Valuetainment - Ex Disney CEO on Hollywood Box Office Battles

00:00:00.040 Okay, when I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice.

00:00:04.800 I want to help my kids, and I want to give back to the community.

00:00:07.940 Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime.

00:00:12.200 I wonder if my out-of-office has a forever setting.

00:00:15.740 An IG Private Wealth Advisor creates the clarity you need

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00:00:30.000 I'm assuming Disney's a calendar-based business, right, on the movie side.

00:00:33.880 100%.

00:00:34.340 So what are the do's and don'ts on the calendar?

00:00:37.300 Like is there don't touch October or don't mess with – is there any –

00:00:42.320 Well, I mean, if there's two big rules, it would be pick a high seasonality time period when people will come, right,

00:00:50.580 and stay away from titles that are bigger than you.

00:00:53.100 Stay away from titles that are bigger than you?

00:00:54.820 What does that mean?

00:00:55.360 Well, if you have a competitive title and it's expected to do $500 million in the box office

00:01:01.140 and you think you're going to do $150 million, you might not want to compete with them because you'll lose.

00:01:06.000 That makes sense.

00:01:06.440 Your $150 million will be $100 million.

00:01:07.860 So how did you guys get access to know what the competitors are coming up with next in the next two, three, four, five years?

00:01:13.920 Oh, they go to industry conventions.

00:01:16.260 Everybody knows.

00:01:16.680 And they show their trailers.

00:01:17.960 And coming next July, on July 22nd, and so everyone kind of sits there and says, they're July 22nd.

00:01:23.860 What happens if we go July 4th?

00:01:25.820 There's a whole group of people in theatrical distribution that that's.

00:01:29.520 What is that?

00:01:30.160 What are those guys called?

00:01:31.480 What do you call them?

00:01:32.360 Like a strategic.

00:01:33.620 But is there a specific title for them?

00:01:35.440 The guys that are calendar in the whole thing out?

00:01:37.580 Just basically theatrical distribution.

00:01:40.180 I mean, you've got to be strategic to be.

00:01:42.340 You've got to be strategic to think about what your competitors are doing.

00:01:45.120 And, you know, you take every bit of information you get.

00:01:47.880 And you're like, you know, you talk to exhibitors and exhibitors say,

00:01:50.580 wow, that Sony film is really looking great right now.

00:01:53.540 or that Warner Brothers film is looking really strong.

00:01:56.360 Did you ever change dates to demolish a competitor's movie

00:01:59.800 that they were really banking on?

00:02:00.980 Like, was it that competitive?

00:02:03.120 It wasn't to demolish somebody else.

00:02:04.860 It's to advantage your own film, right?

00:02:07.700 Your decision was about advantaging your own,

00:02:09.780 not demolishing a competitor's just to demolish a competitor, right?

00:02:13.780 So, I mean, I know you guys are the heavyweight.

00:02:15.760 I'm sure people wanted to pick on you guys all the time.

00:02:17.840 Or was it behind closed doors a bunch of friends?

00:02:20.980 No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

00:02:23.540 no no no yeah there was no no cooperation at all this was it was a war but you were really looking

00:02:30.360 to advantage your title and then sometimes you know they they think they got the heavyweight

00:02:34.280 you think you got the heavyweight and those titles go really close to each other and then you find

00:02:38.880 out who had to tell me one of those where you guys are sitting there saying guys this could go

00:02:43.080 because it's funny because i'm not in your space i don't know how to think about it but it's kind

00:02:46.620 of like you know sometimes you got um formula one bro i don't know if you go to formula one uh

00:02:52.800 Racist or not?

00:02:53.800 I'm not a huge fan.

00:02:54.700 Are you a Kentucky Derby guy?

00:02:56.280 A little bit.

00:02:57.180 Okay, so they fight.

00:02:58.440 They do it in the same weekend.

00:03:00.180 Right.

00:03:00.700 You know, Formula One and Kentucky Derby same weekend.

00:03:03.600 So sometimes you'll see fights, a boxing match, at the same time as a UFC match.

00:03:09.180 And it's just like, let me see who's going to do better.

00:03:11.460 What was one story that you guys have where two heavyweights went against each other and you guys won?

00:03:15.800 This happened, basically, I can't give you one story because it happened every Fourth of July,

00:03:20.800 every Christmas, and every Thanksgiving.

