Word: disneyized
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Never can it be said that Disney chief Michael Eisner misses the small points. Whether it's the fixtures in his company's hotels, the dialogue in a movie script or the little snubs that add up to a feud, not much escapes him. In the case of his growing estrangement from his longtime supporter Roy Disney, the final squabble came in a conversation a week before Thanksgiving over the Magic Kingdom heir's right to attend screenings of cartoons in development. "These were big screenings with like 100 people in the room, and he didn't want me there...
Eisner, 61, has crushed numerous revolts in his 19-year reign as chief of the Walt Disney Co., but he has never faced a rebel quite like this--an angry major shareholder who bears the company's name and a deep sense of betrayal by the chief Mouseketeer. Claiming that Eisner made his life "intolerable" at the company, Disney last week resigned from his posts as chairman of the animation division and vice chairman of the board. With his longtime ally, Stanley Gold, who also quit the board, Disney plans to mount a public fight to boot Eisner from...
Their gripes are familiar to beleaguered Disney shareholders, who recall Eisner's wonder years like a ride on Space Mountain. Eisner had a terrific run from 1984 through '98, when profits grew from $291 million to $1.85 billion. He expanded the theme parks, heavily marketed Disney merchandise, turned the studios into tight-budget, live-action hit factories and presided with Jeffrey Katzenberg over a rebirth of Disney's animation franchise that produced such crown jewels as The Lion King. Investors from Warren Buffett to the Bass family latched on as the stock soared 3,598% during those 14 golden years...
...Eisner blew at least $1.6 billion on Internet ventures, including the Go.com portal, and in 2001 he paid $5.2 billion for the Fox Family Channel (considered a high sum), which was renamed ABC Family and proceeded to slump in the ratings. None of this has been lost on investors: Disney stock wobbles at around $22 a share, half the heights it reached...
...steps. "It's not groundbreaking choreography," he agrees, "but that's not my aim. Some choreographers create works specifically for the purpose of movement invention. But I try to be inventive with the concept, to stretch what dance can do in the theater." It was this theatricality that attracted Disney to him for Mary Poppins, one of theaterland's most eagerly anticipated events of 2004. It will be the first time the choreographer has also directed a musical. For his admirers, that's a double treat. "Original theatermakers like Matthew aren't defined by those who came before them," says...