The official position of The Walt Disney Company is that, during the period in which Bob Chapek was its CEO, serious mistakes were made. His regime was marked by the crisis of COVID-19 and the determination to produce content in a hurry for the streamingwithin that Disney+ which they had inaugurated shortly before the pandemic emergency. The consequences have been terrible: Marvel Studios has lost credibility because of series like secret invasion (and failures like The Marvels), and disney has sunk with Indiana Jones and the dial of destiny and animation titles like Wish, Strange world either Lightyear.
The latter was produced by Pixar Animation StudiosOf course, it is easy to see it as the brand that has paid the highest price for Chapek’s decisions. During the pandemic, the highly criticized decision was made that each feature film Pixar saw the light directly on Disney+: such is the fate they suffered Soul, Red and Lucas before the box office disappointment of Lightyear confirmed that it had been a bad idea. People had grown accustomed to waiting to watch animated films at home, an impression supported by having Pixar itself developing content for the streaming. It is the case of Monsters at work, Carl and Dugof the Sparkshorts or the enormous spin-offs of Cars.
All of which led to a change of direction according to Chapek being replaced by Bob Iger, former CEO of the company during its golden years, in most of the 21st century. Iger, in successive calls with shareholders, has insisted that they have learned their lesson and that from now on they will prioritize quality over quantity, minimizing the importance of streaming. Which sounds great on paper, but the fine print is that this slowed production (and the corresponding immense restructuring) will lead to multiple layoffs.
Throughout 2023 Disney laid off several workers, and in January of this year Pixar announced that the same thing was going to happen within it. The study of the flexo, originally conducted by Steve Jobshas been part of Disney’s organizational chart since 2006. In accordance with Iger’s general directive, it was said that Pixar was going to fire the twenty% of the workforce at the beginning of 2024. Fortunately this has not happened, as the number has been reduced to a 14%. But there are still a lot of employees: massive layoffs like Pixar has never experienced in its entire history, according to HollywoodReporter.
The management leadership, surprise, will not be affected. But this 14% implies that 175 employees They will go to the streets, after they had arrived to work at Pixar 1300 people. The fundamental reason is that the flexo studio will stop producing content for Disney+ to refocus on cinema: that is why it will be Win or Losea series that would premiere at the end of the year, the latest thing that Pixar develops with the streaming in mind.
Pixar, led by Pete Docter, faces decisive launches in the coming months. After Elementary achieved good figures at the box office with a lot of effort, this 19th of June premieres Inside out 2. They will follow you Elio in 2025 and toy story 6 in 2026, with a drastically reduced workforce. Jim Morrispresident of the company, announced the layoffs with a statement in which we could read:
“Over the last year I have spoken to you on numerous occasions about our imminent abandonment of series production for Disney+, the return to focusing on feature films and the reduction of our team that this would entail. That day has arrived, and although it is not a surprise to anyone, it is one of the most difficult changes we have had to makeas it means we will be parting ways with a number of talented and dedicated colleagues and friends.”
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