Disney's "The Lion King": The Two Billion Dollar Movie
Disney’s “The Lion King” (A): The $2 Billion Movie
“The Lion King” (A): The $2 Billion Movie” is a case describing the transformation that Disney underwent after being taken over by Michael Eisner and the subsequent release of “The Lion King.” Prior to the appointment of Eisner as CEO underperforming both creatively and financially, with critics claiming Disney was failing to innovate and move with the times, and financial analysts taking the company off their stock-to-buy lists due to a dip in share prices. Eisner was able to reinvent and restructure the company by implementing various different managerial ideologies and business models, to which the success of the “The Lion King,” one of the largest grossing movies of all time, is a testament. The earliest incarnation of the Walt Disney Company did not implement much of a corporate structure. The Disney brothers, Walt and Roy, ran their business in an informal, nonhierarchical manner and saw no need to establish official titles or structures. Employees were on a first name basis; Walt Disney stated, “If a person is important to the company, then other employees will know it.” Their original success came primarily through producing animated versions of classic stories such as “Peter Pan” and “Sleeping Beauty”. Disney was known for reworking timeless tales, as opposed to generating new content. However, the death of Walt, in 1966, and Roy, in 1971, showed a noticeable downward shift in in the company’s profits. Between 1969 and 1984, Disney had produced a series of cinematic disappointments, and belief in the company had started to wane. Several consumers and fans lost faith. Remarks such as “Disney isn’t changing with the times and have lost their appeal”, “The movies are missing heart. The old ones had heart”, started to arise, consequently causing Disney’s stock price to drop severely. By 1984, a number of financial analysts had taken Walt Disney Company off their stock-to-buy list, since the
“The Lion King” (A): The $2 Billion Movie” is a case describing the transformation that Disney underwent after being taken over by Michael Eisner and the subsequent release of “The Lion King.” Prior to the appointment of Eisner as CEO underperforming both creatively and financially, with critics claiming Disney was failing to innovate and move with the times, and financial analysts taking the company off their stock-to-buy lists due to a dip in share prices. Eisner was able to reinvent and restructure the company by implementing various different managerial ideologies and business models, to which the success of the “The Lion King,” one of the largest grossing movies of all time, is a testament. The earliest incarnation of the Walt Disney Company did not implement much of a corporate structure. The Disney brothers, Walt and Roy, ran their business in an informal, nonhierarchical manner and saw no need to establish official titles or structures. Employees were on a first name basis; Walt Disney stated, “If a person is important to the company, then other employees will know it.” Their original success came primarily through producing animated versions of classic stories such as “Peter Pan” and “Sleeping Beauty”. Disney was known for reworking timeless tales, as opposed to generating new content. However, the death of Walt, in 1966, and Roy, in 1971, showed a noticeable downward shift in in the company’s profits. Between 1969 and 1984, Disney had produced a series of cinematic disappointments, and belief in the company had started to wane. Several consumers and fans lost faith. Remarks such as “Disney isn’t changing with the times and have lost their appeal”, “The movies are missing heart. The old ones had heart”, started to arise, consequently causing Disney’s stock price to drop severely. By 1984, a number of financial analysts had taken Walt Disney Company off their stock-to-buy list, since the