Change is a big part of the Walt Disney Company.
EPCOT Transformation construction
Recently, in a town hall meeting with Disney employees and Cast Members, the Walt Disney CEO and other Disney executives gathered together to discuss the past, present, and future of the Walt Disney Company. Iger set the stage by stating, “Building is a lot more fun than fixing.” And building is just what we can expect from the Disney company going forward.
Near the beginning of the meeting, Iger mentioned that, over the past year, he has spent a lot of his time “fixing a lot of broken things that needed attention.” But now he is in the season of building – building the company, building the parks, and building the studios.
©Disney
Iger focused on a lot of positive changes that we will be seeing coming in the near and distant future. He’s a “believer in creating and maintaining a strong corporate culture” and the upcoming changes are expected to do just that. So what changes can expect from the Disney company? Let’s dive into what Iger and his team were excited about.
$60 Billion Expansions
Back in September, Disney announced its plans to double their investments in the parks, experiences, and products sector by increasing their spending from $30 billion over the previous decade to $60 billion in the next 10 years. In the town hall meeting, Iger mentioned, “We don’t have an endless amount of capital to invest,” but went on to add, “With the IP [intellectual property] that we have, it seems like a no-brainer to put our money where it can do us the most good.”
Cinderella Castle
In a different interview, Josh D’Amaro, Disney Experiences Chairman, stated about the future expansions that “we have Imagineers running very quickly in the background.” It was also mentioned that Disneyland has enough room to build another entire theme park. With this optimism, it sounds like the additions coming to the park will be significant. We’ll be keeping an eye out for more specific details as we move forward!
Arendelle Castle
We’re already seeing the amazing effects of Disney expansions in places like World of Frozen in Hong Kong Disneyland and the soon-to-open Zootopia land in Shanghai Disney. It would seem the possibilities and ideas are endless (but currently still in the “blue sky” phase). The parks have done so well, so it just makes sense that we would see changes and updates here.
ESPN
In terms of their ESPN content, it sounds like we could see some changes here, too! Disney intends to offer their primary sports broadcasting channels a la carte no later than 2025. This would meet their goal of serving their sports fans anytime and anywhere.
©ESPN
They’re also looking for ways to enhance their products, mentioning ways for more interactivity and how to be more social. James Pitaro, ESPN Chairman, mentioned that they are in the market right now looking for potential partners. Neither he nor Iger would comment on who those potential partners may be; however, they mentioned they’re looking to get “maximum exposure” and find ways to “enhance their content”– particularly in the sports realm. We have seen this already with the new ESPN BET app for sports betting.
©ESPN
Streaming
Also mentioned at the meeting was the topic of streaming and the changes we will be seeing in places like Disney+ and Hulu. They mentioned that the median age of viewers on linear networks like ABC is the mid-60s, and the median age on Hulu is the late 30s. The goal of the company is to be able to cater to both of these audiences by continuing live broadcasting for the “notion of that communal event still exists on linear content,” commented Dana Walden, Co-chairman of Disney Entertainment. They want to meet their viewers where they are.
©ABC
One way of doing this is to continue the live airing of shows on ABC and then have them up on Hulu very quickly to reach the other demographic of the audience. This will also benefit from the merging of Disney+ and Hulu into a one-app streaming service. This single app of Disney+ featuring Hulu will demo this December and be fully launched in March of 2024.
Movies
A main theme of the meeting that kept resurfacing was “quality over quantity.” Iger mentioned, “Quantity, in many ways, can destroy quality.” Nearly sounding like the great Walt Disney, Iger reiterated the importance of the story, “Almost everything we do as a company begins with an important and great story.” He also mentioned, “A number of great stories told are endless.” So does that mean we will continue to see new sequels being made?
World of Color — Season of Light
He continued to emphasize the importance of “the creativity that exists in peoples’ minds” He said, “The one thing that AI won’t replace…is creativity.” He added that, even if something sounds crazy when a story is pitched, there is always a MAYBE, and “that maybe is so important.” So many new movies are on the way and it seems that this is one of the most important aspects for the company. “Storytelling is the most important thing to do,” stated Iger, “When we get it right, it ripples through the entire company.”
Asha from the new movie ‘Wish’
“When it comes to creating a perception of a company, nothing is as important as movies,” explained Iger. It seems we have a lot to be optimistic about in the coming future at Disney. Iger shared what he wants “the investor community to know about us is we’re open-minded about our future and are optimistic about our present.” His closing thoughts were that there is “example after example…of what this company is capable of.” We look forward to seeing all it has on its horizon.
Until then, keep following DFB for more Disney news!
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Basically no plans for anything new in the parks for several years. Not what they need to keep people coming back
In regard to Movies…have you all seen the opening, animated, short film to the 100 Years celebration on TV about a month ago? It included all the Disney characters, old and new. They interacted with each other and it was VERY clever. I especially liked the Disney Princesses talking about “be saved” by a man. What’s up with that? Whoever put that short film together should be writing new movies. Maybe they could expand on this short film. I loved it.
No mention about the PARKS AND HOTELS remaining the cash cow for Disney to be able to fund the ten year $60 billion investment. Please make the Parks more AFFORDABLE by replacing the inconvenience of the Genie Plus and bringing back the Fast Pass. My family would be willing to pay for the convenience of the Fast Pass, with THREE RIDES months in advance of arrival.