#Disney Shareholders Meeting

[notclub33]

The Disney Shareholder's Meeting & Walt Disney World

How @RobertIger Plans to Spend $17 Billion at #WaltDisneyWorld. #disneystock #disney100 #disneyyoutube #notclub33 #wdw #money #BobIger

[thecarlosramos]

[wilwheaton]

On August 11, day 102 of the 11,500-person Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, which has largely shut down the film industry coast to coast, aided by below-the-line workers respecting picket lines and bolstered by 160,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), who initiated their own strike on July 14, the studios finally returned to the bargaining table. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the organization that bargains on behalf of the major studios, offered counterproposals, a long-awaited response to the WGA’s proposals. The two sides met the following week and continued to exchange proposals. Then, on August 22, day 113 of the WGA strike, the two sides met again, but with an important addition: previous negotiating sessions had been led by AMPTP president Carol Lombardini, the studios’ hired hand, while at this one, the bosses who make the decisions were in the room. Disney CEO Bob Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, and NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley came to the table to face the WGA’s elected leadership in the room outside of the AMPTP’s Sherman Oaks, California, headquarters where the negotiations have taken place. Workers, suffering the devastating effects of a months-long strike, hoped that the studios might finally offer counterproposals that meet their needs. Instead, the bargaining session led to further unraveling. “We accepted [the] invitation and, in good faith, met tonight, in hopes that the companies were serious about getting the industry back to work,” wrote the WGA negotiating committee in a message to members following the meeting. “Instead, on the 113th day of the strike — and while SAG-AFTRA is walking the picket lines by our side — we were met with a lecture about how good their single and only counteroffer was.” The two sides had agreed to adhere to a media blackout, vowing not to leak information about the proposals to third parties. Yet immediately following the August 22 session, the AMPTP publicly released a document highlighting elements of their counterproposal. “This was a meeting to get us to cave,” said the WGA leadership, “which is why, not twenty minutes after we left the meeting, the AMPTP released its summary of their proposals.”

The Hollywood Studios Still Aren’t Serious About Ending the Writers’ Strike

These sociopath CEOs are hearing it from shareholders, who want us to get back to work. The shareholders are making it clear that the psychopath CEOs can release the LESS THAN ONE PERCENT of their compensations to get us back to work.

So the sociopath CEOs put on a big show of coming back to bargain and work this out ... and when the WGA sits down to bargain, these sociopath CEOs have the fucking nerve to just lecture the WGA about how great their absolute garbage offer is. The offer WGA rejected because it didn’t address any of the issues on the table.

These sociopath CEOs are the problem:

Disney CEO Bob Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, and NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley 

These sociopath CEOs are greedy and entitled. That any one of them thought that lecturing WGA, then gaslighting members (in violation of not just the agreed upon media blackout, but likely in violation of labor law) would move us any closer to getting back to work tells you everything you need to know about who the problem is.

Fuck these scumbags, fuck their greed, and fuck their gaslighting.

[queen-breha-organa]

I wanted to briefly come back online and discuss the WGA and, in turn, the current writer's strike.

I know my opinion matters very little, and I don’t consider myself an expert or a valuable voice in this matter. However, since I talk about Star Wars a lot, I wanted to discuss the strike because these things go hand in hand. I think it’s unfair to ignore the real-world circumstances that shape the media you enjoy. Knowing the context of something is important. And beyond that, this situation has just been on my mind, and I wanted to express my thoughts somewhere. 

Firstly, all workers should be paid living wages. All workers deserve to be treated fairly and compensated fairly. All workers deserve safe, productive, and fair working environments—end of story.

I’ve been seeing a lot of jokes along the lines of “I didn’t even know media had writers these days,” and while I understand the joke and the potential humor in it, I feel like it’s important to realize that this is entirely why the WGA is striking in the first place.

