This is the stuff a Disney geek like myself gets chills about!  I love it.  I really believe Iger has the right mentality: get the right talent and minds, take the proper time needed, shoot for the highest quality, and put the money into the project that is needed.  That's what Walt did and overall it always pays off both critically and monetarily.  People realize a well made quality product and will come back again and again for such things.  I wish Iger the best of luck and success in trying to run the company the way Walt did.

Good article, Jim.  It makes me hopeful for the future, which is a nice thing for a business article.

I'm really glad Iger is doing all this. I feel he has already prooven himself as an excellent leader. He's prooven that while he looks to the future (as evident by the new technological advancements among other things) he also looks to the past (as evident by articles like this). As for Enchanted, although I hope for the best, I'm not expecting all that much (box-office-wise) from it. First off, it shares it's opening weekend with Dreamworks/Jerry Seinfeld's animated Bee Movie. I'd expect somewhere between Ever After and A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Yes, Jim -- we enjoy THIS kind of article :)

And Iger is making some fantastic strides :)

My guess for the three wise men is Marty Sklar, Bob Gurr and a player to be named later.    Kudos to Iger - this is excellent publicity, but not much more. Imagineering is different because Walt isn't in charge and Mark Davis isn't working there. It's always nice to get free advice, but....

Imagineering always has been a political minefield - any advancement in a large company is political - so politics won't be eliminated and Iger knows that. We are to believe that in the years Iger has been with Disney Co. he's never picked up a book, had a meeting with veteran imagineers, or had to sit through a film presentation at a required dinner where all this info is laid out? I find that hard to believe. Very few people advance to the upper levels of a huge company without constant research and info on the company and its competitors. This sounds like a story shrewdly designed to be released to the faithful. "We even consulted with Walt's favorite imagineers..." The reason Iger got to this position is supposedly because of his skills in getting people to work together and be creative in a highly competitive entertainment field - he doesn't need more coaching - but he can always use a positive endorsement.              Isn't it odd that Lassetter wasn't included ? I mean you are paying this guy quite a lot to improve the issues raised at this meeting.

Great news, Jim.

I'm thrilled that Iger is actually interested in improving the parks experience and not just squeeze every tiny drop that he can.  He may understand that Walt was a businessman, but he was also an entertainer and knew he had to give us quality to get us coming back.

Now, Jim... what about those new shows, buildings and rides in DCA.  When are you going to describe some of those things?

...All right, Mr. So-Called Hill, what have you done with the REAL Jim?? ;)
Seriously, Iger's good decisions on his own management style are starting to embarrass the more old-school SaveDisney vets who were claiming all along that Iger was a "hand-picked puppet" of Eisner who would just pass along the party line...Instead, as the events show, the mindset at the company now seems to be that it's okay to proclaim Mad King Michael is dead, and it's time to fix a lot of autocratically inflicted damage.  And if the good steps we've seen over the last few months have been "all deceptive image to lull us into security", he's sure taking his time about it.  :)

And before we get more ravers mythologizing "Enchanted" into some studio-savior sight-unseen, call me the unimpressed devils-advocate:
You see "the return of animation", I see another "Princess Diaries" Disney chik-flik with one piece scene borrowing the Snow White gag from "9 to 5" (and for much the same reasons), and if I want the "glorious return of animation", Rapunzel and Frog Princess are coming up right around the corner.
"Oh, but it's got Kevin Lima directing!"--What, the live-action director of "102 Dalmatians", you mean?  It's not raising my hopes any.

