BRERALEX
That's a wrap.
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2001
- Messages
- 917
Found this on savedisney.com found it interesting
Progress Report: D-
Despite promises of an imminent turnaround, Disney seems to have met with little success
By Jim Douglas
Let's see where we stand:
ABC canceled "Kingdom Hospital" and remains mired in fourth place.
"Home on the Range" opened to dismal reviews and lackluster ticket sales.
The Orlando Sentinel publicly questioned Walt Disney World's maintenance and upkeep.
Disney's California Adventure is giving tickets away for free.
"The Incredibles" doesn't open until after the end of the fiscal year.
There's still no buyer for the Disney Store.
Despite Michael Eisner's insistence that The Walt Disney Company is approaching better times, it has not met with any measurable success since the end of 2003, and the prospects for the next several months look increasingly dim.
At the ABC Network, the February "sweeps" - the period when viewership determines the rates advertisers will pay - was a major failure. ABC was the only network that lost viewers compared with the same period a year ago, and the only bright spot was a return of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" that only mustered a top-15 finish. On Monday, April 5, Diane Sawyer interviewed Matthew Perry of NBC's "Friends" and joked with viewers that with the end of that show's successful 10-year run, "Please watch ABC."
But not many people are, and the much-ballyhooed Stephen King drama "Kingdom Hospital," which represented a strategic effort to air "limited-run"series, has been canceled due to low ratings. Despite four years of trying, ABC has not managed to create a breakout hit on which it can build at least one night of dominance. With the failure of "Hospital" and the marginal ratings for the "Millionaire" specials, ABC faces at least one more year of dwindling viewership and cellar-dwelling ratings. (On some nights, even the fifth-ranked WB Network challenges ABC for viewers.)
On the studio front, Michael Eisner has vowed that things are looking bright. While sales were strong for "The Lion King 1 ½" on DVD, that has been the company's only hit since the end of last year. Theatrically, things are even worse, with "The Ladykillers," "Hidalgo" and, more tellingly, "Home on the Range" all failing to score with moviegoers. Since Jan. 1, Disney films have achieved about $195 million in ticket sales - but its films have cost the company nearly $300 million to make and market. While "Miracle" has been a moderate success, its $65 million in box-office gross is hardly anything to brag about, even though the film will ultimately break even. Internationally, things aren't looking much better, since the films Disney has released so far this year have limited appeal in non-U.S. markets.
Looking down the road, "The Alamo," Disney's $100-million retelling of the Texas battle, has been meeting scabrous early reviews that don't bode well, and its positioning as an April release - after the Easter holiday but before the summer blockbusters start rolling out - hardly implies faith in the investment. Likely, Disney will face serious write-downs to cover the costs of both "The Alamo" and "Home on the Range." The latter grossed $14 million in its first weekend, indicative of a large "kiddie" audience that doesn't cross over into adult viewers - a mix of which are vital for the success of any family film. While Disney may have "dumped" "Home on the Range" due to its new focus on computer-generated films, the reviews have consistently reminded moviegoers that it's story - not technique - that matters.
There may be one bright spot on the horizon: the Pixar production of "The Incredibles." If advance word is any guide, the title is truthful. But it won't make Disney's fiscal year 2004 look any less un-incredible, because it doesn't open until November - a full two months after Disney closes its books on 2004. That spot seems less luminous.
Theme parks have been seeing increased bookings - as well as increased promotions that heavily discount or even give away tickets. Walt Disney World had a major success with a "kids free" promotion that had the resort literally give away child admissions to the parks. California Adventure went one step further and simply gave away admission to everyone who bought a ticket to Disneyland. While those moves increase attendance and hotel-room stays, they attract people who spend less in the parks and who get "sale fever" - once they've visited Disney parks for a heavy discount, they're unlikely to come again unless they have a similar incentive. By aggressively discounting admission and promoting "two-for-one" sales, the parks have set themselves up for difficult comparisons in the future, damaged their reputations as attractions that can demand a premium price ... and also made it necessary to raise the "regular" price of a ticket yet again, leading the media to report on the exorbitant cost of going to a Disney theme park.
Meanwhile, terrorist attacks in Europe and the fear of more attacks in the U.S. provide Disney with an easy excuse should the parks fail to have a stellar summer. Tourism has risen back to pre-9/11 levels in New York City, Las Vegas and Europe, but Disney keeps insisting, three years later, that terrorism still strikes fear in the hearts of would-be theme-park visitors ... even while Michael Eisner insists on "Larry King Live" that Disney parks "are not a target."
