Corporate executives don’t like to hear that their products aren’t good. They are even less willing to hear that they flat-out suck.
When the review is coming from a fellow CEO, however, it might be wise to note the critique.
Robert Iger, Disney’s (NYSE: DIS) chief executive, did just that when Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) co-founder Steve Jobs used to call him up to complain about a new film.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Iger said that Jobs would call him up and say, “Hey, Bob, I saw the movie you just released last night, and it sucked.”
Iger did not specify which films Jobs critiqued, but there are a few suspects.
In 2003 Disney released The Haunted Mansion, an Eddie Murphy comedy that was based on the theme park ride of the same name. Unlike Pirates of the Caribbean (which was also based on a theme park ride), The Haunted Mansion did not lead to box office gold. The $75 million domestic haul was $15 million short of the $90 million budget, producing one of the year’s biggest flops. It is also one of the lowest-rated Disney films on the Internet Movie Database.
One year later Disney released Around the World in 80 Days, a Jackie Chan comedy that cost $110 million to produce. It made $24 million domestically and only $72 million worldwide.
In 2005 Disney attempted to revive the Herbie franchise with Herbie: Fully Loaded. Lindsay Lohan (who has become more famous for her legal troubles than her acting career) was the star of the film, which managed to gross $66 million, besting the $50 million budget. Despite the financial gain, Herbie: Fully Loaded was one of the lowest-rated films of the year.
Jobs may have also taken issue with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The film made $1 billion worldwide but was despised by many critics, including the Boston Globe’s Ty Burr, who referred to it as a “noisy and lazy stopgap movie that goes absolutely nowhere and takes 2 1/2 hours to get there.”
The third Pirates film, At World’s End, did not fare any better. It made less money and received another batch of critical reviews.
With so many options to choose from, Jobs had plenty of films to complain about when talking to Iger. If the Apple co-founder was alive today, he may have also had a few things to say about Disney’s most recent flop: John Carter.
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Tags: Apple, disney, Robert Iger, Steve Jobs
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