Jim, I love your website, I praise your efforts - and I enjoy your editorial approach.   In regards to Iger, Disney & Mistakes of the past article:

Before there is a celebration of Bob Iger's power lunch and the forecast a positive change at Disney, we must look a little further than the bread on the table.   With Bob Iger as Disney’s CEO - (an appointment, an annoinment)  or as Roy Disney called Disney's board of director’s so-called search for a new CEO in court a “sham” -  James B. Stewart in his "Disney War" book sums it up. --

"But (with Eisner leaving), did it signal the end of Eisner's reign?"  "In Eisner's "master plan" as one director described it, (Bob) Iger ("Eisner's obedient lieutenant") would assume the chief executive's title in 2006.."  (Quote from Disney War by James B. Stewart)

And -  "Obviously Eisner controlled the Disney executives who reported to him and who were also members of the board..”   “Disney maintained that the other twelve directors were independent, in the sense that they didn't work for the company.  But that was defining independent so narrowly as to be meaningless."  "Along with John Bryson, another Eisner loyalist, and (George) Mitchell, they constituted a four-person majority loyal to Eisner."  "Three (Disney board of directors) most under (Eisner's) influence: George Mitchell, Judith Estrin and John Bryson."  "It is difficult, if not impossible, for such efforts to actually evict directors." (Mitchell, Bryson, Estrin as well as Monica Lozano are still currently on Disney's current board of directors). (Quotes from Disney War by James B. Stewart)

"Seriously, Iger's good decisions on his own management style are starting to embarrass the more old-school SaveDisney vets who were claiming all along that Iger was a "hand-picked puppet" of Eisner who would just pass along the party line..."
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Rocketrod1 said:
With Bob Iger as Disney’s CEO - (an appointment, an annoinment)  or as Roy Disney called Disney's board of director’s so-called search for a new CEO in court a “sham” -  James B. Stewart in his "Disney War" book sums it up.
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....Why, yes, Rod, you're right, that's EXACTLY what they sounded like!  Thank you for volunteering to illustrate my point!  :)

(And, er, does this book from two years ago, back before the real events actually happened, mention Eisner basically corporate-emasculating himself by cutting all ties with the company to avoid stock inquiries--only to effectively wipe himself off the face of the earth when that CNBC thing didn't catch on--and leave his "sham puppets" free to run the stage, hire back animators, sign peace treaties with Pixar and throw all his old ideas out the window?
Or did Stewart publish a new updated edition?)

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Eisner with Bob Iger cost the Disney Company a reported one hundred million dollars in a possible tax write off over the Saban deal.   It was widely reported about how Iger did not report the lost, in order to protect his job.   Then about a year later, after Bob Iger gets anointed to CEO, he fires a reported 650 employees only a few weeks ago stating that he is trying to save the company money.  Only now he says he wants to  avoid the mistakes of the past?  

I believe that Bob Iger is just a slick visual prop for Eisner.  Bob Iger was placed into power by Eisner for a reason.  To make the public believe that Eisner was no longer in power.  To let his preppy-puppet make it all seem so nice and happy.  Additionally, to have those four "Eisner" people hang tight onto the board, shows something is up.  When Eisner supposedly let go of the company, those board members as well as Bob Iger should have been canned.  If it's good enough to fire 650 people to save money, then canning Iger should have save the company lots of money especially because of the Saban tax right off loss.    Let's just see what kind of bonuses are paid out to Iger and pals.    650 less employees = more profit on paper = bigger bonus for executive.

As for Pixar, Disney needs Pixar.  Pixar was just waiting for Eisner to step aside.  So Eisner just stepped aside and now nobody (except his inner circle) can see him pulling the strings.  Clearly Disney War book brings into focus ugly issues within Disney that still remains active and hiding.  

Man, Jim, I got goosebumps reading this article. Yes! Yes! THIS is what the new guys at Disney should be doing. Let's hope they follow through.

And Rocketrod, I don't believe that Iger is Eisner's puppet. Why? Because the first thing Iger did after taking over Disney was go after Eisner's little pet project, his overpriced trophy - the Muppets (speaking of puppets), and fire just about everybody connected with them. Thank god. I knew Iger was the man Disney needed after he did that. (Incidentally, after the frog slaughter was over, Eisner dropped out of the Disney company altogether. Coincidence? I think not). Now those hasbeen handpuppets have rightly been put in limbo while Iger focuses on doing what made the Mouse House great - which WASN'T buying worn-out properties like Kermie the Sock and the Power Rangers. It was creating NEW properties with the distinct Disney flavor. I'm a huge fan of Iger's so far. I can't wait to see what he does next.

