In a recent video, Kneon and Geeky Sparkles, from Clownfish TV, reported the news that Kevin Mayer will be stepping down as the CEO of Disney+. While no reason for this decision was provided, it should be noted that Kevin will now be the Chief Executive of the musical app, Tik Tok. He will also be the Chief Operating Officer of the company that owns Tik Tok, ByteDance. To fill his position at Disney, Rebecca Campbell has now been named Chairman of Disney’s Direct-To-Consumer and International, the role that allows her to oversee Disney+. Despite being the former President of Disneyland, she does have experience working with Disney’s streaming service. According to Geeky Sparkles, “she set up Disney+ overseas, she was key in that”. Ken Potrock will now be the President of Disneyland and Kareem Daniel will take Ken’s place as President of Consumer Products. Currently, it’s unknown who will take Kareem’s position as President of Walt Disney Imagineering/Operations/Product Creation/Publishing/Games. Also, Josh D’Amaro is the new Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products, the position Bob Chapek left behind when he became Disney’s CEO. Since Josh is giving up his title as President of Walt Disney World in order to take this new position, Jeff Vahle will take his place. Taking Jeff’s place as President of Disney Signature Experiences is now Thomas Mazloum. Through this confusing domino effect, both Kneon and Geeky bring up concerns that I couldn’t agree with more. Kneon thinks these new leadership choices are a bad idea because he sees it as history repeating itself. He brings up how the President of Disney Parks West, Catherine Powell, was let go by Disney last September. Geeky asks, “is any of these changes going to equate to actually, you know, better changes in the parks and better changes, you know, in the Disney company in general or are we just going to get the same old shit, different day”? Kneon responds by saying “Nobody’s in their position long enough to make any kind of a difference”. At this point, it’s difficult to tell how these leadership changes will affect Disney’s outcome. However, I do agree with Kneon’s point. To bring up one example, Bob Chapek has been the CEO for less than six months. But, from my perspective, I find it challenging to think of anything significant he’s done in his new position.
Here are the sources featured in this story:
Type “Disney Plus Boss JUMPS SHIP for TikTok! Disney Leadership PANIC Shuffle?!” into Youtube search bar or visit Clownfish TV’s official Youtube channel (there is some language in this video)
Disney’s Kevin Mayer Is Leaving To Become CEO of Tik Tok, Rebecca Campbell Will Replace Him
Josh D’Amaro Named New Chairman Of Disney Parks, Experiences And Products
Disney Eliminates Catherine Powell, President of Disney Parks West
Trevor Donovan, an actor from Hallmark, appeared as a guest on a recent episode of the Deck The Hallmark podcast. While on the episode, he shared two projects that are currently in the works, but are not completed due to the Coronavirus. The first one was described as an “indie film/Hallmark acquisition that will be shooting in Hawaii”. For the second project, Trevor says it will “hopefully be able to parlay that right into a Hallmark movie in Hawaii after that, so two back to back”. None of these projects are confirmed as belonging to Hallmark, as of May 2020. However, it was indicated in the interview that the potential is there. As far as I know, Hallmark has never filmed a movie or had a movie take place in the Aloha State before. This would introduce their audience to a newer landscape than is not usually showcased. While the plot for both projects is currently unknown, I hope one of these is a Christmas film. Hallmark has never created a Christmas movie that takes in Hawaii. Also, it would be nice to hear Trevor sing Mele Kalikimaka.
Here is the link to the Deck the Hallmark podcast:
https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/deckthehallmark?selected=ADV1983617669 (the episode is titled “Trevor Donovan”)
What are your thoughts on these pieces of movie news? Do you have any thoughts about what Trevor’s upcoming movies could be about? Please let me know in the comment section!
Have fun at the movies!
Sally Silverscreen
18 Cinema Lane 
So interesting to read what you write about Trevor Donovan & Hawaii. As i reported in my previous interview with Kavan Smith from When Calls the Heart, he & Pascale Hutton were scheduled to film the first-ever Hallmark film in Hawaii in April of this year. A completely new project & one they were excited to film. Just a couple weeks after speaking with Kavan, the pandemic hit. The movie is still a go at some point. So if things work out for Trevor that might be interesting. I appreciate your Hallmark perspective as always. No one knows what the future may hold but it may mean some if the films slated for this year may have to wait till next year. There was supposed to be an Australian Hallmark & Georgia Space Camp Hallmark movie this year too, but I feel much of the focus will be Christmas once things open up.
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Thanks for checking out my movie news article, Ruth! I wonder if any of these projects are going to be a Hallmark Hall of Fame production? ‘A Smile as Big as the Moon’ was filmed at a space camp in, I believe, Alabama. Also, at least one of the Hallmark Hall of Fame films take place in Australia. Because of Coronavirus, my guess is Hallmark will adopt a “less is more” approach for their Christmas line-ups. What I mean is we might not see 20+ new movies like in the recent past.
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