Feb. 20, 2024
Disney x Epic Games and Live Sports
Disney's latest earnings call showed the theme parks continue to perform well, and alongside that news, Disney announced a partnership with Epic Games and a foray into live sports.
Disney's latest earnings call showed the theme parks continue to perform well, and alongside that news, Disney announced a partnership with Epic Games and a foray into live sports.
Show Outline
- 00:00 Intro
- 01:04 Disney Quarterly Earnings
- 09:22 Disney Partners with Epic Games
- 22:34 Disney Moves into Live Sports
SOURCES
WEBVTT
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In Los Angeles and Tampa. Because
Scott has returned from his trip abroad.
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This is Green Tag Theme Park in
thirty. This week is probably all going
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to be about Disney because they had
their latest earnings call and they had some
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pretty big bombshells that were kind of
woven into the earnings call. It's always
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it's always fun to see how they
do it where they're like, you know,
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they leave what they here are the
numbers. Everything's impressive. And they
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dropped these little announcements like right before
the call and right after. It's kind
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of like they like stack them together. Look over here, look over here.
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Yeah, it really makes you wonder. I'm like, is there something
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you're hiding? But but so what
we'll do is we'll really focus on the
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earnings and then we'll focus on to
two big chunks of their strategy, and
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if we have time, we'll get
get to some other stories. But uh,
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cool, the top line of the
Disney earnings let's dive in. Yeah,
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let's dive in. I wish we
had a sound qu for that.
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Thank you, Scott. Best I
can do. All right, So the
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earnings, the Walt Disney Company revealed
its earnings report that Disney Experiences division saw
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a seven percent increase in revenue during
the first quarter, with the company's theme
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parks in California and Florida reporting a
four percent rise and international markets a thirty
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thirty five percent increase. I mean, we're still rebounding, but still thirty
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five percent increase international markets for theme
parks is very good news. During the
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session, Walt Disney c Oba Biker, brought up the sixty billion that was
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previously disclosed as being set aside for
theme parks over the next ten years,
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stating that seventy percent of that amount
will go toward expanding capacity. He did
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expand on that. I think some
people pushed him during the call to kind
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of be like, can you tell
us specifically what you mean by that?
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And he did not, but he
did say that they would be Kinna,
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we're building bigger parking lots exactly.
Anyway, he did not say he didn't
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give any more details except to say
that it would be kind of spread throughout
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all of their properties. So it's
going to be every property will have something
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some sort of capacity improvement. And
you've heard me say it over and over
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again. I think both the California
parks have capacity challenges, especially especially Disneyland,
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and because it was never built to
help to handle the capacity that it
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is required to handle now, so
that I completely understand, I think that
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you know, the Walt Disney World
resorts in Florida, Yeah, they could
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always use some help. But it's
more, I wouldn't necessarily in Florida,
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I wouldn't necessarily say it's capacity as
much as it is guest flow trying to
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figure out how to how to get
the people through in a in a timely
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manner, an organized manner, in
a way that keeps it fun. And
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you know, I won't I won't
go down my same old rabbit hole about
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I don't think the way to do
that is to make sure they have to
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make reservations for everything. So I'm
curious to see that what this, what
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this actually means, how it's developed, And as we say, almost every
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single time and almost every single show, it all depends on how it's executed.
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So yeah, we'll see. I
think this was a lot of nothing,
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you know, in terms of here's
numbers. I mean, I think
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we we all kind of anticipated the
numbers would be would be continuing to climb
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because the theme park segment is the
part of Disney that is going well.
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And I I don't know maybe if
I'm missing anything Scott, but like on
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the capacity section here, I don't
like, I know we need capacity in
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California, but I'm not sure that
we need capacity other places. I mean,
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didn't he just say that Florida was
the numbers were down because people didn't
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want to work. Yeah, that
was Yeah, we heard that, We
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heard that. But the other thing
too, is you know Florida, Florida
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has now become a battleground again.
Yep, with the opening, with the
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opening of Epic Universe, they're they're
nervous, and I don't you know this
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is and I'm this is completely unfair. I'm kind of throwing in something that's
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not in our show notes at all. But I just wanted to ask because
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we're hearing rumblings here in Florida now
about yet another gate for Disney in Florida,
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and so much so that people are
starting to dig. Now it could
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just be rumor. It could just
be rumor. And I know, don't
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we don't like to report on rumor, even discuss it in great detail,
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but just the fact that that rumor
is out there that you know, they're
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they're the what would that be fifth
Gate? Fifth Gate part? It would
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be a fifth Gate. So looking
at the fifth Gate rumor, it makes
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sense because we always see the the
the sort of call in response between Universal
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Parks in Florida and Disney Parks in
Florida. Whenever one does something, the
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other one has to do something equally
as big or equally as exciting. So
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and what also adds sort of fuel
to the fire for this fifth Gate rumor,
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which I think is you know,
maybe this is the expanding the capacity
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they're talking about. I don't know, because the fifth Gate would definitely expand
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capacity. And but the question I
have is, you know, does this
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tie into that that elusive Villains park
that they keep talking about or does this
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type you know, who knows,
But there is that rumor bouncing around here
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in Florida, and Philip, you're
far more in depth with with the actual
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research and the hard facts. Have
you heard anything or is it just is
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it just a rumor and discussion?
He was asked about the fifth park during
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the earnings call, and he kind
of dodged it basically, so didn't deny
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it, but also didn't validate it. So that's why. So that's why
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it continues to be a rumor because
he didn't rety it correct correct. Yeah,
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but you know, I mean it's
not that Also could just be you
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know, they could just be floating
that out there because they want, you
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know, to keep their stock value
high. And I don't know, I
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just think that like there are some
things where that are not being discussed,
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which is, you know, like
I just said, do they need the
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capacity in Florida? What's their long
term plan for Florida? And also,
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you know, anybody who thinks that
the Chinese economy is doing well is not
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paying attention. And I would want
to know what are your plans to hedge
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against the Chinese market failing? Because
it is like, I mean, the
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stock market in China has lost like
forty percent of its value, the like
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the the housing market there is worse
than our last housing crash. I mean,
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it is like it is bad there, and I'm just like wondering,
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like are you thinking people are going
to continue? Like are you really thinking
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the capacity is going to be an
issue? And like Shanghai, like I
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don't I'm confused here, and so
I don't know, maybe who knows well
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but is it you know, is
it so? It Having just come back
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from read, they did something.
