As has come to be expected in the year of viruses and lockdowns, companies continue to lay off their employees. Even the biggest and most seemingly infallible giants out there aren’t immune, as Disney is now terminating dozens of positions in their studio division.
After a rough year for basically the entire world, it seems the COVID-19 pandemic is still showing no signs of relenting, resulting in companies continuing to purge employment positions in an attempt to remain afloat. While many would expect Disney of all companies to be among the most financially secure enough to survive unscathed, Disney themselves apparently disagree. Over 50 workers from their marketing and theatrical divisions, as well as from the media conglomerate’s independent film-focused Searchlight Studios, are now being released as only the latest in a long, unfortunate trend.
On top of these layoffs, ESPN (also owned by Disney) announced a substantial workforce cut of their own on the same day, removing 500 positions in a combination of 300 workers and 200 open spots. The sports-centric media group claimed the move was part of an effort to refocus their resources on streaming and digital endeavors.
As part of their goal to minimize losses, Disney had recently reopened its theme parks in Florida, though its California locations remain closed. Considering how a substantial amount of the company’s revenue comes from those parks, it almost makes sense why they would be so desperate now to trim down as much as necessary to remain within their preferred window. Even though their latest films such as Mulan and the on-demand version of Hamilton proved to be undisputed successes, it apparently wasn’t enough in their eyes, especially with theaters of both the stage and screen variety dwindling as they are.
With upcoming high profile movies like Black Widow and Eternals on the horizon, as well as the projected success of The Mandalorian season 2 on Disney+, it seems the mouse house may end up relying much more heavily on its media releases, whether it wants to or not. Plus, with the new film Soul currently aiming at a December release, it will be interesting to see how things go performance-wise with the first Pixar movie released during the full pressure of the pandemic. (Onward doesn’t really count, since it released early in March, just before things started getting particularly hairy.)
Unfortunately, this trend doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. So thoughts go out to anyone affected by layoffs in this way, and here’s hoping for a quick end to the pandemic, or at least some proper aid for those who need it.
Source: Variety
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