As if those attendance woes weren't bad enough, The Orlando Sentinel ran a major story questioning the upkeep of the Disney parks and concluding that a team of professionals found the maintenance to be sorely lacking in quality. Disney, of course, issued strongly worded rebuttals, but the damage was done - and no one at Disney seemed to understand that image is reality; if the parks hadn't suffered in appearances for so long, The Orlando Sentinel never would have had a reason to write the story.
At Disneyland, questions continue to persist about maintenance and the quality of the parks, and while California Adventure is preparing to open its latest import from Florida, Universal Studios - just 30 miles up the road - is getting ready to unveil a major "Mummy"-themed thrill ride that is wholly original.
The Consumer Products group, meanwhile, is nearing life-support status as it continues to bleed money and see most of its potential profits go toward exorbitant executive salaries. Although Disney stated in its 2003 Annual Report that the Disney Store "is the face of Disney in hometowns across the country," it still wants to sell the chain. So much for putting on the best face possible. But nearly a year after it announced its intentions, there's still no buyer.
Meantime, the Stores continue to their slide into kiddie-dom, even as Disney Consumer Products Chairman Andy Mooney acknowledged to employees that it was the decision (which he made) to remove adult merchandise from the Stores that has led to their decline. But instead of returning that merchandise to the forefront, Consumer Products has decided to risk a major write-down to sell the stores. At the same time, Licensing revenue continues to be flat as retailers question the appeal of the Disney brand - based primarily on the lackluster performance of its entertainment and theme-park properties. It's all connected, though Disney can't seem to recognize that.
Five months have passed since Roy Disney and Stanley Gold resigned from Disney and issued their sharp criticisms and call for change. At the time, Disney accused Roy and Stanley of spreading malicious half-truths - while never making an effort to correct those alleged misstatements and hiding behind its own pronouncements that everyone else was wrong and it (along with Eisner) was right, no matter what anyone said.
Looking at its performance in the past five months, Roy and Stanley still seem to have the facts on their side: Disney has failed to make any significant progress toward a turnaround, and Michael Eisner's assertions that one is forthcoming still seem dubious at best.
Progress Report: D-
Despite promises of an imminent turnaround, Disney seems to have met with little success
By Jim Douglas
Let's see where we stand:
ABC canceled "Kingdom Hospital" and remains mired in fourth place.
"Home on the Range" opened to dismal reviews and lackluster ticket sales.
The Orlando Sentinel publicly questioned Walt Disney World's maintenance and upkeep.
Disney's California Adventure is giving tickets away for free.
"The Incredibles" doesn't open until after the end of the fiscal year.
There's still no buyer for the Disney Store.
Despite Michael Eisner's insistence that The Walt Disney Company is approaching better times, it has not met with any measurable success since the end of 2003, and the prospects for the next several months look increasingly dim.
At the ABC Network, the February "sweeps" - the period when viewership determines the rates advertisers will pay - was a major failure. ABC was the only network that lost viewers compared with the same period a year ago, and the only bright spot was a return of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" that only mustered a top-15 finish. On Monday, April 5, Diane Sawyer interviewed Matthew Perry of NBC's "Friends" and joked with viewers that with the end of that show's successful 10-year run, "Please watch ABC."
But not many people are, and the much-ballyhooed Stephen King drama "Kingdom Hospital," which represented a strategic effort to air "limited-run"series, has been canceled due to low ratings. Despite four years of trying, ABC has not managed to create a breakout hit on which it can build at least one night of dominance. With the failure of "Hospital" and the marginal ratings for the "Millionaire" specials, ABC faces at least one more year of dwindling viewership and cellar-dwelling ratings. (On some nights, even the fifth-ranked WB Network challenges ABC for viewers.)
On the studio front, Michael Eisner has vowed that things are looking bright. While sales were strong for "The Lion King 1 ½" on DVD, that has been the company's only hit since the end of last year. Theatrically, things are even worse, with "The Ladykillers," "Hidalgo" and, more tellingly, "Home on the Range" all failing to score with moviegoers. Since Jan. 1, Disney films have achieved about $195 million in ticket sales - but its films have cost the company nearly $300 million to make and market. While "Miracle" has been a moderate success, its $65 million in box-office gross is hardly anything to brag about, even though the film will ultimately break even. Internationally, things aren't looking much better, since the films Disney has released so far this year have limited appeal in non-U.S. markets.
