On a November 8, 2022 earnings call, Disney's then-CEO Bob Chapek breezed past missed revenue and profit forecasts to rhapsodize about “phenomenal” park events like Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. On the company's Q1 earnings call yesterday, now (again) CEO Bob Iger was not going to make the same mistake.
Facing a proxy battle with activist investor Nelson Peltz of Trian Group, who is asking shareholders to vote him onto the board of directors, Iger was not about to wait for the upcoming shareholders meeting to make his case. He announced cost-cutting, layoffs, the scrapping of Chapek's org structure, a new Avatar-themed attraction, sequels to three of Disney's biggest animated hits and a return to dividends for shareholders.
"We believe the work we are doing to reshape our company around creativity, while reducing expenses, will lead to sustained growth and profitability for our streaming business, better position us to weather future disruption and global economic challenges, and deliver value for our shareholders,” Iger said.
Parks Power Quarterly Financials As Streaming Losses Narrow
Disney Reorganizes Into Three Segments: Entertainment, ESPN & Parks
Dana Walden & Alan Bergman Tapped To Oversee New Entertainment Unit
Iger Announces 7,000 Jobs To Be Cut
$5.5B In Cost Savings Planned, Including $3B Content Spend
‘Frozen’, ’Toy Story’ & ‘Zootopia’ Sequels In The Works
Disney To Reinstate Dividend By Year's End
'Avatar' Experience Coming To Disneyland |
|
| Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
|
Prime Project - Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta books have completed their long journey to the screen with a blockbuster TV series starring Oscar winner Nicole Kidman in the title role and Oscar nominee Jamie Lee Curtis as the famous forensic pathologist’s sister Dorothy. The series is nearing a two-season straight-to-series order at Prime Video. >>>Eight-Episode Seasons
Layoffs At UTA - United Talent Agency is trimming its personnel with cuts in several departments. According to sources, mostly admin/support staff are impacted, with the total number of layoffs in the low single digits as a percentage of the company’s overall workforce. >>>Acquisition Spree
State Of Disunion - Deadline's Ted Johnson describes the scene inside the raucus House chamber during President Biden's State of the Union speech. >>>Performative Outrage On Display
Making A 'Splash' - Sarah Rothschild, the writer of the Netflix movie Sleepover, will be writing the latest draft of Disney/Imagine/Free Association’s Splash remake. Deadline first told you about the remake back in 2016 with the 22 Jump Street and Inherent Vice actress Jillian Bell attached. >>>Details
Reverse-Engineered Release - With a goal of maximizing revenue, Warner Bros is taking what was an HBO Max movie, Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike’s Last Dance, and putting it into 1,500 theatrical locations this weekend, with a thrifty marketing spend. It’s the second movie, after New Line’s House Party ($8.8M), for which Warners has reverse-engineered a big screen release after streaming. >>> 'Titanic' Battle Set
In Brief - Paul Giamatti is set to dive deep into aliens, conspiracies & hoaxes in a weekly podcast series called Chinwag...Birdman writer Alexander Dinelaris and multihyphenate Residente are scripting a new film called Porto Rico. |
|
Ruth Wilson, star of The Affair, Luther and His Dark Materials, has performed with many leading actors, usually one at a time, but in May her endurance will be put to the test when she embarks on a marathon stage show in London playing the same scene almost nonstop for 24 hours with one hundred different men — one after the other.
“Yes, a hundred is enough,” she laughs.
“It’s a huge act of stamina,” she says of The Second Woman, a title inspired by a play that’s at the center of John Cassavetes' 1977 movie Opening Night starring Gena Rowlands. ”I dunno how I’m going to get through it and that’s part of the appeal to me,” she adds. >>>Gargantuan Undertaking |
|
BY THE NUMBERS
$6 billion - The debt that bankrupt exhibition giant Cineworld, parent of Regal Cinemas, is trying to restructure with lenders under a new draft plan |
|
More News
✊ The WGA West on Saturday will hold its first membership meeting to discuss the upcoming negotiations with the AMPTP for a new film and TV contract. Two other membership meetings are scheduled in Los Angeles later this month, and one will be held in New York.
💡 Warner Bros Discovery has ditched plans to fully subsume HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single streaming service. It will instead continue offering the latter as a stand-alone product as it moves forward with the springtime launch of a comprehensive, rebranded service with programming from HBO Max and Discovery+.
🚧 Prime Video is restructuring its international business along regional lines in EMEA, APAC and the Americas. Kelly Day, VP of Amazon’s Prime Video, has rejigged the streamer with expanded roles for Barry Furlong and Gaurav Gandhi.
🚦 Netflix has given a series order to The Madness, a conspiracy thriller starring Emmy winner Colman Domingo. The eight-episode limited series hails from Chernin Entertainment via its first-look deal with Netflix.
In Brief - Seth MacFarlane has signed with WME...NBCUniversal unveiled new advertising initiatives, including a "Content Quality Index"...Paramount+ & Prime Video struck an international Star Trek deal. |
|
Obituaries
🕯 Eugene Lee, the six-time Emmy-winning production designer for Saturday Night Live since 1975 and a multiple Tony winner for such Broadway hits as Wicked, Sweeney Todd and Candide, died Monday in Providence, RI, following a brief illness. He was 83. 🕯 Comic book artist Lee Moder , who co-created the Courtney Whitmore version of Stargirl with Geoff Johns in 1999, has passed away, according to ComicBook.com and statements from his peers. A TV series based on the Stargirl character ran for three seasons on the CW, ending last December. Moder was 53. 🕯 Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023 Photo Gallery
|
|
Trending  Disney reported better-than-expected financials for the fiscal first quarter on Wednesday, with both revenue and the profit line exceeding Wall Street analysts’ expectations.
🔻 Disney+ had its first negative quarter since launching in November 2019, dropping 2.4 million customers. The company said the shrinkage was due to the loss of International Premier League cricket rights. |
|
On the Radar
Thur - Pan African Film & Arts Festival begins; Lionsgate and News Corp. earnings
Fri - Titanic rereleased in theaters
Sun - Super Bowl LVII |
|
Still Life - IFC Films released the first teaser for Paint, a film written and directed by Brit McAdams, which has Owen Wilson channeling the appearance and spirit of American treasure, Bob Ross. |
|
|
