It’s been a wacky day. SAG is officially entering a strike alongside the WGA while Bob Iger seemingly decides to shift the blame to a cracking industry on the people desperately keeping it alive. With millions to spare, he seemingly decides to take some wild swings in a recent interview by not only blaming the current situation on those trying to survive but even hitting into his own company.
Disney isn’t perfect and has had some rough patches throughout the years, but they have developed two golden geese: Pixar and Marvel. They had the kind of bankability any franchise still dreams of, especially direct rivals like DC. Yet, the last few years have been rough on the industry and they made some big steps to grow their streaming business.
Now that the pandemic is seemingly done and behind us, they are back peddling their original plan and trying to become theatrical giants once more. While they proved to still be the most consistent up until now, Bob Iger decides to downplay Pixar’s creative output as “creative misses” while knowingly highlighting that their streaming releases of these iconic films slowed down their box office prowess.
There were three Pixar releases in a row that went direct to streaming, in part because of — mostly because of COVID. And I think that may have created an expectation in the audience that they’re going to eventually be on streaming and probably quickly, and there wasn’t an urgency. And then I think there was some, I think you’d have to agree that there were some creative misses, as well.
Bob Iger
While he seemingly ignores this part when discussing their Marvel releases, it’s bizarre to see him downplay the value of projects like Luca, Turning Red, and even Elemental. We don’t know what projects he’s talking about specifically, but it sounds a lot like a justification for why they went to streaming only with their projects. It almost feels like a way to save face without doing so. It’s a darn shame that this is how the hard-working animators are treated by their own studio head after being a strong part of its legacy for years.
Source: Variety
