Bob Iger Really, Really Likes Disney’s Upcoming Film Slate

Disney CEO Bob Iger says get your (movie theater) popcorn ready.

On a Wednesday morning conference call with media analysts, Iger sung the praises of Disney’s upcoming theatrical-release calendar.

“I have a lot of confidence that are upcoming slate,” Iger said. He then pretty much listed all of them out individually.

Iger said he has personally seen the live-action Lilo & Stitch “a few times” and “can endorse it wholeheartedly,” adding: “Tracking is enormous.”

Lilo & Stitch is headed for a four-day domestic debut of $120 million, one of the best showings ever for Disney’s live-action reimaginings, according to sources with access to data from the National Research Group. The firm also gives ranges in addition to a target number; in this case, it is $110-$130 million.

Other films Iger singled out for having his attention and endorsement are Pixar’s Elio (June) and The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July), as well as Tron: Ares, Zootopia 2, and Avatar 3: Fire and Ash coming later in 2025.

“That’s quite a lineup,” Iger said. But he wasn’t done yet.

In 2026, Disney will put out a new Avengers film, its Mandalorian movie, another Toy Story and the live-action Moana. It’s “as strong as any slate that I’ve seen in a long time, since — well in 2019 I think was our best year — the strongest I’ve seen since then.”

Remember, in 2019 Disney had six billion-dollar grossing movies, including Avengers: Endgame ($2.8 billion), The Lion King ($1.66 billion), Frozen 2 ($1.45 billion), Captain Marvel ($1.13 billion), Toy Story 4 ($1.07 billion) and Aladdin ($1.05 billion), for what at the time was thought to be Iger’s swan song as CEO. And now he’s back.

This year, Iger is thrilled with Thunderbolts, which he touted as “the first and best example” of Marvel’s much-discussed refocus on quality over quantity.

“We all know that in our zeal to flood our streaming platform with more content, that we turned to all of our creative engines, including Marvel, and had them produce a lot more,” Iger said. “We’ve also learned over over time that quantity does not necessarily beget quality. And frankly, we’ve all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much, and … by consolidating a bit and having Marvel focus much more on their films, we believe that will result in better quality. And I think the first and best example is Thunderbolts. I feel very good about that.”

Find Disney’s fiscal Q2 2025 earnings here.