They had something in Boulevard City, which
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is the sort of the attractions area. It's I call it the Yas Island
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of Riod, so it's this attractions
area in just outside of Riod or in
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Riod, and they did a Disney
pop up there. It was just called
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Disney Castle and it was a temporary
experience that they replicated the castle and then
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they built some geodesic temporary structures,
each designed to give you a walk through
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experience of some of the major ips
within the under the Disney brand. And
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it was there for a very very
short time, and I was just wondering
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if they were testing the market for
perhaps a Saudi expansion, because again it
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because the China economy, Chinese economy
is hurting, and because they're having more
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success in international markets. Just wondering, I mean, you know, it's
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there's this is I'm throwing out all
kinds of conjecture here. And I know
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how much you appreciate that, Philip, because you absolutely hate that. But
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and so I apologized, but I
just thought it was interesting when when you
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say, you know, what are
the long term plans for Florida because I
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really don't know. And and the
contentiousness between Disney and the government or no
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more specifically the governor here in Florida
has kind of has kind of waned.
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You know, it's it's not it's
not nearly as as saber waving as it
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was a while ago. But yeah, I don't know, because you know,
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do they need the capacity in Florida? Well not if not, if
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they're not making their numbers, and
if they're but they're not making their dollar
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numbers. I mean, you know, they keep saying that it's because of
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attendance, it's because of bad weather. Yeah, I just I don't know.
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As you say, it sounds like
a bunch of nothing. It sounds
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like a bunch of filibustering to just
kind of put sawdust in the air.
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So no one really knows what's going
on. Yeah. Well, on that,
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they did give us a few big
pieces of information that can out that
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were kind of I think the announcements
didn't all come out during the call,
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but some of them were referenced during
the call. Weren't these weren't these kind
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of extensions from the call as opposed
to embedded within it. Yeah. So
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this next announcement we're going to talk
about was dropped right before the call,
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and then it was referenced during the
call. So, uh, I'm sure
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you will as you all have heard, but Disney purchased a one point five
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billion steak in Fortnite. I'm going
to read from several articles here and kind
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of condense this, but the whole
Disney Company has purchased a one point five
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billion stake in Epic Games, the
video game company behind Fortnite, which plans
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for an interconnected game world featuring popular
Disney franchises. As part of the team
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up, the companies will create a
new expanse of and open games and entertainment
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universe connected to Fortnite. Eiger said
that this new world integrates Disney's world class
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storytelling into Fortnite, enabling consumers to
play, watch, create, and shop
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for both digital and physical goods.
The digital world is growing, evolving,
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with more than three billion video game
players worldwide who want to move safely and
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seamlessly between the worlds they love,
unleash their own creativity, and experience greater
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gameplay. Josh Tomorrow commented that this
will enable us to bring together our incredible
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collection of stories and experiences from across
the company for our broad audience in ways
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we have only dreamed of before.
And he continued by saying, Epic Games
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is industry leading technology and Fortnite's open
ecosystem will help us reach consumers where they
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are so they can engage with Disney
in ways that are most relevant to them.
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So my big takeaways to that,
I think Josh hit that line right
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there about meeting people where they are, I think is the biggest takeaway from
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this. And we already talked last
time about the gaming when we talked about
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Epic and we talked about universals move
into it. But essentially, the market
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for gaming is so much larger than
the market for at this point, movies,
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theme parks, entertainment, any of
that stuff is all dwarfed by gaming.
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Even sports, I mean everything is
dwarf by gaming. Is a masterstroke
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in my opinion, for them to
partner with a game like Fortnite, to
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put a point of bi billion into
it, and to integrate their IP into
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this, because I again, you
know, like like what do I know,
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kind of just sitting over here,
But from my perspective, I think
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Disney has lost the narrative recently about
really what they're what they're doing, and
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why they matter. And to me, the narrative for Disney is content is
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king. It doesn't matter. Again, like we've always said, everything else
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is irrelevant. TikTok, Facebook,
meta gaming, whatever, good stories.
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Content that is eternal, and that
is Disney. What Disney does well.
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So taking their ips and making bringing
them to where people are. I think
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that is how Disney succeeds. So
I think this is this is excellent.
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I just think they keep losing the
narrative right where they're trying to oh,
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streaming and and this and that,
and it's like no, like focus on
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telling good stories and bringing those stories
to where people are, whether it be
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theme parks, whether it be gaming
and this and whatnot. So I think
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it's good for that. I just
wish it was kind of positioned better and
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you saw a much more investment,
you know, in the storytelling and making
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good stuff, because their stories recently
have not been doing well, so they
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need to rediscover their storytelling as a
brand. But I think that investing in
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Fortnite is a master's stroke and I
think that it also to me, this
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also was a test, you know, the one point five billion investment.
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I think if this goes well,
I think they might invest a lot more
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and potentially try to do a bigger
acquisition or something like that. Now,
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in the press release, they did
say this was their biggest for into this,
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but it has not. It was
not their only They have tried gaming
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stuff before with mixed results, so
we just say, I mean, it
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hasn't worked out well before, So
this isn't This hasn't been their only four
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way into it. Yeah, if
we remember like Club Penguin, right,
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so there's there's been stuff in the
path they've done before that hasn't worked out.
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But again I think that again,
meet people where they are. I
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mean that's like I say that all
the time. It's like the Fortnite ecosystem,
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the gaming engine, the whole you
know, the infrastructure that this that
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that Epic Games has built is good. And I think that's the difference here
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is they're meeting the people already in
there, and they're they're integrating Disney characters,
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disney Land, Disney all those stuff
into the game, right, so
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it's not changing the gameplay for people. I think that's the key here is
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they're meeting them again where they are, and I think I think that's the
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winning strategy. So I think this
is all good. I think it was
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if anything was underplayed again because I
think they keep losing the narrative on this.
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You know, they're like, the
parks are doing well, We're going
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to invest in capacity, blah blah
blah. No invest in telling good stories
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and bringing those stories to people.
Yeah, I know. And again,
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you understand this so much better than
I do because I am I am not
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a gamer, and you know the
idea of I guess My question is this
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is this is this is screaming screaming
metaverse, which we all know is just
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kind of right now. But what
it what it says to me is it's
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basically stepping into an existing platform,
yes, and not trying to not trying
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to build one. So I think, a yes, I agree with you
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there that that is really smart.
