Word: disneyized
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...when Roy Disney proposed a new management with Eisner as chairman and Wells as president, some company directors objected. According to Journalist John Taylor in his 1987 book, Storming the Magic Kingdom, they saw Eisner as an idea man who would be too inexperienced as an administrator and financier to handle a large corporation. The directors came close to rejecting Eisner in favor of an older, more buttoned-down candidate. But then Roy Disney's attorney, Stanley Gold, made an impassioned speech to the directors: "You see guys like Eisner as a little crazy . . . but every great studio in this...
This time creativity carried the day, and the Eisner-Wells team took charge in September 1984. The Disney board ousted Miller, while voting Roy to the post of vice chairman. The Eisner-Wells duo flew immediately to Fort Worth to enlist support from Sid Bass, whose family was amassing a stake in the company (currently 17%). Bass was so impressed with Eisner and Wells that he promised to hold the stock for five years, an unusual commitment that would make Disney far less vulnerable to further takeover troubles...
Eisner had been a latecomer as a Disney fan. Growing up on Manhattan's Park Avenue, he seldom watched TV or went to the movies. Eisner's parents -- his father a lawyer-entrepreneur and his mother the president of a medical- research institute -- strictly rationed his pop-culture consumption. Recalls Eisner: "For every hour of television I watched, I had to read for two hours." Eisner dabbled in premed studies as a freshman at Ohio's Denison University, but eventually found better chemistry in the literature and theater departments. The first time he saw a Disney film was several years...
...return to the old studio system, Disney essentially formed an in-house troupe of actors and directors by signing them up for multipicture deals. Midler went on to star in Ruthless People (revenues: $72 million) and Outrageous Fortune ($53 million). Dreyfuss appeared again in Stakeout ($66 million) and Tin Men ($26 million). Robin Williams, who had made two bombs at other studios, hit big with Good Morning, Vietnam. Says he: "Jeffrey ((Katzenberg)) picks people in neutral, stalled between phases, and tries to find the right vehicle for them. There's a joke going around that he hangs out outside...
...Disney prefers to put together its own film projects, rather than buying packaged deals from agents at high markups. After picking a story, the Disnoids go bargain hunting for the rest of the pieces. Suddenly chic, Disney now uses its prestige instead of its poverty as an excuse for eliciting better deals. Says Richard Frank, Katzenberg's No. 2 man: "We have the money, but we won't pay retail." The average Disney film during 1987 cost about $12 million to make, in contrast to Hollywood's $16.5 million average. Fully 22 of the 23 films made and released...