‘Small Army’ Protects Disney+ From ‘Bad Actors,' Says Chapek

Decisions about which Disney feature films will play in which theaters are “a function of the exhibitors that own those theaters and whether or not they agreed to the terms of the Walt Disney Company,” said CEO Bob Chapek during the company’s virtual annual meeting Tuesday. A Peoria, Arizona, shareholder had asked why she and her Girl Scouts troop were denied seeing Raya and the Last Dragon on the big screen when a local theater chain told her it couldn’t make a deal with Disney. Raya debuted theatrically last week with simultaneous release on Disney+ as a $29.99 "premier access" streaming option. “We hope to be able in the future to have all theaters playing all Disney films,” said Chapek. Disney has “a small army of people that spends every waking hour” protecting the “very valuable data that’s entrusted to us” for Disney+ and its other direct-to-consumer streaming services “so it doesn’t get into the hands of bad actors,” he told another questioner. Guarding Disney+ against hacks is “something that we spend a lot of time on,” he said. “We realize the trust” that subscribers “put in our hands when they decide to sign up,” he said. “We continue to try to improve and get better and better to protect that data for everybody’s best interests.” Disney constantly studies “a lot of different options” for managing its various businesses to increase shareholder value, “including potential spinoffs,” said Chapek. “We have nothing to announce today, but that is a regular part of what we do as we examine ways to operate more efficiently and more effectively.” He announced that Disney+ surpassed 100 million global paid subscribers in its first 16 months.