My question is, because they are stepping
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into an existing platform just because you
have these these Disney ips, are they
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going to be welcomed by the users
of this platform? Is it necessary because
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you know, Fortnite is doing okay
on its own, doesn't really need this,
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doesn't really need the help, and
is it is it forcing is it
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forcing existing ips in lua of creating
really good stories? You know, I'm
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just I'm curious about that because,
as you say, they've not had the
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best of luck in their previous forays
into the world of gaming. And I
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agree. You know, I had
a coworker when I was still at Bush
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Gardens who used to use the phrase, we have to shoot where the ducks
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are flying, and it's exactly what
you're saying as far as taking it to
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where people are. At the same
time, when you do that, it
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makes your product commonplace. It doesn't
make it. It makes it accessible,
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and then it makes it Things that
are accessible become pass very quickly. So
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I'm curious to see. I still
think, and maybe I'm just old fashioned,
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and maybe I'm just naive, but
I still think that there is going
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to be validity in doing something like
a live experience in a park like and
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that is connected somehow to this this
gaming world that is is being created.
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It's interesting because because while I was
in read we we had the opportunity to
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experience House of Hype, which is
the first of its first kind of its
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install and it too is a It
is very much a live and immersive experience
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However, when you when you I
just happen to have the the wristband here,
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it's got a barcode on it that
you you scan to track you throughout.
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And then there's also a secondary app
where you can build up you can
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build up a vault of digital in
essence digital and when you get to the
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final game room, which is really
what it is they call it the hyper
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Arcade, but what you you play
throughout experiencing all of these you know,
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really trippy light and sound experiences and
projection map, and then you get to
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the hyper Arcade where it's this every
possible incarnation of over the top gaming,
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I mean video games, and you
gather virtual coin, which you can then
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use to buy virtual and physical gifts
and souvenirs, and you track it all
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on an app. So, if
this is how Disney is going to move
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forward into the world of Fortnite,
they're going to do it without the physical
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building. However, it might be
an opportunity for them to take what you
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build in the Fortnite universe and bring
it into reality at the parks. So
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I don't know, I'm curious to
see where it all goes, because it
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has opportunity I'm just not sure that, as you say, they've got the
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storytelling machine put together to make it
interesting and to keep it compelling to all
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the guests. I don't know,
I think that that could be a future
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plan. I mean, I guess
I think that's almost in essence exactly what
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I'm saying about. Like, I
think the one point five billion investment,
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like, these are two separate things, right, There's a one point five
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million billion, sorry, one point
five billion investment, and then there's a
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partnership basically to extend licenses with characters. And I think I'm less worried about
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it being you know, passe or
whatnot, as you said, because I
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think, like again, giving allowing
the players of Fortnite to be able to
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have fun with Disney characters, I
think that's allows them to, you know,
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help it make them make those characters
part of their stories and part of
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their fun. I think that's I
think that's a good crossover. I think
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the investment, though, would seem
to me that they are exploring, Hey,
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if this does well, or if
we can find a way to make
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this work, you know, could
we pull Fortnite elements into the parks?
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I think so. I think it's
interesting these are two separate things that they're
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just kind of being mushed together.
But I think that that, to me
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is why I think there's that investment. Is exactly what you're saying, Like,
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I think they're looking to see how
how are Fortnite usually going to react
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to the characters, how are they
going to use them? You know,
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what is it going to look like? And then you know, either way
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we win because gaming is so profitable
in this company is great, you know,
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it's worth the investment. But if
it does really, really, really
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well and the Fortnite community starts to
love and embrace the characters more and then
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we can use that to pull more
of them into the parks with a Fortnite
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activity, then that's I think where
the additional investment, or that investment like
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comes back in. So yeah,
and what I'm curious to see is if
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the the Fortnite fans really want a
real world experience. Yeah, I mean
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I think that's that's all part of
it, you know. And but you
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know, again according to Universal,
I mean, like we see multiple people
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trying to get into this, right, So I don't think it's I think
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it's also necessary because they don't want
to be left behind, you know,
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while Universal pursues so much so many
other gaming integrations, and also you know,
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Universal's like use of gaming ips to
create even their haunted houses did really
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well, so I you know,
so so right now, I think it's
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it's it's smart to just to start
doing the test and then see how it
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how much the player base reacts,
because you know, we've already talked about
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before, but there's gaming is so
much more accessible than the parks anyway,
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so it's kind of it's it'll be
a weird you know, it'd be one
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of those things to figure out,
like is there even enough of those players
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in the Disney markets that need you
know, where we're Disney. I mean,
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you don't need any more people in
California, so really you're here,
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you're like kind of looking and saying, are there enough Fortnite players around you
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know, Shanghai Disney to help with
some push to push those people into there
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to help get capacity up about I
don't know right right, And and then
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you know, like I said,
the next question is just based on gamers
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habits. Are they interested in in
live experiences? Now? Having having been
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to gen Con, They're they're clearly
into coming out and talking about and cosplaying
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their their favorite their favorite game characters, et cetera, et cetera. But
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is that because they feel like there's
a sense of ownership and that that they
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wouldn't necessarily have in a theme park. So yeah, I'm curious. I
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think I think this is something we
should definitely and we will continue to keep
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an eye on and see where it
see where it all goes. Because I
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could see it. I could see
it going really really well, and I
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can see it going really really not
well. It's it's like, well,
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it's just like Super Mario World,
right, I mean like that's people were
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like, this could go really really
bad because the gaming community might hate it
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for the reasons you just said you
right, Yeah, It's it's like Pokemon
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Go. You know, it's one
of those if it becomes too accessible,
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does it burn hot and burn fast? That's that's the thing that I think
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we need to at least consider in
this kind of engagement. But that's probably
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also why they've done the They haven't
basically purchased the entire company. They're just
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sort of doing it. They're dipping
their toe in. Yeah. Yeah,
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the last announcement that well, there's
there were multiple announcements. This isn't the
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last one, but the last one
I think is important to talk about.
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This was announced earlier on the Tuesday
before their earnings call, so it you
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know, it wasn't discussed that much
on the call, but basically, Disney,
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Fox, and Warner brother their Discovery
announced on Tuesday they would join together
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and sell access to all the sports
they televised through a new streaming service.
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It'll be available this fall, but
literally no other availables, no other details
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or no So they're kind of like
everything else, like how much is it
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going to be? You know what, what's the how is it gonna work?
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Is it gonna be integrated with the
current apps you have? Or separate?
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All these no answers to any of
these things. I find it fascinating
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that they think they're going to get
this up and running in six months basically.
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But but yeah, I think this
is another space, you know.
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I worry that this is another thing
that kind of loses the narrative. You
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know. Again, I think that
the problem with Disney right now is that
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it's too large, and if you
if it were just the theme parks,
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it would be a much better company. It would look much better on paper,
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right, just because of this.
