Disney CEO Bob Iger reveals that the studio has secretly “killed a few projects” it lost faith in, they just haven’t been public about it.
Not every movie is going to cross the finish line, but studios such as Warner Bros. have come under fire for publically scrapping movies such as Batgirl, Coyote vs. ACME, and more. Per Deadline, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that his studio has done the same thing; they just haven’t been as public about it.
Bob Iger said that Disney has “killed a few projects already that we just didn’t feel were strong enough,” but didn’t elaborate on which projects those were or how far along they were. “We’re doing a lot. When we talk about improving our film slate, there are really three approaches,” Iger said. “One is you have to kill things you no longer believe. And that’s not easy in this business. Because either you’ve gotten started, you have some … costs. It’s a relationship with either your employees or with a creative community. And it’s not an easy thing. But you got to make those tough calls.“
Iger continued, “We’ve actually made those tough calls. We’ve not been that public about it. You have to look at everything you’re making, that you do believe in. And you have to take a position that good is not good enough. You have to basically strive for perfection.“
Disney has been struggling at the box office with some notable misfires over the last year, but Iger is confident that the studio will be able to return to past glories. “As a studio, that was number one at the box office for seven out of eight years, that was not an accident,” Iger said. “That’s a combination of both, obviously, the IP that we have, but also the execution — both the management execution, the execution from the creative side.” In an effort to get things back on track, Iger said that they would be “spending a lot of time with the creators, watching these films, giving detailed notes … engaging in a respectful process that results in improvement. And actually, when I talked about being relentless, it’s not letting certain things get in the way of making something great. Whether it’s more resources … or more time… You have to put into the pipeline things you really do believe in. And we know we’re working on that as well.“