The pivot to Asia is a real thing at the Walt Disney Company. From an animation studio in India, to opening a fourth theme park, the Mouse House wants to make sure its brand is exposed to and loved by the more than 3+ billion people who live in and near those countries. In an interview with Bloomberg’s Tom Mackenzie, Disney CEO Bob Iger talks about opening a new avenue in China – film production.
Iger says that Disney is preparing to make branded films in China with the first one starting production within a year. Disney sees China’s film market continuing to grow to the point where it will soon be the world’s largest film market
“We have a lot of development activity right now to make Disney-branded films in China,” said Iger, speaking at the 963-acre Shanghai Disney Resort. “We are very far along on this process, including developing ideas, concepts for films and identifying talent to make those films.”
We are in an age of globalization for entertainment brands and support of movie audiences in China has already shown it can make a big difference at the global box office for Disney. It all becomes a big feedback look. Audiences see Disney movie franchises, visit Disney’s theme parks to ‘ride the movies,’ buy Disney branded merchndise developing an even closer relationship with the company, which makes them anticipate the next movie from Disney. That’s the plan at least.
The question now is, will it work?