There's so many things. But you
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know, live sports is still look
at the Super Bowl, you know had
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record watchers this year. I mean, live sports is still is a huge
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area and nobody has really figured it
out. Well, you know, there's
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there's not really like a yeah,
I mean it's like live sports and then
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news. Those are the two I
think areas that they're still potential in because
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no has really figured out yet how
to really I mean besides the New York
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Times, right, but that they
can't be everywhere, so you kind of
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these are the two things that are
left. And this is still not going
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to be every sports package. I
mean it's still it's still like right now,
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if you had cable, your cable
plan would still be better than this
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because you're still missing a few you
know, key sports sports people that are
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not included in this package. But
I think it's getting closer and it could
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be very interesting, right it could
add this whole dimension if you opened up
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Disney Plus and then it would have
on it an ability for you to watch
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sports live, you know, just
there in it. So but I think
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this I think this is again,
I think this is very smart. It's
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one of the only areas that's left
to kind of figure out in these whole
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streaming consolidation things. If if these
people really do want to try and be
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one of the three main you know
people after the consolidation has has got you
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know, figured out, you know, having the sports would be an excellent
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differentiator. It's something that Netflix,
Netflix can't touch, right, So it's
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it's really like, it's a good
differentiator. I just think again, it
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contributes to that loss of the narrative
thing, you know where you're like,
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okay, so now and you have
enough Disney Plus and you're like watch live
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sports and you're like, uh,
what I have to do with Malwana?
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Yeah? Well, and it's interesting, yes, because that's that's where I
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was going to go next. Is
you know when you say when you say
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lost the narrative, to me,
it's it's I would translate that exact same
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phrase into watering down the brand.
Yeah, I mean the Disney the Disney
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brand. I guess. I guess
it could be expanded to be wide enough
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to say, uh, you know, watching sports with the family is still
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on brand for Disney. I don't
think it can go. I don't think
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it's necessarily against brand. But but
one of the things that has always been
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impressive about Disney to me as a
company is their control over brand, and
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as you say, over the last
few years, that has, from my
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perception at least, has begun to
slip because brand is not ip bran.
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Brand is not what you do,
it's why you do it and how people
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feel when they think of your company's
name. I mean, that's really what
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brand is. And one of the
smartest people I've ever studied with when it
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comes to brand experiences or branded experiences, say that your brand is not what
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you say you are, it's what
your guests say you are, It's what
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your customers say you are, and
so that therefore it's hard to control directly.
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And to your point with this,
with the Fortnite investment, it just
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keeps diffusing what the Disney brand is, which was for so many years laser
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focused and very clear. Now I
think the reason they're doing this is because
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people lost interest in that core brand. You know, there's not enough people
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out there who care about Mohana to
really make it happen, to really make
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it be enough to support the behemoth
that Disney has become, and as you
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say, if it were just the
parks in the films, you know,
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that would be one thing. But
it's it's continuing to expand, perhaps out
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of necessity, I will, I
will grant you that, but it's beginning
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to expand to the point where you're
right, the brand is unclear. The
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the narrative, the storytelling and not
the individual not the individual storytelling, which
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has not been great either over the
last few years, but but but just
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the storytelling of what Disney is about. And you know, when you think
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of Disney, when I think of
Disney, I think of what ye and
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that has become very unclear. The
and this is and this is just this
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is just showing that they're kind of
being desperate and continuing to to search for
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those you know, we've talked a
lot about in the in the previous shows
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about Universal and their expansions and and
their you know, new forays into new
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parks and new experiences in Vegas and
this kind of thing. But they're all
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clearly Universal. Yeah, and yet
you know, we had the same discussion
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with the Universal Family Park quote unquote
Family Park. So yeah, I'm all
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for diversity, but you still have
to keep it under the brand umbrella.
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Well, I I not to play. I don't know if if this is
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the Devil's Advocate or not, but
I think I think this goes to what
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I meant earlier by this being the
challenge. I mean, this is the
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challenge of public companies in this way, right, is because when it becomes
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large enough like this, you are
actually dealing with multiple businesses, right,
386
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But because it's one company, then
you know, then this is why you
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get the struggle. So it's like, really, I think it's it Like,
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so let's say that Disney Plus was
its own company like Netflix and they
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and they were like, look,
we are trying to figure out a way
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to do refrieentiate our catalog, and
we are going to really pursue making sure
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that you know, we are a
destination that has a catalog but also can
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give you compelling stuff in real time. You would we would be like,
393
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oh, that's a valid strategy,
that makes sense. But it's because it's
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this large thing. And because when
I say lost and narrative, I mean
395
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they're not you know there it's like
iiker isn't saying here saying and this is
396
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how this relates to what we're trying
to achieve as a full company, right,
397
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you know what I mean? When
Disney Plus started, the whole purpose,
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the whole branding and marketing campaign was
a place to basically explore the Disney
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vaults. And it started on brand. Yeah, it started on brand because
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they're like very much on brand.
Like accessibility to their storytelling is what it
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was. Yeah, accessibility to their
classics, accessibility to their storytelling. And
402
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of course the whole Star Wars universe
that was the the one two punt and
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why you know, so many people
wanted to check into Disney Plus, but
404
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they weren't prepared to continue to develop
new product because once you've watched all that,
405
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I mean, I can't tell you
how many people I know who sign
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up for Disney streaming, Disney Plus
watched all the excuse me, watched all
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the movies they wanted to watch,
and then cancel their subscription. So yeah,
408
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that was my early you know,
that's my earlier points. And like
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they've lost a narrative in terms of
what makes as good as a storytelling And
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I think now, like I agree
with Eiger in that he's like, we
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need to make this, we need
to make streaming a successful business in and
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of itself, like our streaming can't
lose money. It needs to be successful
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and to do that we need to
potentially capture some of this and blah blah
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blah, but I have fine.
Yeah, it's a catch. It's really
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is a catch twenty two though,
because the more you diversify, the more
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you water down the core brand,
and the more you run the risk that
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the people who were true brand devotees
will become less and less interested because it's
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just another just another streaming and you
know, as we as we always say
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in this show, this is just
another bad transition because we're out of time.