>>I believe that Bob Iger is just a slick visual prop for Eisner.<<

And I believe that robots are stealing my luggage.  (Steve Martin)

Dude, you're like those 90-year-old Japanese soldiers on the isolated islands who don't believe WWII ended.  Eisner is as over as hula hoops, pet rocks and William Hung.

Besides, so what if he **is** controlling stuff behind the scenes?  If he is, he's doing a much better job than when he was CEO.  (Ouimet's exit notwithstanding.)

Is Eisner still the largest stock holder?  Doesn't that still hold some power?

As for the Iger meeting, I think its great to get input from the "elders".  What is to be done with this info is yet to be seen.  

All in all, I am an Iger fan.

Wow.  That's some great news. Am I on the right site? Just kidding.  I have to say I thought Iger was a poor choice, but he's making some bold decisions in the right direction.  I just wonder how long he'll be ALLOWED to make those decisions before the board and stockholders start crippling him.

The largest single stock holder is Steve Jobs.

Thank you for this good article about the Burbank wags, Jim.  As I requested on a previous article's "What Do You Think?", if Bob Iger gets a new Mickey Mouse stapler, I want to hear about it.

Well, this article comes pretty close.  I'm most certain this is the stuff most of us are looking for on this site with all the changes going on at the Mouse House.  Whether the grain of truth runs strong for this article or not, these are the stories that are exciting to read at this time.

And, I didn't have to pull out my calculator for a box office number-crunching lesson this Monday.  Thank You!

Jim... Your article was WAY too short. Maybe your just saving the rest for later, but there are things that I still want to know. Starting with your opinion on the moves Iger is making, is this just lip service? Or is he really trying? Also.... just what the hell did he actually discuss in that meeting with the old WED guys? What plans? what were their comments? Whad did they like what didnt they like? I realize this info may be hard to come by, but youre the guy with all the mouse house sources and people like me want to know.

I was really motivated by this article, sos much so thatt his is my first post.

thanks jim.

these are the articles i enjoy reading...these are what brought me to this site.  i enjoy reading about disney changing for the better as far as the quality of parks and movies.  

i think iger is doing a fine job and i still think he has much work left to do.

rocketrod, what would it take iger to do for you to believe that he's doing good for disney and that eisner isn't behind it (i'm not berating you, i'm just curious)?

gigglesock said:
(Incidentally, after the frog slaughter was over, Eisner dropped out of the Disney company altogether. Coincidence? I think not).
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I think so, as the story I heard was that Eisner wanted to participate in stock deals, but cutting off all creative ties, associations, and input with the board of directors was the only way the ISC would allow him to pursue any investment in Disney without smelling hints of "insider trading".
And as to "who is the largest single stockholder", Todd, I believe a Mr. Jobs now holds that distinction.

(And again, the meeting was only on jump-starting DCA, familiarizing himself with the Imagineer situation, and asking how to "make it like the old days" since he didn't quite have his own instincts for it, but even just asking is not a bad start.)

What this article needed was way more pictures of Amy Adams!

This story proves a theory I made last year that Bob Iger wasn't the henchman that SaveDisney was apprehensive about. That he was more like Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove; he worked for the bad guy, but ultimately revealed to be one of the good guys.

