By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 6/24/2016
In a wide ranging interview with THR to reflect his being named the most powerful person in Hollywood, Disney’s CEO Bob Iger was asked about his relationship with Marvel’s Ike Perlmutter: and the state of the relationship is good, we’re told. How’s your relationship with Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter these days? My relationship with Ike […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 6/6/2016
Do you like a mystery? I thought so! Here's a good one. If you ask anyone around the Hollywood water cooler about who is the envy of tinsel town, most people would say it's Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige. His handling of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been little short of genius from a box office perspective, taking obscure properties like Guardians of the Galaxy and making them household names, and boosting even mediocre material like Ant-Man to "Hey that was really fun!" reactions. But is this true?
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 1/29/2016
Last night, as you may have heard, Donald Trump showed how he was the toughest guy on the planet, who can stand up to Putin and Kim Jong Il, by running away from Megyn Kelly, the world’s most terrifying person. Instead of being grilled by Fox personnel on the GOP debate, Trump launched his own, […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 12/7/2015
If you were concerned that the next Avengers movie, Avenger: Infinity War, slated for 2018, would contain 150 Marvel characters and sacrifice drama, storytelling and memory storage to too many characters running around, rest easy: there will only be 100 characters in the film. that's because the Marvel Netflix character can't really cross over into the movies. This little tiddlebt was revealed by director Joe Russo—one half of the Directin' Russo Brothers—who was being interviewed by a Portuguese outlet, and thought, as many have before him, that just because it was in a foreign language he could be bat more candid than normal.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/4/2015
Since the announcement of Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige’s move to report to Alan Horn and away from Ike Perlmutter, there’s been talk of little else in the comics movie hot stove league. Now Kim Masters and Borys Kit, two of the best entertainment reporters out there, add a few more fact logs to the […]
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/2/2015
Those two yahoos who came to the Pokémon World Championships totally strapped have been denied bail, even though their lawyer says they just had a car full of guns for fun times and never meant any harm. A story in the Boston Globe has many more details of the duo's threats against other Pokémon players:
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 9/1/2015
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige will no longer report to the notoriously difficult Isaac Perlmutter, but instead will report directly to Disney Studios head Alan Horn, a move that will give him much more freedom.
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 8/17/2012
A few details of Ike Perlmutter’s moves within the Disney hierarchy leak out in thisprofile in the LA Times, by brave writer Dawn C. Chmielewski who gets, naturally, zero cooperation from Disney, Marvel, or Perlmutter. Ike is, of course, Marvel’s legendarily cheap—and successful—CEO, who has begun to make his influence felt inside the Magic Kingdom, as shown by the rumors of some epic battles that Chmielewski’s uncovered:
With great box-office strength comes great influence. Although he does not hold a board seat, Perlmutter is in regular contact with Iger and has played a role in executive changes at Disney Consumer Products, according to Disney insiders who were not authorized to speak publicly.
[snip] But according to people inside the Burbank conglomerate, Perlmutter backed a shake-up in the consumer products group that led to the film studio’s distribution head, Bob Chapek, replacing retail veteran Andy Mooney. Mooney and Perlmutter were said to have clashed over the approach to merchandising Marvel characters. The change cleared the way for the Marvel executive to inject the Disney’s merchandise licensing group with his cost-cutting sensibilities.
Perlmutter personally oversaw marketing costs for “Iron Man” and other Marvel films, scrutinizing every cent spent on vendors and promotions and bringing an uncommon vigilance to expenses, say people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. And agents consider Marvel one of the toughest places to make a deal for talent.
Ironically, we recently lunched with someone who had dealt—quite amicably—with Ike in the past and we were both amazed that given his power and position, he could remain so far below the radar. This Times piece is the closest you can get to someone who is legally able to carry a firearm in at least one state. Ike’s ability to remain obscure is incredible. An example? Although the piece quotes a book that calls him “lanky”, we’re always heard Ike was quite on the short side. People don’t even know how tall the guy is.
As the article makes clear, Ike has been incredibly successful at everything he does. In fact the biggest casualty of his methods could be Marvel’s book publishing program, which has languished far behind where it should be, given the A+ rating for its amazing backlist of trea
By: Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/21/2012
As expected, today’s firing of Disney Studios head Rich Ross has Tinsel Town buzzing, and a picture of a Mouse House in disarray is emerging. Marvel Studio head Kevin Feige has been named several times as a potential replacement, but Nikki Finke’s must-read analysis also confirms what we wrote about last year: legendary skinflint Ike Perlmutter is very much in the mix at Disney, and his personal dislike of Ross certainly didn’t help matters. (Ross was also on the outs with Pixar’s John Lasseter, according to Finke.) But even Disney chairman Bob Iger is feeling the Ike pinch:
Ross arrived at a watershed time for the studio: shortly after Iger entered into the 2009 deal with Marvel. The comic book, TV, and film entertainment company’s Israeli owner Ike Perlmutter is not just a notoriously tough customer but a budget-obsessed megalomaniac besides a recluse. He has taken control of Disney’s consumer products division already (firing here, fixing there), and my sources tell me he is making Iger’s life miserable with back-seat managing of everything, especially Walt Disney Studios. (“Iger has real problems with Ike. That’s the real story,” one of my insiders tells me. ”Bob thought he could handle him. But Ike is uncharmable.”)
Uncharmable. That’s one way to put it.
Although Marvel’s publishing business is still being more or less left alone to do its comics thing, it is increasingly in the middle of Disney’s New York real estate problem. Disney Publishing’s lease on its New York office is up and a new home is being sought. Much of the staff was relocated to White Plains several years ago, but the editorial offices are still in New York. Ike has reportedly volunteered to have them move into Marvel’s midtown offices—offices which are already “snug”, shall we say. The plan hasn’t been approved—Disney has an entire department given over just to moving people around and they operate with military efficiency. They might even require more than one bathroom for their floor plan.
But there’s another story we’re hearing of late: that Disney may move ALL of its East Coast publishing back to Burbank. The only reason Disney ever had a substantial New York publishing base was because of Hyperion Books, the traditional book publishing arm that was created by Michael Lynton more than 20 years ago. You just can’t have a literary publishing house located in LA. So offices in the trendy Flatiron district were set up. Disney’s magazine division (where The Beat was then employed) moved East a few years later, but since then Manhattan real estate prices have led the personnel to be moved away, bit by bit, to less spendy climes like White Plains and Northhampton.
Moving everyone West would cost a fortune. But not everyone would make the move.
At any rate, while it’s clear that JOHN CARTER is the sword that finally felled the unpopular Ross, the Disney-Marvel-Pixar three-way looks very unstable until a suitable studio head is found…and those aren’t easy shoes to fill. Meanwhile, Ike’s influence on the rest of Disney is growing and growing. He is, as we often point out, the numb
Your fascination with Ike makes sense. Rich Johnston’s fascination with Ike is odd since his take on him goes from hot to cold depending on the day.
Actually, Disney stock hasn’t been soaring lately. Even though the movie side of the company has been doing well, the issues over ESPN’s profitability has been a major drag on the stock price.
Hot and cold depending on what Ike has done that’s worth reporting on. That’s the problem with facts, they have an irritating way of dictating the story.