With Bob Iger once again coming back as Disney CEO to course correct after Bob Chapek, it looks like the studio is going to be coming back to some ‘’ol reliable IP’ to get that stock price up again.
As per IGN, a recent earnings call at Disney had Iger reveal that sequels were being developed for Toy Story, Zootopia, and Frozen. We don’t have any official breakdowns for the upcoming projects, but some think that these movies were greenlit in an attempt to take back all of Disney’s recent losses. The same earnings call had also reported that Disney+ had lost millions of subscribers in the past few months; and if that wasn’t bad enough, the company is also said to be laying off 7000 employees.
Going back to the sequels though, a lot of fans have some mixed feelings about the announcements. Though sequels for Zootopia and Frozen II seem to be on track for where the characters had been left, a return to Toy Story does feel a bit risky. After all, Toy Story 4 didn’t really stick the landing the way the third movie did; then again, this could be a chance to ‘course correct’ the direction of Woody’s story (which turned out to be a metaphor for parenthood by the latest film).
Personally, I don’t blame Disney for going back to established IPs, but it is telling that the studio would allow Strange World to drown in the box office when the film was marketed so poorly. Hopefully Iger will handle his exit a lot better this time. Let’s just hope another pandemic doesn’t get in the way of whoever his next successor will be.
