http://comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=15369

QuikQuote: According to Variety, Walt Disney Pictures (http://comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=15369#) will announce within the next 10 days that it's cutting back on the number of films (http://comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=15369#) it makes to around eight per year -- it currently releases around 18 -- and will substantially reduce its workforce. All movies will be Disney-branded, meaning companies like Touchstone could be vastly diminished.
The cutbacks will be far greater than many anticipated, as studio chairman Dick Cook looks to reinvent the architecture of his studio. The move reflects an effort to improve the studio's return on investment and get infrastructure back into line.
While Disney's having a grand summer with "Pirates" and with Pixar's Cars, this year has seen some major misfires: Stick It, Annapolis, Stay Alive and especially The Wild.

Don't forget about Valiant in that mix....

valiant isn't a disney film as i recall, they just handled distribution. although in that regards, the same would technically be true for cars.. in a sense.

The Wild was also a distribution deal. Most of the Touchstone movies are already made in conjunction with independent production houses with the cost spread over several entities.

But we'll have to wait and see what really happens. Two or three years ago Disney announced that they were going to cut back on the number of movies made with more of a focus on core family entertainment. And then they went on to try and find success in the PG-13/mild R horror/suspense market.

hmm - ^ that's true. So i wonder if this is a signal to Wall Street that the attempt is to be more of a distributor now that they are bringing Pixar in house and focus on the dollars there. and keeeping that semi-independence comes at a cost as compared to traditional top-down efforts. So this may be a hedge against unknown cost increases in the core employment and development phases. Once they get an idea what the monthly costs would be they probably will adjust.

Or it's an entire smokescreen. Dick Cook has to find some way to pay for the AA figures for the next pirates ;-)...

This should b a really good move imo. I didn't see any of those movies listed above and Disney needs to cut the fat.

It depends on what gets cuts. If they're cutting back to what has been on the Walt Disney Pictures label over the last year that gives you:

Herbie: Fully Loaded
Sky High
Valiant
Chicken Little
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Roving Mars
Eight Below
Shaggy Dog
The Wild
Goal! The Dream Begins
Cars
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest


There's good stuff on that list but they are generally on the more expensive end of the spectrum. So it depends on how the list gets trimmed I guess.

More on this story from the LA Times...

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-fi-disney13jul13,0,5351232.story?coll=la-home-headlines

that "awkard moment" comment about the timing is interesting.... maybe the chiefs need a raise and there is no other way to do it.. and/or having too many productions reduces the visibility of managing financials in real time..

now if only that same tact was used for projects in other divisions - like the now infamous Goofy's playhouse in Toontown (that rumored Rusolo demanded since his admin wanted one)...

I will go ahead and say that I have mixed feelings about this. I would say that this move is good only if the quality of the fewer films were actually very high. I say that because many of the movies mentioned so far in this thread were ok at best and at the same time, had shorter runs at the box office. In my opinion, some of them were better suited for DVD rentals. (I guess I say that because some I thought were rather good but not worth a $50 night out at the movies with the family, sort of speak...)

But then again, when you stop and think about it, the fewer number of films is kinda like not getting up to bat as many times - you have fewer chances for that hidden home run. That ups the risk factor in the long run.

Of course, this is not to mention the loss of jobs as a result of this move. That is never a good thing.