Disney CEO Says World ‘Needs’ Storytelling. Is Disney the One to Do It?
By Movieguide® Contributor
Bob Iger’s mission is to bring creativity to the heart of Disney, and while the mega-company had an unfavorable year in 2023, it’s got some creative success to celebrate and look forward to in 2024.
“Just this summer, The Walt Disney Company earned a record-breaking 183 Emmy nominations and released two blockbuster movies, DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE and INSIDE OUT 2,” Good Morning America reported Aug. 9.
“Every single transaction that this company experiences emanates from great creativity and great storytelling. It all starts right there,” Iger said ahead of Disney’s fan event, D23. “And when I returned to the company in 2022…it was very, very clear to me that we had to put creativity back to basically the center of this company.”
D23 is an event that started in 2009 and is named after the year which Walt Disney founded the company in 1923. The event occurred last weekend in Anaheim, California.
“Every time I’ve been to this event…I leave with a sense of incredible pride, but actually, a real sense of joy seeing what impact we’ve had on people all over the world, and to see it up close,” Iger said. “It’s an extraordinary feeling.”
Several new movies were announced at the event, and Disney fans are excited for MOANA 2.
Movieguide® reported:
After Disney’s MOANA 2 trailer dropped on Wednesday, it broke records as the company’s most-watched animated trailer, with 178 million views in just 24 hours.
“That traffic sails by previous record holders INSIDE OUT 2 (157MM) and FROZEN 2 (116MM),” Deadline reported Thursday. “The figure also comes in above Pixar’s INCREDIBLES 2 (113MM).”
“We learned in the first film just what an unbelievable adventurer Moana is…and I can only say that she is going to prove that yet again to us,” said Iger, who has seen the movie. “And she has a great relationship with her younger sister, who is kind of a breakout star of the film to come in many ways.”
And when asked if there will be another INSIDE OUT movie, Iger hinted that there might be.
“Iger said he ‘would love’ to see that movie made,” Good Morning America reported.
“I’ll just leave it at that,” he said.
INSIDE OUT 2 director Kelsey Mann is ready to make another movie, though. He said he’s got a “whole stockpile of ideas.”
He told USA Today, “They’re too good, they’re too funny, they’re too interesting for them not to be tapped into. So I have no idea where the future will go, [but] it should continue because I think it’s something that the audience really wants.”
Iger first started to work in the entertainment industry at ABC over fifty years ago. The 73-year-old notes that “everything has changed” except for just one thing
“That is the importance of and the power of storytelling, and the need for people and the want of people to be entertained, and I think that’s probably never been as true as it is today. It’s something the world needs,” he said.
While Disney will strive to keep up with AI and the change in entertainment and technology, Iger always wants to keep the heart of Disney close.
“I think, first of all, it’s really important that in a world where technology provides people with these visual experiences that are stunning in many ways, and look real, I think we have to remember that the experience of coming to one of our parks is an immersive experience in a physical environment,” Iger said. “The reality here is reality. It’s real, you know, and I think that’s important, so I don’t want to lose that.”
“But we also know that there are new generations of people in our world grow up with these incredible and stunning visual images, so you have to deliver on that expectation, too,” he added.
At D23, Iger spoke about how the company’s diversity is still connected by one thing — Disney’s mission.
“While each of our businesses might seem different from one another, in fact they fuel each other in ways that are just distinctly Disney,” Iger said to the crowd. “They are bound by a common mission: to tell great stories…and to bring you those stories in the most modern, relevant, and compelling ways.”
“We take that responsibility seriously,” he said. “We are grateful for every moment, every memory that we’re fortunate enough to be part of. And we’re grateful to you for caring so much about the things we create and inviting Disney into your lives in such profound ways.”
