One of 2023’s biggest stories in the entertainment industry is Disney CEO Bob Iger‘s call to retrofit the swollen release calendar of various IPs, namely the MCU and the “Star Wars” universe. Iger’s reasons? The sheer glut of releases in theaters and on streaming dilutes focus and attention from moviegoers and lowers the overall quality of what Disney creates. And as the year comes to a close, Iger elaborated further on why he wants to accomplish such a drastic creative pivot for his company.
READ MORE: Disney CEO Bob Iger Says “There Might Be A ‘Frozen 4’ In The Works” After ‘Frozen 3’
CNN reports that Iger explained his position at The New York Times‘ annual DealBook summit yesterday evening in an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin. And the CEO’s outlook sounds sensible, even if it arrives perhaps a couple of years too late. “Quality needs attention to deliver quality, it doesn’t happen by accident,” said. “And quantity, in our case, diluted quality — and Marvel has suffered greatly from that.” To ease that suffering, Iger has a dramatic creative turnaround in mind. “I would say right now my number one priority is to help the studio turn around creatively,” he continued.
Iger added that Disney “made too many” sequels to the MCU brand that received poor critical reception from audiences and professional critics. “There has to be a good reason to make them,” said the CEO. Therefore, Iger wants to shift gears to instead only greenlight sequels that are “worth telling.” “Often, the story is not as strong as the original story, that can be a problem, but it just has to have a reason, you have to have a reason to make it beyond commerce,” Iger went on. “There has to be an artistic reason to make it, and we’ve made too many.”
The CEO’s comments come on the heels of “The Marvels” having the worst opening weekend of any Marvel movie ever earlier this month. But Iger’s call for a creative pivot shouldn’t come as a surprise to moviegoers. Marvel Studios has switched around their release calendar several times this year, pushing several films and Disney+ series further down the pipeline. And in the case of “Daredevil: Born Again,” the entire show received a massive creative overhaul, rebooting the half-finished series from scratch. All of that foretells that a massive sea change was already underway at the studio throughout this year, and Iger’s new comments confirm what fans already knew was going on.
But do Iger’s plans for Marvel’s future, and in turn Disney’s, really foretell a true creative sea change for the company? The CEO’s latest comments come shortly after Iger teased not one but possibly two “Frozen” sequels in development. And Iger also confirmed “Zootopia” and “Toy Story” sequels are on the way last February: successful franchises for Disney to count on for success, but not exactly the original stories Iger calls for in his comments above. If anything, those three or four upcoming films feel more like desperate cash grabs for Disney instead of the creative turnaround the industry giant desperately needs.
Whatever happens, all eyes will be on Disney for the next couple years and whether or not they right the ship creatively and financially. If they do, Iger’s legacy before he retires again in 2026 remains secure. But if Marvel continues to flop, and new “Star Wars” films and Iger’s previously announced sequels do too, then Disney may receive an overhaul that’s even more dramatic and radical than the swift about-face the MCU received behind the scenes this year. And Iger may end up the one who gets blamed for the company’s downfall, not ex-CEO Bob Chapek. In short, it’s a stressful time at the House Of Mouse right now.