The writer’s rooms are shrinking. Writers are being overworked. Writers are being underpaid. Writers are being dismissed and undercut. These factors lead to poorly written and poorly managed shows because the individuals who write the bones of the shows are exhausted and burdened by corporate interference, unreasonable deadlines (especially in animation), unfair wages, and stale corporate agendas.

Additionally, these writers often aren’t given the opportunity to oversee or manage their writing while it’s being filmed. Instead, companies are acting as if the writing process ends before the filming process so that they can shorten the writer's contracts and pay them less. However, in actuality, the writing process is often most valuable during the filming process. 

Some things work on paper but don’t work on the day. Maybe the joke doesn’t land, or an actor can’t deliver the line as intended. Writers are needed on set to rework and revise these lines, so the process can run smoother without sacrificing story and believability. Now some actors are incredible at improvising and can make these things work. However, overall, without writers on set, you usually end up with awkward/stiff dialogue or scenes that make no sense. Writing doesn’t stop in the writers' room.

Another massive force driving this strike is the evolution of streaming services. 

With “traditional” tv reruns, the network airing the media has to purchase the viewing rights of the episode or the show. This money is then extended to the people who worked on the show in the form of residuals. It makes sense. Something you worked on makes money, so in turn, you get money. 

However, streaming services have broken this mold by allowing consumers to watch whatever media whenever they want. Streaming services claim that it is no longer possible to pay residuals for these shows since they don’t know how often or when the shows are being watched. This is a lie.

Companies will brag privately in shareholder's meetings and publicly in articles about streaming shows that have done well. We’ll read headlines like “Stranger Things’ Was Most-Streamed TV Show in 2022” or “‘Star Wars’ vs. Marvel: Which Disney+ Shows Are Most-Viewed.” These articles and the data within them prove it is possible to know how frequently shows/movies are being watched on streaming services. Still, companies are only willing to shell out this information for bragging rights and not for fair payments.

In 2021, Disney CEO Bob Chapk earned $32 million. In contrast, the WGA website states, “Median weekly writer-producer pay has declined 4% over the last decade. Adjusting for inflation, the decline is 23%.” These writers are merely asking for 3%, while CEOs are given the moon.

This is unacceptable.

If you’re reading this post, if you’re on Tumblr and engaging with fandoms enough to have this post written by me, a Star Wars blog, circulate on your feed, media writing has affected your life. Writers have impacted you and your daily routine and hobbies. 

You should care about this strike. You should be supporting this strike. 

We all want our favorite shows to come back, we all want to reunite with our favorite characters, and we all want to see their stories, their triumphs, and their struggles. 

But the real people behind these stories and behind these characters are far more important than any fictional narrative. 

These writers have crafted the worlds and stories we love, and by supporting them, we can return the favor and craft a better world for them too.

[alphacentaurinebula]

AU where Crowley is the CEO of Netflix and Aziraphale is the CEO of Disney and when they meet up they admit to each other that the streaming revenue model doesn’t make sense and it is a stock price bubble and they always knew it would eventually screw over consumers and shareholders. Even if the rest of their companies don’t acknowledge it, they can, to each other.

Because they’re on their own side.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Estimated $100m second weekend for INSIDE OUT 2... Really out here breaking some records, eh? Rare for a movie, and the first time for an animated movie, should the estimates be on the low end. Very possible the actual is like $98-99m, which is still very impressive, and only an approx. 35% drop.

If it gets over $100m over the three-day, it'll sit with all-timers THE FORCE AWAKENS, ENDGAME, INFINITY WAR, BLACK PANTHER, JURASSIC WORLD, and THE AVENGERS...

Really shows that the original INSIDE OUT is beloved after its blockbuster run in 2015, and it shows that audiences quite like this movie and are back for more. Might even make a play for INCREDIBLES 2's $608m domestic total, unadjusted of course. (The actual total in today's ticket prices is around $720m, per The-Numbers.) That would make it the highest-earning animated movie domestically, but right now, Pixar's Supers hold that title. Adjusted, it will always belong to SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS.

