Disney’s Bob Chapek on Scar-Jo Sequels and Impact of “Don’t Say Gay” –

In the middle of Disney’s D23, Lucasfilm and Marvel will also present future material. avatarDisney CEO Bob Chapek was available for a 15-minute interview. the hollywood reporter. The conversation touched on topics such as how Scarlett Johansson handled the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ conflict and controversy in Florida, as well as ticket prices and more.

This presentation was very Disney+. It seems like all of this had its origins on the big screen, the entire Marvel Universe, everything is working out. [from movies] And you have theme parks, cruise ships, you have a lot at stake with a franchise. Many investors are reevaluating “everything is streaming”, what about you?

It’s important to go back to when Disney+ launched and what the assumption was about how much food to feed the system to actually live up to its potential, and I’d say we grossly underestimated the hungry beast and how much content it needed. feeds While we were aware, covid arrived and we were completely limited in terms of creating new ones. So we had some very valuable items coming into our system and we had to make some very tough decisions about where to put those items. When the theater world closed due to COVID, it was an easy decision. Or you put it off for a few years and we started to put it off, as you may remember, but we also had an empty pipeline for the company on this very important strategic initiative that was Disney+. Our viewers, our subscribers, were asking for more, so we started repurposing content originally intended for theaters before it was even considered on Disney+. But at the same time, we’ve embarked on a very methodical plan to figure out how much content we need as a company to make the most of opportunities in theater, because we love the theater business and how much we’re going to need it. We were able to bring in the content channels that lead to Disney+ to take advantage of this opportunity… play. release, i.e. without stealing content from that location, like our streaming services.

Do you think you can launch a franchise, something that becomes a theme park attraction, a streamer? There’s a movie that’s been made or a television series that brings it to fruition. avatar attraction? where is the evidence of this?

absolutely. We fully believe in that. We’ve had titles in the past that, frankly, have taken the world away from theatrical exhibitions. [like] Charm. It was a modest theatrical success and then we put it on Disney+ and went to No. 1. I don’t need to tell you what a phenomenon it has become in terms of merchandising and music and how many more people saw it. on Disney+.

Do you think the theatrical component was fundamental or could you have dispensed with it?

I think there are films where theatrical distribution is necessary. I think [with] Big blockbusters, there are titles that would be great to have a theatrical release and then move to Disney+, but I don’t think that’s necessary to build a franchise. We have flexibility. That’s the word I’ve been using since the beginning of the pandemic when I got this job… There are a lot of people in business, in industry, who want the world to go back to the way it was, and it’s not because the consumer is gone. everyone in this business serves one entity, which is the customer. The business continued. That doesn’t mean we won’t be great. Amazing s war of the galaxies movies and avatar, and put them first in the theater. We’re going to do this because it’s a great way to experience these movies. But that doesn’t mean everything, to be believable or eventually become a Disney franchise, it has to go through it.

You walked in and Wall Street was like, ‘Stream’. So Netflix hits that big hurdle and they move on. How do you deal with this fickle, short-term mindset on Wall Street?

When we arrived at the 2020 Investor Conference, we provided guidance on two factors: one was [subscribers], where all the focus was at that moment. But even when Wall Street wasn’t focusing on streaming profitability, we gave our profitability guidance the same day. We knew the foam in investors’ eyes would wither at some point, but we didn’t know when. And profitability will be just as important, if not more so, than revenue and margins. For us, it wasn’t as big of an internal change as it could be for others, because we had our foot on the clutch and the accelerator at the same time, so it’s not a big deal for us. We operate as we operate, without reducing the amount of content we plan to publish or spend. We have said in our calls with investors that the amount of content we are putting on the market will remain essentially unchanged.

You’re known as the guy who cuts costs and raises prices. You’ve raised prices dramatically. [for some streaming plans] and parks. And you have some superfan kicks. How much can prices keep going up and is their ill will causing problems for the brand?

We love all of our fans equally. We love superfans, obviously. But we also like fans who don’t have the same expression as their fandom. We want to make sure that our superfans who love to hang out with their annual pass and use it [the parks] As your own personal playground, we love it. We celebrate it. But at the same time, we need to make sure there’s space in the park for the Denver family that comes every five years. We didn’t have a reservation system and we didn’t control the number of annual passes we gave out and frankly the annual pass as a cost was so high that people literally came back and access to the park was unlimited. They and that family from Denver were going to the park and they weren’t allowed. This doesn’t seem like a really balanced proposal. I think superfans might see this as a downside to how they consume the park, but we need to make sure we don’t just take into account the needs of our superfans, but the needs of everyone. . who travels around the country once every five years. We have a real high-level problem: we have much more demand than supply. What we don’t want is to give someone a stellar experience in the parks because we’ve trapped a lot of people there. If we’re going to make this ground rule, you have to start balancing who you let in… Our ticket prices and the limits we put on how often people can come and when they come is a direct reflection of demand. When is it too much? Demand will tell us when it’s too much.

You had some bumps at first. If you had Scarlett Johansson again, would you do it differently?

Many people have given their opinion on how to do this. I was a voice and I will just say that our relationship with him and his agency has never been better.

You apologized to the staff for “don’t say gay”. This issue has caused a lot of problems no matter what you do. Do you think you’ve regained the trust of your employees?

These are complex societal issues where we want to fully and positively represent the needs and expectations of our stakeholders, but we also recognize that sometimes, in such a divided world, there is a misalignment between potentially large parts of our customer, guest and client base. . Looking for the type of content they want to show their kids at that specific time. What we try to do is be everything to everyone. It’s very difficult because we are the Walt Disney Company. When you’re a lightning rod for clickbait and speeches from political podiums, our brand essence can be appropriated or abused to suit any particular group’s agenda. We want to rise above that. We believe Disney is a place where people can come together with shared values ​​of what an optimistic and ideal future can look like. We certainly don’t want to embrace any political confusion, but at the same time we also realize that we want to represent a better tomorrow for all types of families, however they are defined.

And the staff? Do they feel this way about you?

We are a very close, big and happy family. I think our team saw how I resisted attacks from certain political constituencies and frankly I think it was much stronger, longer and much more difficult than they imagined, and we stood our ground. So I think it’s safe to say that actions speak louder than words and they saw resistance and consistency no matter how strong the attacks.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.