Something is happening. I don't know if we'll ever boil it down to a specific moment or a specific man, but I have a feeling that decades from now, we'll look back on these as the days that the media industry was changed forever. I think it started when the man who single-handedly ruined Disney, Michael Eisner, finally retired. Eisner had spent his final years at Disney spoiling the company's relationship with two important industry giants: Harvey Weinstein and Steve Jobs. He had simply become too establishment in his old age to prove effective at his job.
Enter replacement CEO Bob Iger. Before he even officially took over he shook the foundations of Hollywood by sounding the death knell for the exhibition window system . This was clearly going to be a different house of mouse. Then in early October, Iger stood side by side with Steve Jobs, Eisner's nemesis, to announce that Apple would be distributing ABC television content on iTunes. This was a major breakthrough. If ABC and Apple could get along, could Disney and Pixar patch things up?
Well, as we've all heard, Disney has now purchased Pixar, making Steve Jobs more powerful than ever in Hollywood. Likewise, John Lasseter, Pixar's creative head, will now be the boss of both Pixar and Disney animation arms and of Disney's theme parks. His first move? Axing Disney's Pixar-lessTOY STORY 3 with a rather harsh indictment of Disney's past pattern of churning out profitable-but-soulless sequels.
The point is these three men are visionaries, and they're now running one of the world's most omniscient entertainment conglomerates. That's good news for the industry and for independent-minded new artists hoping to make their mark in the future.
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