Disney’s theme parks have strong financial quarter
Iger: Star Wars lands ‘will have no problem getting attention’
Don’t expect Disney to drop big money to advertise the Star Wars lands opening this year in California and Orlando.
“Maybe I should just tweet — ‘It’s open!” and that will be enough,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said Tuesday during an earnings call.
Iger spoke off the cuff in a few light-hearted moments as Walt Disney Company’s theme parks performed strongly in another financial quarter.
“We’re going to end up with incredibly popular and in-demand products with these two new lands,” Iger went on about Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge which debuts this summer in California and late fall in Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios. “They’re large. They’re beautiful, and they’re extremely innovative. And they obviously leverage the popularity of the Star Wars brand.”
“We’re going to have absolutely no problem getting attention… It’s not going to take much marketing to do that.”
The costs for opening Star Wars: Galaxy’s End will be wrapped into the operating income and expense budget lines at the parks, said Disney chief financial officer Christine McCarthy during the call although she didn’t elaborate on how much that be might be.
For the first quarter results, revenue jumped 5 percent to $6.8 billion in the theme parks, experiences and consumer products division compared to the same quarter in 2017.
The growth in operating income was from higher hotel room occupancy at Disney resorts and guests spent more on food, beverage and merchandise, the company said. The average cost for Disney tickets and Disney hotels rates also increased.
For the fiscal first quarter that ended in December, Disney reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.84. Analysts on average had expected $1.55, according to Reuters.
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