The Hollywood Reporter - 21.08.2019

Behind the Headlines

The Report

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 16 AUGUST 21, 2019

HONG KONG: ANTHONY KWAN/GETTY IMAGES.

MULAN

: STEPHEN TILLEY/DISNEY.

one insider called “the toughest

job in television,” given that the

leader in sports media has lost

about 15 million subscribers in

eight years due to cord-cutting.

If he can right that ship — which

he’s trying to do partly through

streamer ESPN+, now at 2.4 mil-

lion subscribers — he may prove

he can run all of Disney.

Bob Chapek, who in 2015

replaced Staggs as chairman of

parks, experiences and products,

also is a contender. Guggenheim

Securities projects that parks

and resorts alone will generate

$8.2 billion in adjusted operating

income in fiscal 2020, more than

cable networks, broadcast TV or

studio entertainment.

Mayer, meanwhile, has a steep

hill to climb in order to make

Disney+ a hit. Analyst Richard

Greenfield of BTIG estimates

Disney will sacrifice $500 million

annually by saving content for

Disney+ rather than licensing it to

the highest bidder. And Disney’s

direct-to-consumer segment

will lose about $900 million in

the current quarter as it ramps

up its new streamer, which the

conglomerate hopes will attract

30 million subs by 2024.

In replacing Iger, STI

Management’s Lenarsky figures

that Mayer, Rice and Chapek are

the lead contenders and notes: “A

critical part of successfully lead-

ing will be to keep and nurture

talent that’s in place, and Kevin

seems poised to do that.”

The movement’s determination, however, was

on display Aug. 18, when an estimated 1.7 million

protesters braved the rain for a peaceful proces-

sion through the heart of the city. Protesters are

considering staging a mass sit-in at Hong Kong

Disneyland next, possibly as soon as Aug. 24.

Should they forge ahead — and should police

respond — Disney CEO Bob Iger may not have

the luxury of avoiding comment if global news-

casts show tear gas wafting over Hong Kong

Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. “If things

polarize even further in Hong Kong and China

resorts to even greater violence to assert its

authority, it will become much harder for [Disney]

not to get dragged into it,” adds Rosen. “It’s not

unthinkable that the release date for Mulan could

have to be moved beyond March 2020.”

As the star of its Chinese warrior epic sides with Hong Kong police amid

growing pro-democracy protests, the company may be ‘dragged into’ taking sides

BY PATRICK BRZESKI AND TATIANA SIEGEL

Behind Disney’s #BoycottMulan Problem

O

n Aug. 14, Crystal Liu, star of Disney’s

upcoming live-action Mulan, weighed in on

Hong Kong’s police crackdown of pro-democracy

protesters. “I support Hong Kong’s police, you

can beat me up now,” she wrote to her 65 million

followers on social media platform Weibo, adding

the hashtag “IAlsoSupportTheHongKongPolice,”

with a heart emoji.

Backlash, and talk of a boycott of Mulan,

greeted Liu’s post. And while Disney has

remained silent so far, the problem won’t go away

any time soon for the studio, whose 10 tentpoles

in the past year have earned 12 percent of their

$8.85 billion in grosses from

China. “Disney can’t support the

protesters because their busi-

ness in China is too important,”

notes Stanley Rosen, a professor

at USC who specializes in the

Chinese entertainment industry.

“But they obviously can’t be seen

as pandering too much to China either, because

that could backfire as well, depending on how the

situation in Hong Kong unfolds.”

A source close to Liu, 31, says she is being

unfairly singled out given that other Chinese

celebrities have voiced support for Beijing over

Hong Kong, including the city’s own Jackie Chan

and To ny L e u n g K a - f a i. Though protesters bristle

at all stars who parrot an autocratic government’s

talking points, they have an ideal wedge with

Liu as the lead of the upcoming global tentpole

Mulan — about a young Chinese female fighter of

injustice — that Disney will release March 27.

The studio’s apparent decision

to try to duck the difficult PR

dilemma has put it in the awk-

ward spot of aligning its interests

with Beijing and the Hong Kong

government, both of which seem

to be hoping that the protesters

will lose their nerve.

Hong Kong police seen during protests in the city Aug. 14.

Crystal Liu toplines Disney’s Mulan.

Source: Yahoo Finance, THR research

“the respect of both the creative

and the financial community.”

Having been president of ABC

Television and COO of Capital

Cities/ABC, joining Disney when

it purchased that entity in 1996,

Iger comes from the TV side of

the business, which some suggest

gives Jimmy Pitaro and Peter Rice

a leg up. Iger thinks highly of the

latter; he made Rice, 53, chair-

man of Walt Disney Television

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2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

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Disney’s Soaring Growth Under Iger
The CEO’s tenure has been marked by innovation,
prescient acquisitions, delayed retirement plans and a
stock price that has tripled the S&P 500’s gain
1 Sept. 30, 2005
Bob Iger officially
replaces Michael
Eisner as Disney CEO.
2 May 5, 2006
Closes $7.4 billion
acquisition of Pixar,
making co-founder
Steve Jobs Disney’s
largest shareholder.
3 Dec. 31, 2009
Closes $4 billion
5 Oct. 2, 2014
Set to retire in
June 2016, Iger
extends through
June 30, 2018.
6 April 4, 2016
Thomas Staggs,
the COO who was
considered Iger’s heir
apparent, says he’ll
leave Disney, throwing
into question CEO
succession plans.
9 Aug. 8, 2017
Iger announces
Disney will up its
stake in BAMTech to
33 percent and use it
to launch a stream-
ing service, eventually
labeled Disney+.
10 Dec. 14, 2017
After toying with
the idea of entering
politics, Iger extends
as CEO through 2021.
acquisition of Marvel,
giving it a library
of 5,000 charac-
ters, including Iron
Man, Captain
America and the rest
of the Avengers.
4 Dec. 21, 2012
Closes $4.1 billion
acquisition of Lucasfilm,
setting in motion a
lucrative reboot of the
Star Wars franchise.
7 June 16, 2016
The $5.5 billion
Shanghai Disney
Resort opens
as a joint venture
43 percent owned
by Disney.
8 March 23, 2017
Iger extends his
tenure through July 2,

2019. “This time I
      mean it,” he says
      seven months later.

11 March 20, 2019

Closes $71.3 billion

acquisition of most

of the assets of

Rupert Murdoch’s

21st Century Fox.

12 Aug. 19, 2019

Walt Disney closes

at $135.29, as

marketing efforts

for Disney+ begin

ahead of its

Nov. 12 launch.

and co-chair of Disney Media

Networks after Rice joined the

company by way of the Fox pur-

chase, where he was instrumental

in doubling the revenue of Fox

Networks Group and oversaw big-

ticket sports rights deals.

As for Pitaro, he was asked to

prove his mettle when in 2018

he was made not only co-chair

of Disney Media Networks but

also president of ESPN, which

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