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So uh wow, that was lame. Okay, So I told Philip
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this is gonna be my show of
transitions, and boy was iron But anyway,
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00:31:08.400 --> 00:31:11.400
it's not the It's not the first
time, nor will it be the
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00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:14.559
last. However, it will be
the last for this particular show. So
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on behalf of Philip Bernandez with Gantam
lighting on the Hunted Attraction Network and myself
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00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:22.799
Scott Swinson and with Scott Swinson and
Creative Development. This has been green tagged
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00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:26.200
theme Park in thirty and we look
forward to seeing you all next week.
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In Los Angeles and Tampa. Because
Scott has returned from his trip abroad.
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This is Green Tag Theme Park in
thirty. This week is probably all going
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to be about Disney because they had
their latest earnings call and they had some
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pretty big bombshells that were kind of
woven into the earnings call. It's always
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it's always fun to see how they
do it where they're like, you know,
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they leave what they here are the
numbers. Everything's impressive. And they
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dropped these little announcements like right before
the call and right after. It's kind
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of like they like stack them together. Look over here, look over here.
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Yeah, it really makes you wonder. I'm like, is there something
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you're hiding? But but so what
we'll do is we'll really focus on the
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earnings and then we'll focus on to
two big chunks of their strategy, and
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if we have time, we'll get
get to some other stories. But uh,
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cool, the top line of the
Disney earnings let's dive in. Yeah,
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let's dive in. I wish we
had a sound qu for that.
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Thank you, Scott. Best I
can do. All right, So the
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earnings, the Walt Disney Company revealed
its earnings report that Disney Experiences division saw
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a seven percent increase in revenue during
the first quarter, with the company's theme
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parks in California and Florida reporting a
four percent rise and international markets a thirty
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thirty five percent increase. I mean, we're still rebounding, but still thirty
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five percent increase international markets for theme
parks is very good news. During the
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session, Walt Disney c Oba Biker, brought up the sixty billion that was
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previously disclosed as being set aside for
theme parks over the next ten years,
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stating that seventy percent of that amount
will go toward expanding capacity. He did
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expand on that. I think some
people pushed him during the call to kind
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of be like, can you tell
us specifically what you mean by that?
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And he did not, but he
did say that they would be Kinna,
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we're building bigger parking lots exactly.
Anyway, he did not say he didn't
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give any more details except to say
that it would be kind of spread throughout
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all of their properties. So it's
going to be every property will have something
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some sort of capacity improvement. And
you've heard me say it over and over
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again. I think both the California
parks have capacity challenges, especially especially Disneyland,
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and because it was never built to
help to handle the capacity that it
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is required to handle now, so
that I completely understand, I think that
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you know, the Walt Disney World
resorts in Florida, Yeah, they could
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always use some help. But it's
more, I wouldn't necessarily in Florida,
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I wouldn't necessarily say it's capacity as
much as it is guest flow trying to
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figure out how to how to get
the people through in a in a timely
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manner, an organized manner, in
a way that keeps it fun. And
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you know, I won't I won't
go down my same old rabbit hole about
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I don't think the way to do
that is to make sure they have to
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make reservations for everything. So I'm
curious to see that what this, what
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this actually means, how it's developed, And as we say, almost every
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single time and almost every single show, it all depends on how it's executed.
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So yeah, we'll see. I
think this was a lot of nothing,
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you know, in terms of here's
numbers. I mean, I think
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we we all kind of anticipated the
numbers would be would be continuing to climb
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because the theme park segment is the
part of Disney that is going well.
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And I I don't know maybe if
I'm missing anything Scott, but like on
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the capacity section here, I don't
like, I know we need capacity in
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California, but I'm not sure that
we need capacity other places. I mean,
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didn't he just say that Florida was
the numbers were down because people didn't
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want to work. Yeah, that
was Yeah, we heard that, We
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heard that. But the other thing
too, is you know Florida, Florida
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has now become a battleground again.
Yep, with the opening, with the
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opening of Epic Universe, they're they're
nervous, and I don't you know this
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is and I'm this is completely unfair. I'm kind of throwing in something that's
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not in our show notes at all. But I just wanted to ask because
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we're hearing rumblings here in Florida now
about yet another gate for Disney in Florida,
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and so much so that people are
starting to dig. Now it could
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just be rumor. It could just
be rumor. And I know, don't
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we don't like to report on rumor, even discuss it in great detail,
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but just the fact that that rumor
is out there that you know, they're
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they're the what would that be fifth
Gate? Fifth Gate part? It would
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be a fifth Gate. So looking
at the fifth Gate rumor, it makes
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sense because we always see the the
the sort of call in response between Universal
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Parks in Florida and Disney Parks in
Florida. Whenever one does something, the
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other one has to do something equally
as big or equally as exciting. So
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and what also adds sort of fuel
to the fire for this fifth Gate rumor,
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which I think is you know,
maybe this is the expanding the capacity
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they're talking about. I don't know, because the fifth Gate would definitely expand
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capacity. And but the question I
have is, you know, does this
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tie into that that elusive Villains park
that they keep talking about or does this
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type you know, who knows,
But there is that rumor bouncing around here
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in Florida, and Philip, you're
far more in depth with with the actual
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research and the hard facts. Have
you heard anything or is it just is
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it just a rumor and discussion?
He was asked about the fifth park during
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the earnings call, and he kind
of dodged it basically, so didn't deny
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it, but also didn't validate it. So that's why. So that's why
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it continues to be a rumor because
he didn't rety it correct correct. Yeah,
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but you know, I mean it's
not that Also could just be you
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know, they could just be floating
that out there because they want, you
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know, to keep their stock value
high. And I don't know, I
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just think that like there are some
things where that are not being discussed,
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which is, you know, like
I just said, do they need the
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capacity in Florida? What's their long
term plan for Florida? And also,
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you know, anybody who thinks that
the Chinese economy is doing well is not
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paying attention. And I would want
to know what are your plans to hedge
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against the Chinese market failing? Because
it is like, I mean, the
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stock market in China has lost like
forty percent of its value, the like
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the the housing market there is worse
than our last housing crash. I mean,
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it is like it is bad there, and I'm just like wondering,
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like are you thinking people are going
to continue? Like are you really thinking
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the capacity is going to be an
issue? And like Shanghai, like I
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don't I'm confused here, and so
I don't know, maybe who knows well
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but is it you know, is
it so? It Having just come back
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from read, they did something.
