Tag: Disney

Categories
Business

Disneyland to reopen on April 30, Disney CEO Bob Chapek says

Disneyland to reopen on April 30, Disney CEO Bob Chapek says

The two Disney theme parks in California will reopen on April 30th, CEO Bob Chapek said on CNBC’s Squawk Alley on Wednesday.

“We saw the excitement, the need for people to return to our parks around the world,” Chapek told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin. “We’ve been with Walt Disney World for about nine months and there’s certainly no shortage of demand.”

“I think when people get vaccinated they get a bit more confident in the fact that they can travel and, you know, stay Covid-free,” he added. “Consumers trust Disney to do the right thing, and we’ve proven for sure that we can [open] responsible whether it is temperature controls, masks, social distancing, [or] improved hygiene in the parks. “

Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa will reopen in front of the parks on April 29 with limited capacity. The Vacation Club Villa at the Grand Californian will reopen May 2nd, and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel and Disneyland Hotel will reopen at a later date.

All California theme parks were closed last year due to Covid restrictions. While guidelines in other states like Florida have allowed parks to reopen with limited capacity, California rules have closed theme parks large and small.

However, new state guidelines allow amusement parks to reopen from April 1, with a capacity of 15% to 35%, depending on the spread of the virus in the community. Masks and other health precautions are required. Chapek said the two parks will initially operate at around 15% capacity.

Disneyland Resort visitors take photos in front of Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California on Thursday, October 22, 2020.

Jeff Gritchen | MediaNews Group | Getty Images

According to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, California reports nearly 2,900 new Covid-19 cases per day based on a weekly average, a decrease of nearly 32% from a week ago. The number of new Covid cases has decreased as more and more people have been vaccinated. With an increase in supply and access, an average of 2.4 million people in the US are being vaccinated daily

Orange County, where Disneyland and California Adventure are located, has four new cases per 100,000 people every day. At its peak in mid-January, there were 118 new cases per 100,000 people in the county each day.

The shutdown last year resulted in Disney laying off tens of thousands of workers and limiting an important source of income for the media company. The Parks, Experiences, and Consumer Staples segment accounted for 37% of the company’s total revenue of $ 69.6 billion, or approximately $ 26.2 billion, in 2019.

A year later, revenue shrank to $ 16.5 billion, or roughly 25% of the company’s total revenue of $ 65.4 billion.

Christine McCarthy, the company’s chief financial officer, said the company made “an incremental net positive contribution” to the parks opened during the pandemic from guests who visited the company despite reduced capacity. This means that the revenues exceeded the variable costs associated with the opening, she explained.

As the parks expand their capacity and reopen, there will be some level of social distancing and masking for the rest of the year.

Categories
Business

Disney inventory has ‘excellent stay-at-home story,’ portfolio supervisor says

Disney stock has ‘perfect stay-at-home story,’ portfolio manager says

One Dow stock rebounded at a record high this week.

Disney stock hit an all-time high for three days in a row. This is the most recent surge due to the company’s streaming success. Disney launched its international streaming service Star in Europe, Canada and Australia this week.

The total number of paid subscribers for the Disney + streaming platform rose to nearly 95 million in the last quarter, counteracting significantly lower revenue in the pandemic-hit parks segment.

“The streaming business is the perfect home stay story and provides stability for the company during the shutdown,” Federated Hermes portfolio manager Steve Chiavarone told CNBC’s Trading Nation on Wednesday.

Chiavarone said investors are also pricing in high expectations for a post-pandemic recovery.

“They are in this reopening phase where theme parks, cruises – all of these are activities we expect for the next year or so – are returning. This diversified business model is paying off,” said Chiavarone.

Netflix’s subscriber base dwarfs that of Disney +, but New Street Advisors founder Delano Saporu points to the new content and strong growth to explain the stock’s high value.

“You saw how you beat your four year old subscriber [projection] in 14 months, “he said in the same interview.” They’ve also released new content, the new Star Wars series is out in May and they have some Marvel series in June as well. So investors are looking for this original content. They appreciate that. “

The combination of a strong streaming offering and a future reopening is the recipe for success, said Chiavarone.

