Disney has a new CEO in Josh D'Amaro, and his tenure has started with layoffs affecting over 1,000 now-former employees. Forbes reports that Marvel Studios was hit particularly hard, with nearly the entire Academy Award-winning Visual Development team let go.
We don't have a list of names, but many of them have worked for Marvel Studios for the past decade. Now, only a skeleton crew is in place to coordinate hiring concept artists on a per-project basis.
That's a huge cost-saving measure, but given the importance that we know concept art plays in shaping MCU movies and TV shows, it's hard not to wonder whether this will ultimately hurt the franchise.
The Wrap has shared additional details, confirming that Disney's entire home entertainment team has been gutted, along with the EPK (Electronic Press Kit) team. The publicity department has also been trimmed down, with the biggest surprise being the departure of SVP of Global Digital Marketing Dustin Sandoval.
He oversaw inventive digital marketing campaigns for many of Disney's biggest hits, including Avengers: Endgame and Avatar: The Way of Water. For Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, for example, actual apes on horses were sent to cities across America to build awareness.
According to the trade, "The layoffs did impact Marvel employees in both Burbank and New York, across most areas of the division – film and television production, along with comics, franchise, finance and legal."
"The Wrap was told this was the result of an overall reduction in Marvel’s film and television production slate, artificially inflated in years past by the desire for fresh product for Disney+, plus efficiencies from the integration of Marvel Entertainment into Marvel Studios and the aforementioned emphasis on operational efficiency and cost management."
D'Amaro shared news of the layoffs in a letter sent ot Disney staff on Tuesday morning:
"In January, we announced our unified enterprise marketing and brand organization, designed to serve consumers in an even more connected way. Over the past several months, we have looked at ways in which we can streamline our operations in various parts of the company to ensure we deliver the world-class creativity and innovation our fans value and expect from Disney. Given the fast-moving pace of our industries, this requires us to constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce to meet tomorrow’s needs. As a result, we will be eliminating roles in some parts of the company and have begun notifying impacted employees."
"Compassion and respect remain at the heart of our company. As we move forward through this transition, our priority is to support those impacted and help each person navigate what comes next with resources, guidance, and direct support."
We'll keep you updated on this developing story as we learn more.