Looking down the road, "The Alamo," Disney's $100-million retelling of the Texas battle, has been meeting scabrous early reviews that don't bode well, and its positioning as an April release - after the Easter holiday but before the summer blockbusters start rolling out - hardly implies faith in the investment. Likely, Disney will face serious write-downs to cover the costs of both "The Alamo" and "Home on the Range." The latter grossed $14 million in its first weekend, indicative of a large "kiddie" audience that doesn't cross over into adult viewers - a mix of which are vital for the success of any family film. While Disney may have "dumped" "Home on the Range" due to its new focus on computer-generated films, the reviews have consistently reminded moviegoers that it's story - not technique - that matters.
There may be one bright spot on the horizon: the Pixar production of "The Incredibles." If advance word is any guide, the title is truthful. But it won't make Disney's fiscal year 2004 look any less un-incredible, because it doesn't open until November - a full two months after Disney closes its books on 2004. That spot seems less luminous.
Theme parks have been seeing increased bookings - as well as increased promotions that heavily discount or even give away tickets. Walt Disney World had a major success with a "kids free" promotion that had the resort literally give away child admissions to the parks. California Adventure went one step further and simply gave away admission to everyone who bought a ticket to Disneyland. While those moves increase attendance and hotel-room stays, they attract people who spend less in the parks and who get "sale fever" - once they've visited Disney parks for a heavy discount, they're unlikely to come again unless they have a similar incentive. By aggressively discounting admission and promoting "two-for-one" sales, the parks have set themselves up for difficult comparisons in the future, damaged their reputations as attractions that can demand a premium price ... and also made it necessary to raise the "regular" price of a ticket yet again, leading the media to report on the exorbitant cost of going to a Disney theme park.
Meanwhile, terrorist attacks in Europe and the fear of more attacks in the U.S. provide Disney with an easy excuse should the parks fail to have a stellar summer. Tourism has risen back to pre-9/11 levels in New York City, Las Vegas and Europe, but Disney keeps insisting, three years later, that terrorism still strikes fear in the hearts of would-be theme-park visitors ... even while Michael Eisner insists on "Larry King Live" that Disney parks "are not a target."
As if those attendance woes weren't bad enough, The Orlando Sentinel ran a major story questioning the upkeep of the Disney parks and concluding that a team of professionals found the maintenance to be sorely lacking in quality. Disney, of course, issued strongly worded rebuttals, but the damage was done - and no one at Disney seemed to understand that image is reality; if the parks hadn't suffered in appearances for so long, The Orlando Sentinel never would have had a reason to write the story.
At Disneyland, questions continue to persist about maintenance and the quality of the parks, and while California Adventure is preparing to open its latest import from Florida, Universal Studios - just 30 miles up the road - is getting ready to unveil a major "Mummy"-themed thrill ride that is wholly original.
The Consumer Products group, meanwhile, is nearing life-support status as it continues to bleed money and see most of its potential profits go toward exorbitant executive salaries. Although Disney stated in its 2003 Annual Report that the Disney Store "is the face of Disney in hometowns across the country," it still wants to sell the chain. So much for putting on the best face possible. But nearly a year after it announced its intentions, there's still no buyer.
Meantime, the Stores continue to their slide into kiddie-dom, even as Disney Consumer Products Chairman Andy Mooney acknowledged to employees that it was the decision (which he made) to remove adult merchandise from the Stores that has led to their decline. But instead of returning that merchandise to the forefront, Consumer Products has decided to risk a major write-down to sell the stores. At the same time, Licensing revenue continues to be flat as retailers question the appeal of the Disney brand - based primarily on the lackluster performance of its entertainment and theme-park properties. It's all connected, though Disney can't seem to recognize that.
Five months have passed since Roy Disney and Stanley Gold resigned from Disney and issued their sharp criticisms and call for change. At the time, Disney accused Roy and Stanley of spreading malicious half-truths - while never making an effort to correct those alleged misstatements and hiding behind its own pronouncements that everyone else was wrong and it (along with Eisner) was right, no matter what anyone said.
Looking at its performance in the past five months, Roy and Stanley still seem to have the facts on their side: Disney has failed to make any significant progress toward a turnaround, and Michael Eisner's assertions that one is forthcoming still seem dubious at best.
or blaming business failures on...well, whatever excuse is handy. It is good for us to see the other side of the spin too.