“It’s a perfect example of a company using the pandemic to invest in technology and become more productive and stronger in the future,” he said.

Disclosure: New Street Advisors holds DIS.

Disclaimer of liability

Categories
Business

NFL asking for 100% enhance on TV rights, Disney pushing again

NFL asking for 100% increase on TV rights, Disney pushing back

New York Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard (87) caught a pass in the first half at MetLife Stadium in front of Pittsburgh Steelers strong security Terrell Edmunds (34) and linebacker Devin Bush (55).

Vincent Carchietta | USA TODAY Sports

The National Football League plans to charge its current network partners twice their pay for broadcasting games – but Disney is pushing back, citing the high price for Monday Night Football.

The NFL is in active discussions about renewal rates with all four existing network partners – NBC, CBS, Fox, and ESPN owned by Disney – according to those familiar with the matter. The NFL hopes the primary package renewal will be completed by March 17 before the start of the new NFL league year, CNBC reported earlier this month.

NBC, CBS and Fox are likely to accept raises closer to 100% than Disney, which is currently paying much more than the three broadcast networks for its Monday Night Football package, said people who asked not to be named because the negotiations are private.

Disney agreed to pay $ 1.9 billion annually for Monday Night Football in 2011 – a deal that runs through 2021. That dwarfed the average annual cost of $ 1.1 billion for Fox, $ 1 billion a year for CBS, and $ 960 million for NBC’s Sunday Night Football.

Disney has already declined to pay nearly $ 3.8 billion a year for its new deal, two respondents said. Disney CEO Bob Chapek hinted at pushing back the NFL’s price tag during his company’s earnings conference call last week.

“We’re looking at the long-term trends in sports viewers,” Chapek said on February 11th. “We’ve had a long relationship with the NFL. If there’s a deal that adds shareholder value, we sure will.” Have a chat and watch this. But our first filter will be to say if it makes sense for future shareholder value. “

NFL games have been the most watched program on television for many years. The top five shows of 2020 were all NFL games. However, there has been a worrying decline in younger viewers, reflected in a decade-long decline in Super Bowl ratings among 18- to 49-year-olds.

Disney’s trial

Disney’s Monday Night Football deal isn’t just for the games. Disney also gets highlight rights for ESPN, branding rights for shows and, importantly, streaming rights.

The league has asked Disney to pay the same type of raise as its other partners, as Disney is demanding more from the NFL this time around – including the Monday night double-headed games, which aired a game on ABC, the network of networks operated by Disney said the people. Disney also wants ABC to be part of the Super Bowl rotation with NBC, CBS, and Fox. ABC was the home of Monday Night Football until 2005.

Disney also wants flexibility in terms of streaming rights as the company is considering selling ESPN as a direct-to-consumer product. The NFL plans to include streaming rights as part of every network package, people said.

Additionally, the NFL plans to add an 18th week of regular season play as early as next season. This is an additional game for Disney – and every other broadcast partner.

Spokespeople for the NFL and the networks declined to comment.

– CNBC’s Jabari Young contributed to this story.

Disclosure: NBC is part of NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

WATCH: NFL urges new TV deal to be closed before March

Categories
Business

Gina Carano to work with Ben Shapiro’s Day by day Wire after Disney firing

Gina Carano to work with Ben Shapiro's Daily Wire after Disney firing

Gina Carano attends the premiere of Disney’s “Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker” on December 16, 2019 in Hollywood, California.

Rodin Eckenroth | WireImage | Getty Images

Gina Carano may have been fired from Disney on Wednesday from her Star Wars appearance, but she’s already got a new project planned. This time with Ben Shapiro’s The Daily Wire.

On Friday, the conservative media company announced it had teamed up with the actress to produce and play an upcoming film exclusively for Daily Wire members. The new project will be produced under Daily Wire’s existing contract with Dallas Sonnier and its production company Bonfire Legend.

“You can’t turn us down if we don’t allow them,” Carano said in a statement.

