Disney CEO Bob Iger Admits to Secretly Canceling Movies

Disney CEO Bob Iger admitted to secretly cancelling some movies. During a Morgan Stanley Conference today, the Disney CEO talked at length about the company’s theatrical strategy. In his comments, Iger described some tough decisions in cancelling projects that he felt like wouldn’t help kickstart a strong 2025 and beyond for the company. It remains to see which projects were affected exactly, but observers are going to be watching D23 like a hawk for any projects that are curiously absent. In particular, Iger mentioned that the feature film division “hit on hard times that need addressing.” Here’s what he said:

“You have to kill things you no longer believe in, and that’s not easy in this business, because either you’ve gotten started, you have some sunk costs, or it’s a relationship with either your employees or with the creative community,” Iger shared (h/t THR). “It’s not an easy thing, but you got to make those tough calls. We’ve actually made those tough calls. We’ve not been that public about it, but we’ve killed a few projects already, that we just didn’t feel were strong enough.”

Iger Touts New Disney Movie Strategy

Not too long ago, during late 2023’s Disney Town Hall, Iger championed the company’s new approach. He talked up the popular Internet buzzwords du jour of “Quality over quantity.” It’s no secret that Disney is going through a bit of a restructuring pattern as of late and that’s unlikely to stop in the next two years. The executive responsible for the number of live-action remakes of their famous animated movies departed last week. You’ve had other leadership shake-ups throughout the company. However, the theatrical slate is where a lot of observers have their eyes trained.

“I’ve talked about that a lot recently, because in assessing some of our performance, recently, one of the reasons I believe it’s fallen off a bit is that we were making too much,” Iger told ABC News anchor David Muir during that event. “I think when it comes to creativity, quality is critical, of course, and quantity in many ways can destroy quality. Storytelling, obviously, is the core of what we do as a company… I spent the year with the team fixing a lot of things. But I feel that we’ve just emerged from a period of a lot of fixing to one of building again — and I can tell you, building is a lot more fun than fixing.”

What’s Coming In 2024 And Beyond?

Earlier this year, the CEO laid out the vision for 2024 and the next few along with it. Iger remains confident that Disney has some big wins in store. Including the Marvel and Disney Animation brands, there are reasons to be hopeful about the next dozen months. Deadpool & Wolverine destroyed the record for most-viewed movie trailer. Inside Out 2 is poised to clean-up as a sequel to a fan-favorite. And, that’s before you even get to 2025’s offerings.

“Looking to our 2025 theatrical slate, we’re excited to bring audiences Captain America: Brave New World and Fantastic Four for Marvel, Pixar has Zootopia 2, and then there’s Avatar 3,” Iger explained to investors. “And we’re already looking forward to 2026 and beyond with Frozen 3, the first Toy Story movie since 2019, and a new Star Wars movie that brings The Mandalorian and Grogu to the big screen for the very first time.”

Are you worried about all these projects being cancelled? Let us know down in the comments!