Bob Iger's Latest Disney Reorganization Finally Kills An Unpopular Bob Chapek Policy
Corporate synergy seems to be the name of the game, as one massive conglomerate after another either merges or munches up another of its competitors. Not even entities as vast and omnipresent as Disney are immune to restructuring and reorganization, especially as streaming grows more competitive than ever.
Of course, this isn't to suggest that Disney+ or any Disney properties save "Strange World" are really suffering at the moment. With each new Marvel movie raking in the dough and the extended "Star Wars" universe garnering more attention than ever (via Parrot Analytics), the house that Mickey built has also announced the renewal of three of its biggest animated sitcoms: "Bob's Burgers," "Family Guy," and "The Simpsons."
Still, it looks like change is coming for Disney as a corporate entity, and the recent shake-up has shifted the players around on the board in a number of notable ways. However, unlike Netflix's recent password-sharing debacle, it looks like the news might actually be a net positive for viewers.
DMED is no more as positions shift around in Disney
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the biggest news to come out of reinstated CEO Bob Iger's reorganization of Disney is that the Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution group is set to be dissolved. DMED, as it's better known, was created by the previous CEO, Bob Chapek, and took the discussions and debates over each division's funding, budgets, and marketing to an entirely different sector of the company that Chapek also had firm control over.
With DMED out of the picture, Alan Bergman is taking over as one of Disney's entertainment co-chairs, where he'll be heading up the film department, while Dana Walden takes over on the television side of things. Furthermore, the dissolution of DMED will put more control directly into the hands of Bergman, Walden, and those like them who oversee their projects, rather than a separate group making these sorts of decisions as a proxy.
With new entries planned in the "Frozen," "Zootopia," and "Toy Story" franchises on top of the already upcoming release slate Disney is offering in 2023 alone (via Insider), it looks like things are looking up for both fans and executives when it comes to this news.