But if anybody was gonna beat Pixar, it was gonna be Pixar. I don't see another studio getting a shot at this, maybe except cousin studio Disney Animation and their MOANA 2... Or DreamWorks if SHREK 5 really lands like a meteor in a few years from now.

Worldwide, INSIDE OUT 2 sits at $724m. Again, within two weeks of release. Already circling the original's $857m take. (Before anyone says it, the film saw a small re-release in July 2020 that pushed the take to... $858m. Know that I refer to original release grosses, lol.)

And with this movie doing so well, I see all the Chicken Little-ing... Over the wrong problem.

"We're NEVER getting an original movie from this studio again"

Okay... Let me try to debunk this.

I don't think an animation studio of this size can feasibly ONLY make sequels, because eventually... Wells run dry. Also, the people who yell this often online... Are they aware that ELIO exists and will be released next summer? Are they aware that Domee Shi, director of TURNING RED, has a new movie in the works at Pixar? (It's not ELIO, she is likely just doing story/script on that one.) Are they aware that Pixar has a movie slotted for release in late winter 2026 between ELIO and TOY STORY 5?

I'll tell you something funny... There was a fellow who insisted to me in December 2015 that Pixar was going to be done with original movies after THE GOOD DINOSAUR became the studio's first money-loser. That they'd put COCO on hold, and that would be it... LOL. This person also claimed to be a shareholder... That speaks volumes.

But no, really... You need to keep making untested or original movies in order to have things to make sequels to in the first place. And one of Pixar's recent losses was... A spin-off of TOY STORY featuring a version of one of their most recognizable, practically synonymous-with-their-name characters. Yeah, that epic movie about Lenny the binoculars!

So, please... Never making originals again? That's just a bad business plan and completely not feasible.

When originals/non-sequels don't meet the corporations' expectations (because I refuse to call SOUL, LUCA, TURNING RED and ELEMENTAL "flops" in any way, shape, or form... *Especially* the first three), the studios don't stop making them... They stop making them in a specific way.

Hence, Pete Docter - likely with Bob Iger pointing a gun at his head - saying Pixar won't make "autobiographical" movies anymore. Basically no more TURNING REDs, and more... Well, whatever the early 2026 movie is going to be. (Which is not this "Ducks" thing people keep insisting it is, as far as I know.)

The other studios do that, too. Off the top of my head... DreamWorks had a bunch of these fantasy movie in the works circa 2011. Stuff like THE GRIMM LEGACY, RUMBLEWICK, ALMA, fantastical stories with something of a darker bent to them. They were also considering adapting GIL'S ALL FRIGHT DINER... They had all these really cool movies in the works that would've redefined what a DreamWorks movie could be, post-SHREK. And then after a movie called RISE OF THE GUARDIANS lost money (even though it had good legs and became a cult hit thereafter), all of it never happened. ME AND MY SHADOW, which was in some form of production and was HOTLY anticipated by the animation community, got canceled. They proceeded to finish TURBO and MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN.

Both of which also "flopped"... I remember Jeffrey Katzenberg, when he was still running that place, saying something to the tune of: "Well those failed because we tried to aim at preteens and teenagers." Really? TURBO and PEABODY, which were overpriced to begin with, were aiming for that age group? The plan going forward was "We're going to make movies for kids and their parents." Whatever the hell that meant. Eventually, Comcast bought DreamWorks, a little over a year later. And the flightplan constantly changed after that.

Studios don't give up on movies that aren't sequels, they just re-route them. They find "reasons" for previous movie failures, and usually it's the fault of the filmmakers and the stories they chose to tell. It's never any outside circumstances, which are actually often the case with money-losing movies. The very movies that go on to be big on home video and streaming, and attain cult followings. With today's line of thinking, Walt Disney wouldn't have even gotten past PINOCCHIO's disastrous original release results.

