Disney CEO Bob Iger introduced that Avatar is coming to Disneyland Resort. This put up shares all the pieces we all know to date (which isn’t very a lot) plus commentary and rampant hypothesis about what this might imply.
For starters, this got here in the course of the Walt Disney Company’s first quarter fiscal 2023 earnings name. As we’ve already reported, Disney beat Wall Street estimates on the highest and backside line, with earnings per share (EPS) of 99 cents per share and income of $23.51 billion. Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and Disney Cruise Line did notably nicely, with Disney Parks, Experiences and Products revenues for the quarter rising 21% to $8.7 billion.
With regard to the brand new Avatar expertise coming to Disneyland, right here’s what Iger needed to say (this comes through the ‘captions’ function within the earnings name, which has a worse voice-to-text function than Siri, so excuse the errors):
James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, which can be one of the crucial profitable movies of the quarter, grew to become the fourth largest movie of all time globally with near $2.2 billion earned within the field workplace thus far. The international polarity of this movie will consequence within the creation of extra alternatives for followers to interact with the franchise.
They have been doing nicely at Walt Disney World’s Pandora: World of Avatar, in addition to in theaters globally and on Disney+, the primary movie is delivering very sturdy numbers. Today I’m thrilled to announce that we are going to be bringing an thrilling Avatar expertise to Disneyland. We can be sharing extra particulars on that very quickly.
Avatar represents yet one more core franchise for the corporate and as you will have seen, time and time once more, we’ve a singular approach of leveraging artistic success.
One factor the captions ‘translation’ does get right is that Bob Iger known as this a brand new Avatar expertise coming to Disneyland Resort, and never a brand new Avatar attraction or Pandora – The World of Avatar.
As we’ve identified numerous occasions previously, Iger is a grasp wordsmith who’s nice at sticking to the script, and in addition is cognizant of what completely different phrases imply. (For instance, he bought the title of “Pandora – The World of Avatar” right, reasonably than calling it “Avatar Land” or “The Theme Park in Florida With Blue Alien Sex Cats By Jimmy C.”)
If this have been Chapek, we wouldn’t be parsing phrases–he wasn’t as on-message and fumbled with phrases on a regular basis. In Chapek-speak, “Avatar Experience” may imply all the pieces from a brand new blue churro to a complete third gate.
However, since this is Bob Iger, our guess is that ‘experience’ was chosen purposefully as a result of this isn’t a brand new attraction or land, however reasonably, one thing else. What is anybody’s guess. It may very well be a brand new Meta Quest VR recreation in Downtown Disney, an overlay of the Boudin Bakery Tour, walkaround mech swimsuit dude in Pixar Pier, or build-a-banshee store.
Obviously, a few of these prospects are jokes. While an Avatar Experience (like a Meta Quest VR recreation) changing the outdated ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney makes a ton of sense, even that feels a bit on the small facet to tease on an earnings name–and Bob Iger ended up mentioning this Avatar Experience twice. Once firstly of the decision within the quoted half above, and once more whereas answering an analyst’s query on the finish.
Given that and the consequential nature of this name as Iger’s first again as CEO–one detailing cost-cutting, restructuring, and his large ambitions for the longer term–it appears unlikely that Iger would’ve drawn consideration to an addition to Disneyland Resort except it’s one thing of consequence. That’s doubly true given how nicely Avatar: The Way of Water has carried out and James Cameron’s repute as a demanding perfectionist. I don’t suppose he’d be notably happy with an Avatar-themed bread tour.
With that stated, I’m struggling to provide you with different methods Avatar may match into the present theme parks and lands at Disneyland Resort. Perhaps a nighttime spectacular or projection present? (Again, unlikely within the near-term on condition that the Disney100 stuff simply began.)
Maybe a reimagining of Hollywood Land that efficiently shoe horns Avatar in with out making it the fully-fledged (and thematically incongruous) Pandora – World of Avatar? There are at the moment a number of empty buildings within the backlot, and these may very well be transformed into Avatar experiences to extend capability. (One of the said objectives of Iger and D’Amaro, per the earnings name.)
