Disney Won’t “Chase Bucks” By Licensing Star Wars, Marvel & Pixar Content To Netflix, But Is In Talks Over Other Titles

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney CEO Bob Iger focused on instilling employees with renewed optimism about the Mouse House’s “blessed” and “fortunate” state during a virtual company-wide town hall Tuesday, rather than making any proclamations about the company’s future. The event, moderated by ABC News’ David Muir, was held just over a week after the one-year anniversary of Iger’s return to the helm at Disney (Iger hosted a similar town hall exactly a year ago to the day, upon resuming his post last November) following the surprise ousting of Bob Chapek, and on the heels of Disney reporting its most recent quarterly and full-fiscal-year earnings and taking a stumble at the Thanksgiving holiday box office with new animated film “Wish.” When asked by Muir if coming back to the position of CEO has been more challenging than he had anticipated, Iger, who originally ran Disney for 15 years from 2005-2020, said yes. “I knew that there were myriad challenges that I would face coming back,” Iger said.

A year into the run of Bob Iger 2: Return of the CEO, the Walt Disney Co. has not yet rediscovered its mojo.

Jennifer Lee, the Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation, is teasing Frozen 3 and seemingly hints at a potential fourth film.

K.J. Yossman Disney+ has struck a deal with U.K. streamer ITVX to license some of its shows.

Tim Allen is opening up about the new Toy Story sequel Bob Iger confirmed earlier this year.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Disney CEO Bob Iger announced in February that a new “Toy Story” movie was in development along with new installments in the “Frozen” and “Zootopia” franchises. No further details were provided at the time, but it appears the new “Toy Story” movie will not be another tangentially-related spinoff like “Lightyear” but a return to the core story centered on Woody and Buzz Lightyear.

Disney crossed a key threshold in fiscal 2023, taking in more revenue from streaming than from linear TV.

The Marvels has dismissed concerns about the film’s disappointing box office performance, saying it is only a concern for studio bosses.Iman Vellani, who reprises her role of Kamala Khan in the film, having previously played her in the miniseries Ms. Marvel, was asked about the relatively poor performance of the film in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment.“I don’t want to focus on something that’s not even in my control,” she said.

said in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment. “That’s for Bob Iger.”The Disney-produced film, which was made on a hefty $200 million budget, currently holds a 62% on RottenTomatoes, making it the third-lowest-scoring MCU film after “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “Eternals.”In a zero-star review, The Post called the movie starring Brie Larson, Vellani and Teyonah Parris “interminable,” and said it was “a sad study of the downfall of America’s favorite screen franchise.”And ABC News’ Peter Travers echoed those sentiments, writing, “The MCU, once the spawner of glories, is stuck in a rut.

After poor theatrical showings throughout 2023, and Marvel Studios and the MCU teetering for the first time after “The Marvels,” many look to Disney in anticipation of what the studio will do to right the ship. And maybe the first glimpse of an antidote is here.

Texas congressman Joaquin Castro has taken to X to slam Warner Bros Discovery for axing the $70M Coyote vs. Acme for a reported $30M tax writeoff. That said, as we first reported, the studio is changing course this week and screening the film for potential buyers, i.e. Amazon Prime (a leading contender), Apple and Netflix. This pivot by studio brass was made after a weekend in which the studio’s phone rang off the hook by the creative community over the cancelling of the finished film, as well as an outcry by the pic’s composer Steven Price among others online.

Four days after the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike, Netflix rolled out the blue carpet for the first post-strike Hollywood premiere of a major studio production attended by talent, Season 6 of the streamer’s British royal drama The Crown.

Media stocks popped Thursday, well outperforming the broader market, after news that the months longs SAG-AFTRA strike has been settled, with the actors’ guild and the AMPTP announcing a agreement last night. Halted productions can soon look to restart, the theatrical release calendar can stop shifting and the industry begin to get back to normal after a tough summer and fall.

EXCLUSIVE: Bob Iger finally had his wish come true today

EXCLUSIVE: With the end of 118-day actors strike at 12:01AM tonight, as well as a 148-day WGA strike back in September, global Hollywood feature productions can now resume.

Disney CEO Bob Iger says next month’s beta launch of a combined Hulu–Disney+ app will help acclimate families to the concept of Bluey being a couple of clicks away from American Horror Story.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Disney+ topped 150 million streaming subscriptions by the end of its fiscal fourth quarter of the year, up from 146.7 million in the previous quarter. On Wednesday, Disney reported Core Disney+ subscriptions are at 112.6 million subs, as of the quarter ended Sept. 30, and the India-based Disney+ Hotstar is at 37.6 million.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney, which is in the home stretch of swinging the deal to become the full owner of Hulu, will launch a beta test of an app next month that combines Disney+ and Hulu into a single experience, CEO Bob Iger said. Disney still needs to close its deal with Comcast to buy out NBCUniversal’s 33% stake in Hulu. In a filing last week, Disney said it would pay at least $8.61 billion to Comcast for the Hulu stake, with the final price tag — which could be much higher — to be based on an assessment of Hulu’s market value by each parties’ bankers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Warner Bros. Discovery narrowed its third-quarter loss as the media giant, grappling with billions of dollars in debt as a result of the 2022 merger that created it, saw the box-office success of “Barbie” offset by a 12% decline in advertising at its portfolio of TV networks. The owner of CNN, the Warner Bros.

Marvel Studios have introduced a special disclaimer to try and retain current audiences and hopefully inspire new viewers in wake of their box office struggles.The studio, which has produced some of the highest-grossing movies of all time, including Iron Man and Spider-man: Far From Home, has seen a decline in ticket sales in recent years.Their latest release, The Marvels, which will hit theatres on Friday November 10, is set to open to $75-80 million against a $250 million budget, a far cry from the success of Avengers: Endgame which grossed $1.2 billion worldwide in its opening weekend.According to The Independent, Disney CEO Bob Iger argued that the quantity of output from the studio has “diluted” audience interest. This dipping enthusiasm could reportedly be down to viewers feeling overloaded by information, and unprepared if they haven’t watched the preceding movies to the one they’re about to watch.To help resolve this possible issue, Marvel will be launching a series of projects called Marvel Spotlight.