Disney’s ‘power panel’ takes stock of bond ‘forged over a century of storytelling’

ANAHEIM, California—It was truly a “celebration of all things Disney.” But more than the glitz, glamour and geeky gadgetry that the D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event had in store for its avid followers last month were instructive and revelatory panel discussions attended by the movers and shakers who keep The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) and its subsidiaries bringing their A game.

Aside from Walt Disney Pictures (“Pirates of the Caribbean”), the six other companies operating under TWDC’s umbrella include the Walt Disney Animation Studios (“Frozen,” “Encanto,” “Moana”), Pixar Animation Studios (“Inside Out 2,” “Toy Story”), Lucasfilm (“Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones”), Marvel Studios (“Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Avengers”), Searchlight Pictures (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “The Shape of Water”) and 20th Century Studios (“Avatar,” “Titanic,” “Planet of the Apes”). An iconic lineup that’s as impeccable as it is diverse!

As Disney CEO Bob Iger, who was himself greeted like a rock star by more than 12,000 fans during D23’s star-studded Entertainment showcase at Honda Center on Aug. 9, mused, “When you think about it, at any given moment anywhere in the world, there are countless people interacting with Disney in meaningful ways. The world needs to be entertained maybe even moreso now than ever before, and we take that responsibility seriously.

A century of storytelling

“It’s a bond forged over a century of storytelling driven by the unmatched strength of our creative studios, the wide appeal of our brands and franchises, [and] the innovative ways of bringing our stories to life through our theme parks and ‘Experiences.’

“While each of them might seem different, they fuel each other in ways that are distinctly Disney, bound by a common vision to tell great stories in the most relevant and compelling ways.”

The “power panel” that we attended was graced by a who’s who of studio executives at Disney, including Alan Bergman, cochair of Disney Entertainment; Pete Docter, chief creative officer of Pixar; Jennifer Lee, chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios; Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm; and Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios. (David Greenbaum, president of Disney Live Action and 20th Century Studios wasn’t able to make it.)

There’s much to celebrate, of course: “Inside Out 2” is now the highest-grossing animated film ever, while the box-office behemoth “Deadpool & Wolverine” continues its reign at the tills after also breaching the billion-dollar mark three weeks ago.

But with seven brands and countless franchises, how does Disney determine the right mix of releases?

“I’ve had the the good fortune of being with the company for almost 30 years,” intimated Alan. “There was a period when we were [just] focused on Disney Animation and live action. Fortunately, Bob Iger made some strategic purchases. So with Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Fox, we now have seven studios.

“If you look at the statistics, with ‘Inside Out 2’ and ‘Deadpool,’ you can see how those transactions have paid off.

“When you look at the kind of titles we’re making, with approximately one title or so from Pixar and Disney Animation, three titles and a couple of live-action series from Marvel, one title every year or two from Lucas, live-action features from Disney, three to four films a year from 20th Century, and five smaller-budgeted films from Searchlight, we have the strength of these brands.

Incredible talent

“But as strong as these brands are, they’re nothing without the incredible talent that we have right here. Because with brands, if you don’t keep them strong, they weaken and go away. It’s these people who really keep them going.

“We look at the titles and strategically place each of them. For example, in May, we typically release a Marvel movie, then at the end of the summer is another Marvel title. In the middle, around June, is a Pixar movie. In November, we have a Disney Animation movie, and so on and so forth. We build a slate every year and tweak it from time to time.”

Pete was asked why he thought “Inside Out 2” has resonated so strongly with viewers and where he sees the franchise could go moving forward.

“All of this comes from research on all the films we do,” he said. “We try to thoroughly dive in and find out as much as we possibly can about the science, which then inspires the writing. But its success is a little bit of a mystery, so you never quite know why.

“But I think people liked the first one, and we hit something with anxiety. There’s definitely anxiety in the world, which is kind of sad. We played on the anxiety of the world, but what we were trying to do was explain it and give people tools to be able to talk about it in an entertaining way.”

Pete then disclosed what the future holds for the “Inside Out” franchise.

‘Dream Production’

“We’ve already begun and, well, finished a streaming series called ‘Dream Production,’ which is based on this concept. In the first film, you see where Riley’s dreams are made every night. It’s a series around the production of those dreams, which has been really fun because it has all the characters we know and love, plus a whole bunch of new ones that we got to invent.”

