Disney, a stricken empire

■Brooks Barnes is a reporter for The New York Times who covers all things Hollywood Feedback: maraia.vula@fijisun.com.fj

It was once a prospering kingdom, the envy of all the land.

But in crept an invisible menace. It could be the story line for a classic Disney movie.

Instead, Disney is living it — and happily ever after is nowhere in sight.

After a decade of spectacular growth, the entertainment conglomerate has been devastated by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Its 14 theme parks (annual attendance: US$157 million) (FJ$352 m) delivered record profits in 2019.

They’re now padlocked.

Its eight movie studios controlled a staggering 40 per cent of the domestic box office last year.

Now, they’re sitting at a near standstill. “From great to good to bad to ugly,” Michael

Nathanson, a leading media analyst, wrote in a report of Disney’s extreme reversal in fortunes. “Recession will cause further pain.”

Assessment of damage

Disney’s new chief executive, Bob Chapek, and Robert A. Iger, Disney’s executive chairman, will offer their first assessment of the damage.

Disney is scheduled to report quarterly results after the stock market closes.

Analysts are expecting per-share profit of US$0.88 cents, (FJ$1. 97) down 45 per cent. The true scale of the pandemic’s impact on Disney will not be known until late summer, when Mr. Chapek reports results for the current quarter.

Summer dividend

The Disney board must decide in June whether to pay the company’s usual summer dividend; management is unlikely to

recommend it.

Disney turned itself into a colossus over the last 14 years.

It bought Pixar, Marvel and the “Star

Wars” franchise.

Most recently, to withstand Silicon Valley’s incursion into Hollywood, Disney swept up media properties like “The Simpsons” and National Geographic with its US$71.3 billion (FJ$160 b) purchase of 21st Century Fox assets.

ABC

The good news, ABC, which Disney bought in 1995, has been outperforming rival broadcast networks in recent weeks, according to Nielsen data, as young-adult viewers have flocked to comfort-food ABC shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” headed toward its 17th season, and “American Idol,” one of the few series still shooting.

Television advertising is weakening in the dismal economy, analysts say, hurting both ABC nationally and the eight local ABC stations that Disney owns.

Political advertising spending in the fall will “offset the carnage,” Mr Nathanson said on a conference call with clients.

Cruises

Disney has four ships (total passenger capacity: 13,400) with three more under construction, at a cost of roughly US$1 b (FJ$2 b) each.

Production shutdown

The production shutdown will almost certainly delay Marvel shows like “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” which was supposed to arrive in August.

But the service’s big hit, “The Mandalorian,” finished shooting its second season before the pandemic spread to the United States and will arrive in the fall on schedule.

Mr Nathanson estimates that Disney Plus will lose US$2 b (FJ$4 b) this year, with programming a major expense.