The former mixed martial artist was fired from her role as Cara Dune, a former Imperial shock soldier, on the Disney + series “The Mandalorian” after commenting on social media that conservatives in America were like Jewish people in Nazi Germany were treated.

The comment was just the latest social media controversy that Carano has faced in recent months. Previously, she’d shared misinformation about wearing masks and voting fraud, shedding light on people who use their favorite pronouns on social media by adding “Beep / Bop / Boop” to their Twitter bio.

Carano later removed those words after saying she spoke to co-star Pedro Pascal.

“It helped me understand why people included it in their BIOS,” she wrote. “I didn’t know before, but now. I won’t include it in my bio, but good for those who choose.”

According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, Carano was supposed to star in her own Disney + series, but Disney decided not to make that announcement at its Investor Day presentation in December after Carano tweeted misinformation about the November election.

Many have speculated that Carano would have been heavily featured on “Rangers of the New Republic,” considering she was added to their ranks in a season two episode of “The Mandalorian”.

After Carano was removed from “The Mandalorian,” a number of Conservatives posted on social media to support her and criticized Disney for its decision to fire the actress.

“The Texan Gina Carano broke barriers in the ‘Star Wars’ universe: no princess, no victim, no emotionally tortured Jedi. She played a woman who kicked the ass [and] Who the girls looked up to, “wrote Senator Ted Cruz on Twitter.” She was instrumental in making Star Wars fun again. Of course, Disney canceled them. “

Critics of her firing called it politically motivated. However, Disney said her resignation was based solely on comments she made of “vilifying people based on their cultural and religious identity” and calling the posts “heinous” and “unacceptable”.

Many entertainment and media companies include moral contracts in contracts with actors and filmmakers to maintain a particular public image. Those who do not meet this standard of conduct or are involved in a scandal are often fired.

Kathy Griffin, Roseanne Barr, James Gunn, Nick Cannon, and Gilbert Gottfried are just a few celebrities who have been fired from entertainment appearances due to social media posts. Gunn and Cannon, in particular, have now been reinstated after publicly apologizing for their comments.

Categories
Business

Coronavirus harm theme parks, costing Disney $2.6 billion

Coronavirus hurt theme parks, costing Disney $2.6 billion

An employee cleans the grounds behind the closed gates of Disneyland Park on the first day of the Disneyland and Disney California Adventure theme parks closure in Anaheim, California on March 14, 2020.

DAVID MCNEW | AFP | Getty Images

Disney suffered another financial blow in the first quarter of fiscal as restrictions on participation in its open theme parks and continued closure of its California parks weighed heavily on bottom-line earnings.

There is currently no schedule for Disneyland to reopen as the state of California has announced that it will not allow theme parks to reopen until coronavirus cases in the surrounding community have declined significantly. Although the 7-day average of daily new Covid cases is down from the previous week in California, more than 1,000 new cases are diagnosed in the state every day, according to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University.

“Where we have managed to reopen our theme parks with limited capacity, guests have always shown their willingness and desire to visit them. We believe that this is evidence that they are in the health and safety areas we set Security protocols feel safe in place, “said CEO Bob Chapek during an earnings call on Thursday.

The company said the outbreak cost that division an operating loss of approximately $ 2.6 billion in the December quarter.

Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products revenue decreased 53% to $ 3.58 billion.

Disney has reported similar losses in each of its last three wins. In the fourth quarter, the company announced that the coronavirus outbreak has cost around $ 2.4 billion in operating losses recently. In the second quarter, the company had reported it had lost $ 1 billion in operating income due to the pandemic, and in the third quarter the pandemic reduced its operating income by $ 3.5 billion.

Florida Walt Disney World and Shanghai Disney Resort were open for the entire first quarter, while Disneyland and all of Disney’s cruise business were shut down.

Disneyland Paris was open until late October, about a third of the quarter, and Hong Kong Disneyland was open until early December, or about two thirds of the quarter. The company expects its Hong Kong facility to reopen in the second quarter.

