Variety has posted a long Q&A feature on Bob Iger. A lot of it is meaningless corporate speak, but there are some interesting quotes too. And for some reason, the whole thing is written as a bizarre reference to the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi Bob Iger on Shanghai Disney, Parting With His Chosen Successor, and His Pursuit of Perfection His comments about Staggs were kind of vague, but sound like what I would expect, at least for the public response. Although he didn't say much, his description of talking with the family of the boy who died in the WDW alligator attack was...odd; there's just something about the phrasing he chose that seems slimy, even by his standards
I haven't read it yet, because there's a far more interestnig video with him and JJ Abrams about SW. But Iger currently is Hollywood's darling and honestly we might not like him the most as Disney CEO, he has a huge success with Disney's acquisitions. The movie business is doing great under his tenure. Some might not like that the success comes from outside the company, but Star Wars is as much Disney as it can get thanks to the connections back to the 80s when Lucasfilm invaded the parks. The same counts for Pixar. The Pixar movies might not be as original and creative as before Disney's acquisition, but their movies are still so much better than most other animated movies out there. And the helped to bring back WDAS. Marvel is a different story, but while I miss the Jerry Bruckheimer action movies, they are basically the same like the former Tochstone Pictures movies, but they earn so much more and are liked by people around the globe.
I don't have too much of a problem with him. I get that many hardcore fans would like to see more originality in the parks (and I don't disagree), what he's done has been pretty darn successful. And we're seeing some pretty significant investment in the parks. On the movie side, yeah, there's a lot of dependence on current IP. Bet even there, there's been a lot of success, and the quality is pretty good. Pixar offerings are still pretty consistently strong. WDAS is on a pretty great roll right now. The Marvel movies have a pretty great track record. Star Wars VII was great and the franchise looks to be in great shape. When I step back from the criticism, even as valid as much if it is, I have to say he's been a pretty good CEO.
Aside from Roy O. Disney - which other Disney CEO does anyone like? Donn Tatum, Card Walker, Ron Miller, Michael Eisner, or Bob Iger? Ready? Go.
But we're seeing that investment because he waited so long to approve anything of substance for the parks. Even with all the recent/current construction, if you average it out over Iger's entire tenure, the parks have never seen such a low level of investment in their lives. It works out okay for mature parks like DL and MK, but for places like Epcot and the Studios, that were a little weak to begin with, the neglect has been pretty devastating Although I'm all for getting fancy things in the parks, I also have to question the budgets for some of these projects, which seem wildly out of proportion for what we're getting. Avatar will be over $1Billion for 2 attractions, the minimally-themed Toy Story Land in WDW will be $200Million for two glorified carnival rides, Radiator Springs Racers reportedly cost over $300M on its own, and the two versions of Luigi's underwhelming rides total nearly $300M. It's good to spend money, but when you're throwing that sort of cash around, you need to make sure its being spent wisely. Remember when Everest cost "only" $100M (a huge sum at the time, relative to other park investments) a mere decade ago?
I think I would even prefer early-00's Eisner to the current version of Iger. Although many of Eisner's projects were misguided, at least he was passionate about the product he was creating. I don't get the impression that Iger has any interest in what Disney creates, or any understanding of why people like it. By the end, I was more than willing to let Eisner go, but I liked his fundamental approach to the job much more than Iger's
Well - Eisner had a blank slate in 1984. Walt Disney World alone was a huge cannvas for expansion - hotels and ticket price increases - 3 new parks and on and on. And sure, I think some blunders occurred - location of The Swan and Dolphin hotel - location of Disney-MGM Studios - but generally - he took a sleepy Florida resort and took into the modern era. It's tougher for Iger to impress the way Eisner did.
Here are the Bob Iger Interviews by JJ Abrams. Disney CEO Shares Early Career Highlights With J.J. Abrams – Exclusive Interview J.J. Abrams and Bob Iger on the Making of ‘Star Wars’ – Exclusive Interview I don't know why, but I like listening to Bob.
Bob is following Walt's and Michael's footsteps as a presenter on a Disney TV show. I think the acquisition of Lucasfilm is his crown jewel since he is so much involved in Star Wars.
I thought the Disney holiday special was damn near unwatchable. Talk about a B-list of stars. When the highlight of the show is Boys II Men and JoJo, you know your show is on shakey ground. Ending with Mariah Carey lip-syncing "All I Want for Christmas is You" Oy vey!
I haven't seen this video yet, but it's an interview with Bob Iger, Kevin Feige (Marvel), John Lasseter (Pixar) and Kathleen Kennedy (Lucasfilm). So it might be very interesting.
