Bob Iger may have only just returned to the CEO position at Disney in November of 2022, but he’s already faced some huge challenges.

There have been executive leadership changes, a major reorganization of the Company is underway, and huge cost cuts (we’re talking BILLIONS) are planned for the Disney Company. But that’s not all. Right now, we’re tackling 3 of the major unexpected challenges Iger has had to face and just what the future might hold. Let’s break it all down!

1 — The DEATH of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and a NEW Board of Supervisors

When Iger resumed the CEO position in late 2022, the Florida bill that would dissolve Disney’s Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) in June of 2023 had already been passed, but just what the future would hold for the RCID had yet to be determined. Back in November of 2022, Iger noted that he was sorry to see Disney dragged into conflicts with Florida’s politicians.

He noted that he didn’t particularly like seeing the Company become “embroiled in controversy,” but also made a point to say that “The state of Florida has been very important to us for a long time, and we have been very important to the state of Florida.”

Some had speculated that the Reedy Creek District would likely be allowed to continue in some way with just a few changes to give the Florida Governor (Ron DeSantis) the appearance of a “win.” But things have significantly changed since November of 2022.

Disney’s Reedy Creek District is officially DEAD. A bill was swiftly passed in early 2023 by the Florida legislature and signed into law by Governor DeSantis that does a number of key things. The bill:

• Keeps the District from being dissolved in June of 2023
• Replaces the current Board of Supervisors with an entirely NEW Board selected by Governor DeSantis (and approved by the Florida Senate)
• Renames the District to “The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District”
• Removes some powers from the District (like the District’s power to build a nuclear power plant)
• Subjects the District to more rules (mainly around the filing of reports)

The key change is really the removal of the current Board and its replacement with new members the selection of which Disney has NO control.

DeSantis has already named his new Board for the District and they are what the Orlando Sentinel has called “politically connected Republican allies.” The new Board includes a lawyer that (through an investment firm) has donated around $50,000 to DeSantis, the co-founder of Moms for Liberty (which the Sentinel describes as a group that has called for book banning in public schools), the CEO of The Gathering USA ministry (who has reportedly defended Christian nationalism), and 2 others.

While some think that the Board may be “friendly” to Disney’s interests, others aren’t so sure. Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro has said, “If that new board understands the value that gets created here and how it positively impacts the Central Florida community, I think they will be aligned with our vision.”

But according to the Sentinel, Richard Fogleson (who wrote a book on the origin of Disney World), said “It is not clear to me the kind of people he appointed to Reedy Creek board are going to feel the need to work collaboratively with the business executives.”

Representative Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, has warned that the Board could do things to put pressure on Disney to end certain projects DeSantis might not like. For example, Eskamani noted, “They could say Disney can’t do Gay Days anymore by dragging out zoning for a new project.”

Still, some believe Disney could use the cities that fall under the RCID as a kind of loophole, and potentially take back some powers that had been delegated to the RCID.

The new Board has already met once and given a hint of what might be to come. According to Spectrum News 13, Bridget Ziegler (one of the members of the new Board) said that the Board is not there to be political — it’s “really there to oversee land use, taxing authorities, and make sure we are balancing scales and serving the best interests of Floridians at the end of the day.”

She admitted that she has been “disappointed” with some of Disney’s path in recent years in terms of its political involvement, but noted, “as a board member for oversight…I don’t know how much that will play.”

According to the Orlando Business Journal, one new Board member (Brian Aungst Jr.) alluded to the possibility of seeking to eliminate the 2 cities that fall under the District — Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista. Aungst also said he wants the District to oversee the law enforcement contracts for those cities and make sure they can’t supersede the District’s decisions regarding building codes and land-planning powers.

Ziegler also said she wants COVID-19-related restrictions to be similar to any statewide laws. Another Board member (Martin Garcia) said the Board will create many changes reflecting the Board’s “broader representation” of more of Florida.

While some may be concerned about the state takeover of Reedy Creek, others seem to be happy about the change. Jon Shirey, President of the Reedy Creek Firefighters Union, shared “For many years there has been a blatant disregard and bias against the first responders here and the lack of concern for public safety.”

There is an expectation that much of the day-to-day action will remain the same, but much remains to be seen. How will Iger deal with a NEW Board that is not at all selected by Disney? Will the new Board cause “trouble” for Disney and prevent it from doing some of the things it has planned for its theme park resort in Florida or will it be business as usual (for the most part)?

We’ll have to wait and see, but you can bet we’ll be looking for updates.

Click here for a timeline of the battle between DeSantis and Disney

2 — Some Movies Aren’t “Bangers” Anymore

Disney movies can sometimes be HUGE box office hits, particularly when it comes to Marvel. Several of the highest-grossing films in the box office are Marvel films like Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War. And movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and others made over $1 BILLION in the worldwide box office (Business Insider). But Disney has swiftly learned that not every Marvel movie will be a big hit.

