CEO Defends Disney Moves on Movie Releases
Disney “called it exactly right” when it shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic last year to the three-pronged strategy of releasing some feature films direct to theaters, others exclusively through Disney+, and still others as a hybrid Premier Access option through…
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theaters and on Disney+ streaming, CEO Bob Chapek told a Goldman Sachs conference virtually Tuesday. Amid the market's "vast uncertainties," deciding which film goes to which channel is akin to working a stick shift, he said. The three-pronged distribution approach has “locked in” some “flexibility,” said Chapek. “We love theatrical exhibition. We’ve seen the power of that the last several decades.” But direct-to-consumer streaming is “strategically the most important thing our company is doing,” he said. The studio has a slate of upcoming movies conducive to “very short” theatrical exhibition “windows,” said Chapek, citing Encanto, the animated musical debuting Nov. 24 in theaters and 30 days later on Disney+. Its “relatively short theatrical window” will capture “99.9% of the viewers that would go see that movie anyway,” and create a buzz for those who want to watch it a month later on Disney+, he said. The media company is interested in sports betting, as are its partner sports leagues, the CEO said. In-game wagering is “definitely a place we want to be,” said Chapek. “It’s not something we would do necessarily solo in the gambling area, but we believe that our brands have the degrees of freedom to enable us to expand our presence there, and I think you’re starting to see us take some pretty big steps along that way.”