A new report at Bloomberg today (via NY Post and The Wrap) has gone into the troubles facing Disney and its CEO Bob Iger.
Sources for the outlet claim the company chief is feeling “overwhelmed and exhausted” as the studio faces box office hiccups, subscriber challenges and decreased theme park attendance.
The studio has been an entertainment giant for several decades, especially in the film arena, with plenty of commercial success and often critical success too. When flops did happen, they were normally spread out and mitigated by surrounding hits.
This year, however, the studio has faced an unexpected number of disappointments, movies with outsized budgets yielding mixed reviews and soft box office. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” was an exception that did well both critically and commercially.
However “Elemental,” the live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid,” “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” all underperformed – films with budgets between $200-300 million that ended up grossing between $383-570 million each worldwide. The new “Haunted Mansion” meanwhile straight out bombed with $115 million off a $150 million budget.
On the streaming side, Disney+ has reportedly been losing hundreds of millions of dollars every quarter, whilst billionaire hedge fund manager Nelson Peltz is said to be looking to further boost his stake in the firm. Rumors of a potential sell-off of Disney’s TV business also keep swirling.
Disney’s stock price meanwhile has seen a fall from $191 per share back in March 2021 to as low as $78.32 a share last Wednesday. For the full report, head over to Bloomberg.
