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Credit: DisneyBob Iger had a pretty big year in 2023, but it certainly hasn’t been a smooth one.
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While he has already accomplished a lot, Bob Iger’s return to Disney has been filled with controversy, mostly due to the CEO’s statements regarding the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Earlier in 2023, Iger commented on the strikes, stating that the demands organizations were seeking were “unrealistic.” It’s important to note that the demands from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA included better pay as well as knocking down the studio’s ability to reproduce actors’ likenesses with artificial intelligence. Iger also stated that the strikes were “very disturbing” to him, a move that seemed to allow Iger to step both sides of the aisle.
This quickly painted Iger as a villain on social media, with the CEO facing large amounts of criticism and backlash over these comments. Iger was criticized not only because of his comments but also because of the massive paychecks he was and still is receiving as CEO of The Walt Disney Company. Iger reportedly earned around $45 million in 2021.
A new story from The Hollywood Reporter paints Bob Iger in an exceptionally bad light, calling him one of the biggest “villains” of the year thanks to his controversial comments on the strikes earlier this year.
“He rode back into town last year like a high-EQ white knight to rescue the Magic Kingdom from his flailing handpicked successor, only to be cast as one of the principal villains of the strikes and architect of Disney’s “Awakening.””
Bob Iger
Iger’s comments read as extremely out of touch and tainted his otherwise squeaky-clean reputation. Bob Iger’s return to Disney has also been marred by political controversy, with Disney and the state of Florida embroiled in a battle that dates back almost two years at this point. Bob Iger first became CEO of The Walt Disney Company in 2005, leading the company through some of its most transformative years. Iger was at the wheel during some of Disney’s biggest decisions, like purchasing Lucasfilm, Marvel, and 20th Century Fox. Iger also guided Disney through some of its largest theme park expansions, such as Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland. Iger succeeded immensely at Disney, bringing the theme parks to the forefront.
However, in late 2019, Iger announced his time at Disney would be coming to a somewhat abrupt end, with Bob Chapek, another Disney veteran, taking on the role of CEO. The exchange of power between Iger and Chapek was swift and came as a bit of a surprise, especially since Bob Iger ended his position with the company a lot earlier than most had expected.
For almost four decades, only two CEOs served The Walt Disney Company, Michael Eisner from 1984 to 2005 and Bob Iger from 2005 to 2020. Each leader faced their own share of controversy and hard times, with Eisner guiding the company through one of its worst periods. Eisner had a hand in creating so many iconic Disney experiences that we all fondly remember, like rides and attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, as well as a long list of classic animated films. Each one of these former Disney CEOs faced their own sets of challenges.
However, no CEO will be as divisive as Bob Chapek.
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Bob Chapek was revealed as Disney’s next CEO in late 2019, fully taking over the company in early 2020, probably the worst time to be handed the “keys to the kingdom.” Chapek made a lot of decisions that rubbed fans the wrong way, like the addition of Disney Genie at the theme parks, as well as various changes to pricing across both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. To fans, Chapek seemed more focused on providing Disney with profits than providing customers with a satisfying product. This wouldn’t last, however, with Disney officially revealing that Chapek was being terminated from his position in late 2022, with Bob Iger stepping back into the role he had left just a few short years before.
Admittedly, Iger certainly had a tough hand dealt to him as well, taking over the reins of The Walt Disney Company at a critical point in the company’s history. While profits from theme parks were booming, Disney saw an unprecedented drop in quality and box office returns within its movie division. Both Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar struggled considerably at the box office in both 2022 and 2023, with recent releases like Lightyear (2022), Strange World (2022), and Wish (2023) failing to resonate with audiences the same way other iconic Disney motion pictures were able to.
Disney’s Wish and Marvel Studios’ The Marvels (2023) have both failed to deliver financially this year, with The Marvels becoming the lowest-grossing MCU film in history. The film itself is quite fun, in our opinion, offering a much-needed break from the multiverse shenanigans of other films like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Political Troubles
In 2022, The Walt Disney Company, which was under the leadership of then-CEO Bob Chapek, made a statement in response to Florida’s highly controversial new piece of legislation, known around the world as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. This immediately put a target on Disney’s back, with conservative lawmakers, politicians, and other public figures calling out the company for embracing “woke” ideology.
The biggest critic of Disney was and has been Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has threatened Disney with all kinds of legal and political punishment. Chapek exited The Walt Disney Company in late 2022, leaving behind a slew of trouble for Iger to clean up. Iger did his best to sidestep the backlash, but DeSantis proved to be a lot stronger of a force than many had expected. One of the main threats from DeSantis was the removal of Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District. This special ruling was enacted in the 1960s and allowed The Walt Disney Company to own and operate the Walt Disney World Resort as its own form of limited government. This not only allowed Disney to save time and money but also allowed tourism to grow exponentially faster than it would have normally. In the decades since the original district was established, Disney and Florida formed a healthy symbiotic relationship.