So instead of yelling "we'll never get original movies again", I direct my energy elsewhere... And I say "Well, hopefully the future movies - both original and sequel - don't fall flat because of needless executive interference that attempts to *correct* a perceived problem." That to me is the issue, not the fantasy of Pixar completely stopping making original movies altogether.

[prettywitchiusaka]

Hello Ben.

Not sure if you'll even take the time to read this. But between the P. Diddy scandal, Harry and Meghan's corporate "empire" falling apart, and that shareholders meeting at Disney fast approaching, I figured I'd at least make one last attempt to convince you to save your skin while you still can.

I'm not gonna be mean about it, I'm not even gonna be pedantic. Rather, I'm just gonna say this.

By refusing to get your act together and save yourself you're letting your fans down.

You're letting me and the rest of the skeptic community down.

You're letting @gatorfisch and especially @aeltri down.

You're letting what few friends you have left in the entertainment industry down.

And most importantly, you're letting yourself down.

You don't deserve this.

You know you don't deserve this.

You didn't do anything to deserve the nightmare you've been subjected to for nearly a decade. You're basically being punished for the crime of existing and being more talented than your enemies, and by not disowning them, you're letting them win.

But that's not how this story has to end; you still have some time and sway, not to mention powerful allies in the industry. Take advantage of them. Let them help you. Otherwise, you'll be hung out to dry along with the people who've wronged you, and I don't think you want that.

So use your resources. Take back your life so you can start to heal. Get back to being the man you used to be. The man we fell in love with a decade ago. Because you're much more likeable when you're just being yourself.

Or rather...well, let me put it this way. If Nelson Peltz gets that seat on the Disney Shareholders board he's gunning for, changes will be coming. If you don't toe the line, there will be repercussions.

And frankly, after the way you were treated on MoM, I think you'd like nothing more than a redemption on that third one.

Or, you can have more of this;

Granted, it's just a rumor. But I think you're just as sick of the multiverse shenanigans as the fans are.

Anyway, that's all I have to say, for now. I leave the ball in your court. Good luck.

[alexaloves]

Footage From ‘The Bear’ Gives Fans a First Peek of Season 3 - Eater Chicago

Food critics are in Season 3.

[feydrautha]

I shake and hiss and snarl like a frightened yet angry chihuaha whenever someone calls fanfiction "content", fic writers "content creators" and fic readers "content consumers"

Idk about you, but I am literally only vibing, writing indulgent little stories for myself, maybe my friends as well if they're in the insanity with me, and if someone else happens to enjoy them, that's great!

You meanwhile seem to be stuck in some delusion where you're attending a shareholder meeting at Disney with how you're trying to mentally monetise something that has its very basis in being a gift economy. Kill the Jeff Bezos that lives in your brain and if not, then don't take him out for a walk

[insanityclause]

In case you didn’t see the Disney shareholder meeting news, they’re holding on to Dwayne Johnson with a live action “Moana” movie.

I hadn't seen it yet, but here's the full announcement - including some a longer GotG trailer, too.

[leviathangourmet]

WDW_Pro has a whistleblower who informs him of this. The whistelblower turned over PowerPoint slides of various woke sermons employees were required to attend.

According to the whistleblower:

Since the summer of 2020, employees at Disney were required to keep DEI "virtue diaries" documenting their actions in service of the cause.

Their continuing employment, opportunities for advancement, bonuses and salary increases were all dependent on showing this "virtue diary" and documenting all the DEI meetings and conferences they attended. In other words, if you wanted to keep your job, you were required to participate in the DEI indoctrination sessions.

The whistleblower further reveals that when the "My Not-So-Secret-Gay Agenda" videos from Disney's woke "Reimagine Tomorrow" initiative were leaked, former "Chief Diversity Officer" Thon Newton issued the official corporate lie that these videos were "fake news" and instructed Disney employees to deny that they were real.

The whistleblower then revealed that if Disney's DEI Police saw a Disney employee making any kind of traditionalist or conservative statement online, that person would be summoned to a Human Resources "meeting" and demanded to explain why they transgressed against the one true faith.