If the intention is rapidly rising park capability, related prospects contain using current areas. Another prime piece of actual property is the Innoventions constructing in Tomorrowland. That is actually flex house, and though it has a DVC lounge coming quickly, that received’t take up the whole constructing.
One potential situation with all of those ideas is getting James Cameron on board. Again, he’s a perfectionist. Longtime followers may recall that there have been appreciable delays between the announcement of Pandora – World of Avatar for Walt Disney World, and graduation of development. The rumors on the time recommended that Cameron and his insistence on high-quality points of interest performed a job. It’s thus troublesome to see him getting on board with utilizing ugly, deserted buildings as a showcase for the Avatar franchise.
Who is aware of, although. Imagineering’s R&D lab has a number of cool ideas, and if they might reskin a type of to be the Na’vi, possibly that may work.
One out of left discipline reimagining thought (h/t to Greg within the feedback) that I actually like is an overlay of Grizzly Peak. Well, I don’t really like the concept–I like Grizzly Peak and don’t wish to see this occur–however I believe it is sensible and is a viable overlay.
Modeled after Northern California’s National Parks, this space is essentially forest and is sufficient of a clean slate that the Na’vi may very well be weaved into Grizzly Peak comparatively simply. Soarin’ may very well be redone to have an Avatar-based movie (though the concept of the points of interest is analogous, it couldn’t be the identical as Flight of Passage) and Grizzly River Run may have Na’vi Audio Animatronics and different stuff added.
It’s a extremely imperfect resolution, nevertheless it appears essentially the most wise out of the obtainable choices if Imagineering goes to embark on a everlasting reimagining. Disney California Adventure is now primarily a ‘studio park’ second gate anyway, so a forest of Pandora theme would doubtless be deemed shut sufficient.
Accordingly, it’s also potential that it is a new themed land or attraction that expands one of many current parks. We don’t wish to foreclose that risk primarily based on semantics. After all, Bob Iger did guess large on Avatar – The World of Avatar a number of years in the past and he was additionally behind the acquisition of twentieth Century Fox. Moreover, primarily based on his social media posts, it appears like Iger has a private affinity for Avatar and James Cameron.
At this level, it’s patently apparent that Avatar: The Way of Water is a rousing success, with James Cameron (but once more) proving his haters mistaken whereas filmgoers soil themselves in delight whereas having fun with the sequel. With a half-dozen or so sequels already introduced, it looks like Avatar is a bona fide franchise that’s strategically necessary to Disney in the long run. While the media continues to hammer on (and be mistaken about) Avatar’s lack of cultural influence, the flicks have been big hits that’ll proceed to rake in billions on the field workplace.
If this “Avatar Experience” coming to Disneyland Resort is a brand new attraction or land, it might make sense for this growth to happen at Disney California Adventure. We doubt that the remaining growth areas in Disneyland are sufficiently massive for an Avatar space or attraction. One left discipline risk is that an Avatar space may very well be a part of the illusory third gate that’s been teased as a part of DisneylandForward.
The prospects of DisneylandForward are actually thrilling. However, it’s actually all about paving the best way for future developments of an unsure nature by giving Disney extra autonomy over land use by enjoyable the DRSP. Up till now, Disney has primarily been saying, “give us authority to build whatever we want, then we’ll tell you what, if anything, we’re going to build.”
Attaching concrete plans for Pandora – The World of Avatar to a brand new gate may make DisneylandForward extra compelling, and improve the probability of its approval. That appears fairly far-fetched, however there aren’t a ton of different nice/attention-grabbing choices, and that may give DisneylandForward momentum.
Ultimately, it’ll be attention-grabbing to see how this performs out. My wheels are spinning as I concurrently write and ponder “what an Avatar Experience could mean for Disneyland?!” Check again for updates as we proceed to edit and increase the commentary primarily based on new particulars, ideas, and many others.
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Your Thoughts
What do you consider Disneyland Resort getting an Avatar Experience? What type do you anticipate this ‘experience’ to take? Think it’ll be an attraction, clone of Pandora – The World of Avatar, Boudin Bakery Bread Tour overlay, or one thing else completely? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions? Hearing your suggestions—even once you disagree with us—is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!