However, this all came crashing down in 2023. Disney lost control of the RCID, with the state of Florida overtaking the district. DeSantis hand-picked new board members and renamed the RCID to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD). Along with the name change came other changes in the way of regulatory and governmental processes. DeSantis continued to threaten The Walt Disney Company throughout the year, revealing he wanted to build a new state prison directly next to Walt Disney World. DeSantis also threatened to come after Disney World’s rides and attractions, stating new maintenance and inspection orders were on the way. This extended to the Walt Disney World Monorail, a mode of transportation that’s synonymous with Disney parks and resorts.
The future of Disney and Florida’s relationship is certainly shaky, with Disney launching multiple lawsuits against Gov. DeSantis and the State of Florida. DeSantis’ team filed a motion to dismiss a federal lawsuit against him, with the first hearing regarding this motion being heard earlier in December. Only time will tell what becomes of these lawsuits and Disney and Florida’s relationship, but it’s quite easy to see just how shaky things are between the two at this current moment. In 2023, Disney also found itself in a battle against outspoken CEO and entrepreneur Elon Musk after dipping out of Musk’s X social media platform.
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Fans began to notice that The Walt Disney Company had halted posts on X, the site formally known as Twitter. X is owned by Elon Musk, who purchased the massive social media platform for $44 billion in 2022. Since then, Musk’s decisions for the brand can only be described as perplexing. As a result of Musk’s controversial nature, Disney began cutting back on the amounts of posts it made on the X platform. Elon Musk quickly took note, calling out Disney and other companies for dropping advertising. Elon Musk specifically called out Bob Iger, telling him and other executives to “Go F*** Yourselves.”
Elon Musk further rubbed salt in the seemingly self-inflicted wound by pulling Disney+ from his line of Tesla vehicles. The Walt Disney Company launched Disney+ back in 2019, with the streaming service quickly breaking records and becoming one of the most popular streaming platforms of all time. Disney was quickly able to compete with giants like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Max, carving out its own little section in the already-crowded sector. Disney+ is anchored by a great selection of content, spanning from classic Disney movies like The Little Mermaid (1989) to new releases such as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). Disney+ acts as a hub for all things Marvel and Star Wars as well, allowing fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and expansive line of Star Wars content to immerse themselves in countless hours of content.
While Disney+ has failed to turn a profit, it’s an exceptional streaming service that millions of fans use every day, and with recent additions like ESPN and Hulu, it’s only getting bigger. Bob Iger has made it a top priority to turn Disney+ into a profitable aspect of the business, with Disney heading in the right direction.
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Bob Iger’s current contract as CEO of The Walt Disney Company extends until 2026. Disney is actively working on choosing a successor to replace Iger, with many high-level executives, both in-house and outside Disney, in the running. Iger still has quite a while left as CEO of Disney, with plenty of massive expansions on the way. In 2022, Disney announced some significant changes were coming to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World. Bob Iger himself revealed the news of a new experience based on James Cameron’s Avatar franchise coming to the Disneyland Resort in California.
In 2023, Bob Iger, alongside Josh D’amaro, Chairperson of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, announced that Disney was pledging $60 billion in spending toward its theme park division in the coming decade. The team at Disney was purposely vague regarding these announcements, but with recent theme park expansions and additions like The World of Frozen in Hong Kong Disneyland and Zootopia Land at Shanghai Disneyland, we’re incredibly excited about the future of the Disney theme parks. This is not to say that even the Disney parks are free from their own sets of challenges, with Iger and his team facing some of the biggest failures we’ve seen take place inside a Disney resort in 2023. One of these failures is the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.
This immersive Star Wars experience allowed guests to board the fictional Halcyon starcruiser for a two-night, three-day adventure in space. This experience was a merge between a cruise and a regular hotel, allowing guests to fully immerse themselves in their own Star Wars story. Unfortunately, Disney pulled the plug a little over a year after opening the experience. Disney’s Galactic Starcruiser was exceptionally unique and incredibly expensive, making Disney’s return on investment that much riskier. Ultimately, things didn’t work out the way Disney had planned, and while we’re sad, we’re glad The Walt Disney Company is still willing to innovate and provide guests and fans with creative, never-before-seen magical moments to enjoy.
New rides like TRON Lightcycle / Run at Magic Kingdom, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT, and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway at the Disneyland Resort have reinvigorated a lot of fans’ passion for Disney theme parks, including ours. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is, without a doubt, one of the best roller coasters we’ve been on and may just be the best roller coaster built by Walt Disney Imagineering. We can’t wait to see what the future of Disney holds, both the years under Iger and Iger’s successor.
What do you think about Bob Iger? Who was your favorite Walt Disney Company CEO?