WDW_Pro notes that this intolerable intolerance had the desired effect of driving away almost all conservative-leaning or committed Christian workers at Disney.

Disney, if these reports are true, purged all of its conservative-leaning people -- but still insists its movie are "for everybody" and that any conservative who chooses to boycott this vicious Marxist indoctrination factory is a bigot or prude.

The whistlebower says that Thon Newton also instituted a policy in which any minority -- a member of the DEI coalition -- must be seriously considered for any job he or she applied for, even if he lacked the very most basic, essential requirements for the job. Even for highly technical positions, job prerequisites were waved for DEI candidates.

The whistleblower also revealed that Disney changed its bonus payment schedule for jobs like advertising sales. Where previously your bonus was just based on how much advertising space you sold, Disney changed it MBO (Management by Objective) system to include bonuses for such things as "Championing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion," rather than actually increasing the value of the company and stockholder value. To receive qualify for this bonus, you were required to attend their biweekly diversity indoctrination sessions. (And note it in your "virtue diary," I assume.) WDW_Pro provides pictures of what the whistleblower says are Disney's corporate materials specifying these special bonuses-for-being-leftwing.

That video below, and Valiant Renegade's follow-up.

Hopefully Blob Iger will be closely questioned about this at the upcoming shareholder earnings meeting in early August.

But then, whenever he gets a tough question, he lies and equivocates, and apparently shareholders have no legal right to get true answers to pertinent questions about how the company they own is being run.

As if that weren't enough -- the producers of the next super-feminist trans-positive lesbian Star Wars TV show The Acoylte brag that their newfanged feminist queer take on the Star Wars property will feature laser-swords.. but not guns.

Because guns are icky, I assume?

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

Tomorrow (June 3) at 1:30PM, I’m in Edinburgh for the Cymera Festival on a panel with Nina Allen and Ian McDonald.

Monday (June 5) at 7:15PM, I’m in London at the British Library with my novel Red Team Blues, hosted by Baroness Martha Lane Fox.

On Tuesday (June 6), I’m on a Rightscon panel about interoperability.

On Wednesday (June 7), I’m keynoting the Re:publica conference in Berlin.

On Thursday (June 8) at 8PM, I’m at Otherland Books in Berlin.

#15yrsago John McCain vows to continue Bush’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program https://www.wired.com/2008/06/mccain-id-spy-o/

#10yrsago OccupyGezi: the People’s Bulldozer https://occupygezipics.tumblr.com/post/52008000563/peoples-bulldozer-chases-police-toma-vehicles-in

#10yrsago Meet austerity’s millionaires https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/jun/01/top-earners-millionaires-inequality-city-finance

#10yrsago Gas-mask dervish: #occupygezi https://twitter.com/joeman42/status/341492885650292738

#5yrsago Private equity bosses took $200m out of Toys R Us and crashed the company, lifetime employees got $0 in severance https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/06/01/how-can-they-walk-away-with-millions-and-leave-workers-with-zero-toys-r-us-workers-say-they-deserve-severance/

#5yrsago Bernie Sanders rallies Disneyland employees for a $15 minimum wage https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/390430-bernie-sanders-disney-needs-moral-defense-for-having-hungry-workers-while/

#5yrsago UK consumer review magazine Which?: your smart home is spying on you, from your TV to your toothbrush https://web.archive.org/web/20180603221154/https://www.which.co.uk/news/2018/06/which-investigation-reveals-staggering-level-of-smart-home-surveillance/

#5yrsago America is the world’s first poor rich country https://eand.co/why-america-is-the-worlds-first-poor-rich-country-17f5a80e444a

#5yrsago Zuckerberg blows off Facebook shareholders’ demand for transparency, says he’s committed to transparency https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/06/01/corporate-dictatorship-facebook-shareholders-get-their-turn-to-grill-mark-zuckerberg/

#5yrsago Illinois votes to eliminate inmates’ doctor visit co-pays, equivalent to one month’s wages https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/05/30/the-580-co-pay

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Edinburgh, London, and Berlin!

