Who has read "DisneyWars"...

[k5thbeatle]

...and what did you think of it? I have just started it and have barely been able to put it down. I'll save my comments until I've finished but am curious what others opinions are? ( Don't worry I know how it ends!)

 

[TeresaMc]

I am just the opposite, I have had it for about 2 weeks nad can't get into it. I am only about 1/4 of the way through.

 

[GilesFamily]

I read about the first 2 or 3 chapters, then just sped-read through the rest. I found most of it dull.

 

[rocketriter]

Couldn't put it down, and neither could my wife.

 

[zcasper]

I thought it was very good. It is certainly for the business type. I thought the best part was the epilogue where the author offered his observations.

Zach

 

[BRERALEX]

I enjoyed it. Felt a lot like Keys to the Kingdom in regards to Eisner especially in the beginning but the Katzenberg and Ovitz stuff was really good. I thought it has somer juicy parts.

 

[jchice2]

I read it and could not put it down either. I actually read it again to pick up on anything I may haved missed. It seems to be really "balanced" and not a sided story. Although, I do get the distinct impression the Eisner is a "little paranoid" to say the least.

 

[mwehttam]

I really enjoyed it. It also seems to point, as others have, that the wheels started to fall off with Wells' death. You could see how Wells was a stabilizing influence to Eisner. Once that was gone...

I think the Board really dropped the ball on that one. They should have done a search for another to fill that position, make that person responible only to the Board, just like Wells. Of course, not being there, who knows if they even could have. I think everyone was reeling from the death so that maybe they didn't want to fill the position while "the body was still warm" for lack of a better phrase.

As for the Kateznburg and Orvitz stuff, it felt like I was reading a story about petty Jr. High students.

-Matthew

 

[mitros]

I've only read up to page 110, but I find it very interesting. One of the things that I found to be REALLY interesting is that when Ei$ner and Wells came to Disney in 1984, they were ready even back then to dump animation, but Roy wanted to run the division, so in order to please him, because he bought Ei$ner into the company in the first place, he let Roy run animation....Really interesting!

 

[exDS vet]

What I found especially interesting was the ABC, ESPN, FOX Family stuff. I knew that the Fox thing was a debacle, but I couldn't believe how Eisner failed ABC by refusing to bring on shows like "Survivor" and "CSI". Or how the studio passed on opportunities to produce films like "The Lord Of The Rings" and others.

I remember how Disney ruined "Millionaire" by abusing the "synergy" thing. And I always knew that Eisner would try to take advantage of John Ritter's death where "8 Simple Rules" was concerned.

This is a very good book and tells a great story. Sure, much of it was news that many of us were already aware of, but it was nice to see it all in print.

 

[MattIL]

I finished reading Disneywar over the weekend and found it to be very interesting. I enjoyed the background history of the company that was provided and has me looking for some of the older books that talk about Disney such as Storming the Magic Kingdom.

Thoughts on the book:
Eisner (and Wells) deserves credit for kick starting the creativity within the company in the 80’s and for bringing in someone like Katzenberg who while flawed was creative, hard working and grasped the potential of animation. It is obvious that the company had gotten stale. However some of the changes they instituted any strong, competent executive would probably have done to raise profits. The raising of ticket and parking prices along with building additional hotels on the park grounds were obvious moves that in some cases had been thought of when the parks were first opened or were already being considered.

What is portrayed, as a more controversial move was the sale of Disney classics (Snow White, Cinderella, etc…) on VHS. Roy Disney was against this but they convinced him to give it a try and it worked very well. Later in this book this is described as a potential problem since once the films are owned people won’t pay to see them in theaters and that the financial gain was a one shot (per film) gain. I don’t think this estimate is accurate. As we have seen with DVD, many of these films are being repurchased in the DVD format and in the future people will probably pay to gain these films in whatever technology replaces DVDs. In addition these films help promote other Disney products (clothing, toys, resorts). I think Eisner and company had the right idea.

