we’ve been going through especially summertime because of Hollywood movies been suffered too much. Even Disney been through difficulties by Ron DeSantis, Bob guys, shareholders much worst issues and now, streaming. Why this year becoming the worst one yet?

[@ericmac4648]

Great report Dan!!!!! Plus, I picked up on the Columbo reference 👍

[@samuelteyssier9198]

Dan should do one of these videos for each of the studios.

[@GUARDIANActual89]

A well-thought out and comprehensive analysis.. except one thing: no mention whatsoever of the reason WHY people aren’t watching Disney content anymore.

[@youcantalwaysgetwhatyouwan8419]

Personal choice, too many streaming options, burnout or bigotry. You can’t pin it down to a definitive answer

[@SecondTake123]

Bob Iger doesn't want to give up his CEO of Disney title! I hope they are working on an actual succession plan now.

[@branagain]

I’ve only seen one movie this summer and it’s Indiana Jones. Disney should thank me.

[@egoborder3203]

and you should induce vomiting

[@lukesmale24]

Me too. Indy was the only thing I cared about seeing. I liked it...sue me

[@starhawk63]

I loved the callback to Get Smart - "one more thing...."

[@kartikprasad4359]

I’m old enough to appreciate Colombo. Been watching it since I was a kid. I’m now almost 50.

[@TheJediKenneth]

I was excited when Iger returned as CEO of Disney. Man, was I wrong!

[@MichaelWutsch]

I had no idea that the avengers movies were moved a year. In the last 3 or 4 years i just dont trust release dates until you can actually buy the tickets

[@notchuckproductions5029]

As I said in a previous video of yours , I’d argue this is normal for Disney in the grand 100 years of the company. Through out its history they have a pendulum swing of cultural dominance and Economic prosperity(30s,50s, late 80s-90s,2010s) to Being out of Touch Has beens and Losing money left and right(40s, 60s-mid 80s, 2000s) the 2020s seem like another dark period, and if history repeats its self by the 2030s or so they will be there the top of there game agin

[@samf.s.7731]

They're so out of touch... And you know what? The worst part is that they still cater to the worst type of people ever... The type that would declare war against their brand for having one gay character exist in something for like 3 seconds. Those people... It's impossible to even support a "progressive" product they release without butting heads with these morons. Hey Disney! Congrats, you've cultivated a toxic following for yourselves, now you deal with the consequences. You catered to them, you kicked out people who would take issues with their rhetoric. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Plus the treatment of talent is despicable, they treat the people who work on their films, on their actual products,.like garbage. The park is in DeSantis land, I am never going there. So maybe they will have to survive on the charity of neon@z1s in Florida. 😒

[@funkymonk255]

perfect time for don bluth to come back and show them how to make an animated movie

[@tiffanysandmeier4753]

​@funkymonk255 I had to look up if Don Bluth was still alive. He is and is 86.

[@notchuckproductions5029]

@@funkymonk255 He tired with The Dragons Lair Movie Pitch , but no studio seemed interested

[@filminspector6775]

​@tiffanysandmeier4753 yesterday (September 13) was his birthday confidentially enough

[@davidfeltheim2501]

This is the change the industry has been needing for a while now. The strike and the failures of all these corporate projects while actual quality films like Spiderverse, Oppenheimer and Barbie have made bank is really indicative of all the changes in the industry, when given a genuinely good product consumers will pick it over hollow nostalgia-based shlock that companies like Disney could make easy money from.

[@stormtraitor6545]

Disney has had the worst summer ever! Me: “Oh no! (long pause) Anyway…”

[@DazzaS83]

Is that you, Jezza?

[@stormtraitor6545]

@@DazzaS83 If you’re May, then yes!

[@alancranford3398]

PAY several thousand dollars for a stay in jail? The Galactic Starcruiser confined the "guests" and there were features reminiscent of going to boot camp. Did they have lights out? Kick the customer out of bed if the customer didn't answer Reveille and sleep in? Some vacation!

[@didier9947]

As bad as it is right now, with Snow White and The Marvels coming up, it's going to get worse before it gets better

[@jbuford04]

Can I think of anyone having a worse summer? ...yea, all the writers and actors and everyone else providing the labor for those 7 figure salaries. Break the system!

[@thrawncaedusl717]

Every article I read said they never agreed to a media blackout. Supposedly media blackouts are standard practice, but was never discussed in this case.

[@cheezemonkeyeater]

I am taking entirely too much delight in all of this.

[@butchjohnson9736]

Elon Musk definitely had a worse summer. He tanked Twitter.

[@kraszoski]

Quoting George Carlin "good! F*ck em!" Disney totally worked for it for few years.

[@jonm.1030]

Columbo "Anyone? Anyone?"

[@HooverTuber]

To be fair, a lot of Disney’s woes related to streaming and the strikes is shared across all the big studios, with Disney probably doing better in streaming than some others such as Paramount. Nonetheless, a very bad year with lots of work to do to turn the studio around, particularly with streaming and the theatrical business. These challenges are not unlike the troubles Disney faced in the 70s, with virtually no box office hits, fledgling TV business and creative brain drain as longtime animators retired from the studio. The only bright spot then, like now, were the parks. It took a true visionary, like Eisner, to navigate the company out of that 70s malaise and into the studio renaissance of the late 80s and 90s. But that was then… The path to success was a bit clearer with linear TV and home video a big part of that equation. Today? Streaming has mucked it all up. It’s clearly too expensive given the revenue and finite number of subscribers. The model has to shift in a significant way, likely with an ad component and increased consumer prices for both premium and ad supported tiers. We ain’t gonna like it as consumers…

[@shahin-177]

Watching this after having an awful time at DisneyLand yesterday. First time too.

[@benbowman3698]

God this is music to my ears