[popculturebrain]

‘Moana’ Live Action Remake Set at Disney With Dwayne Johnson Returning

Dwayne Johnson announced a new live-action remake of “Moana” during the Disney 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders Webcast on April 3.

Subscribe to the Pop Culture Brain Daily newsletter for more stories like this!

[novumtimes]

Nelson Peltz sells entire Disney stake after billionaire father-in-law of Brooklyn Beckham lost takeover battle with CEO Bog Iger

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Hedgefund billionaire Nelson Peltz sold his entire stake in Disney after his bid to shake up Disney’s board was soundly defeated, according to reports. The father of actor Nicola Peltz-Beckham, married to Brooklyn Beckham, reportedly sold his stock at “close to $120 dollars a share,” to make about $1 billion on the sale, CNBC reported. The share price indicates he made the sale in the aftermath of an April shareholder meeting in which he failed to take control of the company’s board. Hedgefund Trian Partners, which is funded by Peltz, nominated Peltz himself to win a seat on the board. However, their bid was soundly defeated by other shareholders at the annual meeting on April 3. The vote came following complaints from Peltz claiming the board had failed to do its job with regards to CEO succession planning in not vetting former parks boss Bob Chapek – who was current CEO Bob Iger’s favourite to succeed him in 2020. Nelson Peltz (left) and Brooklyn Beckham and daughter Nicola Peltz (Getty) Iger was brought back in as CEO in November 2022 after Chapek was ousted. Following last month’s vote, Peltz vowed to continue his critique if the board failed to deliver. “I hope this is not a redo of last year where we pulled out, gave management a chance and the stock went down,” he told CNBC. He added: “Whether we stay [invested in Disney] or not, we don’t make those kinds of announcements.” Peltz’s Trian Partners wanted to oust two directors, Maria Elena Lagomasino and Michael Froman, citing sustained share underperformance accordin to CNBC. However, it was reported that Peltz lost to Lagomasino by a 2-to-1 margin, and the company’s entire slate of board nominees were reelected. Peltz has criticised the board for their failure to vet former CEO Bob Chapek (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) Peltz, who is Brooklyn Beckham’s father-in-law is regarded as an activist investor, meaning that he invests in companies considered undervalued and then lobbies for change within them. Bob Iger has led the Walt Disney Company for a 17-year term as CEO, leading the multi-billion dollar kingdom through a pandemic, scandals, the rise of online streaming, and more recently, his own successor. Bob Chapek was passed the mantle by Mr Iger in 2020, who quickly swooped back in less than three years later after a string of film flops and poor management costing the organisation millions of dollars. Mr Iger does plan to step down – hopefully more permanently – in the coming years. According to Vanity Fair, the entertainment giant has narrowed down Iger’s list of successors to four candidates, with plans in place to hand over in 2026 – and crucially avoid a repeat of the 2022 disaster that saw Iger return to pick up the pieces within just three years. The people tapped as candidates for the CEO position are Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro, and Josh D’Amaro. Source link via The Novum Times

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Jennifer Lee, CCO of Walt Disney Animation Studios, via an interview for Fandango... On FROZEN III and IV being made back to back...

“We’re working in a room where this half is FROZEN III, this half is FROZEN IV, we’re standing in the middle going back & forth”

For many observers, this is recalling the grueling production of ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE and how Sony made it seem - up until last year's strikes and that story on alleged animator crunch - that BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE would debut less than a year later. ACROSS debuted June 2, 2023, and BEYOND was meant for March 29, 2024...

And yet, they were nowhere near getting that picture off the ground, and it remains date-less. Which is good, but it should've never been given the 3/29/2024 date to begin with if it was nowhere near leaving the station... And I've said before that these dates are really just announced to whet the appetites of investors and shareholders, but... Here's the thing...

