Disney CEO Bob Iger Says He's Personally Focused On Improving The Quality Of The Company's Films

Disney CEO Bob Iger Says He's Personally Focused On Improving The Quality Of The Company's Films

Disappointed with recent Marvel and Lucasfilm offerings of late? Does the news that Bob Iger will be giving the film side of Disney closer attention make you rest easier?

By MarkJulian - Aug 09, 2023 06:08 PM EST
Filed Under: Marvel Studios
Source: via CB

Amid wild speculation that Disney might be acquired by Apple, Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed pressing investor concerns on today's quarterly earnings call. 

It's no secret that the company's two main film earners, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm, have been trending downward recently in terms of their film's box office earnings and critic reception. 

Iger assured investors during the earnings briefing that he'll be personally invested and is spending extra time on improving the quality and box office returns on future releases.

"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."

There's definitely a growing concern among the MCU fandom that the cinematic universe peaked with Avengers: Endgame and that it was a mistake to let Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man and Chris Evans' Captain America bid adieu to the franchise. While the film side has remained relatively strong, the company's Disney+ MCU shows are currently in the midst of a downward trend with regard to critic and fan reception.

Likewise, Star Wars fans have been equally as vocal about their disappointment in the new Star Wars trilogy and the handling of legacy characters like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker. However, there's current optimism for the Star Wars brand, with films based on the Old Republic and a New Jedi Order (led by Rey) in the pipeline.

As film and television studios around the world prepare to tighten purse strings and come to grips with overspending on streaming start-up costs, Iger is certainly not the only CEO in Hollywood that will closely be scrutinizing its release schedule over the next several years.

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JackBurton1
JackBurton1 - 8/9/2023, 6:07 PM
"and a New Jedi Order (led by Rey) in the pipeline."There is no optimism with that movie.. it's going to bomb,ace.If it actually ever happens.
mountainman
mountainman - 8/9/2023, 6:17 PM
@jst5 - To Iger’s credit here, he wasn’t referencing specific projects. He may be planning to scrap the crap.
JackBurton1
JackBurton1 - 8/9/2023, 7:14 PM
@mountainman - First step would be to fire Kennedy...never seen someone so bad at their job keep on keeping on as if it didn't matter.
AllsGood
AllsGood - 8/9/2023, 6:08 PM
Disney CEO Bob Iger pay your employees.

THEDARKKNIGHT1939
THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - 8/9/2023, 6:11 PM
Disney's Tangled:

LilJimmy
LilJimmy - 8/9/2023, 7:37 PM
@THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - You joke but.....
Doomsday8888
Doomsday8888 - 8/9/2023, 6:11 PM
Order66
Order66 - 8/9/2023, 6:12 PM
It’s actually the opposite of each other when it comes to marvel and Star Wars. Marvel films are going up and tv shows down, Star Wars shows going up and films going down.
WakandaTech
WakandaTech - 8/9/2023, 6:13 PM
I'm old enough to remember when Disney could do no wrong and was at it's peak of power in 2019



But the Pandemic, Quantity over Quality , giving the middle finger to half your paying costumers and the strikes
have brought Disney to it's knees
MarkJulian
MarkJulian - 8/9/2023, 6:39 PM
@WakandaTech - Ha! They also just announced that they're raising the price of Disney Plus.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 8/10/2023, 8:16 AM
@WakandaTech - Curious, which half of their customers are getting the finger?
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 8/9/2023, 6:15 PM
Bob said “tf we look like, WB?”

AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 8/9/2023, 6:27 PM
@PlusUltra -


I hate to be conspiratorial but do you think the recent doom and gloom headlines regarding Disney is Disney's way of basically saying: we have no money to pay you guys💁


I say that because there is this unreasonable drama queen coverage on Disney.


Even with all the flops this year Disney is on track to still be the biggest studio this year and the last 5 years they made more than any movie studio combined 3 times over😐


There latest earnings call was actually pretty good. Parks attendence is up overall and so is there Disney plus subs.



I wouldn't put it past Disney being behind these headlines in order for the public opinion to shift towards both sides need to come to an agreement when we all know Disney can afford to pay!
Usernametaken
Usernametaken - 8/9/2023, 7:07 PM
@AmazingFILMporg - I know enough people who worked with disney to know that they always lie about internal cost and are always stingy when it comes to paying outside contractors.

They're so powerful and their franchises so renowned that they know everybody has to work with them at some point if they want to make it.

But as much as all contractors want to play with disney's franchises for the prestige of it, they all know they won't make actual money doing it, and after that they'd rather never do it again.
Forthas
Forthas - 8/9/2023, 6:16 PM
"...Focused On Improving The Quality Of The Company's Films"

No wonder they got rid of James Gunn...
Variant
Variant - 8/10/2023, 10:58 AM
@Forthas - Um...What are you talking about? His films were some of the best performing. Also, he wasn't let go...he left to head up the DCU.
GeneralZod
GeneralZod - 8/9/2023, 6:16 PM
Start first by firing the political commissars that have destroyed Disney creative since 2020. Iger can't cure the cancer without excising the source.

AllsGood
AllsGood - 8/9/2023, 6:21 PM
Two CEO Billionaires Fighting.

r1g0r
r1g0r - 8/9/2023, 6:24 PM
Lying sack of $#!t
Variant
Variant - 8/10/2023, 11:01 AM
@r1g0r - Lol. You're clueless yelling into the void. Some of y'all just look at things on the surface and think you know what's going on.
r1g0r
r1g0r - 8/10/2023, 11:22 AM
@Variant -
Aww...
Look who thinks they're superior to the rest of us.

Another gnikcuf elohssa.
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 8/9/2023, 6:39 PM
"I'm personally committed to spending more time and attention on that as well."

That's precisely the issue, Bob. You're getting personally and unnecessarily hands-on, instead of trusting the right people for the right jobs. There's a reason certain figures from the INfinity Saga enjoyed the appeal that they did; and still do. Noone interfered with Sarah Finn's casting. Noone interfered with Markus & McFeely's scripts. Just look back to as early on as Favreau, and what happened when you let him cook (pun intended) with the first one, in contrast to what he gave you when you kept messing with his thing.



...and it worked out pretty well thus far, until you and Bob chose to rush things.
IronMan616
IronMan616 - 8/9/2023, 11:45 PM
@DrReedRichards - Disney had nothing to do with Iron Man 1, or 2.
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 8/10/2023, 11:28 AM
@IronMan616 -

The f#ck are you talking about? Iron Man 2 was literally the very first MCU entry to be released under Disney, which is what my whole point was about when comparing it to Iron Man 1.
IronMan616
IronMan616 - 8/10/2023, 11:42 AM
@DrReedRichards - No. what the f*ck are YOU talking about, Iron Man pre-production, filming, etc was done spring/ early summer of '09, Disney finalized their sale of Marvel August or late '09, they had nothing to do with Iron Man 2 you moron. It was still distributed by Paramount.
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 8/10/2023, 11:51 AM
@IronMan616 -

Every Phase I entry was distributed by Paramount, even after Disney took over. Or did you suddenly forget the last minute reshoots regarding Rourke's role?
grif
grif - 8/9/2023, 6:41 PM
how many times have we heard this in the last few months?

also i dont believe him
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