They had something in Boulevard City, which
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is the sort of the attractions area. It's I call it the Yas Island
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of Riod, so it's this attractions
area in just outside of Riod or in
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Riod, and they did a Disney
pop up there. It was just called
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Disney Castle and it was a temporary
experience that they replicated the castle and then
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they built some geodesic temporary structures,
each designed to give you a walk through
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experience of some of the major ips
within the under the Disney brand. And
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it was there for a very very
short time, and I was just wondering
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if they were testing the market for
perhaps a Saudi expansion, because again it
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because the China economy, Chinese economy
is hurting, and because they're having more
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success in international markets. Just wondering, I mean, you know, it's
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there's this is I'm throwing out all
kinds of conjecture here. And I know
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how much you appreciate that, Philip, because you absolutely hate that. But
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and so I apologized, but I
just thought it was interesting when when you
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say, you know, what are
the long term plans for Florida because I
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really don't know. And and the
contentiousness between Disney and the government or no
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more specifically the governor here in Florida
has kind of has kind of waned.
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You know, it's it's not it's
not nearly as as saber waving as it
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was a while ago. But yeah, I don't know, because you know,
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do they need the capacity in Florida? Well not if not, if
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they're not making their numbers, and
if they're but they're not making their dollar
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numbers. I mean, you know, they keep saying that it's because of
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attendance, it's because of bad weather. Yeah, I just I don't know.
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As you say, it sounds like
a bunch of nothing. It sounds
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like a bunch of filibustering to just
kind of put sawdust in the air.
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So no one really knows what's going
on. Yeah. Well, on that,
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they did give us a few big
pieces of information that can out that
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were kind of I think the announcements
didn't all come out during the call,
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but some of them were referenced during
the call. Weren't these weren't these kind
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of extensions from the call as opposed
to embedded within it. Yeah. So
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this next announcement we're going to talk
about was dropped right before the call,
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and then it was referenced during the
call. So, uh, I'm sure
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you will as you all have heard, but Disney purchased a one point five
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billion steak in Fortnite. I'm going
to read from several articles here and kind
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of condense this, but the whole
Disney Company has purchased a one point five
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billion stake in Epic Games, the
video game company behind Fortnite, which plans
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for an interconnected game world featuring popular
Disney franchises. As part of the team
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up, the companies will create a
new expanse of and open games and entertainment
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universe connected to Fortnite. Eiger said
that this new world integrates Disney's world class
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storytelling into Fortnite, enabling consumers to
play, watch, create, and shop
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for both digital and physical goods.
The digital world is growing, evolving,
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with more than three billion video game
players worldwide who want to move safely and
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seamlessly between the worlds they love,
unleash their own creativity, and experience greater
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gameplay. Josh Tomorrow commented that this
will enable us to bring together our incredible
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collection of stories and experiences from across
the company for our broad audience in ways
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we have only dreamed of before.
And he continued by saying, Epic Games
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is industry leading technology and Fortnite's open
ecosystem will help us reach consumers where they
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are so they can engage with Disney
in ways that are most relevant to them.
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So my big takeaways to that,
I think Josh hit that line right
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there about meeting people where they are, I think is the biggest takeaway from
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this. And we already talked last
time about the gaming when we talked about
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Epic and we talked about universals move
into it. But essentially, the market
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for gaming is so much larger than
the market for at this point, movies,
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theme parks, entertainment, any of
that stuff is all dwarfed by gaming.
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Even sports, I mean everything is
dwarf by gaming. Is a masterstroke
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in my opinion, for them to
partner with a game like Fortnite, to
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put a point of bi billion into
it, and to integrate their IP into
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this, because I again, you
know, like like what do I know,
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kind of just sitting over here,
But from my perspective, I think
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Disney has lost the narrative recently about
really what they're what they're doing, and
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why they matter. And to me, the narrative for Disney is content is
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king. It doesn't matter. Again, like we've always said, everything else
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is irrelevant. TikTok, Facebook,
meta gaming, whatever, good stories.
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Content that is eternal, and that
is Disney. What Disney does well.
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So taking their ips and making bringing
them to where people are. I think
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that is how Disney succeeds. So
I think this is this is excellent.
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I just think they keep losing the
narrative right where they're trying to oh,
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streaming and and this and that,
and it's like no, like focus on
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telling good stories and bringing those stories
to where people are, whether it be
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theme parks, whether it be gaming
and this and whatnot. So I think
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it's good for that. I just
wish it was kind of positioned better and
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you saw a much more investment,
you know, in the storytelling and making
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good stuff, because their stories recently
have not been doing well, so they
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need to rediscover their storytelling as a
brand. But I think that investing in
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Fortnite is a master's stroke and I
think that it also to me, this
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also was a test, you know, the one point five billion investment.
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I think if this goes well,
I think they might invest a lot more
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and potentially try to do a bigger
acquisition or something like that. Now,
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in the press release, they did
say this was their biggest for into this,
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but it has not. It was
not their only They have tried gaming
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stuff before with mixed results, so
we just say, I mean, it
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hasn't worked out well before, So
this isn't This hasn't been their only four
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way into it. Yeah, if
we remember like Club Penguin, right,
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so there's there's been stuff in the
path they've done before that hasn't worked out.
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But again I think that again,
meet people where they are. I
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mean that's like I say that all
the time. It's like the Fortnite ecosystem,
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the gaming engine, the whole you
know, the infrastructure that this that
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that Epic Games has built is good. And I think that's the difference here
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is they're meeting the people already in
there, and they're they're integrating Disney characters,
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disney Land, Disney all those stuff
into the game, right, so
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it's not changing the gameplay for people. I think that's the key here is
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they're meeting them again where they are, and I think I think that's the
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winning strategy. So I think this
is all good. I think it was
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if anything was underplayed again because I
think they keep losing the narrative on this.
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You know, they're like, the
parks are doing well, We're going
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to invest in capacity, blah blah
blah. No invest in telling good stories
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and bringing those stories to people.
Yeah, I know. And again,
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you understand this so much better than
I do because I am I am not
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a gamer, and you know the
idea of I guess My question is this
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is this is this is screaming screaming
metaverse, which we all know is just
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kind of right now. But what
it what it says to me is it's
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basically stepping into an existing platform,
yes, and not trying to not trying
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to build one. So I think, a yes, I agree with you
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there that that is really smart.
My question is, because they are stepping
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into an existing platform just because you
have these these Disney ips, are they
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going to be welcomed by the users
of this platform? Is it necessary because
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you know, Fortnite is doing okay
on its own, doesn't really need this,
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doesn't really need the help, and
is it is it forcing is it
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forcing existing ips in lua of creating
really good stories? You know, I'm
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just I'm curious about that because,
as you say, they've not had the
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best of luck in their previous forays
into the world of gaming. And I
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agree. You know, I had
a coworker when I was still at Bush
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Gardens who used to use the phrase, we have to shoot where the ducks
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are flying, and it's exactly what
you're saying as far as taking it to
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where people are. At the same
time, when you do that, it
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makes your product commonplace. It doesn't
make it. It makes it accessible,
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and then it makes it Things that
are accessible become pass very quickly. So
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I'm curious to see. I still
think, and maybe I'm just old fashioned,
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and maybe I'm just naive, but
I still think that there is going
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to be validity in doing something like
a live experience in a park like and
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that is connected somehow to this this
gaming world that is is being created.
