Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently gave an update on The Walt Disney Company during the company’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
During the question and answer portion of the meeting, Chapek confirmed that Star Wars is dead and Lucasfilm will continue to be a stain on the company.
Chapek’s comments were brought to our attention by Twitter user LaReinaCreole, who tweeted, “Someone just asking about firing Kathleen Kennedy’s ass at the #Disney stockholders meeting.”
In fact, George from San Antonio, Texas asked Chapek, “Are you guys looking at firing Kathleen Kennedy or asking her to resign and promote somebody like Filoni or Favreau or both to the co-council?”
Chapek responded, “We’ve been absolutely thrilled that we can have the kind of creative talent in our company, the likes of Kathy Kennedy running Lucas. And we look forward to having Kathy directing the activities of the entire Lucasfilm organization for many years to come.”
While Chapek can praise Kennedy all he wants, the cold, hard numbers show Kennedy is nowhere near the “creative talent” that Chapek claims she is. Kennedy has fired numerous directors from Star Wars projects.
Kennedy brought in Tony Gilroy to fix Rogue One, she dismissed Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from Solo and replaced them with Ron Howard. She then canned Colin Trevorrow from Episode IX, which eventually became The Rise of Skywalker and was directed by J.J. Abrams.
And those are just the projects that actually were completed. She also canned Josh Trank from a Boba Fett film. And more recently she had to have the entire Obi-Wan Kenobi show rewritten after she claimed scripts had been completed when the show was announced.
Looking at the box office, the three Disney sequel trilogy films rapidly declined in box office haul.
As reported by The-Numbers, The Force Awakens grossed $2.065 billion at the global box office, $936.6 million was from North American theaters. It grossed $191 million in domestic video sales.
The Last Jedi only grossed $1.332 billion at the worldwide box office, only $620.1 million came from theaters in North America. It went on to gross $100.9 million in domestic video sales.
The Rise of Skywalker grossed $1.072 billion at the worldwide box office with only $515.2 million from theaters in North America. It grossed only $66.5 million in domestic video sales.
The decline from The Force Awakens to The Rise of Skywalker is significant. The gross at the global box office declined by 48%. In North America it declined by 45%. Domestic video sales declined by 65%.
It more than likely means people didn’t go back to see the films multiple times, showing their disinterest and lack of passion.
While the numbers clearly show Kennedy has not done a good jobs shepherding Lucasfilm and Star Wars, it appears Disney is sticking with her for the long haul. Don’t expect Star Wars to improve any time soon whether that’s with the horrible people they employ or their bankrupt creative storytelling.
Maybe even more eye-opening on where Disney stands as a company, Bob Chapek was asked about the firing of Gina Carano.
David from Alexandria, Virginia asked, “It’s clear that there is a new blacklist punishing conservatives in the entertainment industry. Disney+ actors Pedro Pascal and Gina Carano tweeted similar analogies of current political events to Nazi Germany. Yet, only Carano, who is considered a conservative, was fired from The Mandalorian. Regarding Disney and a blacklist, this is the way?”
Chapek, whose tone of voice notably changes in response to the question, says, “I don’t really see Disney as characterizing itself as left leaning or right leaning. Yet, instead standing for values. Values that are universal. Values of respect. Values of decency. Values of integrity. And values of inclusion.
He continued, “And we seek to have not only how we operate, but the content that we make reflective of the rich diversity of the world we live. And I think that’s a world we all should live in, in harmony and peace.”
It’s no wonder his voice changed while answering the question, because he straight-up lied to David, one of Disney’s investors. If Disney actually valued inclusion, they wouldn’t have fired Carano via social media and lied about her in a press statement.
Talk about valuing respect. Chapek showed none to David, and exposes that his words are empty. It’s clear Disney does not believe any of the values that Chapek claims they do. The firing of Carano proves the opposite.
They fired Carano via a press statement and then lied about her. That’s not respect, that’s disrespect. It’s not decency. It’s indecent and rude. They don’t value integrity as they clearly lied about Carano when they fired her.
And as for inclusion, they obviously don’t believe in that as David from Alexandria points out. Both Carano and Pascal posted analogies to World War II, but it’s Carano that was fired. Not sure how you can be inclusive, if you are only firing people of one political persuasion and not another. That’s the opposite of inclusion.
If Chapek thinks we should live in this world, it’s a world of ruin.
And he does think we should live in that world. In another question, he was asked about what the biggest lesson he learned in his first year as CEO.
As part of his answer Chapek stated, “I also say that I think the fact that we have a tremendous opportunity, now, going forward, to bring this country back together. And unite people under a common vision of Disney magic and what’s good with this world.”
Sorry, Disney is not uniting this country. The Disney magic has dried up and left. It’s been replaced by liars and dishonest people like Bob Chapek. And lying and dishonesty is no way to unite a country and people.