After guesting on a podcast recently and talking about all the eras of Disney Feature Animation, I've come to suspect something about Jennifer Lee's tenure as WDAS leader...

And I think it all goes back to her feature directorial debut, the original FROZEN...

FROZEN was changed dramatically within a year of its release. Like as late as June 2013, when its teaser was out... The movie was released in November 2013...

Now, luckily for everyone involved, the film was a critical hit, an Oscar winner, and a financial explosion. Me? I think the film has always been something of a mess, seemingly hastily thrown together and it was evident to me that stuff was being worked on at last minute... But I'm not the rest of the world, who went gaga for the movie. There are parts of it that really work on their own, but I feel it needed another year in the works to really come together as a grand slam.

Every once in a while, an animated movie is taken apart and put back together way too close to release date. Infamously, Pixar's TOY STORY 2 was dramatically overhauled within a year of release, and few feel that that film is anything less than great. But that's a sort-of an "okay, phew, we made it, but NEVER again" thing. TOY STORY 2 is a rare instance where they worked way too hard under such immense pressure, and delivered something really good.

And it should've never happened on FROZEN. I know that the studios "have" to meet these release dates and not miss those scheduled promotional tie-ins (see MINIONS 2 merchandise and early MARIO MOVIE Happy Meal toys, for starters), but this isn't it... Especially when you're seemingly doing it again and again and again.

Before I go on, yes, John Lasseter also did similar stuff. FROZEN was a movie he oversaw after all. ZOOTOPIA saw a protagonist swap and a massive overhaul about a year and a few months away from its release date. One character was rewritten and redesigned for MOANA, with another one's presence dialed down significantly... But only after some merchandise was made. It wasn't as common under Lasseter as it is now, though. Lasseter tended to break stuff apart and boot directors off of movies well before they came out. The issue with Lasseter was that he wanted directors to make the movie HE wanted to make, but he usually got the dirty work out of the way earlier. Not... Less than 5 months away from release!

I get the sense that FROZEN director-writer Lee - upon becoming the CCO of Disney Animation following Lasseter's prolonged exit - thinks you can just do that with any animation production willy-nilly and it'll turn out just fine in the end.

FROZEN II had a whole Disney+ documentary admitting to this, RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON had a massive director change about a year away from release, STRANGE WORLD and WISH felt similarly thrown together. MOANA 2 was a Disney+ show first, and became a movie... Seemingly not too long ago. Many directors left under Lee, much like they did under Lasseter. Don Hall left, as did Carlos Lopez Estrada. It seems like no progress has been made on whatever it is Suzi Yoonessi and Josie Trinidad are/were working on.

From my outside perspective, Lee's WDAS doesn't lock a picture a year in advance, making tiny revisions along the way, and hoping for the best when the thing is completed. To me, it seems like they needlessly change and rearrange huge vital chunks of their movies so close to completion, no doubt a strain on the crews and no doubt a reason why some - myself included, as I try to be fair - are a little underwhelmed with their recent work. And then they take too much advice from focus groups, or one of the crew's kids, and then go and re-do whole things because of that... Like, what's going on over there? And it's equally wrong that at Sony Animation, Phil Lord seemed to have kept changing things on ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE to the point where at least more than one version was rolling in theaters...

You just gotta lock the damn thing a year away from release. Novel concept, I guess. If it really isn't working, then delay it. That's what Pixar did with GOOD DINOSAUR and ELIO. Disney Animation did that with THE LION KING... But I guess that's a lot to ask for.

Also, there's your answer as to why WDAS will likely not make any 2D movies anytime soon. Sorry y'all, but Donald Duck's appearance on HOT ONES isn't the sign of a full-on mainstream 2D feature comeback. The studio heads and clout-loaded producers can micromanage these CG films a lot easier, without all that pesky stuff with lead animators and the whole 2D process/pipeline getting in their way, in their attempts to get the "story" right whilst keeping the assembly line going.

And ya wonder why an animation strike is currently underway...