“In terms of the parks’ prospects for the rest of the year and capacity, this will really depend on the public’s vaccination rate,” Chapek said. “That seems to us to be the biggest lever we can maneuver to either enlarge the parks with currently limited capacity or to open up the parks that are currently closed.”

CFO Christine McCarthy said the company could make a profit from guests for the parks open. The income of the park visitors outweighed the costs of the opening. She also noted that the company is happy with the number of reservations and bookings it sees.

As the parks expand and reopen their capacity, Chapek will wear some level of social distancing and masks for the rest of the year.

“Dr. Fauci said earlier today that he hopes there will be vaccines for anyone who wants them by April this year,” Chapek said. “If that happens, it’s a game changer and that could accelerate our expectations and give people confidence that they need to return to the parks.”

“Will there be some overlap by the time we know we get herd immunity?” he said. “Sure we will, but do we also think we’ll be in the same state of 6 feet of social distancing and mask-wearing in 2022? Absolutely not.”

Categories
World News

Disney says it now has 94.9 million Disney Plus subscribers

Disney says it now has 94.9 million Disney Plus subscribers

Disney announced Thursday that its streaming platform had exceeded 94.9 million subscribers. The company announced the number as part of its earnings report for the December quarter. The company’s stock rose about 2% after hours on the news.

Disney + surpassed the company’s original subscriber target of 60 to 90 million by November 2024, forcing it to rewrite. The company now expects Disney + to have 230 to 260 million subscribers by 2024.

Disney has seen rapid subscriber growth since its launch in November 2019. On day one, the company had 10 million signups and by the end of the first quarter the service had gained 26.5 million subscribers.

As the pandemic continued to rage and keep consumers indoors, Disney + jumped from 33.5 million subscribers in the second quarter to 57.5 million in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the company topped 73.7 million subscribers. Disney updated that number on its December Investor Day, stating that the service had reached 86.6 million subscribers.

Disney does not split the number of subscribers who individually signed up for the service versus those who came to the service through bundles or one-time promotions.

Those strong subscriber numbers come as Disney has pushed heavily into streaming. In October, the company began restructuring its media and entertainment departments to focus more on Disney +.

In December, Disney shared plans for around 100 film and television projects, around 80% to go directly to Disney +. This includes nearly a dozen Marvel series and more than 10 Star Wars shows.

Correction: In an earlier version of this story and in the headline, comments from Christine McCarthy, the company’s chief financial officer, regarding Disney’s plans to disclose future Disney + subscription numbers were misrecognized. In fact, the company plans to provide updates to subscriber numbers at the end of each quarter. Additional updates to attendee numbers may not be provided at the time of winning calls.

Categories
Business

Disney to Reveal Plans to Turbocharge Streaming Choices

Disney to Reveal Plans to Turbocharge Streaming Offerings

LOS ANGELES – A major expansion of the Star Wars universe. Tom Hanks as Geppetto in a live action “Pinocchio” and Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell in a live action “Peter Pan & Wendy”. Recordings of new Marvel projects. A star-studded prequel to “The Lion King”.

On Thursday, the Walt Disney Company will discuss a lot of upcoming Death Star-sized content in a four-hour investor presentation focused on streaming – all that and more, said three people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity Discussion of private planning.

Some big budget Disney films will continue to show exclusively in theaters. (The “Lion King” project directed by Barry Jenkins, which focuses on Mufasa’s backstory, is a great choice.) Others will debut online. (This is where Pinocchio comes in.) All of them will ultimately serve one goal, namely to empower Disney +, the company’s flagship streaming service.

At a time when streaming is becoming increasingly competitive – and some of Disney’s traditional companies are struggling – Disney hopes to use the virtual event to dazzle Wall Street: here is a 97-year-old company making the leap in creates the hyperspace from direct customers to consumers.

Last month, Bob Chapek, Disney’s CEO, announced that Disney + had reached 74 million subscribers worldwide after just 11 months of operation. (It took Netflix seven years to reach that threshold and now has 195 million customers worldwide.) Since then, Disney + has been launched in Latin America and grown rapidly in India, analysts say. Some estimate that Disney may reveal that the service is within reach of 100 million subscribers.

