Star Wars Has Made Disney $13 Billion?!?!?

That pitch to Disney shareholders has been a barrel of laughs. Bob Iger has to be feeling like he is standing in Michael Eisner's shoes twenty years ago. Just about every one of Eisner's fatal problems has an analog today. ABC Capital Cities was assimilated by the Mickey-Borg in 1996. Part of the reason that Murphy and Burke decided to let Michael Eisner buy the company was because they had promised Bob Iger that he would become CEO of ABC Capital Cities when...

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RE:View – The Terminator

Los Angeles 2029: There is nothing but rubble, mountains of skulls and gigantic killing machines rolling through the streets gunning down the last few remaining inhabitants of LA. “YEAH SKYNET!! GIT SUM! GIT SUM! YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! HOO-RA-A-AH!” “Dear, please quit rooting for the terminators,” The Mother of the Darkspawn sighed. “It’s bothering the children.” “Nah, we’re cool with it, Mom,” replied Darkspawn. Before Westworld came along the Robot Apocalypse used to be cool. The Machines weren’t angsty at all. They just wanted to...

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The Latest Round of Disney White Papers

We have two more white paper filings to the SEC in fast approaching showdown between Nelson Peltz’s Trian group and Robert Iger’s tame board of directors that he wants to keep tame.  Peltz’s filing was a thorough 130 page evisceration of the Walt Disney Company’s failings. Trian is the opposition. His pitch for himself and Jay Rasulo being on the board is made on a strong business track record. Since Bob Iger can’t possibly stand on his own merits in 2024, he has...

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Walt Disney World Investments SLASHED!!!

Oops. Bob Iger's supporters said the quiet part out loud. The Disney Company has released an editorial reply to Nelson Peltz and Trian's white paper. Mickey and Great and Terrible's own white paper is kind of an embarrassment. Disney seems to have convinced itself its financial legerdemain is so brilliant no one could hope to penetrate it. Well, I did, and so did anybody else that wasn't high on Pixie-Dust. One of Bob Iger's big claims for the park is that he...

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The Head of Imagineering Has Been Fired!

When a business wants an announcement spread far and wide it’s made on Monday early in the afternoon. When a company doesn’t want to bring attention to it, it’s made on a Friday at 4:40 in the afternoon.  When a company wants a piece of news buried six feet deep, with a layer of peat moss thrown on top, they announce it on a Saturday. On Saturday afternoon Barbara Bouza, the president of Walt Disney Imagineering announced her departure.   They at least...

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Sweet Baby Cyanide 

So why haven’t I said anything about Sweet Baby?  Because to me the problem has been so self-evident for so long that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Yes, I knew about it. I knew the cancer for what it was and how it spread.   I also knew that Sweet Baby Inc was not the only “narrative development studio that provides "sensitivity reviews and consultation.”  Lionbridge Games is still on the grift train, Sliverstring Media is the up-and-comer. And...

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RE:View – SyFy’s Dune

On September 24, 1992, Leonard Nimoy was watching a countdown timer run out. For a few days, this countdown had been running on a new channel owned by USA Networks. It was a joint venture between Paramount and Universal. When the timer reached zero an extended trailer started featuring the finest, reasonably priced computer graphics available in the early 90s, combined with some miniatures designed by John Dykstra.  The director held up three fingers, then two, then one. With the cheerful...

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Nelson Peltz’s White Paper

Everyone knew this was coming but the forms of vendetta must be obeyed. Nelson Peltz has finally thrown down his gauntlet at Bob Iger’s feet.  The Trian Group has sent its 130-page white paper (more of a white novel if you ask me) to Disney’s institutional investors.  This is basically a list of everything that Disney is doing wrong and what Peltz says needs to be done to fix them. The letter to PepsiCo was rather searing about PepsiCo’s own stance...

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Harddrive-by: Helldivers 2

I had pretty much given up on playing AAA games when this came along..  They have mostly been a series of rolling disasters for the past couple of years. Redfall, Gollum, Starfield, Skull Island, Overwatch 2, Diablo 4, Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League and of course The Last of Us 2. You’ve probably got a list of your own.  It’s not just technical incompetence, although if you buy anything from Bethesda, damn kid what were you thinking? No, politics have pushed...

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