Bob Iger Addresses Disney’s Substantial Losses: “I’ve Been Telling Everybody Good Isn’t Good Enough”

The year 2023 proved disastrous for Disney and Marvel Studios. Many of their films underperformed, and television shows received mixed reviews at best. Disney experienced its first year without a billion-dollar movie in a long while, while Marvel Studios faced the disheartening reality of ‘The Marvels’ becoming the lowest-grossing film in the MCU and failing to surpass the $100 million mark at the domestic box office.

Recently, the list of the biggest box-office flops was unveiled, featuring several Disney movies, including ‘The Marvels,’ which incurred a staggering $237 million loss on a single project. While this may seem like a minor setback for one of the most influential entertainment and media conglomerates, it prompted significant changes.

Iger has announced plans to significantly reduce their creative output. In his latest appearance at an investor conference, he attempted to elucidate the underlying issues.

As we got into the streaming business in a very, very aggressive way, we tried to tell too many stories. Basically we invested too much, way ahead of possible returns. It’s what led to streaming ending up as a $4 billion loss. It was clear to me that our structure was not working, because we were removing accountability from those that were basically investing the most capital was a mistake.

Iger also contended that their excessive content output led to a decline in quality across all their major franchises. It’s not just the MCU experiencing significant losses; the same issue affects both ‘Star Wars’ and classic Disney Animation. However, some fans argue that Iger isn’t addressing the root cause of their profit losses.

There’s a very fine line that you can cross and get in trouble if your volume ends up diluting management’s attention to what is being made is right. And that’s what happened to us. So I have pulled that back. I’ve been telling everybody good isn’t good enough. It has to be great. Just keep driving that, but if you force them to make too much, then that becomes almost impossible to do.

Many fans have noted that Disney’s recent remarks are impacting their revenue, potentially alienating their core audience with projects that lack widespread interest. Examples include female-centric superhero films and shows that portray men negatively, as well as race-swapping iconic characters. Do you believe this is a matter of quality or social virtue-signaling? Share your thoughts in the comments!