For his part, Kevin shared how the third installment of “Deadpool” came to be.

“Bob’s last acquisition was Fox, and that gave us back hundreds and hundreds of Marvel characters. Deadpool and Wolverine are just two of them, but that was the one we wanted to start with,” he said. “Ryan [Reynolds] was very excited to delve back into that world, combined with the greater mythology and broader appeal of the MCU. That’s a hint of looking at how we’re going to use and tell the stories of those other hundreds and hundreds of characters that we have back at home, thanks to the Fox acquisition.”

With “Moana 2” and “Zootopia 2” in the horizon, Jennifer shared how Disney Animation approaches the making of its sequels.

“Well, Disney Animation hadn’t done many sequels in all the years we were features,” she pointed out. “And then, we saw an opportunity with ‘Frozen.’ We have more stories to tell with ‘Wreck-It-Ralph,’ and we realized that these stories should really come from the filmmakers—and they do. That’s how our studio works, the filmmakers bring their passion, they bring us the seeds of their stories and grow them all the way to the end.

Hugely anticipated

“‘Frozen’s’ a good example of that as well, where [director of story] Mark Smith, who brought us ideas for ‘Frozen’ 3 and 4, has been an integral part of the team. As for [screenwriter] Jared Bush with ‘Moana’… he’s got the character planned out into her 50s (laughs)… because there’s so much to do with her character.”

Kathleen was then asked to walk the audience through how the hugely anticipated “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” starring Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver, is being developed for theaters, especially coming off a series that many have come to expect to watch on a streamer at home.

She answered, “With the launch of Disney+, ‘The Mandalorian’ was the first show that was done, and we were moving into territory we didn’t frankly know a whole lot about. But thanks to the fans, the show became a huge hit and Baby Yoda took the world by storm.

“That was probably the point in time when we realized, ‘OK, we’re moving into a new area of storytelling in ‘Star Wars.’ We had just finished the nine episode saga that George [Lucas] had created and we were talking about where we could be going with Star Wars … that we would do possibly three or four seasons, then move into a movie.

Different platforms

“It’s interesting because we’re doing the opposite with ‘Rogue One’ and the transition into a series that’s also been quite successful. So, the fact that we can move from platform to platform, that’s really interesting for the future of distribution. There’s no doubt that the consumer is going to take in these stories in lots of different ways.

As for “Avatar,” which has three sequels slated over the next several years, Alan weighed in on what he thought it was about James Cameron’s movie that has made it so beloved?

“It starts with Jim, our director and an incredible visionary,” he quipped. “He has three of the four biggest movies of all time, which is an unbelievable feat. There have only been six movies that made $2 billion [at the box office]. Jim has three of them, while the other people on this panel have the others: Kevin has two, and Kathy has one. So, that represents all six! It’s pretty impressive.

“In terms of the ‘Avatar’ movies in particular, certainly the look of it is stunning when you see it in 3D. But more important than that is its the story about family. When you combine a great story with visuals you’ve never seen before, it’s a phenomenon across the entire world!”

On a lighter note, the panelists were asked if there’s any movie outside of their own that they’re particularly interested in.

‘Super curious’

Alan singled out three very diverse titles. “I’m thinking of ‘Aliens’ right now, then ‘Moana’ and ‘Mufasa,’” he enumerated.

“I’m super curious to see ‘Moana 2,” Pete stated. “I love the first one. When you watch it, it’s like you’re going on vacation. I think that’s one reason why people love it, other than its great characters.”

The same goes for Kathleen. “I’m going to say ‘Moana,’” she chimed in. “To see the original film continue to do the business that it does on Disney+ [proves] that there’s a huge audience for it out there.”

“I think ‘Moana’ one of the best superhero origin stories ever… I really do,” interjected Kevin. “So, for me, there’s ‘Moana 2,’ ‘Incredibles 3’ and ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu,’ in large part because I’m just happy that Jon Favreau is directing a feature film again.”

As for Jennifer, it’s “Star Wars.” She explained, “I have a soft spot right now for ‘The Mandalorian.’ Actually, all things Marvel and ‘Mandalorian’ I’ve loved and I’m pretty excited about.”