Disney is also expected to release growth updates to its other streaming platforms, including ESPN +, Hulu, and a new general entertainment offering, Star, which will be rolled out overseas in the coming months.

“The question everyone has now is where to go from here?” Michael Nathanson, founder of media research firm MoffettNathanson, said in a telephone interview. “We expect much more spending on content to make Disney + an always available service that increases pricing power.”

Subscriptions to Disney + are $ 7 per month. The cheapest Netflix plan is $ 9 a month, and HBO Max, a young WarnerMedia service, is $ 15.

Disney declined to comment on this article.

Investors have kissed their lips in anticipation of what Disney will reveal, including projections of subscriber growth. Disney stock is up 32 percent since Investor Day announced in August, compared with Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, up 11 percent.

Disney was trading at around $ 155 on Wednesday, near an all-time high, although some of its theme park resorts (which are huge money generators) remain closed because of the pandemic. The company laid off 30,000 employees.

Hollywood is keen on the investor presentation as Disney executives have announced that they will be discussing an evolving approach to film distribution. The coronavirus has forced Disney and other studios to postpone the release of more than a dozen major films and redirect others to streaming services. In September, Disney debuted “Mulan” on Disney + as part of a “Premium Access” experiment and billed subscribers $ 30 for perpetual access. Pixar’s latest film, Soul, will be released on Disney + on Christmas Day at no additional cost.

Citing the pandemic, WarnerMedia switched 17 upcoming Warner Bros. films to a hybrid release model last week – arriving on HBO Max and in theaters simultaneously – although some of the films (“Dune”, “The Matrix 4”) not scheduled to come out until the fourth quarter, long after vaccines are expected to be used. The surprise move resulted in a quick and severe setback for the WarnerMedia talent, who felt betrayed by the sudden change. You also get significantly lower paydays.

John Stankey, the executive director of AT&T, which owns Warner Media, described the excitement at a conference Tuesday as “a lot of noise” and predicted that WarnerMedia’s strategy would prove to be “win-win-win”.

Economy & Economy

Updated

Apr. 11, 2020, 6:16 pm ET

In contrast, Disney’s CEO Chapek and Robert A. Iger will not be taking a single approach to movie releases in 2021, according to people who know the company’s plan.

Some titles on Disney’s cinema board will be moved to Disney + at no additional cost. Expect “Peter Pan & Wendy” like “Soul” and “Pinocchio” to debut this way.

Other films will take the “Mulan” route and arrive on Disney + as premium offers. “We have something here in terms of leading access strategy,” Chapek told analysts on a recent conference call. “With our portfolio of services there will be a strategic role.”

And some of Disney’s greatest films will continue to receive exclusive theatrical releases before being added to the company’s streaming services. For example, contrary to popular speculation, Black Widow, a highly anticipated Marvel spectacle, will stay on Disney’s theatrical calendar for May 7th, people with knowledge of the presentation said.

Movies are helpful in attracting subscribers, but TV shows stream customers who pay month after month. To this end, Disney has an abundance of series for its services along the way. These include “Turner and Hooch,” an adaptation of the 1989 film about a detective and his oversized mutt; “Willow”, an adaptation of the large-screen fantasy from 1988; and eight Marvel shows based on characters like Loki and She-Hulk.

Streaming is not yet profitable for Disney – far from it. Direct sales losses were $ 2.8 billion in fiscal 2020. Streaming-related losses are expected to peak in 2022 as rollout costs decrease and content costs normalize. Analysts expect Disney + to be profitable by 2024.

Disney has stated that some of the money for its new content flash will come from programming budgets for its traditional television networks. The company owns the Disney Channel, National Geographic, FX, Freeform and ABC, among others.

“We will be shifting the scale from linear networks to our direct customer business,” said Chapek on the recent conference call.

Analysts pushed for additional details. “Just wait until December 10th,” said Christine McCarthy, Disney’s chief financial officer, on the call. “Hopefully then we can answer all of your questions.”

