Bob Iger Is Taking A Victory Lap But Did He Earn It?

Today was the 2024 Q4 earnings call. During the call, Bob Iger boasted about Disney’s massive leaps this quarter and year. Much of this was bolstered by the success of “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine.” The media, like Deadline, are praising Bob Iger and giving him all the credit for the turnaround. But was it him?

Deadline posted, “In executive commentary around the numbers this morning, Iger and CFO Hugh Johnson cited renewed creative strength, “a result of the extensive work we began two years ago to restore creativity to the center of the company.’ Iger rejoined the company as chief executive almost exactly two years ago, replacing his ousted, hand-picked successor Bob Chapek.”

The media credits Iger for these wins, except many of them were not under him; they were under Bob Chapek.

Let’s focus on the two big films that helped the company achieve this huge 39% jump.

“Inside Out 2”

“Inside Out 2” began production in 2020, but the announcements, hiring, and key work were made while Bob Chapek was CEO.

People working on the film were reportedly upset that under Bob Iger they were told that there would not be LGBTQ undertones in the film. Reports indicated that notes were given by Disney to make characters “less gay.”

Then there were the layoffs. 

Less than a month before “Inside Out 2” even hit theaters, Iger laid off a massive number of people from Pixar. Reportedly those laid off, who were part of the massive success of Inside Out 2, were then screwed out of their bonuses under Bob Iger.

One person told IGN “It really crushed a lot of us. When we were told the day we were laid off that it (the bonus) is only for active employees, I sobbed.“

Many others talked about the horrible working conditions they faced to get the film completed in the first place, and many were let go without the bonuses they earned.

“Deadpool & Wolverine”

“Deadpool & Wolverine” was “Deadpool 3” when it was greenlit at 20th Century Fox before Disney purchased it. Let’s make no mistake: The reason “Deadpool & Wolverine” did so well was due to Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy, not Bob Iger.

Most of the pre-production and hiring on the film were done under Bob Chapek, as was Hugh Jackman’s involvement. Jackman and Reynolds announced “Wolverine’s” return in August 2022, months before Bob Iger returned. Chapek, not Iger, green-lit a lot of what became the film we saw in theaters.

Future projects Disney is counting on

“Moana 2”

Looking toward Thanksgiving, Iger is practically giddy about “Moana 2” releasing in theaters.

While it is true that the move to turn the Disney+ show into a film was Bob Iger’s idea, the content itself was green-lit under Bob Chapek back in late 2020.

Then, Pixar’s chief creative officer, Jennifer Lee, announced the television version as a musical comedy series titled “Moana: The Series.”

All three of these were green-lit or had all the early production work that made them what they were under Bob Chapek, yet Bob Iger is being given all the credit.  (The “Moana 2” move was brilliant, though.)

“Mufasa: The Lion King”

Another animated film set to release late this year is “Mufasa: The Lion King,” a sequel to the live-action “Lion King” film. Once again, this film was greenlit under Bob Chapek back in 2020.

“Captain America: Brave New World”

This film was also green-lit under Bob Chapek, with most of the pre-production and cast signing on in 2021-2022. However, it has seen a lot of revisions and changes under Bob Iger because it was so bad. It was not a big win for Chapek like other films, but it was under him initially.

 Bob Iger’s return has not been great

The power struggle between Iger and Chapek

Since Bob Iger returned, the media has fallen all over him, but they forget that before he left, he massively overpaid for Fox, which put the company in a bad position when the pandemic hit. When that happened, Bob Chapek was thrown in as CEO. Then, there have been many reports from people involved saying that Iger mishandled the power transition, overstepped his position, and even put his ego over the company when it came to undermining the new CEO.

Proxy battles

Iger got the company into two large proxy battles.  It was Iger who led the massive waves of layoffs. Chapek had mentioned it was necessary and was removed shortly after, but then Iger stepped in, and people thought they would be safe. Instead, the cuts ended up being deeper than anticipated.

The last battle cost the company a lot of money as they made a website, media packages, videos, and more to try and beat the activist investor groups.

2023 Film Slate

Iger green-lit a lot of the films that bombed in 2023 and either barely broke even or cost the company millions of dollars. The following films were all under Bob Iger, “Ant-man and the Wasp Quantumania,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” “Disney’s Wish,” “Haunted Mansion” (which was Iger then Chapek on that one,) “The Little Mermaid,” and “The Marvels“(which to be fair was both of them.)

Now, this all being said, he did make some strides in other areas of the company, and returning the creative control to those departments is a good move (even though he then told them not to make characters gay.)  However, the idea that Iger single-handedly saved the company is simply not true. He made a lot of mistakes and spent a lot of money on things like Marvel and Star Wars, which are in massive decline.  Iger was in charge during the Disney sequel trilogy. He was in charge when Luke Skywalker was destroyed so Rey could replace him.  Iger is in charge now when there is talk of even more Rey films. Somehow, neither CEO removed Kathleen Kennedy.

Iger had pushed political ideology for years, which is why people demanded the Walt Disney Company do more when the Parental Rights in Education Bill fiasco happened. Iger also threw the company under the bus from the outside.

Bob Iger got Disney into a legal battle with the state of Florida by trying to use their Reedy Creek Improvement District board to put in caveats granting them power over the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. This led to a year-long legal battle which resulted in the removal of Reedy Creek anyway.

Iger is pushing AI into the company, even making a new division to manage it.

It’s good that Disney is doing better financially, but the mistakes that put them in the hole were not solely on Bob Chapek. I think the media needs to remember this.  Hopefully, the next CEO will do much better.