HWI 534

Hollywood What If Chapter 534

Disney had their quarterly meeting. In the conference room, the important figures of Disney and its related companies were having a meeting.

The conference room at Disney's headquarters was buzzing with murmurs as executives shuffled papers and sipped coffee. They had been doing this meeting for two hours straight now and the best they could do was sip a hot coffee in between.

A projector lit up on the board, displaying a bar graph. They were comparing box office earnings of animated films from Disney, Dreamworks Animation, and Blue Sky Studio over the past years.

At the head of the table, Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO/Chairman, leaned back in his chair, his expression calm but thoughtful. He had been in this position for many years now and it honed his decision making. People grew respect for him.

Alongside him was John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studio. The guy scrolling through documents with detailed breakdowns of recent animated film performances. John was also the co-founder of Pixar together with Steve Jobs.

Pixar was acquired by Walt Disney around 2006 and the relationship between Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studio became close after that. They were like a married couple.

The room was quiet as a senior analyst stood to deliver the presentation.

"As you can see, Blue Sky Studios’ Horton Hears a Who has just grossed $383 million globally, on a budget of $83 million. That's more than 4× return on investment. Meanwhile, Dreamworks has consistent output, especially with Shrek the Third and other projects. Dreamworks has solidified its position as a major player. Disney Animation, on the other hand, hasn’t seen that kind of dominance since The Lion King. Pixar continues to hold strong, but—"

Bob Iger slightly raised his hand, interrupting the analyst. The analyst stopped talking, a bit nervous. He was doing his best to talk professionally and was afraid the big boss might roast him.

"Traditional animation has been outdated and nobody likes them. We should focus more on 3D animation. The huge success of Lion King is hard to replicate. Besides, who the fuck like 2D animation anyway?"

"Horton Hears a Who seemed promising but this movie will probably have no sequel, impossible to make a franchise. But we can't deny that Blue Sky Studio has Ice Age and Kung Fu Panda to depend on. Dreamworks, though... they’re hitting the audience with humor and unique movies. It's obvious that Shrek was created to mock Disney. However, Pixar also has its identities. We prefer wholesome movies that can stir emotions instead of common comedies."

John Lasseter joined in. He spoke quite long so he reached for a bottle of water to wet his mouth.

"Exactly. Pixar has its identity. We are innovative and have emotional storytelling. Disney Animation needs to strengthen its footing. Bolt is coming later this year. But it’s not enough to keep us ahead of the race." Bob added.

Walt Disney decided to disregard traditional hand-drawn animation and focus on 3D animation instead. Their first 3D animated movie was Chicken Little, released in 2005, with the collaboration of Pixar.

However, Disney currently has a hand-drawn animation project that they intend to release next year. If this movie became a success, they might continue with hand-drawn animation projects. The name of this project was The Princess and The Frog.

"They're taking advantage of franchises. Ice Age is a cash cow for Blue Sky Studio, and they’ll probably keep milking it. DreamWorks is doing the same with Shrek. Franchises are proving to be their saving grace."

Well, Pixar also had a franchise they could do such as Toy Story. In fact, Walt Disney was still the biggest animation studio so their status remained strong despite the rivalries.

"Toy Story is not enough. We need to develop a new franchise." Bob Iger announced and the management agreed.

"... Um, should we try to talk To Kazir? He is the scriptwriter and executive producer of Kung Fu Panda. Maybe he has more ideas that we can work with." The one who said that was still new in the management.

"..."

When Kazir's name was spoken, almost everyone in the conference room turned quiet. Bob sighed and rubbed his forehead... He glanced at the newbie. This new guy won't last long in the company.

Honestly, Bob wanted to collaborate with Kazir but that would probably be impossible. Perhaps in a different timeline, they could do so.

When the atmosphere became awkward, they decided to change the topic and talk about other stuff instead.

Because Walt Disney was sort of the father of animated fairy tales, by animating so many old fairy tales. Walt Disney hand-drawn fairy tales such as Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, The Litter Mermaid, Aladin, and many more.

The new 3D animation studio wanted to revive more fairy tales and give them modern twists.

Hence The Princess and The Frog and Tangled, which was currently in production, was their introduction.

By the way, Tangled was based on an old fairy tale called Rapunzel.

After an hour of interaction, Bob Iger decided to jump to the next topic.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen. We should talk about the acquisition plan for Lucasfilm."

Bob grinned and so did the others. They were like hungry wolves ready to devour a small bunny.

Lucasfilm had IPs that Walt Disney was eager to acquire. Star Wars and Indiana Jones were two big IPs. In fact, Star Wars was one of the biggest IPs in the world. Furthermore, Lucasfilm also has ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) which was a famous studio that focused on visual effects.

Walt Disney was ready to devour these poor little things and ravaged them badly... This was not an understatement, they basically fucked Lucasfilm, even ILM.