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It's interesting because because while I was
in read we we had the opportunity to
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experience House of Hype, which is
the first of its first kind of its
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install and it too is a It
is very much a live and immersive experience
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However, when you when you I
just happen to have the the wristband here,
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it's got a barcode on it that
you you scan to track you throughout.
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And then there's also a secondary app
where you can build up you can
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build up a vault of digital in
essence digital and when you get to the
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final game room, which is really
what it is they call it the hyper
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Arcade, but what you you play
throughout experiencing all of these you know,
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really trippy light and sound experiences and
projection map, and then you get to
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the hyper Arcade where it's this every
possible incarnation of over the top gaming,
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I mean video games, and you
gather virtual coin, which you can then
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use to buy virtual and physical gifts
and souvenirs, and you track it all
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on an app. So, if
this is how Disney is going to move
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forward into the world of Fortnite,
they're going to do it without the physical
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building. However, it might be
an opportunity for them to take what you
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build in the Fortnite universe and bring
it into reality at the parks. So
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I don't know, I'm curious to
see where it all goes, because it
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has opportunity I'm just not sure that, as you say, they've got the
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storytelling machine put together to make it
interesting and to keep it compelling to all
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the guests. I don't know,
I think that that could be a future
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plan. I mean, I guess
I think that's almost in essence exactly what
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I'm saying about. Like, I
think the one point five billion investment,
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like, these are two separate things, right, There's a one point five
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million billion, sorry, one point
five billion investment, and then there's a
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partnership basically to extend licenses with characters. And I think I'm less worried about
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it being you know, passe or
whatnot, as you said, because I
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think, like again, giving allowing
the players of Fortnite to be able to
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have fun with Disney characters, I
think that's allows them to, you know,
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help it make them make those characters
part of their stories and part of
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their fun. I think that's I
think that's a good crossover. I think
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the investment, though, would seem
to me that they are exploring, Hey,
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if this does well, or if
we can find a way to make
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this work, you know, could
we pull Fortnite elements into the parks?
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I think so. I think it's
interesting these are two separate things that they're
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just kind of being mushed together.
But I think that that, to me
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is why I think there's that investment. Is exactly what you're saying, Like,
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I think they're looking to see how
how are Fortnite usually going to react
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to the characters, how are they
going to use them? You know,
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what is it going to look like? And then you know, either way
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we win because gaming is so profitable
in this company is great, you know,
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it's worth the investment. But if
it does really, really, really
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well and the Fortnite community starts to
love and embrace the characters more and then
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we can use that to pull more
of them into the parks with a Fortnite
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activity, then that's I think where
the additional investment, or that investment like
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comes back in. So yeah,
and what I'm curious to see is if
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the the Fortnite fans really want a
real world experience. Yeah, I mean
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I think that's that's all part of
it, you know. And but you
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know, again according to Universal,
I mean, like we see multiple people
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trying to get into this, right, So I don't think it's I think
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it's also necessary because they don't want
to be left behind, you know,
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while Universal pursues so much so many
other gaming integrations, and also you know,
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Universal's like use of gaming ips to
create even their haunted houses did really
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well, so I you know,
so so right now, I think it's
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it's it's smart to just to start
doing the test and then see how it
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how much the player base reacts,
because you know, we've already talked about
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before, but there's gaming is so
much more accessible than the parks anyway,
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so it's kind of it's it'll be
a weird you know, it'd be one
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of those things to figure out,
like is there even enough of those players
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in the Disney markets that need you
know, where we're Disney. I mean,
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you don't need any more people in
California, so really you're here,
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you're like kind of looking and saying, are there enough Fortnite players around you
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know, Shanghai Disney to help with
some push to push those people into there
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to help get capacity up about I
don't know right right, And and then
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you know, like I said,
the next question is just based on gamers
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habits. Are they interested in in
live experiences? Now? Having having been
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to gen Con, They're they're clearly
into coming out and talking about and cosplaying
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their their favorite their favorite game characters, et cetera, et cetera. But
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is that because they feel like there's
a sense of ownership and that that they
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wouldn't necessarily have in a theme park. So yeah, I'm curious. I
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think I think this is something we
should definitely and we will continue to keep
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an eye on and see where it
see where it all goes. Because I
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could see it. I could see
it going really really well, and I
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can see it going really really not
well. It's it's like, well,
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it's just like Super Mario World,
right, I mean like that's people were
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like, this could go really really
bad because the gaming community might hate it
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for the reasons you just said you
right, Yeah, It's it's like Pokemon
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Go. You know, it's one
of those if it becomes too accessible,
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does it burn hot and burn fast? That's that's the thing that I think
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we need to at least consider in
this kind of engagement. But that's probably
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also why they've done the They haven't
basically purchased the entire company. They're just
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sort of doing it. They're dipping
their toe in. Yeah. Yeah,
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the last announcement that well, there's
there were multiple announcements. This isn't the
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last one, but the last one
I think is important to talk about.
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This was announced earlier on the Tuesday
before their earnings call, so it you
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know, it wasn't discussed that much
on the call, but basically, Disney,
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Fox, and Warner brother their Discovery
announced on Tuesday they would join together
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and sell access to all the sports
they televised through a new streaming service.
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It'll be available this fall, but
literally no other availables, no other details
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or no So they're kind of like
everything else, like how much is it
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going to be? You know what, what's the how is it gonna work?
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Is it gonna be integrated with the
current apps you have? Or separate?
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All these no answers to any of
these things. I find it fascinating
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that they think they're going to get
this up and running in six months basically.
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But but yeah, I think this
is another space, you know.
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I worry that this is another thing
that kind of loses the narrative. You
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know. Again, I think that
the problem with Disney right now is that
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it's too large, and if you
if it were just the theme parks,
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it would be a much better company. It would look much better on paper,
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right, just because of this.
