Disney has reigned as the king of big blockbuster sensations, with a number of multibillion dollar films within the MCU, and even having the second highest grossing movie of all time with Avengers: Endgame. In addition, Disney’s animated properties have been quite lucrative in the past, and the company is always turning out big ideas. But the entertainment conglomerate has had a few big bombs this year, with some doubting the sustainability of Disney’s central IP projects. Now, the CEO of the company, Bob Iger, is weighing in.
Changes need to be made at Disney and Bob Iger knows that. Ant Man and The Wasp: Quantumania did poorly at the box office and had unsavory critical reviews, casting doubt about the future of the MCU. Pixar’s Elemental also did not reach the intended heights, especially considering how expensive the project was and how much success Pixar has had within the subsidiary. Iger remains optimistic, due to the successes of films like Avatar: The Way of Water and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, but still is aware of needed improvements within Disney. He said:
Regarding our studio performance, let's put things in perspective a little bit. The studio has had a tremendous run over the last decade, perhaps the greatest run that any studio has ever had, with multiple billion dollar hits. And including, by the way, two that were relatively recent. One in particular, Avatar: The Way of Water, and we also had a pretty strong performance with Guardians of the Galaxy [Vol. 3], which has done, I think, approximately under $850 million at [the] global box office. That said, the performance of some of our recent films has definitely been disappointing, and we don't take that lightly. As you'd expect, we're very focused on improving the quality and the performance of the films that we've got coming up. It's something that I'm working closely with the studio on. I'm personally committed to spending more time and attention on that as well.
Iger has reason to be proud of many of Disney’s endeavors over the past 15 years. Out of all the top ten highest grossing films of all time, the company is responsible for seven of them. Unfortunately, there are many reasons why the past model may not be translating to newer projects. Some have cited superhero fatigue, and a lack of interest towards superhero stories due to the vast amount of genre films released in a short time span, and the MCU becoming too difficult to keep track of. Some have even questioned whether technology has dampened the quality of once great franchises.
Bob Iger has opened up about his awareness about problems with Disney projects a lot as of recently. The CEO has been especially candid about its less than stellar relationship with television and the streaming model. Streaming has been a massive expense for many companies who have embarked on the business venture. Iger also admitted that expanding the MCU so deeply into television may have diluted the brand, and some have even speculated that the company may sell off some of their television assets like ABC and Freeform. Meanwhile the company is in a battle with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who’s culture war politics have targeted the Disney theme parks in Orlando.
Clearly, Iger has a lot of cleaning up to do. He inherited a lot of these problems when he temporarily left the company back in 2020. He was reinstated earlier this year because of his well-liked reputation at Disney. While his comments regarding the current writers strike haven’t helped with optics, based on these comments, he clearly is aware of the issues plaguing the Disney company, and has an interest in improving the brand.
You can stream many of the projects produced and distributed by Disney now with a Disney+ subscription. Fans of past movie successes from the company should check out our feature on the best movies to watch now on Disney+.
