Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore — Bob Iger's Second Run Comes Into Focus
Bob Iger's second run at Disney continues with an eventful quarterly earnings call and a big win against activist investor Nelson Peltz.
Welcome back to Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore! This month we will be discussing some of Bob Iger’s challenges for his second run at Disney, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s box office, and my current Disney CEO Succession Rankings. Along with some podcast plugs and LINKS OF THE MONTH.
But before all that here is our monthly poll question(s)…
Bob Iger’s Second Run Comes Into Focus
Bob Iger made his triumphant return to Disney’s quarterly earnings call this month. He came back with some absolute news bombs.
The dividend is coming back!
Avatar is getting an experience out at Disneyland!
And oh by the way we have to lay off 7,000 cast members/employees!
It was an eventful quarterly call, to say the least.
It was filled with some optimistic and disappointing news as seen in the bullet points above. On the optimistic side, it seems like more things are getting back to normal for Disney when it comes to investing in the parks and providing a dividend. On the disappointing side are the layoffs, and cost cuts across the company.
However, Iger’s return to the quarterly call and his outline of strategic priorities was enough for activist investor Nelson Peltz to back off.
Nelson Peltz decided not to press forward with his proxy fight with Disney. A bit shocking as I thought this would’ve dragged out until at least the Annual Shareholders Meeting in April. Peltz must be happy that the dividend is returning at the end of the year and that Disney is addressing the issues he brought up. I guess as long as Peltz thinks Iger can get things done for Disney and make him more money things should be smooth.
Iger’s second run has some roadblocks ahead. Despite his strategy coming into focus, we are about to see some battle for Iger and Co.
The cost of living in Orlando has risen and it is continuing to rise. Cast Member Unions are negotiating pay raises, and rejecting some of Disney’s current offers. The pay raises should help with rising housing costs if a deal is eventually reached. Universal Orlando has already raised its base pay ahead of Epic Universe. A war for talent is on the horizon in Orlando. Disney is going to have to figure something out fast if it wants to retain quality cast members. Also, after the battered PR years of Chapek, I’m sure Iger wants to keep Disney’s name out of the negative light when it comes to union negotiations.
Speaking of cast members and employees, the Lake Nona campus still remains a question mark. Iger and D’Amaro haven’t addressed it but as far as we can tell construction and plans are still moving forward. This will be another roadblock for Iger’s second run unless he can clearly articulate the move and the ramifications. Hopefully, Iger/D’Amaro can come up with a strategy where Lake Nona can be a win-win for both Disney and its talent. Also, it seems like most of the talent — at least from Walt Disney Imagineering — that wasn’t willing to relocate to Florida have either retired or departed the company.
While Disney was defending itself from Nelson Peltz, the company lost its control over the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Disney’s ultimate self-governing status was stripped away officially. Bob Chapek’s communication fumble cost Disney big time but it seems, for now, Disney is willing to work within the parameters of this new system. Maybe Iger is able to figure something out if Florida Governor Ron DeSantis runs for President and his attention is diverted from Disney.
One of the bigger roadblocks approaching Iger’s second run is the Hulu decision. What will Disney end up doing? When you revisit the Disney-Fox deal, as Matt Belloni of Puck points out Disney ended up only paying $57 billion not the touted $71 billion. (Disney had to sell the Regional Sports Networks to Sinclair for $10.6 billion, and Comcast bought Sky from Disney for $15 billion). Now, will Disney sell Hulu? I don’t think it would be smart to sell Hulu. Sure, you could theoretically get a lot of cash back but at what cost?
Also, I don’t know who would be willing to buy just Hulu in today’s world. You don’t want to lose the content, in today’s world either. If a Hulu deal was to happen I doubt a potential buyer would be okay with Disney taking back all of its content. It may take years to get some content back from Comcast if Disney did sell Hulu to them. Plus I think the unraveling of the Disney Bundle will be too much work. I think if Disney+ wants to be in the top three must-have streamers then having Hulu and its content is necessary. Especially when it comes to a potential Disney+ super service featuring ESPN+ and Hulu.
There are other roadblocks ahead that may be bubbling under the surface. But for now, Iger within the first few months of his second run got something Chapek couldn’t get during his entire tenure. A defiant win when he needed one.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania soars in its opening weekend but may experience some turbulence for the rest of its run
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania had a huge opening weekend of $104 million. That is a franchise-best opening weekend for the Ant-Man franchise. Add in Presidents Day and the total was $120M.
At the time of this writing, Quantumnia now has made $143M domestically and $129M internationally bringing its worldwide total to $273M.
Quantumania is heading towards a huge drop for a film that made $120M over its first four-day stretch. The film may fall more than 70% in its second weekend. Which would bring its second-weekend box office total around $30M. Thor: Love and Thunder declined 67% in its second weekend, and Quantumania is facing harsher criticism. The drop-off may not all be on mixed reviews though. Marvel films usually have huge opening weekends and then steep drop-offs, also winter storms may be keeping some people away from theaters. (It’s been a while since I’ve had to write about people staying away from theaters…)
Ant-Man has never been Marvel’s biggest draw but the franchise has grown each time out at the box office. The original made $57M on its opening weekend, the sequel made $75M on its opening weekend, and Quantumania made $104 million over its three-day opening weekend. A steady rise for the franchise so it is disappointing to see it decline in its second weekend like this.
