On the coattails of the massive release of Avatar: The Way of Water, Bob Iger announces a new Pandora-based attraction coming to Disneyland.
Disney has had a rough month with the layoffs the company has recently reported, totalling nearly 7,000 employees. CEO Bob Iger has announced the company’s plans to right the ship. While Disney has announced the return of two fan-favourite franchises, Frozen 3 and Toy Story 5, complete with a Tim Allen cast Buzz Lightyear, and now they’ve announced one more license returning in an unexpected way, Avatar.
An Avatar-based attraction at the massive Disneyland Park is apparently where Iger landed, as their first-quarter earnings call declared Avatar: The Way of Water a massive success. The sequel is the fourth-best-grossing film of all time, according to Box Office Mojo.
Bob Iger went on to say, “We have learned that when we invest in increasing capacity, the Star Wars lands would be a good example of that, Pandora was a great example of that, we can grow our business. In fact, if you look at the results when we put Pandora in Animal Kingdom, from year to year, they were stunning in terms of how many more people visited Animal Kingdom,” regarding the sudden shift in agenda at Disneyland.
The quarterly earnings report also outlined that “Cash used in operations increased by $765 million from $209 million in the prior-year quarter to $974 million in the current quarter,” which is an approximate increase of 466% of the total, which is not a small number.
Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy chimed in with, “Quarter-to-date, park attendance at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort are pacing above prior year, and based on reservation bookings, we expect to see this trend continue,” on the rise of attendees at Disney Resorts, an upward trend of bookings and profitability.
The newly planned Avatar: The Way of Water attraction is meant to explore a new avenue in a way to appeal further to guests, and as Disney continues to revive beloved franchises, the company seems to be on a course to right the ship this coming year. Fans can read the full quarterly report here, if interested.
