Disney CEO Bob Iger introduced that Avatar is coming to Disneyland Resort. This submit shares every thing we all know thus far (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 Firm’s first quarter fiscal 2023 earnings name. As we’ve already reported, Disney beat Wall Road 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 properly, with Disney Parks, Experiences and Merchandise 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 by way of 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 Method of Water, which will probably be one of the 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 so far. The worldwide polarity of this movie will end result within the creation of extra alternatives for followers to interact with the franchise.
They’ve been doing properly at Walt Disney World’s Pandora: World of Avatar, in addition to in theaters globally and on Disney+, the primary movie is delivering very robust numbers. Right now I’m thrilled to announce that we’ll be bringing an thrilling Avatar expertise to Disneyland. We will probably be sharing extra particulars on that very quickly.
Avatar represents yet one more core franchise for the corporate and as you’ve gotten seen, time and time once more, we’ve got a singular means of leveraging artistic success.
One factor the captions ‘translation’ does get right is that Bob Iger referred to 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 instances up to now, Iger is a grasp wordsmith who’s nice at sticking to the script, and likewise is cognizant of what totally different phrases imply. (For instance, he acquired the identify of “Pandora – The World of Avatar” right, relatively than calling it “Avatar Land” or “The Theme Park in Florida With Blue Alien Intercourse Cats By Jimmy C.”)
If this had 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 Expertise” may imply every thing from a brand new blue churro to a complete third gate.
Nevertheless, since this is Bob Iger, our guess is that ‘expertise’ was chosen purposefully as a result of this isn’t a brand new attraction or land, however relatively, one thing else. What’s anybody’s guess. It could possibly 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.
Clearly, a few of these prospects are jokes. Whereas an Avatar Expertise (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 aspect to tease on an earnings name–and Bob Iger ended up mentioning this Avatar Expertise twice. As soon as firstly of the decision within the quoted half above, and once more whereas answering an analyst’s query on the finish.
Provided that and the consequential nature of this name as Iger’s first again as CEO–one detailing cost-cutting, restructuring, and his huge ambitions for the long run–it appears unlikely that Iger would’ve drawn consideration to an addition to Disneyland Resort until it’s one thing of consequence. That’s doubly true given how properly Avatar: The Method of Water has carried out and James Cameron’s status as a demanding perfectionist. I don’t suppose he’d be notably glad with an Avatar-themed bread tour.
With that stated, I’m struggling to give you different methods Avatar may match into the prevailing theme parks and lands at Disneyland Resort. Maybe a nighttime spectacular or projection present? (Once more, unlikely within the near-term provided that the Disney100 stuff simply began.)
Perhaps 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 could possibly be transformed into Avatar experiences to extend capability. (One of many said targets of Iger and D’Amaro, per the earnings name.)
If the intention is shortly rising park capability, related prospects contain using present areas. One other prime piece of actual property is the Innoventions constructing in Tomorrowland. That’s primarily flex house, and though it has a DVC lounge coming quickly, that received’t take up the complete constructing.
One potential problem with all of those ideas is getting James Cameron on board. Once more, 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 building. The rumors on the time urged that Cameron and his insistence on high-quality points of interest performed a job. It’s thus tough 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 variety of cool ideas, and if they might reskin a type of to be the Na’vi, possibly that may work.
One out of left subject reimagining thought (h/t to Greg within the feedback) that I actually like is an overlay of Grizzly Peak. Nicely, I don’t truly like the thought–I like Grizzly Peak and don’t wish to see this occur–however I feel it is sensible and is a viable overlay.
Modeled after Northern California’s Nationwide Parks, this space is essentially forest and is sufficient of a clean slate that the Na’vi could possibly be weaved into Grizzly Peak comparatively simply. Soarin’ could possibly be redone to have an Avatar-based movie (though the thought of the points of interest is comparable, 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 answer, nevertheless it appears probably the most smart out of the out there choices if Imagineering goes to embark on a everlasting reimagining. Disney California Journey is now primarily a ‘studio park’ second gate anyway, so a forest of Pandora theme would seemingly be deemed shut sufficient.
Accordingly, it is usually doable that it is a new themed land or attraction that expands one of many present parks. We don’t wish to foreclose that risk primarily based on semantics. In any case, Bob Iger did guess huge on Avatar – The World of Avatar a number of years in the past and he was additionally behind the acquisition of twentieth Century Fox. Furthermore, 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 Method 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 essential to Disney in the long run. Whereas the media continues to hammer on (and be mistaken about) Avatar’s lack of cultural affect, the flicks have been large hits that’ll proceed to rake in billions on the field workplace.
If this “Avatar Expertise” coming to Disneyland Resort is a brand new attraction or land, it might make sense for this growth to happen at Disney California Journey. We doubt that the remaining growth areas in Disneyland are sufficiently massive for an Avatar space or attraction. One left subject risk is that an Avatar space could possibly be a part of the illusory third gate that’s been teased as a part of DisneylandForward.
The probabilities of DisneylandForward are actually thrilling. Nevertheless, 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 stress-free the DRSP. Up till now, Disney has primarily been saying, “give us authority to construct no matter we would like, then we’ll let you know what, if something, we’re going to construct.”
Attaching concrete plans for Pandora – The World of Avatar to a brand new gate may make DisneylandForward extra compelling, and improve the chance 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.
Finally, it’ll be attention-grabbing to see how this performs out. My wheels are spinning as I concurrently write and ponder “what an Avatar Expertise may imply for Disneyland?!” Verify again for updates as we proceed to edit and broaden the commentary primarily based on new particulars, ideas, and so on.
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Your Ideas
What do you consider Disneyland Resort getting an Avatar Expertise? What type do you count on this ‘expertise’ to take? Suppose it’ll be an attraction, clone of Pandora – The World of Avatar, Boudin Bakery Bread Tour overlay, or one thing else solely? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions? Listening to your suggestions—even while you disagree with us—is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!