Disney CEO Bob Iger said Tuesday that a new attraction based on the Avatar franchise will hit Disneyland soon.
He called it the “Avatar Experience” and said details will be “coming soon” – not providing any today however in remarks during Disney’s call to report its Q1 2023 earnings. Iger also revealed a restructuring of the company that includes 7,000 layoffs and a goal to reach $5.5 billion in cost savings.
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Iger did note the obvious today: that Avatar is now a core franchise for the company, “which has a way of leveraging success” across business lines and across territories.
James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has grossed over $2.17 billion globally, currently sitting at No. 4 among the top-grossing movies ever. Avatar 3, 4 and 5 are on the way, currently scheduled for release, respectively, on December 20, 2024, December 18, 2026 and December 22, 2028.
The original Avatar premiered in 2009.
Parks continue to drive Disney’s top and bottom line growth. Revenue at the division of close to $8.8 billion for the fiscal first quarter was up 21%, the company reported today, about a third of the total. Of Disney’s two divisions, the other being DMED (Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution) it made up all of the company’s operating income, seeing profit jump 25% to over $3 billion. Domestic parks led international.
The Avatar films are set in the visually lush, alien world of Pandora whose atmosphere is poisonous to humans. Its inhabitants, the Na’vi, appear primitive but are highly evolved. Avatar: The Way of Water takes place 16 years after the first film with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) as chief of the Omatikaya clan, raising a family with Neytiri.
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