Categories
Entertainment

‘Star Wars,’ ‘Pinocchio’ and Extra as Disney Leans Sharply Into Streaming

‘Star Wars,’ ‘Pinocchio’ and More as Disney Leans Sharply Into Streaming

But there are huge challenges ahead of us. Streaming services are immensely expensive to build, and Disney now has four: Disney +, Hulu (39 million subscribers), ESPN + (11.5 million), and Star +, an overseas version of Hulu that will be available in the coming months is introduced in Latin America. Disney’s direct customer business losses were $ 2.8 billion in fiscal 2020. The company has ditched billions in royalties for amassing library content on Disney + instead of selling it to outside companies like Netflix.

Disney is also facing an increasingly competitive streaming environment. HBO Max, CBS All Access (soon to be renamed Paramount +), Peacock, Apple TV +, and the recently announced Discovery + are determined to keep moving forward. Netflix and Amazon continue to invest billions of dollars annually in the original programming.

A significant portion of the presentation was dedicated to Star, which will feature programs from Disney real estate such as ABC, FX, Freeform, Searchlight and 20th Century Studios, which Rupert Murdoch sold to Disney last year. In Latin America, Star + will be launched as a standalone service in June and will also include ESPN coverage of sporting events. In Europe, Canada, Australia and several other markets, Star + is being integrated directly into Disney +, adding a variety of more sophisticated programming to the service (“Deadpool 2”, the animated series “Family Guy”) that Disney potentially has an audience reach far beyond families.

The addition of a Star channel in Disney + also justifies a price hike of around 28 percent to around $ 11 per month.

New shows are also being routed to Disney’s Hulu, including the series “Nine Perfect Strangers,” a David E. Kelley puzzle starring Regina Hall, Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy – which Dana Walden, chairwoman of entertainment at Walt Disney Television, called “juicy content that can’t be turned off”. Disney-owned FX, which broadcasts its programs on several Disney streaming services, is working with one on a TV spin-off of the film franchise “Alien” and a retelling of “Shogun”, the James Clavell saga half a dozen other highs profile projects.

During the presentation, Disney discussed its evolving approach to film distribution. The coronavirus pandemic has forced Disney and other studios to cut back on the release of big budget movies – more than half of US cinemas are closed – and redirect others to streaming services. In September, Disney debuted “Mulan” on Disney + as part of a “Premium Access” experiment and billed subscribers $ 30 for perpetual access. Pixar’s latest film, Soul, will be released on Disney + on Christmas Day at no additional cost.

Categories
Business

Disney Investor Day 2020 bulletins

Disney Investor Day 2020 announcements

Bob Chapek, CEO of the Walt Disney Company and former head of Walt Disney Parks and Experiences, speaks during a media preview of the 2019 D23 Expo in Anaheim, California on August 22, 2019.

Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg via Getty Images

The SDisney streaming service Disney + continues to gain subscribers. On Thursday, the company announced that the platform now has 86.8 million subscribers on its annual investor day. That’s more than the 73 million the company reported at the end of its fourth fiscal quarter.

The company’s shares rose 3% on the news.

As of December 2, the company also has 38.8 million Hulu subscribers and 11.5 million ESPN + subscribers.

The entertainment giant’s stock hit a record close of $ 154.69 on Thursday, just before the company’s annual investor event, which is set to announce plans for 2021 and beyond. Disney stock hit an intraday all-time high of $ 155.34 on Thursday.

After rival Warner Bros. announced that it would release 17 films the same day on HBO Max and in theaters the next day, analysts and investors are excited to see how Disney will maneuver through the uncertainty still looming from a global pandemic is.

Kareem Daniel, head of the company’s new media and entertainment sales group, said theatrical releases help build franchises. Something Disney has done well with blockbusters from Marvel and Star Wars over the past decade.

Daniel announced that in Disney + 10 Marvel series, 10 Star Wars series, 15 Disney live action, Disney animation and Pixar series, and 15 Disney live action, Disney animation and Pixar series -Films will be shown.

The company will simultaneously be releasing the Raya and the Last Dragon animated feature on premium video-on-demand via Disney + and in theaters.

This is the latest news. Please try again.