It is no secret that I am a large opponent of Eisner's. However, I do give the devil his due. He did save Disney. Of course, he did so under the approval and supervision laid forth by Roy in 1984. Yet, no matter what Eisner did in the past, the corporate world is more concerned about "what have you done for me lately". The outcries against him are beginning to spill outside of the "insiders" conversation and into mainstream America. I can not tell you how many non-industry related people I have heard openly critizes Eisner for driving what was once one of the most dependable stocks into a stock always on the brink of diving.
Roy has taken the initiative to restore order to the Mouse House. What needs to be done, I don't know. But despite some fluke successes recently, Disney is in dire need of help. Disney's stores are closing every 6 months, the amusement parks are becoming more and more bare, ABC now has buzz about only at most 5 programs other than MNF, and the heart and soul of Disney, the 2D animation is now debunk.
In a perfect world, I would hope of one of three (fantasy) things to happen:
- Roy joins Katz at Dreamworks, overseeing the Animation Department as he did at Disney. Roy then focuses on excellence in story telling and simple animation, what took Disney to the top. Dreamworks then becomes the name people associate with great 2D animation, even if they are the last to produce it.
- Steve Jobs' Pixar merges with Disney, leading Jobs to step in, remove Eisner, and take role of CEO.
- Roy wins a viscious court battle over the name and rights to all things Walt created. This leaves Disney without the catalogue of films created by Walt to rape, pillage and repackage time and time again. Roy then forms "Disney Family", an organization focused on 2D animation and restoring the theme parks to a place where "dreams come true"
Of course, none of this will happen. More than likely, this will lead Eisner to create a braintrust of talented writers and producers who will roll out a string of say 3 or 4 consecutive hits, (I guess they'd have to be 3d this time) and thus save himself from the gallows for about 10 years, around the time he is forced to step down as Roy was, due to the mandatory age requirement.
Oh well, no matter what happens, I hope the "souless" company as it has been called will always remember that it started with a mouse and a boy with a dream.
