The Underappreciated Michael Eisner – Part I

I have often thought lately, as I have in the past, that Michael Eisner has always been unappreciated. He has an interesting legacy. When I compare Eisner’s accomplishments to those of the likes of Bob Iger (two stints) and Bob Chapek, I see more of Eisner’s list as wins-wins for both the Disney Company and its guests.  I also consider Eisner as a creative personality whereas when I look at both Chapek and Iger, I think“acquirers” and not necessarily possessing much of a creative drive. Just my opinion.

Sid Bass and Roy O. Disney brought Michael Eisner into Disney in 1984 to serve as CEO and Chairman of the Board. Also brought in was Frank Wells to serve as President. Together these two managed to revitalize a struggling company.

It is also important to note that Eisner brought in Jeffrey Katzenberg to serve as Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.

Over the years Eisner became the face of the company through hosting the Wonderful World of Color television show.

At the time of his takeover, Eisner had in his hands, a very struggling animation division. He was able to begin turning that division around by putting forth films such as Who Killed Roger Rabbit? (1988) and The Little Mermaid (1989). That was the beginning.

Eisner also worked at building quite a robust empire by acquiring Miramax Films, ABC, ESPN, Fox Family Channel (Freeform) and the Muppets.

But for me Michael Eisner will always be remembered for his effort in producing the “Disney Decade.” He defined the 1990s with this phrase as his plan was to resurrect the theme park business by building more parks and expanding existing parks. He also made it a priority to produce popular films which he believed could lead to park attractions and merchandising streams.

He oversaw the development of Euro Disney which is now known as Disneyland Paris. This park struggled early but the ship was eventually righted. I won’t go into the issues but, needless to say, Eisner learned quite a bit about the French culture and being a quick study, he knew what to do.

How about some trivia. Does Michael Eisner have a window? Yes he does. It is above the Emporium in Disneyland Paris. He shares it with Frank Wells

In 1989 Walt Disney World gained a new park; Disney’s MGM-Studios, which may have opened a year too soon as it was not fully operational but it certainly took off in 1990 as the park became fully populated with shows and attraction. Eisner was accused of copying Universal Studios for the design of this theme park but with the legacy of Disney films behind him, this park would have its own properties upon which to base its attractions.

In 1995 a meeting was held to discuss WESTCOT, which was to be a West Coast version of WDW’s EPCOT Center. During the meeting, and it is not clear if Eisner was the catalyst, a different concept was introduced. This concept was instead to develop a theme park that focused on both the state of California and  make use of Disney, Pixar, and Marvel properties. Essentially, it would be a West Coast version of WDW’s Disney-MGM Studios.

Again, not clearly made public, but the opinions of some inside Disney have said that this decision to scrap WESTCOT and replace it with California Adventure was a two fold decision. First, WESTCOT in comparison to EPCOT Center would seem so small as there would be an issue of space and that would lead to some concessions regarding attractions. Secondly, it made sense to put forth a park that celebrates the state of California, which is the home state of the company and at the same time use the aforementioned Disney properties to develop attractions and shows?

The park opened on February 8^th, 2001. Like Euro Disney, the park struggled at first, but as attractions and shows were added it became a happy addition to the Disneyland Resort.

On March 16, 2002 Parc Walt Disney Studios (in English that is Walt Disney Studios Park) opened at Disneyland Paris. As other Disney Studios theme parks it was dedicated to show business, movie themes, production, and behind-the-scenes. It was originally planned to be opened in 1995 but as mentioned earlier the struggling Euro Disney at the time made it financially risky to pour money into the operation. Here’s a bit of news you may not know. This year the park was renamed Disney Adventure World.

When it comes to Disney’s Animal Kingdom park, even though it came about under Michael Eisner’s watch it was imagineer Joe Rohde who came up with the concept. Construction began in July, 1996. I won’t go into the details, I’ll save that for another time, but I will tell you that Disney acquired most of the animals in the fall of 1997 and hired zookeepers from some 69 zoos from across the country to care for the animals. The park opened on April 22, 1998.

While all this was going on Eisner pushed for developing high quality films and the company did just that as over 150 films were developed and released including some of the most popular films ever such as the aforementioned Little Mermaid as well as Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Toy Story.

It was clear that the appointment of Michael Eisner as CEO and Chairman was the right move for the company.

Eisner’s reign would have some bumps and we’ll look at that next time.