00:03:22.800 that's what happens right everybody that's right so the rest of the weeks there's jockeying but

00:03:29.260 when it's the the the uh wednesday before thanksgiving everybody puts their monsters out

00:03:35.100 and then you go toe to toe if it's the the week before christmas everybody puts their monsters

00:03:40.840 out you know july 1st everybody puts their monsters out and so you would get those times

00:03:46.460 where the seasonality remember i said one of the things you look at a seasonality where the

00:03:50.080 seasonality is so big that no one's going to back down and you know essentially you go toe to toe

00:03:57.200 you guys see each other at events is it is it kind of like when you see each other like hey so hey

00:04:01.200 congrats on the movie is it is it like there's some of that you know they all you know see each

00:04:08.000 other socially in town you know the places that people go to dine or go play golf but you know

00:04:13.760 they're competitors you know they're they're competitors there's a lot of respect for each

00:04:18.300 other i get that i mean you know there's that in sports and business and everything but um

00:04:23.560 i didn't even think about asking you this question just curious what you say

00:04:27.980 out of everybody you work with at disney for 30 years who was the biggest psycho competitor

00:04:31.820 positive don't worry about the word psycho i put as an adjective i'm just thinking a competitor

00:04:36.860 uh competitor so i would probably say it was uh warner brothers just because they sort of

00:04:43.900 saw themselves as a version of disney you know um any general they had that was really driving on

00:04:50.620 the back end that they felt they were bigger better than you guys well there was a guy that

00:04:54.280 was in the video space i can speak to this because it was in the video space a guy named

00:04:57.520 warren lieberfarb who was a legend a legend and he was an advocate for the hd dvd movement on the

00:05:05.760 other side and you know most people kind of stared away from warren because he had a lot of influence

00:05:10.920 throughout the industry, and it's another one of the kind of titans that –

00:05:16.260 Did he go with Toshiba?

00:05:17.520 Is he who they went with?

00:05:18.680 Okay.

00:05:19.740 You see the smile on your face?

00:05:21.440 Yep.

00:05:22.000 So, but who was the most competitive at Disney?

00:05:23.880 Like, who was like – you guys knew this guy was determined

00:05:27.160 and super competitive.

00:05:28.320 Was it Iger or was it somebody else?

00:05:30.900 I guess it depends on where and which business.

00:05:35.500 You know, Disney, again, has cruise ships.

00:05:37.540 It's got theme parks.

00:05:38.940 It's got, you know –

00:05:39.480 Any department.

00:05:40.600 Any department?

00:05:43.100 Michael Johnson's a guy who was my boss for a while.

00:05:46.480 He ran home video before I ran home video, before Mitch Koch ran video.

00:05:52.400 And Michael's a real competitor.

00:05:53.940 Michael was like an Olympic skier.

00:05:56.120 I mean, this guy was like the real deal.

00:05:58.900 And, you know, he carried himself very much.

00:06:04.300 Can you pull him up?

00:06:04.880 Michael Johnson.

00:06:05.260 Michael Johnson.

00:06:05.860 And did he end up – was he a guy that was ever considered as a CEO position or no?

00:06:11.520 I don't know, but Michael went on to Herbalife.

00:06:14.960 Oh, that's the one.

00:06:15.860 Go back?

00:06:16.180 Yeah, yeah.

00:06:16.840 Wait, Michael Johnson went to Herbalife?

00:06:18.900 Yeah.

00:06:19.560 What a weird transition.

00:06:21.040 Herbalife, CEO 2003, 2020.

00:06:25.440 2003, 2020.

00:06:26.980 So this is the time where Bill Ackman and Carl Icahn are going up against each other,

00:06:31.260 and he was a CEO there.

00:06:32.280 and Bill Ackman was against Herbalife

00:06:35.180 and he was trying to destroy their stock.

00:06:37.020 He had to live through this.

00:06:38.560 He had to live through this.

00:06:39.800 Yeah.

00:06:40.180 You ever seen that exchange with Icahn and Bill Ackman?

00:06:42.440 No.

00:06:42.960 Legendary if you've never seen it.

00:06:44.000 No, I've not.

00:06:44.600 You've never seen it?

00:06:45.380 Uh-uh. 0.99

00:06:46.040 Oh, just show 30 seconds of it for shits and giggles. 0.98

00:06:49.400 Can you go to YouTube? 0.91

00:06:51.320 And by the way, do you need anything?

00:06:53.220 No, no, I'm good.

00:06:53.780 Okay.

00:06:54.240 Go to YouTube, type in Bill Ackman and Carl Icahn.

00:06:57.560 And Icahn is spelled A.

00:06:59.400 There you go, right there, second one.

00:07:01.660 And we shouldn't show the whole interview because it's long, but just go to that one.

00:07:05.140 Go to that first one right there.

