Things are very different these days at Disney.
How different? Well, let’s talk about that lunch that Bob Iger recently had with three Imagineering vets at the Team Disney building (And — no — I can’t tell you their names. All I can safely say is that all three of these individuals worked directly with Walt on the Disney theme parks back in the 1950s & 1960s).
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So why exactly did Disney’s new CEO invite this trio of old WED employees to come break bread with him on the lot? Because he reportedly want to quiz them about what it was actually like to work with Walt Disney. More importantly, Bob wanted to find out how the Old Mousestro ran his company back in the day. How Walt kept his creative team motivated & inspired.
Wait. It gets better.
Iger then allegedly asked these veteran Imagineers about WDI. In particular the poisonous political culture that seems to permeate the theme park design arm of the company these days. Bob supposedly wanted to know: “Has Imagineering always been this way? And — if not — what do you think can be done to change & improve WDI? Make it into a more productive, less political place to work?
No. Wait. It gets better still.
As this luncheon went on, Iger reportedly pulled out DCA’s expansion plans. All of the rides, shows and attractions that Imagineering wants to add to that troubled theme park over the next 10 years in an effort to finally turn California Adventure into a fitting companion to Disneyland. Bob then asked these WED veterans for their opinions on the proposed changes. What did they think would work? More importantly, what did they think wouldn’t work? Where were the possible trouble spots?
As one of the participants in this remarkable luncheon remarked:
“I was floored. Here was the new head of Disney actually soliciting our opinions. Anxious to hear what we had to say. About Imagineering, about DCA. And he didn’t even flinch when we told him that some of his ideas were bad. He just said: ‘That’s why I invited you here. I wanted to tap into your body of knowledge, your years of expertise. So that we can avoid the mistakes of the past.’
Copyright Disney Enterprises
I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to hear the head of Disney say something like this. This wasn’t just some suit giving us lip service. Iger seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say, anxious to avoid the mistakes of the Eisner era.”
You all remember the Michael Eisner era, right? Back when the company was run by a guy who’d first brag about how there were only two letters difference between how his last name was spelled and how Walt Disney’s last name was spelled, then pull out his old Paramount Pictures playbook. Which told him that the very best way to make an executive-level decision was (I’m quoting from James B. Stewart’s “DisneyWar” here)” … put six pit bulls together and see which five die.”
Iger? He doesn’t do the pit bull thing. He doesn’t share Eisner’s go-with-your-gut sensiblity. Though — that said — Bob has still done some pretty gutsy things over the past 11 months.
And — no — I’m not talking about the Pixar acquisition. Truth be told, Iger had to make that deal. Otherwise Wall Street would have never forgiven him for allowing Pixar Animation Studios to get away. No, I’m talking about Bob’s decision to finally move “Enchanted” out of development hell and make this ambitious live action / animated feature Walt Disney Pictures’ big holiday release for 2007.
Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises
“What’s so courageous about doing that?,” you ask. Well, you have to understand that “Enchanted” is a romantic fantasy-comedy that riffs on traditionally animated Disney films like “Beauty & the Beast,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Cinderella.” And — in order for this Kevin Lima film to work — the first 10 minutes or so have to be traditionally animated.
And given that — back in 2003 — Disney Feature Animation made a very big deal about how it was getting out of the traditional animation business, how Disney Studios would only be making CG features from now on … To put something like “Enchanted” into production sends a very clear message to the rest of the industry.
To put it bluntly, this is Bob Iger’s way of acknowledging that Disney made a mistake by shutting down its traditional animation unit. And by positioning “Enchanted” as the studio’s big release for the 2007 holiday season, that signals that Disney believes that there is still a significantly large audience out there that would be eager to see this sort of picture.
James Marsden (left), Amy Adams (center & right) and Patrick Dempsey (right)
Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises
And make no mistake, folks. Disney plans on giving “Enchanted” a huge promotional push next year. Not just because the success of this film will then clear the way for a full-blown traditionally animated feature like “The Frog Princess.” But — rather — because Disney Consumer Products genuinely believes that there are millions of little girls out there that will want to own their very own Giselle doll (I.E. The character that Amy Adams plays in ).
I mean, this is a business after all. But — that said — isn’t it kind of refreshing to have Disney’s new CEO working to ensure the company’s future by trying to correct some of the mistakes that the Mouse made in the past? Rather than just ignoring these previous errors and/or pretending that they didn’t exist?
Your thoughts?