I'm very excited about Enchanted. It may not be THE savior of future Disney animation, but bear in mind the recent news about over-exposure to the computer-animated films. Once people get a whiff of a film using traditional animation on the horizon, it's going to send the lot of them over the moon. And depending on how well DreamWorks' next few films do, I'm even willing to bet that Enchanted will contest the Bee Movie.

curmudgeon said:
"Isn't it odd that Lassetter wasn't included ? I mean you are paying this guy quite a lot to improve the issues raised at this meeting."
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Good point, but don't think it's a major issue:
Like Eisner and the Muppets, Iger also seems to have his own driving Ahab-obsession for '06-'07:  To prove how much he's "fixing the mistakes of the past", Iger wants more than anything right now to go down in history as the Man Who Finally Fixed California Adventure--
Which seems to have become the new symbol of how Eisner, later-Pressler and the Imagineering staff couldn't get their acts together, and "wasted" a major amound of development money on good-looking set pieces that forgot the rides, and that nobody had a reason to buy tickets to.
Me, I didn't hate the park, but Iger seems to be extrapolating the DCA problems to the larger situation of the whole Imagineer subculture inside the park offices, and he wants to fix a major -and- a minor bird with one stone.

Only reason Lasseter wasn't invited, despite being one of the park honchos, was that he wasn't "old" enough to know what worked for early-Pressler parks, and hadn't been inside the offices long enough to comment on how things had changed over the years, to any degree of changing management style.  (Regardless of Iger's own feelings about John, or what might be a growing image of "All he ever wants to do is Pixar rides!")
Of course, Lasseter -could- have always told them about his old Jungle Cruise Skipper days.  :)

Wow, semaj86, Eisner makes one impressive, and frightening, Yzma. Does that make Roy E. Disney the talking llama then? ;)

I also agree with you about Disney feature animation and the impact that "Enchanted" will have, semaj86. I think while the ten minutes of feature animation will not completely revolutionize the feature animation department at Disney, at least not on its own, it will still provide a GREAT breath of fresh air, and a lot of people, media, population, and executives alike, will catch onto its scent.

As for the article...

Yes, yes, YES. I'm just happy and excited to see that Iger is trying. I may be extremely naive when I think that Iger is doing the right thing, but the fact that he's moving in the direction Disney should have never strayed from sends a very positive vibration through me. For the first time since Eisner left it actually looks like Disney could enter another good era, one that departs from the dark days of Eisner and the Disney CORPORATION. I think his actions are exciting, and I have very good expectations of Iger.

Thanks for the article, Jim! It's put me in a very good mood.

THIS is the kind of Mousewatch Monday article I like to see! Enough with the Car/Pirates articles already!

With that out of the way... I expect great things from Iger, too. Any merit to the rumor about dropping the WDI name and returning to WED? This article proves that Iger seems serious about more than just nostalgia.

If Iger and Lasseter really are heading in this direction - to bring the "family" back to the Walt Disney Company - why, I think ol' Walt must be beaming from ear-to-ear, wherever he is.

Go for it, guys!   :-)

DerekJ said:

"Oh, but it's got Kevin Lima directing!"--What, the live-action director of "102 Dalmatians", you mean?  It's not raising my hopes any.

I'd just like to remind DerekJ that Kevin Lima also directed the animated "Tarzan" which, unlike the paltry incarnation playing the stage in New York, was a bona-fide hit, and boatsed some great artwork and storytelling.

Don't be mistaken. Bob is the real deal. Tough when he has to be. A genuine nice guy. A hands on person who loves technology. He also knows how to fix past problems as we have already seen.
Walt was once asked in his later years by a young girl did he draw? No, did he paint?" No, and a few other questions like that. Finally the girl asked him. "Well, what do you do? Walt thought and answered that basically he was like a bee going around from flower to flower pollinating other people’s ideas.
Bob knows how to pollinate and slowly you will see a new flower slowly blooming.
By the way. If Bob has to take out the shovel and plant it himself....He can do that too.

Iger is turning out to be what many expected him not to be, and that's a great thing.  We don't need a mini-me of Eisner at the mouse house.  I like what I've seen so far.  Now we just need to convince Iger to release Song of the South on DVD, and get him to mend ties with Speilberg so Roger Rabbit can get back in the parks for meet and greets.