00:07:06.540 Listen.

00:07:06.980 Just listen.

00:07:08.020 Yeah, go ahead.

00:07:08.540 I had it with this guy, Ackman. 0.94

00:07:10.200 He's like the crybaby in the schoolyard. 0.92

00:07:12.080 He was like one of these little Jewish boys crying that the world was taking advantage of him. 0.76

00:07:16.340 It's like in the old song, you rue the day I ever met the guy. 0.99

00:07:19.760 Favorite sign, something called schmuck insurance. 0.99

00:07:21.700 I got to show my investors that I'm making money and all that crap. 0.98

00:07:25.380 That on Wall Street, if you want a friend, get a door.

00:07:27.900 There's a book about this whole story called Confidence Game, which is worth a read.

00:07:31.640 In that context, we were winding down the fun.

00:07:34.020 What he called schmuck insurance, because Carl Icahn, unfortunately, does not have a good reputation.

00:07:38.020 Stick with me, because this is important.

00:07:39.440 I've got a few more points to make.

00:07:40.600 Stick with me for one more second. 0.99

00:07:41.760 He was a bully. 0.81

00:07:42.940 And it was a honorable life.

00:07:45.040 So it's interesting.

00:07:45.980 Michael Johnson goes to—so he was a real driver.

00:07:48.660 He was a competitive guy.

00:07:50.060 He was a competitive guy, a real competitive guy.

00:07:51.940 I skied with him several times.

00:07:53.340 I played golf with him several times.

00:07:55.460 And he is a competitive guy.

00:07:57.900 I like that.

00:07:58.880 Who else?

00:07:59.340 Second person.

00:08:00.500 Anyone else at Disney?

00:08:02.140 There's a lot of competitive people.

00:08:03.700 In a different way, Harvey Weinstein was, you know, a competitive guy,

00:08:08.720 but he wasn't a competitive guy on the sports field.

00:08:11.380 But he's certainly a competitive guy in, you know, the boardroom, meeting room.

00:08:17.400 Pushing the envelope, negotiating, pinning people against each other at all costs.

00:08:22.300 What was – because you've done this.

00:08:23.980 My way or the highway.

00:08:25.380 Him, his style.

00:08:26.240 Oh, yeah.

00:08:26.580 And was he truly as feared as people say he was?

00:08:30.100 Was he as feared as people say he was?

00:08:33.620 In his business, yeah.

00:08:35.700 In his business, yeah.

00:08:38.100 I believed he thought he could make or break people.

00:08:41.520 He could destroy someone's career.

00:08:44.340 So it goes.

00:08:45.680 Okay, when I sell my business, I want the best tax and investment advice.

00:08:50.360 I want to help my kids, and I want to give back to the community.

00:08:53.480 Ooh, then it's the vacation of a lifetime.

00:08:57.860 I wonder if my out-of-office has a forever setter.

00:09:01.300 An IG Private Wealth advisor creates the clarity you need

00:09:04.620 with plans that harmonize your business, your family, and your dreams.

00:09:09.040 Get financial advice that puts you at the center.

00:09:12.020 Find your advisor at IGPrivateWealth.com.

00:09:18.840 You said Michael Johnson was a former skier.

00:09:21.900 He was a skier.

00:09:22.500 I think he was like an Olympic alternate.

00:09:24.740 Skiing with Michael was interesting because he would ski with, you know, the Mayer brothers.

00:09:30.640 You'd go skiing with Michael, and he'd bring the Mayer brothers, you know, the twins.

00:09:34.800 And it was very quickly when, you know, I got down.

00:09:37.160 Could you hang?

00:09:37.680 No.

00:09:38.700 I skied once a year.

00:09:39.980 Michael skied a lot.

00:09:41.280 So, you know, pretty much after a couple times down the hill, they'd get tired of waiting for you, and they'd go ahead.

00:09:47.840 What did Disney recruit?

00:09:49.380 Did they recruit former athletes?

00:09:51.480 Was there like a pattern of who they looked for?

00:09:54.180 No, no.

00:09:55.240 Generally big schools.

00:09:56.580 Big schools were kind of a thing.

00:09:58.780 You know, Stanford, Chicago, MIT.

00:10:01.800 They were pretty conscious of that kind of thing,

00:10:04.960 which makes my background even more.

00:10:07.300 Indiana to become.

00:10:08.520 That's what makes it a great story.

00:10:10.100 Yeah, well, I really didn't fit any of those bills,

00:10:14.860 but my results spoke for themselves.

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Valuetainment - October 03, 2026

Ex Disney CEO on Hollywood Box Office Battles

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