Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore — Disney100 and Marvel's Much Needed TV Overhaul
This month's newsletter we look at the Disney100 celebration and Marvel's much needed TV overhaul.
Welcome back to Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore!
In this issue, we will be covering:
Disney100 🎉
Marvel’s TV overhaul 📝
Podcast Plugs 🎙
Links of the Month 📰
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Disney Turned 100 This Month
The Walt Disney Company turned 100 years old this month. The historic milestone comes at a troubling time for Disney. Disney’s stock continues to struggle. Then add in Disney+ not being profitable, soft performances at the box office, linear television declining, and worrying signs at the Disney Parks. What was supposed to be a historic moment for The Walt Disney Company sort of felt like an afterthought. Disney was previously rumored to have some announcements on its actual 100th anniversary but that didn’t end up happening. If I had to guess it was likely due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. Disney, the company that celebrates literally everything and anything, had a pretty quiet 100th anniversary in my opinion.
In a previous newsletter, I listed 100 things that Disney could do for Disney100. Only 16 of them happened. Granted my list was bold. Yet Disney did do one thing for its 100th anniversary that received unanimous praise. That was the animated short Once Upon A Studio. The short beautifully blended eras of Disney Animation together. The short felt distinctly Disney and provided that magical feeling.
As my colleague Kelly McCubbin wrote, Disney as a company is split into five eras; the early years, the Disneyland & The Florida Project era, Post-Walt, The Disney Decade with Eisner & Wells, and the Disney we know today that was shaped by Bob Iger.
I think it’s safe to say we are now in the sixth era.
What will come to define this era? Will it be the fact the Disney Board and Iger didn’t do their due diligence on former Disney CEO Bob Chapek? A move that had a massive ripple effect on Disney’s morale and content. Heck, Chapek’s appointment to CEO has even affected Iger’s legacy. Iger’s second run as the savior of Disney hasn’t gone as expected, but the reason there even is a second run is in part because Iger and the Disney Board didn’t properly vet Chapek. Maybe though this era of Disney isn’t defined by Chapek.
Maybe it’s defined by Disney’s bold decision to bet the entire company’s future on streaming. A bet that hasn’t paid off. Will this era define Disney’s efforts to make a tough business profitable? Or could perhaps we see explosive theme park investment and growth due to other business fears? Could the sixth era be a Disney Parks renaissance?
The sixth era of Disney may also be defined by the fact that Disney is the last of its kind. As tech companies and endless mergers occur in Hollywood, it’s still impressive that Disney is still Disney. Can Disney fend off the threat of artificial intelligence, big tech companies, and whimsy Wall Street ideals to survive another era?
If Disney wants to avoid “The Apple Era” and or “The Amazon Era” then the company has to remember its founder and its ambitious roots. Disney has to think about innovation, bold storytelling, and the world-class service and cast members that have come to define the company.
The entertainment juggernaut has innovated for the past 100 years. As Disney enters its second century it has to keep the magic alive, and I believe it will.
Have a topic you want me to cover? Drop me a line at boardwalktimes@yahoo.com!
Marvel Studios Rethinks Its TV Output + Potential Release Dates for Future Content
Marvel Studios is doing a creative overhaul of its TV output. After watching the first few episodes of Daredevil: Born Again, Marvel Studios brass realized it was time to hit the reset button on the series and its overall approach to television.
Marvel Studios plans on hiring showrunners and doing pilots & story bibles instead of just trying to film big-budgeted limited series on the fly. The change is a welcomed one by fans as the whole limited series approach was showing some cracks. Secret Invasion didn’t deliver and we now know there was chaos behind its production from the creatives involved.
Marvel Studios plans on leaning into the idea of multiseason serialized TV, stepping away from the limited-series format. Marvel Studios now wants to create shows that run several seasons, where characters can take time to develop relationships with the audience rather than feeling as if they are there as a setup for a big MCU film. This approach will be the better long-term play and it will make the big crossover events even sweeter. For example, Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk both easily could get second seasons. Those series have large enough supporting casts that they could be fleshed out. Those two series also seem to have the most potential to be budget-friendly in this streaming cost-cutting era.
However, it will take a bit before we see the results of this TV overhaul. I’d expect Daredevil to be the first to embrace the new approach, so we still have a lot of series that were pre-overhaul. Daredevil: Born Again is getting retooled and Marvel Studios brought in Dario Scardapane, who has credits on Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and The Punisher, to be the showrunner. Marvel also enlisted Moon Knight and Loki season two directing duo of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead to direct the remaining episodes in season one. Daredevil: Born Again went from an 18-episode season to now a two-season series. I’m assuming Marvel Studios will leave the door open for a third depending on fan reception.
Our friends at The Cosmic Circus wrote an article about the upcoming Marvel Disney+ series and their projected release dates due to some new registrations. Here are the highlights and remember these are just potential release dates, not confirmed:
Early 2024: X-Men ‘97
January 2024: Echo
September 2024: Agatha
Fall 2024: Spider-Man: Freshman Year
Early 2025: Daredevil: Born Again
Late 2025: Ironheart
So if these registrations are any indication, expect the MCU to slow down quite a bit. I’m assuming we will get more delays as well. But two MCU Disney+ series and two animated series a year could be a good compromise for both Marvel Studios and Disney+.
MCU Sidenote: Iman Vellani is a great writer. Such a shame she didn’t get to do a press tour for The Marvels. I hope that the film does well.
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Buy A Ready Begin Tee on Boardwalk Store 🏰
Podcast Plugs 🎙
Loki has been fun to break down. Get caught up on all our latest Loki podcast episodes with guests like Muska Olumi, Savannah Sanders, John Ross Bradford, Thomas Carter Rochester, and Ayla Ruby. (Spotify) (Apple)
Ahsoka finished up this month. Check out This is the Waycast’s breakdown of the series. (Spotify) (Apple)
LINKS OF THE MONTH
— Disney’s Star Wars-themed hotel is set to close for good. What went wrong? (ClickOrlando)
— Disney may have ways to recycle Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser. (Orlando Sentinel)
— Starcruiser Resurrected: Could Disney’s $1 Billion Star Wars Experience Make an Unexpected Return? (TheWrap)
— Disney Agonized About Sports Betting. Now It’s Going All In. (Wall Street Journal)
— Nelson Peltz is back! With a little help from Ike Perlmutter! (Wall Street Journal)
— ‘Halloweentown’: The Magic Behind 25 Years of the Disney Channel Original Movie’s Fandom (The Daily Beast)
— Walt Hickey’s Substack newsletter did an interview with Defunctland creator Kevin Perjurer ⬇️
— There are live-action remakes in development for Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Frozen, and Tarzan. (The DisInsider)
— Disney delays Snow White & Elio to 2025. Smart move by Disney here. (The Hollywood Reporter)
— Report: Disney Wants Both Digital and Mobile Distribution Partners for ESPN Streaming Service. (The Streamable)
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Great edition!