Disney CEO Bob Iger, who has been taken to task before for what some argued was unnecessarily aggressive language when addressing the strikes earlier this year, now thinks that the SAG-AFTRA strike will be over “relatively soon,” while appearing on CNBC ahead of the Disney earnings call.
“Let me begin by saying I have the utmost respect for actors. They’re an incredibly important part of The Walt Disney Company for obvious reasons. And we’ve been hard at work we the companies involved in this business, as well as SAG in trying to figure out a way to get them back to work. And I can only say that I’m optimistic that we’ll figure that out relatively soon,” Iger said.
He then said that “in terms of the impact on the business so far,” the SAG strike has “been negligible.”
“Long-term, meaning if the strike goes on much longer, it could become significant,” Iger continued. “Obviously, we’d like to try to preserve our summer films. The entire industry is focused on that. We don’t have much time to do that.” Disney recently bumped two of its higher profile 2024 titles – its live-action remake of “Snow White” and Pixar’s new feature “Elio” – to 2025.
When pressed for when an exact timeframe for the strike ending, Iger was more nebulous. “I don’t want to specify except that we’re all of SAG and the AMPTP companies are very hard at work to try to solve this as we speak,” Iger said.
The SAG-AFTRA strike started July 14, when the guild joined its sister union the WGA in demanding fairer wages and more clearly defined guidelines in regards to AI and streaming (among other things).
For all of TheWrap’s Hollywood strike coverage, click here.
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