There's so many things. But you
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know, live sports is still look
at the Super Bowl, you know had
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record watchers this year. I mean, live sports is still is a huge
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area and nobody has really figured it
out. Well, you know, there's
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there's not really like a yeah,
I mean it's like live sports and then
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news. Those are the two I
think areas that they're still potential in because
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no has really figured out yet how
to really I mean besides the New York
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Times, right, but that they
can't be everywhere, so you kind of
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these are the two things that are
left. And this is still not going
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to be every sports package. I
mean it's still it's still like right now,
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if you had cable, your cable
plan would still be better than this
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because you're still missing a few you
know, key sports sports people that are
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not included in this package. But
I think it's getting closer and it could
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be very interesting, right it could
add this whole dimension if you opened up
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Disney Plus and then it would have
on it an ability for you to watch
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sports live, you know, just
there in it. So but I think
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this I think this is again,
I think this is very smart. It's
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one of the only areas that's left
to kind of figure out in these whole
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streaming consolidation things. If if these
people really do want to try and be
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one of the three main you know
people after the consolidation has has got you
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know, figured out, you know, having the sports would be an excellent
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differentiator. It's something that Netflix,
Netflix can't touch, right, So it's
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it's really like, it's a good
differentiator. I just think again, it
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contributes to that loss of the narrative
thing, you know where you're like,
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okay, so now and you have
enough Disney Plus and you're like watch live
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sports and you're like, uh,
what I have to do with Malwana?
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Yeah? Well, and it's interesting, yes, because that's that's where I
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was going to go next. Is
you know when you say when you say
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lost the narrative, to me,
it's it's I would translate that exact same
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phrase into watering down the brand.
Yeah, I mean the Disney the Disney
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brand. I guess. I guess
it could be expanded to be wide enough
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to say, uh, you know, watching sports with the family is still
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on brand for Disney. I don't
think it can go. I don't think
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it's necessarily against brand. But but
one of the things that has always been
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impressive about Disney to me as a
company is their control over brand, and
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as you say, over the last
few years, that has, from my
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perception at least, has begun to
slip because brand is not ip bran.
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Brand is not what you do,
it's why you do it and how people
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feel when they think of your company's
name. I mean, that's really what
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brand is. And one of the
smartest people I've ever studied with when it
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comes to brand experiences or branded experiences, say that your brand is not what
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you say you are, it's what
your guests say you are, It's what
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your customers say you are, and
so that therefore it's hard to control directly.
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And to your point with this,
with the Fortnite investment, it just
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keeps diffusing what the Disney brand is, which was for so many years laser
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focused and very clear. Now I
think the reason they're doing this is because
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people lost interest in that core brand. You know, there's not enough people
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out there who care about Mohana to
really make it happen, to really make
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it be enough to support the behemoth
that Disney has become, and as you
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say, if it were just the
parks in the films, you know,
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that would be one thing. But
it's it's continuing to expand, perhaps out
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of necessity, I will, I
will grant you that, but it's beginning
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to expand to the point where you're
right, the brand is unclear. The
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the narrative, the storytelling and not
the individual not the individual storytelling, which
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has not been great either over the
last few years, but but but just
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the storytelling of what Disney is about. And you know, when you think
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of Disney, when I think of
Disney, I think of what ye and
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that has become very unclear. The
and this is and this is just this
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is just showing that they're kind of
being desperate and continuing to to search for
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those you know, we've talked a
lot about in the in the previous shows
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about Universal and their expansions and and
their you know, new forays into new
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parks and new experiences in Vegas and
this kind of thing. But they're all
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clearly Universal. Yeah, and yet
you know, we had the same discussion
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with the Universal Family Park quote unquote
Family Park. So yeah, I'm all
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for diversity, but you still have
to keep it under the brand umbrella.
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Well, I I not to play. I don't know if if this is
382
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the Devil's Advocate or not, but
I think I think this goes to what
383
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I meant earlier by this being the
challenge. I mean, this is the
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challenge of public companies in this way, right, is because when it becomes
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large enough like this, you are
actually dealing with multiple businesses, right,
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But because it's one company, then
you know, then this is why you
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get the struggle. So it's like, really, I think it's it Like,
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so let's say that Disney Plus was
its own company like Netflix and they
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and they were like, look,
we are trying to figure out a way
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to do refrieentiate our catalog, and
we are going to really pursue making sure
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that you know, we are a
destination that has a catalog but also can
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give you compelling stuff in real time. You would we would be like,
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oh, that's a valid strategy,
that makes sense. But it's because it's
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this large thing. And because when
I say lost and narrative, I mean
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they're not you know there it's like
iiker isn't saying here saying and this is
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how this relates to what we're trying
to achieve as a full company, right,
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you know what I mean? When
Disney Plus started, the whole purpose,
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the whole branding and marketing campaign was
a place to basically explore the Disney
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vaults. And it started on brand. Yeah, it started on brand because
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they're like very much on brand.
Like accessibility to their storytelling is what it
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00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:52.799
was. Yeah, accessibility to their
classics, accessibility to their storytelling. And
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of course the whole Star Wars universe
that was the the one two punt and
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00:29:57.119 --> 00:30:00.680
why you know, so many people
wanted to check into Disney Plus, but
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they weren't prepared to continue to develop
new product because once you've watched all that,
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I mean, I can't tell you
how many people I know who sign
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up for Disney streaming, Disney Plus
watched all the excuse me, watched all
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the movies they wanted to watch,
and then cancel their subscription. So yeah,
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that was my early you know,
that's my earlier points. And like
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they've lost a narrative in terms of
what makes as good as a storytelling And
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I think now, like I agree
with Eiger in that he's like, we
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need to make this, we need
to make streaming a successful business in and
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of itself, like our streaming can't
lose money. It needs to be successful
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and to do that we need to
potentially capture some of this and blah blah
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blah, but I have fine.
Yeah, it's a catch. It's really
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is a catch twenty two though,
because the more you diversify, the more
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you water down the core brand,
and the more you run the risk that
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the people who were true brand devotees
will become less and less interested because it's
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just another just another streaming and you
know, as we as we always say
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in this show, this is just
another bad transition because we're out of time.
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So uh wow, that was lame. Okay, So I told Philip
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this is gonna be my show of
transitions, and boy was iron But anyway,
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it's not the It's not the first
time, nor will it be the
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last. However, it will be
the last for this particular show. So
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on behalf of Philip Bernandez with Gantam
lighting on the Hunted Attraction Network and myself
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00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:22.799
Scott Swinson and with Scott Swinson and
Creative Development. This has been green tagged
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00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:26.200
theme Park in thirty and we look
forward to seeing you all next week.












