March 14, 2015

Yesterday and Tomorrowland Lead the Walt Disney Company

Who says that imagination is dead at the Walt Disney Company

At the movie houses, Cinderella seems to be on the road to being the latest hit, Tomorrowland is on the way, and more is coming. Like Pirates of the Caribbean before them, great movie concepts are taken from iconic attractions at Disneyland, old animated classics, and then spun into gold. All you have to do is look at the upcoming slate of Disney films to see that looking to the past is the new future for the Company.

Robert Iger leads the way into making the most of what as been done before and what has been brought into the company fold. Marvel, Star Wars, and a little project called Shanghai Disneyland will make the most of what Disney can do, be it via Imagineers or film makers.

True forward looking projects such as Epcot, have taken a back seat to money makers. Disneyland's Tomorrowland looks backwards as do most of the castle park's "Land of the Future". Making a quick buck by exploiting the past is the new marketing focus and a way to grow revenue. It's all about the money.

And visionaries like Walt Disney and his crew like Herb Ryman (who designed the piece of concept art, above), would cry to see what they've done to their company.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)

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