Why Disney's ‘Trolls World Tour’ on demand debut will change the movie industry
Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous, Brian Sozzi, Heidi Chung and Dan Roberts discuss how the film industry has had to change as the coronavirus impacts movie theaters and film releases, and how Bob Iger has reasserted control of Disney.
Video Transcript
BRIAN SOZZI: I want to get right to our editor at large at Yahoo Finance, Dan Roberts, to talk some Disney. Dan, some interesting talks this morning out there in Twittersphere about the state of Bob Iger and what he is precisely working on at Disney. This guy was supposed to retire.
DAN ROBERTS: Exactly right, Brian. And look, we did say even when the news came out, you know, whatever it was a couple of months ago, that Iger was stepping down as CEO but would remain executive chairman. Everyone did say, look, since he's not leaving yet-- and he still said, I'm going to stay on until, you know, the end of 2021, as I always said-- even though he's no longer CEO, it was clear that he's still going to be likely seen as the face of the company.
Well, now then he reports this morning he's even more than that. He has "reasserted control" is kind of the phrasing of this "Times" story. And that makes perfect sense.
It isn't as though Bob Iger said, OK, I reverse my decision. Call me CEO. But it sounds like it's a situation where he is CEO again, or I should say, "still," in all but name.
And that's because coronavirus has racked this company. I mean, all of the Disney parks are closed in the world through at least the end of April. And the company has furloughed most of the park's workers, which is, you know, tens of thousands of employees . And not to mention, it can't film new product-- I mean, new projects. So, you know, Disney Studios, no new shows or movies being filmed right now.
Basically, all of Disney's business-- and you can add ESPN and ABC in there in the networks part-- is hurting majorly, except for Disney+, which yes, that's a silver lining. But that's just a sliver of the whole and is a new venture. So it sounds like Iger, and as the "Times" says, "BlueJeans call by BlueJeans call," because the company is not using Zoom, Brian, because of the security concerns. It sounds like Iger is kind of taking over the helm again because this is a company in crisis.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Hey, Dan, I want to talk about Hollywood. You mention some of the Disney movies and what they were doing. When they saw a huge rise in subscriber ship to Disney+, they rushed "Frozen II" out to their streaming service right away. And then this past weekend, "Trolls World Tour," which I believe is a Universal film, went straight to a streaming service.
Do you think that that's a test case here for the greater Hollywood? Are we going to see larger, more pricier films with bigger budgets go right to streaming services during this pandemic?
DAN ROBERTS: So I think it depends how long the situation lasts, right? And I don't go quite as far as the "Daily Beast" article today that, I think, a little bit tongue in cheek called this "Trolls" movie, you know, it's going to be the most influential movie in cinematic history because of the release strategy. And by the way, this "Trolls" movie is not the first thing, the first project since the coronavirus stay-at-home season began, to head to streaming services early. As you said, "Frozen II" was put on streaming much faster than it would have been, and same with "Onward," the new Pixar movie.
But the difference here, Universal, you know, there was no theater time. It brought the movie right to rental. So you can rent it on demand, but it's $20. And I think that's the key is that that is a steep price. It isn't free with some streaming service. It's a $20 rental. But I suspect that it's going to do very, very well.
And look, I think Disney would be hesitant to take, say, a movie that it knows is going to kill at the box office, like "Black Widow," which is going to have Scarlett Johansson, which has been pushed, or any of its other Marvel movies, or any Pixar movies, and release them directly to Disney+ instead of theaters, unless this thing lasts a lot longer. I mean, if we're still staying at home in late June, I think you will start to see other movies just put directly on streaming, the key being that these studios want to try and wring whatever revenue they can out of it.
So maybe instead of being free, they would do what "Trolls" has done, which is make it a $20 rental, which, again, I think that's steep. But if you have kids right now you're trying to entertain at home, it probably makes a lot of sense. I know my niece has already watched it, watched it day one. And even I, as an adult, plan to watch it. It looks like it's kind of cute.
So I'll probably pay up for it. And I think it's smart by Universal. But you have to wonder, in the end, is the movie going to make less than it would have made in theaters?
HEIDI CHUNG: Dan, so streaming certainly having its moment, and it seems as if new entrants are still planning to come onto the market. But what does this say about the future of cinema, not just here in the US, but abroad as well, specifically movie theaters? Are they just going to essentially go out of business as people start to shift more toward streaming, less towards seeing things in person?
DAN ROBERTS: So I am really concerned about that as a movie lover and specifically a lover of going to movie theaters. You know, in our area in Connecticut, we have three different small movie theaters we love going to. The people there are nice. It's a great experience. And I worry that these things are going to go out of business.
Now, movie theaters has been just one of many examples that I think a lot of people-- you know, there's a viral tweet going around about, you know, coronavirus has just hastened the death of a number of businesses or certain transitions in society-- you know, colleges and universities moving to online courses, movie theaters dying and moving to streaming, trends that were already beginning to surface, but maybe are hurrying up now.
I do think that a lot of movie theaters and maybe some whole movie theater chains will not survive this time. I mean, they're completely closed. They were already businesses that were hurting. But I'd like to think that movie theaters in general are not going to ever completely die off. There will always be some movie theaters here and there for the charm of the experience.
But yeah, I mean, I think they're big, big trouble. There's a story out today about AMC looking into bankruptcy. So this is a problem. I mean, it's one thing to have, say, a number closed or most of your theaters closed. But right now, all the biggest movie theaters across the country are completely closed. They are making $0, and that's brutal.
BRIAN SOZZI: Dan, just on movie theaters, look what these theaters have done the past two to three years-- posh seating, now they're serving beer. You have to almost take a step back and think, they're going to have to reinvent the movie theater again. I don't know if I want to sit next to somebody so often.
DAN ROBERTS: So they've tried everything. You're right. And I do think that enough theaters now have the seating ahead of time, you know, where you buy the ticket online and you choose your seats, that even before coronavirus, when I go into a theater now where you didn't pick your seat ahead of time, and you have to, you know, try and arrive early and pick your seat, that already feels dated to me. So I think you're right that when we emerge from this, the movie theaters that survive will have to, even more so, embrace the kind of sweeteners that were already out there.
Now, let's just say, even though movie theaters were struggling, there had been a slew of movies in the last two years from Disney, by the way, which we were just talking about, largely, Marvel, Star Wars, that have made a killing at the box office. So it isn't true that, you know, movie theaters, big blockbusters, can't do well at movie theaters anymore. I like to say, you know, the death of movie theaters has been greatly exaggerated, but now with this time, maybe only somewhat exaggerated. I think some chains won't emerge from this.
But you're right. I mean, I always use as a good example, Alamo Drafthouse, which is a small chain but growing. There's one in Brooklyn, but it started in Austin. The experience is so good, where you know your seat ahead of time. The seat reclines. You can order a drink or food brought to your seat. The people who bring it duck down and make sure not to bother the experience.
I think you're right, Brian, that the movie theaters that survive will have to do better than just, "we're a movie theater."
BRIAN SOZZI: Definitely rooting for them. Dan Roberts, good to see you.
DAN ROBERTS: Thanks, guys.