Bob Chapek: Last News

Advance ticket sales through Sunday for Disney-Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever stand at $45M, about 20% behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness at the same point in time and 40% ahead of Thor: Love & Thunder.

It is quite clear from a theatrical and a streaming front, Disney is already dominating.

The Walt Disney Co., after some cage-rattling by activist investor Daniel Loeb, has added former Viacom and Facebook exec Carolyn Everson to its board of directors.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Human Rights Campaign has agreed to accept a contribution from the Walt Disney Co., months after rejecting it at the height of the “Don’t Say Gay” controversy. The move comes as Disney continues to try to heal the damage done by its response to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, which restricts classroom instruction on LGBTQ identity. Disney initially declined to take a public position on the measure, leading to a major backlash among its employees. As the furor mounted, CEO Bob Chapek announced that the company would oppose the law and make a $5 million donation to HRC and other gay rights organizations. But HRC rejected the money, saying it first wanted to see the company “build on their public commitment” by working closely with LGBTQ organizations.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor As a top executive at Facebook and Instacart, Carolyn Everson knows a lot about the habits of tech-savvy consumers. Soon, she may be able to help Walt Disney Co. figure out how to harness them. Disney plans to expand its board of directors to 12 from 11 and nominated Everson as a new member. The move is supported by Third Point LLC, the activist investor that in August took a new stake in Disney and suggested a litany of big moves, such as spinning off ESPN or buying out Comcast’s ownership of Hulu. “We have a productive and collegial relationship with Third Point, with whom we share a deep commitment to continue building on Disney’s many successes and increasing shareholder value,” said Disney CEO Bob Chapek in a prepared statement.

While the Emmys drew mixed reviews, the film festivals closed to strong applause this week, not only for their movies (we’d forgotten some) but for their star turnout (forgot a few of them, too).

With a bit more than a year left before Disney can buy out Comcast’s financial stake in Hulu, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts pushed back on Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s suggestion that Hulu’s value has declined amid public market skepticism about streaming.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Is there a bidding war brewing over Hulu? Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts called Hulu a “phenomenal business” — and said that if Disney were willing to sell it, the cable and media company would be interested in buying it out. “Hulu’s a phenomenal business. Its scale is fantastic. It has wonderful content,” Roberts said, speaking Wednesday at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia + Technology Conference 2022 in San Francisco. “If it was up for sale, Comcast would be interested” in buying 100% of Hulu, and “others would I think as well.” Disney currently owns 66% of Hulu and Comcast holds the remaining 33% stake. As of July 2, 2022, Disney recorded Comcast’s interest in Hulu as being worth $8.6 billion, implying a valuation of $25.8 billion. In an auction-style sale of Hulu in its entirety, Roberts suggested, Hulu may fetch more than that.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek, coming off a promotional blitz at the company’s D23 conference last weekend, reiterated many of those messages for a Wall Street audience but struck a more confident tone than ever before in outlining the future of Hulu.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney+ was first launched three years ago with the “pretty absurd” low price point of $6.99 per month, CEO Bob Chapek admitted. Now the company is gearing up to raise prices again on the flagship streamer — but Disney+ still offers a better price/value equation than competitors, he said. “I think we’re way underpriced relative to the value we provide,” Chapek said, noting that the core Disney+ service without ads will continue to be priced below several competitors. The CEO was speaking Wednesday at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia + Technology Conference 2022. Amid rising inflation, Disney has announced price increases coming in the fourth quarter of 2022 for Disney+ and Hulu, as well as a December launch for the ad-supported Disney+ tier in the U.S. Disney+ Basic, the name of the plan with ads, will launch Dec. 8 in the U.S. for $7.99/month. That’s the price of the current ad-free version of Disney+, which at that time will bump up to $10.99/month, a 38% increase, and will be known as Disney+ Premium.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek is opening up about ESPN as activist investor Daniel Loeb had been pressuring the company to spin off the sports network.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Activist investor Daniel S. Loeb of Third Point has backed off his proposal from last month for Disney to divest itself of ESPN in order to devote even more resources to content creation for streaming platforms. Loeb sent two Twitter messages early Sunday morning that amounted to an olive branch to Disney and its CEO Bob Chapek. Loeb said he had gained a “better understanding” of Disney’s plans to more deeply integrate ESPN into its direct-to-consumer operations and the emerging Disney bundle of channels. The social media missive signals that Loeb will not step up his public pressure on Disney and seek to field an alternative slate of directors at the company’s annual meeting next spring.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor “You should see the backstage,” actor Diego Luna told the D23 Expo crowd Saturday morning as he talked up his new “Star Wars”-branded Disney+ series “Andor” to the 5,000 faithful fans who packed the Anaheim Convention Center. The assembly of boldface names that were brought out at the three-day Disney fan event for a wave and brief chat about upcoming projects was a visual representation of the breadth of content produced by the studio these days. The list of boldface names included Harrison Ford, Angela Bassett, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Paul Rudd, Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Don Cheadle, Owen Wilson, Zoe Saldana, Giancarlo Esposito, Christian Slater, Pedro Pascal, Gael Garcia Bernal, Anthony Ramos and more.The star power on display was impressive and so was the brand power that Disney flexed during D23 Expo by releasing dozens of trailers, teasers and first looks at content bound for Disney+ and theaters in the coming year. The rapid-fire delivery of “Coming Soon” messages was music to the ears of Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who has been telling investors and others that Disney+’s has yet to fully hit its stride in content delivery because of pandemic disruptions.

