Bob Iger Says Disney EMEA & APAC Content Investments “Slowing” But Will Continue On “Selective” Basis: “We’re Being Careful Until We Get The Technology Right”

deadline.com:

Bob Iger said today Disney‘s content investment in EMEA and APAC has “slowed down” as the company wrestles with technology challenges and sees its Hollywood movies land strongly in local territories.

Talking to analysts during a fourth quarter earnings call, the Disney CEO painted a mixed picture of what international spend will look like going forwards, citing “opportunities, and even the need” for “selective investing outside the United States,” while warning that these should not be considered “enormous by any stretch of the imagination.” This was primarily because local hype for billion-dollar grossing movies Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2 prove there is less need for locally-produced programs and films than elsewhere. “We know we are making content that has global application.

In most markets, we don’t have to spend as much as some of our competitors,” he said, before later adding, “If you look at some of our competitors who don’t have movies of that quality or that level of success, they have to spend more on local content as they don’t have that.

Iger said Disney was “being careful” about overall international investments “until we get the technology right,” while not going into specifics on what issues are at hand.