Disney it's all about movies and no selfie sticks

No selfie sticks. That was the message Disney sent to consumers lining up for rides last week. The signs make it official guests must stow their selfie sticks on rides. A number of rides mainly Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain have had to be stopped due to selfie-stick use. Apparently other theme parks have installed metal detectors in lines! Disney is a forward thinking technology company with Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook and Jack Dorsey of Twitter on the board but even Disney have had enough.  All we need to worry about is visitors using drones to take photos!

https://twitter.com/Jaunted/status/565181794467581952/photo/1

When you see the behavior above it all makes sense and comes ahead of the opening of Shanghai Disney Resort scheduled to open sometime next year. There are 330 million income qualified residents within a three hour travel radius of the park hopefully they will have the selfie-stick ban from the get go.

Source: http://mashable.com/2015/05/19/selfie-sticks-disney-world/

For all the talk of selfie sticks the studio performance of Disney is key. A hit movie creates a waterfall effect for the business. A hit movie creates high box office revenues for Disney, it creates demand for toys, Disney can open new rides getting consumers to stay at the park (remember no selfie-sticks on rides) and finally re-monetise shows on Disney TV. If you're a parent they will get your money somewhere! With the new park in Shanghai Disney and the opening of its first Chinese store Disney has the potential to replicate this success in China.

Source: Disney investor presentation

Its interesting to look at Disney's upcoming movie lineup. Their acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilms (Star Wars) have set them up to dominate the box office for the next few years. The recently released trailer for the upcoming Star Wars movie has already been viewed 52 million times. The releases above are a great leading indicator for the future success of their business. Disney haven't been specific but they will be opening Star Wars themed attractions at Disney. These new rides and the banning of selfie-sticks give families even more reasons to go to Disneyland.

Jason

http://www.decisiveassetmanagement.com/

Decisive has a long position in Disney (DIS) stock. The material in this article is for informational purposes only and in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. The material has been prepared without regard to any client's or other person's investment objectives. Before making an investment decision you should consider the assistance of a financial adviser and whether any investment or service is appropriate in light of your particular investment needs.