Patrick Dempsey was nearly unrecognizable while appearing at the 2022 Disney Legends Awards during Disney's D23 Expo in Anaheim on Friday.Instead of his signature salt-and-pepper coif, the 56-year-old actor debuted a head of bleach blond hair as he addressed convention attendees.The Grey's Anatomy hunk looked sharp in a beige blazer and matching slacks. Woah! Patrick Dempsey was nearly unrecognizable while appearing at the 2022 Disney Legends Awards during Disney's D23 Expo in Anaheim on Friday. Instead of his signature salt-and-pepper coif, the 56-year-old actor debuted a head of bleach blond hair as he addressed convention attendees His jacket was worn over a white button-down shirt with pink pinstripes.With his new look on full display, Dempsey took to the stage during the ceremony to accept his own Disney Legend trophy.Disney Legend is a Hall of Fame for individuals who have made huge contributions to The Walt Disney Company, by Disney's CEO Bob Chapek.  The Maine native's Grey's Anatomy co-star Ellen Pompeo, black-ish stars Anthony Anderon and Tracee Ellis Ross, Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman and Frozen stars Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad were also awarded the status among others.

There’s going to be a lot more of Earth’s mightiest heroes and villains at Disneyland and a lot more interaction on Disney+, said Bob Chapek today, kicking off 2022’s D23 Expo.

Disney’s chief financial officer Christine McCarthy said today, “We like the hand we have with ESPN,” calling the sports network and streamer an important piece of the broader portfolio.

Disney’s upcoming D23 Expo is just a few weeks away, and news is emerging about what fans can expect from this year’s event.

One week after Disney CEO Bob Chapek noted on the company’s quarterly earnings call, “We’re still seeing demand in excess of the reservations that we’re making available to our guests,” Disneyland rolled out new availability — and increased prices — for its year-old Magic Key annual pass offering. The menu includes one new tier, Inspire, which is the most expensive. The old top-tier Dream Key, which was $1399, is no longer available.

In a letter to Disney CEO Bob Chapek, activist investor Daniel Loeb urged the exec to spin off ESPN and integrate Hulu into Disney+, among other changes.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorWall Street recently cheered Disney’s fiscal performance, judging by how the stock has performed since the company offered details of its second quarter performance. And yet, there are some investors who still think the owner of ABC, Disney World and Hulu has much further to go.In an Aug.

Chapek told CNBC that price hikes will likely hit the Mouse House’s popular theme parks next. “We read demand. We have no plans right now in terms of what we’re going to do, but we operate with a surgical knife here,” Chapek said Thursday.