Once the public face of squeaky-clean, harmless family entertainment, the Walt Disney Corporation has evolved into a widespread conglomerate known as much for the properties it controls as the films it produces. With subsidiaries including Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, National Geographic, A&E, 20th Century Fox, ESPN, Hulu, and Pixar, Disney has a commanding control of some of the world’s most lucrative franchises, plus an extensive library of film and TV classics. Its streaming service Disney+ signals a new interest in controlling its own online distribution, setting aside decades of licensing partnerships. Follow along with The Verge as we look at Disney’s new films and shows, and its strategies for dominating the box office and the streaming dollar.
Disney has amended its federal lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to only include claims about free speech. The entertainment giant will take its development contract disputes to a state-level court instead.
Disney’s lawsuit accuses the DeSantis Administration of “government retaliation,” alleging the state took away Disney’s self-governing power after the company pushed back on Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) union announced that over 80 percent of the 18 in-house Visual Effects (VFX) crewmembers at Walt Disney Pictures expressed a desire to unionize. Their organizing follows a push at Marvel that started earlier this month and is in the midst of ongoing strikes by the actors’ and writers’ guilds.
IATSE VFX Organizer Mark Patch:
Today, courageous Visual Effects workers at Walt Disney Pictures overcame the fear and silence that have kept our community from having a voice on the job for decades. With an overwhelming supermajority of these crews demanding an end to ‘the way VFX has always been,’ this is a clear sign that our campaign is not about one studio or corporation. It’s about VFX workers across the industry using the tools at our disposal to uplift ourselves and forge a better path forward.
The two may work together on the in-development streaming version of the popular sports channel, according to The Information. Amazon may take a minority stake in the network, the report says.
The Information also reports that the new ESPN streaming service could cost between $20 and $35 per month and says that the price could go beyond that “if ESPN is able to add a significant amount of new content” — it’s also been in discussions with other sports leagues.
[The Information]
The Information reports that Disney, seeking a “strategic partner” for ESPN, has had talks with Verizon. This is a bad idea: mobile carriers are historically terrible at distributing content and software, because their only distribution idea is installing bloatware on midrange Android phones. You will recall that the entire thesis of the AT&T / Time Warner merger was distributing bloatware on midrange Android phones, a “vision deal” which produced a grayscale 4:3 Snyder Cut before collapsing into the arms of David Zaslav.
[The Information]
TSG, a major movie financier, is suing Disney for alleged breach of contract. TSG has helped finance a lot of movies in Hollywood over the years, including films at Sony and Warner Bros., and Fox, and claims that the folks at Disney “have tried to use nearly every trick in the Hollywood accounting book” to hold onto cash that TSG feels its owed.
As the Wall Street Journal notes, its super unusual for a spat between a studio and film financiers to become public. Unfortunately that was before studios like Disney were so well integrated vertically that they that they could own everything from ideation to production to distribution and keep it all on their own platform—effectively keeping all the money in their own pockets too. We’re in a new era of streaming, and the rules of Hollywood are being rewritten before our very eyes.
With streaming services across the board raising their prices, you owe it to yourself to have a good deep think about what you want out of all these subscriptions and what you’re actually getting for your money.
Yesterday Bloomberg reported on what might be some of the most fascinating news around the contract negotiations in Hollywood right now: the names of the 12 studio execs meeting weekly to work out the AMPTP’s bargaining positions.
According to Bloomberg these 12 execs are: David Zaslav (Warner Bros. Discovery), Ted Sarandos (Netflix), Jen Salke and Mike Hopkins (Amazon), Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht (Apple), Donna Langley (NBCUniversal), Tony Vinciquerra (Sony Pictures), Brian Robbins and George Cheeks (Paramount), Dana Walden and Alan Bergman (Disney).
You might have noticed Bob Iger is missing from that list, but Bloomberg says he’s apparently started attending recently.
[Bloomberg.com]
and wondered how an unlicensed two hour film could exist when even Disney had to negotiate with Sony to use the character in films. Sony, Disney, and Marvel are all very protective of the character so it’s a surprise to see this film still live. It’s also super unusual to see a fan film of this scope outside of the Star Trek fan film community, especially as the last time a Star Trek fan film attempted a project of this high a production quality level Paramount sued the creator.
