Theme parks served Disney well, first in Anaheim, then in Orlando, Paris, Hong Kong, and others. Content came next with Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios, among others, collectively increasing Disney’s market value three-fold. But, after a pandemic laying waste to Disney’s theme park and film divisions was buttressed by Disney’s new Disney+ service, Bob Chapek saw the writing on the castle’s walls, prioritizing streaming as part of a realignment with three divisions for content and one for distributing it. Little noticed is that Disney+ is today what Capital Cities/ABC was in 1995: the catalytic marriage of distribution to content.
Originally posted for the Orlando Sentinel’s Central Florida 100.
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