Whenever there is a Marvel Studios film at the box office you get rumblings of superhero fatigue and diminishing returns. Yet these numbers are still terrific, even with the concerning drop. Most films would love to bring in over $200M+ worldwide in their first worldwide opening weekend. Marvel Studios is still operating at a dominant level but there are reasons to be concerned with drops and potential diminishing returns. I also felt like Quantumania lacked some crucial marketing until it was too late. I believe Disney needs to start marketing these films earlier instead of later.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 is up next for Marvel Studios. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 has one of the best pump-up trailers ever. Then the Captain Marvel sequel The Marvels premieres in November ( a much better slot for the film than July). Captain Marvel herself Brie Larson posted about hanging with Eternals director Chloe Zhao. Could we see that actor-director pairing within the MCU? It could be an intriguing possibility to add Captain Marvel and her characters to the Eternals side of the world.
A Few More Quick Notes on Quantumania:
Fresh off of Quantumania, how large will Jonathan Majors’ role be in Loki season two? My friends over at Cosmic Circus have us covered with the details.
Jeff Loveness, the writer behind Quantumania, did a whole bunch of press. Here are a few of the highlights.
Disney CEO Succession Rankings
Dana Walden (Co-Chairman, Disney Entertainment) — She’s the clear favorite. Co-Chairman of a gigantic division within Disney. She now has financial control. She came up through TV like Bob Iger. Plus if Iger picks Walden he can say that it was another perk of the Fox deal that Disney was able to gain a successor.
Alan Bergman (Co-Chairman, Disney Entertainment)— Definitely wasn’t in this rankings a mere year ago. Nor was Bergman on any of my short lists as a Chapek replacement. Now that he runs Disney Entertainment with Dana Walden he has a path to CEO or potentially as COO or Co-CEO as well.
Josh D’Amaro (Chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products) — D’Amaro fits the Disney CEO mold so much it’s crazy. The former President of Disneyland used Instagram to boost his profile within the Disney Parks fan community. D’Amaro is social, charismatic, and seems to be well-liked. D’Amaro’s only knock against him in this race is that he runs the Parks. Usually, that wouldn’t be an issue but after Chapek’s run at the helm, there will be a lot more skepticism from Hollywood and Wall Street if another “Parks Exec” takes the helm. Despite D’Amaro being quite different from Chapek he may get screwed out of the CEO race because his current job was previously held by Chapek.
Jimmy Pitaro (Chairman, ESPN) — The dark horse pick. Pitaro runs ESPN, which is now its own division within Disney. Pitaro has been at Disney for a bit and I’m curious to see what his end goal is. ESPN sale rumors have been on and off for a long time. I can’t imagine Pitaro leaving Disney willingly if ESPN got spun off. A part of me is shocked Pitaro wasn’t added as a third Co-Chairman for Disney Entertainment but with his focus strictly on ESPN. Feels like that would be an easier path to CEO than just being the head of ESPN.
Out of the Race: Rebecca Campbell (Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer and International Operations) — Due to the restructuring the parks and streaming executive decided to leave the company. To me, Campbell was an intriguing case for Disney CEO. She had Disney Parks executive experience and experience in the streaming side. Campbell worked in two important aspects of The Walt Disney Company and not many can say they’ve done that.
Want to write for Boardwalk Times? Check this out.
Podcast Plugs 🎙
Boardwalk Times: Multiverse of Marvel is back with our Phase 4 Film Rankings. (Apple) (Spotify)
The Bad Batch rolls on with hosts Sara Edwards & Giovanni Delgadillo breaking down the show including the mid-season arc. (Apple) (Spotify)
Boardwalk Times: Multiverse of Marvel did its first-ever preview episode highlighting all the stories in the upcoming Phase 5 of the MCU. (Apple) (Spotify)
I discussed Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania with Ayla Ruby of Cosmic Circus. (Apple) (Spotify)
The Zach Perilstein Show returned with two new episodes.
Orlando Parkstop Owner Alicia Stella discusses Universal’s Epic Universe, Marvel in theme parks, Universal’s expansion, and more. (Apple) (Spotify)
Theme park and travel writer Sarah Gilliland discusses her nostalgia for Hollywood Studios, the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser struggles, Walt Disney World vs Disneyland, and more. (Apple) (Spotify)
LINKS OF THE MONTH
— Inside Meow Wolf’s Living Breathing Metaverse. (CNET)
— More Meow Wolf: Meow Wolf’s CEO teases additional outposts in “coastal” U.S. locales. He’s also thinking about how to deliver the Meow Wolf experience in new formats like an app that is currently in development, along with experiments with mixed-reality portals and other technological marvels. Meow Wolf’s CEO even said an IPO is always a possibility. (Fast Company)
— How Big-Name Brands Are Taking Over the Immersive Experience Market. (BizBash)
— Universal’s Super Nintendo World is the play-focused theme park land for our times. (Los Angeles Times)
— Boardwalk Times new writer Ethan Becker will be covering the Disney Parks, Universal Parks, and other themed experiences. His first article was a rumor round-up about the future of Universal Studios Hollywood! (Boardwalk Times)
— Work has already begun on Pacific Wharf’s transformation into San Fransokyo Square. (Laughing Place)
— Rogers: The Musical is real and it’s coming to Hyperion Theater. (Marvel)
— Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter discusses Lightyear, Toy Story 5, and more. (TheWrap)
— Disney+ canceled Big Shot, a severely underrated original series at the streamer. (Variety)
If you want to support Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore here are three things you can do.
Share this newsletter with friends!
Subscribe to the newsletter!
Thank you all for reading and supporting Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore.
Please follow us on social media @BoardwalkTimes and visit boardwalktimes.net for more commentary, news, and opinions on the worlds of Disney and themed entertainment.