Spider-Man: Lotus’s other major problem is it was funded by a non-profit more than two years ago and immediately faced challenges after the VFX team quit due to racist remarks previously made, separately, by the lead actor and the director.
[Yahoo Entertainment]
And at the very least can we make the prices less confusing? We discuss why the numbers keep going up, plus why Apple should and shouldn’t buy Disney. Then we make sense of the backlash to Zoom’s AI policies, dig into Slack’s redesign, and spend a lot of time talking about fart apps. Because to get to the future, you gotta start with fart apps.
An analyst asked on yesterday’s earnings call, and Iger swore, “It’s just, it’s not something that we obsess about.”
And yet, he did have one hesitation worth sharing:
Obviously, anyone who wanted to speculate about these things would have to immediately consider the global regulatory environment.
“I’ll say no more than that,” Iger added.
Disney just worked out a licensing deal for ESPN and gambling, bringing in a couple of billion over the next ten years (and sending Barstool Sports back into control of Dave Portnoy for $1 and some non-compete agreements).
Now, while announcing streaming price hikes, account sharing crackdowns, and acknowledging the ongoing Hollywood strikes, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the following about ESPN:
Taking our ESPN flagship channels direct to consumer is not a matter of if, but when,” Iger said. “And the team is hard at work looking at all components of this decision, including pricing and timing... overall, we’re considering potential strategic partnerships for ESPN, looking at distribution, technology, marketing, and content opportunities where we retain control of ESPN
[The Walt Disney Company]
When the Screen Actors Guild joined the Writers Guild of America in striking against the AMPTP last month, Disney CEO Bob Iger called workers’ demands for better pay and a cut of streaming profits “disturbing” and unrealistic.
During Disney’s quarterly earnings call this week, though, Iger sang a rather different tune insisting that he has “deep respect” for the striking workers, and that “it is my fervent hope that we quickly find solutions to the issues that have kept us apart these past few months.”
Sure, Bob.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
This rumor — that Apple might acquire Disney — has been around forever, and there’s nothing in this Hollywood Reporter story that makes me think it’s real this time. But the story does lay out a fascinating case for how it might work:
While it may be very true that Apple doesn’t want to buy a studio, maybe it would want to buy this studio —the one that, despite the challenges of the moment, has a vault full of priceless IP and remains the most valuable brand in entertainment.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
The entertainment giant is looking into ways it can apply AI across its entire business, according to a report from Reuters. A source tells the outlet that Disney could use AI to lower the costs of its movie and TV productions, while also enhancing experiences at its parks.
We might hear more about this from Disney CEO Bob Iger on Wednesday, as that’s when Disney is supposed to report its quarter three earnings results.
In a move highlighted by Hollywood’s ongoing strikes and reports of unsustainable working conditions during the production of Across the Spider-Verse, a supermajority of the more than 50 people in Marvel Studios’ visual effects crews signed cards saying they want to be represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).
Vulture reports they’re seeking an election as soon as August 21st.
For almost half a century, workers in the visual effects industry have been denied the same protections and benefits their coworkers and crewmates have relied upon since the beginning of the Hollywood film industry. This is a historic first step for VFX workers coming together with a collective voice demanding respect for the work we do.
Mike White, who Disney appointed last year to oversee its metaverse ambitions, has left the company, according to a report from The Ankler.
While White was reportedly supposed to assume a new role at Disney after the company broke up its metaverse division in March, it appears that never came to fruition.
[theankler.com]
The Wall Street Journal reports FanDuel and Fox are winding down Fox Bet, an app launched in 2019 that only ever was available in a few states.
When we wrote about it in 2021, the integration of gambling looked like a sure thing to broadcasters and streamers, but since then, FuboTV’s gambling ambitions flamed out, and Disney’s old-new CEO Bob Iger sounds a lot less enthusiastic about gambling as he seeks to sell off some or all of ESPN.
CNBC’s Alex Sherman reported on Disney’s discussions with the NBA and NFL about becoming partners in ESPN as it moves from cable into the streaming future.
On the Front Office Sports podcast (starting at about 4 minutes 55 seconds), he went a little more in-depth, saying he sees the talks as “throwing ideas at the wall” while discussing some of the potential complications we mentioned previously, as well as the idea that Disney, which will apparently need to find a replacement for CEO Bob Iger eventually, might become an acquisition target itself.
