The entertainment industry was shocked when Bob Chapek was fired as CEO of Walt Disney Company. His predecessor Bob Iger was also returning to his position. Usually, when a major player like that leaves, you tend to see the person leaving being wished well in their future endeavors, but in this case, it’s almost been a party. The return of Iger and the departure of Chapek are both celebrated by most people, including AMC Theaters’ head.
Adam Aron is the CEO of America’s largest theatre chain. Twitter Iger literally said it loud and clear that he respected Disney’s new CEO. There wasn’t even a mention of the old CEO in the tweet, it was entirely focused on Iger and it’s clear the AMC boss is very happy to have Iger back at the head of the massive box office juggernaut that is Disney. Aron said…
Disney has the highest box-office grossing movie studio. A big deal is Bob Iger returning as Disney CEO. This is what I want to shout from the top. Bob Iger is someone I hold the most respect.
It’s perhaps not that surprising that the head of a massive theater chain is happy to see Bob Iger back. Under CEO Bob Chapek, we witnessed a reduction in the theatrical window for Disney films as well as day and date releases on Disney+. While those were pandemic era decisions that most other studios also made, certainly Iger doesn’t have those decisions attached to him.
Bob Chapek also implemented a major reorganization of the media side of the company that was designed to put more emphasis on streaming, and it’s already clear that Bob Iger plans to change that, as he was reportedly not happy with much of what Chapek did as CEO. Kareem Daniel, the head of Disney’s Media and Entertainment Division, the new vertical created by Chapek, has already been let go and it’s clear Iger plans to revert things back to the previous structure or something closer to it. Aron’s tweet came before any of that happened, but he’s likely even happier now.
As Aron said, Disney is a box office champ, and while certainly things still have not returned to pre-pandemic norms, Disney hasn’t led the global box office in the same way under Chapek as it did under Iger. For all theaters, a Disney-style theatrical environment that is successful is good news.
While we’ve only glimpsed the beginning of changes that will take place at Walt Disney Company’s new leadership, many industry partners and simple fans have an optimistic outlook about where they might go.