A new day is dawning at the House of Mouse. Josh D’Amaro has officially been anointed as the incoming CEO of The Walt Disney Company. His tenure officially begins in March, and while there’s no way to know what Disney will be like under the new boss, there’s at least one Disney insider who is expecting big things from him at the outset.
A Disney Insider Thinks Josh D’Amaro Will Need To Make Some Big Moves Early
When Bob Iger first became CEO, he made waves almost immediately by repairing the company’s relationship with Pixar and Steve Jobs, which eventually led to Disney buying the company, one of many acquisitions Disney would make under Iger. An unnamed source inside Disney recently told Page Six that he expects Josh D’Amaro to similarly make some big moves when he takes over, specifically within the entertainment side of the business. The source said…
Josh is smart enough to know that he’ll need to move quickly and take some early swings [outside of the parks biz], but how he does that with Bob still in the picture will be the question.
Josh D’Amaro comes from the Disney Experiences division, which oversees Disney’s Parks, Cruise Line, and Consumer Products. The major knock against him as the next CEO was that he didn’t have the Hollywood industry knowledge and relationships that would be important to a Disney CEO. Disney Entertainment co-head Dana Walden got promoted alongside D’Amaro to President and Chief Creative officer, seemingly to balance that knowledge in the C-Suite.
The idea from this source is that since D’Amaro isn’t a major player on the Hollywood side of things, he needs to do something early to show that he’s capable in that space. It’s not a bad point, and I know just where he should start.
Let's Get Pirates of The Caribbean 6 Happening Now
While not every Disney studio movie released has been a major hit, most of the different franchises are in decent shape right now. Star Wars has its first movie in years ready to hit theaters in a few months, and more are coming after that. Marvel Studios has a pair of Avengers movies on the way. Disney’s last live-action remake and its last animated movie both made over $1 billion dollars.
The one franchise that’s been struggling has been the Pirates of the Caribbean. The last entry in the franchise came out almost a decade ago, and while Disney has been working on a new entry for almost all that time, we still don’t have a finished script, much less a project in active development.
A new Pirates of the Caribbean movie will be a big deal if and when it ever comes. Regardless of how much of an impact on it Josh D’Amaro actually has, if he were able to announce the next chapter in the popular franchise, it would be a big deal for fans and the industry. It would also be a big deal for Wall Street, who tend to react positively to “company that makes a lot of money reveals new way to make a lot of money” sort of announcements.
Josh D’Amaro’s tenure probably won’t be full of mergers the way Bob Iger’s was. The fact is, there just isn’t as much left to buy after Iger already bought it all, though there are a few possibilities in that space, too. Still, D’Amaro will almost certainly make an impact. The only question is how.