To be clear, it’s not as though this is the first time a Marvel movie has not performed as well as Disney likely hoped, but Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has resulted in a unique situation Iger must face. Though the movie started off with a $106 million opening week, it only made $32.2 million in its second week — a decrease of 69%. This marks the BIGGEST week-to-week drop in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And, according to Business Insider, it is the lowest-ranked MCU movie according to global box office results (as of February 25th, 2023).

Disney has also faced other recent movie “troubles” with Strange World not performing particularly well in the box office. While Avatar: The Way of Water certainly blew up in the box office, not every Disney film has seen the same results, even ones that perhaps could have been expected to do better. Coming up this year, Disney has Peter Pan and Wendy (which will go straight to Disney+), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Little Mermaid (live-action remake), Elemental (from Pixar), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Haunted Mansion, and The Marvels. 

Perhaps once upon a time Disney would have thought that every Pixar film and/or Marvel film would be a “guaranteed” box office hit, but recent history seems to suggest that isn’t always the case (especially when it comes to films like Lightyear on the Pixar side). Instead, Disney could be setting itself up for big “wins,” only to be severely disappointed.

And big shifts already seem to be underway when it comes to the future of Star Wars movies at Disney, according to Variety. Some films have reportedly been shelved while others may still be continuing forward. Disney has realized some of the things that went “wrong” with its prior films (like Lightyear), so we can only expect they’re examining what has happened with Quantumania to may key decisions about future movie plans.

And it seems like sequels might be their current “solution,” at least when it comes to animation, with sequels announced reently for Frozen, Zootopia, and Toy Story. Some original animated films are slated for the future though.

Ultimately, what movies Disney decides to greenlight in the future and whether they go to theaters or directly to Disney+ could greatly be impacted by recent box office struggles and Disney’s desire to cut BILLIONS from its spending budget. How this will impact future movies remains to be seen, but ultimately less-than-ideal box office results is something Iger will likely have to address somehow.

Click here to see our full post about how Quantumania has made history…but not in a good way

3 — Cast Member Troubles

And finally, Iger has had to face some tough Cast Member matters. First, we’ve got ongoing Cast Member union negotiation battles. Some Cast Member contracts ended back in Octoeber of 2022, and negotiations for a new contract have been ongoing since then. Disney’s latest contract offer was rejected by a 96% margin, so the unions and Disney went back to the bargaining table, but things didn’t exactly get “better.”

The Cast Member unions recently HALTED negotiations with Disney, saying “Disney refused to add even one cent to its wage proposal,” and Disney reportedly made the contract offer WORSE than before.

Disney, in response, said “We’ve provided the union with options that would set all non-tipped cast members on a path to $20 an hour and provide opportunities for immediate increases, and we look forward to continuing discussions.” But the Cast Member unions had previously indicated that Disney’s offer, which proposed raises of “only $1 a year for most workers,” was not enough to address immediate concerns surrounding the increased cost of living. They had demanded an immediate minimum wage of $18 per hour.

Thus far, the latest update has been about a survey sent out to Cast Members, which the union is encouraging workers to fill out to “tell the world how hard it is to live on [their] curent wages.” Ultimately, this Cast Member contract issue continues to linger, and Iger (as well as the rest of the Disney team) will have to figure out just how to reach a resolution.

On top of this, Iger recently announced that hybrid employees would have to return to working in the office at least 4 days a week, but that transition hasn’t gone totally smoothly. In mid-February, more than 2300 employees signed the petition asking Iger to reconsider this rule change, saying that it’s “likely to have unintended consequences that cause long-term harm to the company.”

According to the petition, the new rule could lead to “forced resignations among some of our most hard-to-replace talent and vulnerable communities” while “dramatically reducing productivity, output, and efficiency.” Disney had announced thousands of job cuts perviously, and it’s possible that it anticipated some of these “forced resignations” would result from some rule changes.

Either way, Disney will have to deal with cuts to its budgets, thousands of job cuts, a battle with Cast Member unions, and resistance from its hybrid Cast Members all within the next few weeks/months. How will Iger balance these situations and find a resolution to them? That remains to be seen.

And those are just 3 of the big unexpected problems Iger is dealing with now. Many more problems may arise in the coming days, weeks, and months as Iger continues to serve as CEO for around 2 years. Who will ultimately replace Iger as CEO? Will the replacement perform “better” than Bob Chapek in the Board’s eyes? Will Disney be able to meet fan expectations moving forward when it comes to movies, park attractions, and more? There are lots of questions and not many answers at this time, but we’ll be on the lookout for updates.

For more details, see our post below on one unique candidate that could fill Iger’s place at Disney in the future. And stay tuned for more news!

Click here to see what “out of the box” candidate could replace Disney CEO Bob Iger

Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe!

What other major challenges do you think Bob Iger will face in the future? Tell us in the comments.

The post 3 Big Problems Bob Iger Is Facing Right Now first appeared on the disney food blog.