So Bob Iger is on the way out and Josh D’Amaro is in. Ask Bob Chapek how that went.
By now I think we’ve all come to realize that sending the wrong person out doesn’t mean the right person is coming in. Dan DiDio left DC but Jim Lee hasn’t fixed any of his mistakes outside of what minor repairs Rebirth already did to the New 52 while he was there. Joe Quesada left Marvel Comics but none of his replacements since have changed much of anything in Quesada’s “lifestyle brand” and I’m debating discussing the doubling down on One More Day. The list could very well go on throughout the entertainment industry…like taking Star Wars from George Lucas and giving it to Disney made it worse instead of better.
I wasn’t sure how to approach the future of D’Amaro’s Disney. I didn’t really follow his running of the Disney theme parks. I was neutral about him and the new creative officer as I don’t know her works and can’t even remember her name. I only remember D’Amaro’s name due to making this article. I lacked a good way to go over the situation. Then the following video came out from JesterBell with some good opinions on the situation and it plus a recent interview with a former CEO helped me channel my thoughts. D’Amaro may not be the savior of Disney unless he fixes some of Disney’s mistakes. I’ll let Theresa (her real name according to her X-Twitter) go over everything and then add a few concerns of my own.
Let’s start with the one I’ve been most upset with: the decline of Disney as an animation studio. Walt Disney was an animator. He made cartoons. Disney these days at best will distribute cartoons from others on their channels and streaming service, even when they use Walt’s characters that modern Disney tries so hard to keep the rights for. They don’t do anything 2D anymore, making me wonder why they even have Pixar. To me, it would make sense to let Pixar handle 3D CG and have the regular Disney studio go back to making amazing 2D work. Former Disney animator Aaron Blaze recently made a short film that proves traditional animation can still be amazing even in a 3D world. The original Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs existed to show that animation could lead to great storytelling for everyone and be taken seriously as a movie, something modern Hollywood has rejected because you can’t see the celebs’ faces. Meanwhile their “superior” live-action version keeps looking worse with every new financial report. This is why I believe they’ve embraced these live-action demakes that keep showing how little they understand the messages and themes of the original movie, if not rejecting them on purpose. Disney will never stop being a shadow of what it was until it re-embraces cartoons and animation.
As for D’Amaro, there are concerns with how he’s run the theme parks lately. That Park Place is always noting raised prices, the reworking or tossing out of attractions that Walt himself imagined, the equipment failures (remember that Indiana Jones attraction where a worker got hurt saving the audience from the boulder stunt that went wrong?), the failed Star Wars themed hotel due to how much it cost, strange new rules involving season passes and passes for the physically and mentally disabled, and a move away from family entertainment in favor of boosting the latest movie, adding more bars to the park (Walt was against alcohol in the park, which used to be reserved to the German section of the international attraction created after his passing because…Germans drink a lot of beer I guess), and prices that make it harder for lower income families to take part. Speaking of That Park Place, they recently posted a podcast that interviewed previous CEO Michael Eisner, who noted that Disney used to treat everyone like a VIP, and now it seems to be only fun if you’re rich. So the elites have hijacked Disney and D’Amaro was part of that.
They also posted an article recently that noted the move of Hulu to Disney+ means that the streaming service once promoted as a safe place for families to let the kids watch without concerns of seeing ads for non-kid friendly movies (like R-rated films with sex and violence) can’t boast that anymore. Hulu was a project created by NBC, ABC, and Fox (CBS opted for their own “All Access” service that failed until Viacom and Paramount were finally remerged) so that people could go to them for clips instead of YouTube, while also offering shows that people could enjoy from the networks and their library. They sadly dropped embedding on sites and the clips a long time ago, as well as free ad-supported on demand streaming. Then when Disney bought 20th Century Fox, giving them majority ownership of Hulu, NBCUniversal dropped out to focus on Peacock. Hulu would have been where Disney kept the older skewed movies and shows from all the companies they’ve acquired or created over the years and Disney+ and would be the kids and family streaming service. That’s not the case anymore, and that’s under the chief creative officer’s reign.
Disney’s contribution: airing it.
By the way, note to JesterBell and everyone else: please don’t use Bluey as an example of anything Walden might be doing right. Disney has less involvement in that show than they did further ruining Doctor Who or even Miraculous: Tales Of Ladybug & Cat Noir. Not only do they ignore animation, like I mentioned, but Bluey is the success of the Australian animation studio Ludo Studio and funded by the BBC’s Australian branch. Disney distributes it and that’s it. They get no credit otherwise for the show’s success. If it had been picked up by Kartoon Channel, the streaming network that isn’t Cartoon Network and isn’t as good, then it wouldn’t have as strong a following in the US because nobody would have seen it unless Nickelodeon or a bigger streaming service got it. If you want to give Disney a high five for that, fine, but otherwise Ludo’s success is its own, not anything Disney did. Disney can boast about their “not so secret gay agenda” where they shoved a gay couple into even their few good shows like Hailey’s On It and the aforementioned French-made Miraculous cartoon, but they’ve been walking that back a bit in some of their recent movies and shows. They don’t make TV in animation or live-action anymore.
Walt’s tenure actually did include shows more geared towards boys. Davy Crockett and Zorro were from them, as were movies after Walt’s passing like Tron, the Witch Mountain movies and failed TV pilot, or the Love Bug series. While most of the animated movies were made for girls wo love princesses, we did get The Rescuers, Tarzan, and Pete’s Dragon (both the animated movie and live-action namesake) that were more boy centric as well as movies both could watch together WITH THEIR PARENTS! (Remember, parents? Remember family entertainment for the whole family? Today’s Disney doesn’t.) In recent years we get dedicated male-skewing works like Star Wars, Marvel superheroes, and Predator scooped up by Iger because he wanted more male centric brands, which were then given to women who turned the brand into things they like and want to see, and then complained that men weren’t coming to see them anymore. They don’t know how a brand becomes a successful Brand and to quote adult Grogu “that is why you fail”. We won’t even get into the overspending, shooting without scripts, and the overworked special effects department because that’s a whole article on its own.
If I were to play conspiracy theorist, I’d also question if D’Amaro is even going to be in charge. Bob Chapek was out the moment he started trying to treat his job like a real position instead of Bob Iger’s figurehead. Chapek got a lot of the blame for projects and directions started by Iger, who isn’t just walking away. He’ll be around “helping” D’Amaro ease into the position. Iger has his own mistakes to take blame for after he took his job back from his fellow Bob, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s setting up D’Amaro the same way. Either way, neither of them are the creative types; they’re corporatists and still view things from a corporate point of view. Walt knew when to listen to his brother about finances and when to take risks that yielded results (like embracing technicolor or even making Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs in the first place) because he knew creativity. He also knew licensing and how bad products hurt his brand. Today’s Disney is just interested in the money and prestige, something also seen in how the parks have been run under D’Amaro.
So they changed the name on the door. Special. Now prove to mean that’s the only thing they changed. History has shown in recent years that all the mistakes continue, it’s just a different overpaid idiot making them.
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