Disney CEO Bob Iger has been busy with maintaining Disney‘s output, several films and shows of which have underperformed in recent years. As it turns out, however, he’s also revealed that Disney has canceled multiple upcoming projects as a result.
We’ve seen this happen with several studios and streaming platforms as of late. For example, Warner Bros. Discovery has notably canceled a number of highly-anticipated films and shows for tax write-offs and other such reasons. Of course, neither fans or creators have been happy about those decisions, and Iger also acknowledges this.
While speaking at a conference hosted by Morgan Stanley in San Francisco, he opened up about Disney and how they’re “doing a lot” to fix Disney’s film business that “hit on hard times.”
Here’s what he shared about how Disney canceled several projects and the tough decisions he’s faced when doing so via THR:
“You have to kill things you no longer believe in, and that’s not easy in this business, because either you’ve gotten started, you have some sunk costs, or it’s a relationship with either your employees or with the creative community,” Iger said. “It’s not an easy thing, but you got to make those tough calls. We’ve actually made those tough calls. We’ve not been that public about it, but we’ve killed a few projects already, that we just didn’t feel were strong enough.”
Iger adds that he’s been “spending a lot of time with the creators, watching these films, giving detailed notes in these films, engaging in a respectful process that results in improvement.” However, one of Iger’s most interesting comments surfaced when discussing Marvel and the possibility that audiences are facing studio fatigue:
“A lot of people think it’s audience fatigue, it’s not audience fatigue. They want great films. And if you build it great, they will come and there are countless examples of that. Some are ours and some are others. Oppenheimer is a perfect example of that. Just a fantastic film,” Iger said. “Focus is really important. We reduced the output of Marvel, both number of films they make, and the number of TV shows, and that really becomes critical, but I feel good about the team. I feel good about the IP we’re making. I talked about a lot of the projects. We look years ahead, really. And it’s iterative.”
“Not only do you look at the films you’re making, you you look at every part of that process, who the directors are, who’s being cast, reading scripts, I personally watch films three to five times with the team and just create a culture of excellence and respect which is really important with the creative community,” he added. “And again, the track record speaks for itself.”
As such, we’ll have to see what kind of new direction Bob Iger is now pushing Disney in. He seems quite confident about their upcoming film slate for 2024, which features such projects as Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Deadpool & Wolverine, and sequels to Inside Out and Moana. It’s worth noting that Iger didn’t specify which Disney projects were canceled, but considering what’s been greenlit so far, one can hope it’s for the best as he suggests.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates regarding Disney and any future decisions made by CEO Bob Iger as we have them.