However, Eisner obviously has a problem with delegating authority and fears anyone having success unless that success shines only upon him. The author makes Shakespearean references but the real comparable figure is Louis XIV “The Sun King” of France. As the company grows in size Eisner wants to micromanage the company and won’t allow independence from the people below him. While he clearly has creative ideas, it is not possible for him to stay on top of everything that occurs this helps lead to many mistakes. This becomes a big problem as he refuses to use the expertise of the people around him to sound out his ideas (the purchase of Fox Family) or to allow other people to run different branches of the company. It is interesting to read about the high regard that most of the ABC people had for Robert Iger, and how he seemed to change as he had to work closer to Eisner and attempt to survive himself.

Example’s of Eisner’s leadership problems is the way loyal company executives who are creative and successful (Angela Shapiro and Steve Bornstein) and are not allowed to actually run their divisions of the company. This leads the last half of the book to be a rundown of the talented people who leave the Disney Company to work elsewhere. Eisner also will not accept criticism and expects absolute obedience from the board of directors at Disney and this leads to him coming into conflict with any member who doesn’t rubberstamp his decisions.

Eisner refuses to accept bad news when it involves decisions driven by him. In both the Fox Family purchase and the Internet venture (Go.com) he did not want to accept that he had rushed into poor decisions. In the case of the Fox Family purchase he refused to accept a reevaluation of the purchase that could have saved the company millions of dollars in taxes because it would have revealed how poor the original purchase price had been.

Former Senator George Mitchell comes off very poorly in the book as he appears to be more interested in having his law firm continue to receive business from Disney then look out for the interests of the shareholders. In a couple of instances he appears to lie to avoid Eisner’s anger or to not stick up for fellow board members even when it appears he knows they are being mistreated.

The book is very interesting, however if you are primarily interested in the theme parks you will not find a lot of information concerning them. The largest amount of information is about the discussion of Euro Disney (Spain was an option) and how its costs made it an economic drain on the company when it opened.

 

[clownboy007]

I spent 3 nights devouring the book and I thought it was great...well researched and easy to read. I was working for the company from 1989 until 1994 so it cast a whole new light on a lot of the stuff that was going on here in Florida during those years.

 

[PrincessShea]

I read it as well and thought it was ok. For me, the book focused too much on ABC and its problems. I really would have liked to read more about animation. For example, the author mentions more than once that Eisner thought Finding Nemo was mediocre...but he never mentions any type of remarks or comments by Eisner once the movie became a success. I also would've like to know why Disney stopped making animated musicals when all of them did well. The book did make me feel really sorry for Roy too. And I just recently watched the making of Fantasia 2000 and you could tell how excited and happy it made Roy. It makes me weep for the state of Disney (traditional) animation, which was once the bread and butter and now its completely disregarded

 

[randytenn]

I read it on my trip to Moscow, and finished it in about 5 days. It was fascinating and disturbing. Really lets you know what goes on in boardrooms around the country, and how things like Enron and Worldcomm can happen.

 

[wdw47]

I am about 3/4 through it and so far i agree with every thing i can not understand why Michael Eisner just has not been fired he has made Billions of dollars in mistakes

 

[disneynut-la]

I loved the book, I agree that is a very business type book and is not for everyone. I didn't like it as much as Keys to the Magic Kingdom, I feel every business would run smoothly if they followed the principles in that book. As for Eisner not being fired after costly mistakes; I think he should have been. As a Financial Advisor I am the CEO and my client is the board. If I make a cost mistake for them or give bad advice they fire me and hire someone else. Thats the nature of the beast, and in the words of the Donald,"It's nothing personal, it's just business".

 

[arminnie]

I am listening to it (audible.com) as I write this. I'm only still on the first section of 3.

 

[Michael623]

I finished it on the flight to Disneyland last week. I thought it was hit and miss. Some parts were gripping and I couldn't put it down, other sections were dull and difficult to get through. I'm not trying to back Eisner but networks pass on successful shows all the time. All 4 networks passed on the Sopranos.