Disney is in its flop era, with once-exciting properties like Marvel and Star Wars turning into tiring treadmills of forgettable content, and even the mighty Pixar devolving into just-okay kids' movies. Now, Disney CEO Bob Iger has acknowledged that the company has prioritized quantity or quality, admitting, "We lost some focus."
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Iger blamed the pandemic for the company's decline in quality.
"As I looked at our overall output, meaning the studio, it's clear that the pandemic created a lot of challenges creatively for everybody, including for us," he said. "In addition, at the time the pandemic hit, we were leaning into a huge increase in how much we were making and I've always felt that quantity can be actually a negative when it comes to quality. And I think that's exactly what happened. We lost some focus."
Iger pointed out that Disney has continued to have major box-office successes, notably including Avatar: The Way of Water. The company has also suffered some flops at the box office, however including Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and The Haunted Mansion.
Iger promised a rise in quality, saying, "I feel really optimistic about the slate going forward, which is going to be a balance between some really strong sequels to some very, very popular titles, as well as some good original content, starting with Wish, which comes out Thanksgiving weekend. So I feel good about the direction we're headed. But I'm mindful of the fact that our performance from a quality perspective wasn't really up to the standards that we set for ourselves."
The latest MCU film, The Marvels, comes to theatres tomorrow (November 10). It's expected to be another flop, and early reviews have been mixed.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Iger blamed the pandemic for the company's decline in quality.
"As I looked at our overall output, meaning the studio, it's clear that the pandemic created a lot of challenges creatively for everybody, including for us," he said. "In addition, at the time the pandemic hit, we were leaning into a huge increase in how much we were making and I've always felt that quantity can be actually a negative when it comes to quality. And I think that's exactly what happened. We lost some focus."
Iger pointed out that Disney has continued to have major box-office successes, notably including Avatar: The Way of Water. The company has also suffered some flops at the box office, however including Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and The Haunted Mansion.
Iger promised a rise in quality, saying, "I feel really optimistic about the slate going forward, which is going to be a balance between some really strong sequels to some very, very popular titles, as well as some good original content, starting with Wish, which comes out Thanksgiving weekend. So I feel good about the direction we're headed. But I'm mindful of the fact that our performance from a quality perspective wasn't really up to the standards that we set for ourselves."
The latest MCU film, The Marvels, comes to theatres tomorrow (November 10). It's expected to be another flop, and early reviews have been mixed.