San Francisco (AFP)

Walt Disney ended 2019 with a fanfare, thanks in particular to the newborns of the Star Wars franchise and the launch of Disney +, its streaming platform that saw the birth of Baby Yoda and will be available in a dozen more countries this year.

But despite a box office record and 28.6 million Disney + subscribers in less than 3 months, the share of the world's largest entertainment group was down very slightly (-0.16%) during trade after the close of trading.

Bob Iger, the CEO, has indeed announced that he has temporarily closed the amusement parks in Shanghai and Hong Kong, because of the epidemic of the new coronavirus which strikes China.

"These closings come at a time when the parks are usually very busy, thanks to the Chinese New Year," said Christine McCarthy, Disney's chief financial officer, during the analyst conference call.

In the second quarter of its staggered fiscal year (January-March), if they remain inaccessible for 2 months, the parks could lose $ 280 million in total, she estimated.

But all activities included, the group achieved results higher than expected for its first quarter 2020 (October-December). Its turnover jumped 36% to $ 20.85 billion while analysts expected $ 20.76 billion, according to Factset. Earnings per share stood at 1.53 dollars when Wall Street bet on 1.46.

- Heroes who make big money -

Bob Iger praised the successes of his last two blockbusters, "Frozen II" and "Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker", which each exceeded $ 1 billion in revenue.

In all (with "Captain Marvel", "Aladdin", "The Lion King", "Toy Story IV" and "Avengers: Endgame"), Disney has made an $ 11 billion box office worldwide, "which explodes the previous record of 7.6 billion that we set in 2016, "he said.

The boss admitted that the last sequel to "Star Wars" worked less well in certain markets, such as China, "because people did not grow up with this franchise (...), they did not want to take the bandwagon so late. "

He thinks "The Mandalorian", the Disney + TV series will not cause this problem because "you don't need to know anything about the history of Star Wars".

And the "Enchanted Kingdom" has not finished exploiting "Star Wars", with the new thematic attractions opened in its parks in Orlando and Anaheim a few weeks ago, and a "wide range of products Baby Yoda derivatives that will hit the market in the coming months, "said Bob Iger.

- Local markets -

The rebirth of Master Yoda as a baby does not in itself explain the success of Disney +, which now has 28.6 million paying subscribers, as fond of old classics as more recent productions from Pixar studios, musicals or original content, according to the CEO.

"In terms of hours of viewing, we are at 6-7 hours per subscriber and per week on average," he notes, cautiously adding that the Christmas period has probably pulled this statistic up.

Bob Iger says Disney + has largely surpassed the best predictions internally, but has not indicated new longer-term goals. The firm had envisioned between 60 and 90 million subscribers by the end of 2024.

The platform is due to be released in India at the end of March, and in Western Europe between March and this summer. "We signed an agreement with Canal + in France in December and we are negotiating with other distributors in the region," said Bob Iger.

The direct to consumer division, which includes Disney +, generated $ 4 billion in the lagged first quarter, up from $ 900 million a year ago. But it generated a loss of $ 693 million, mainly due to the costs of launching the platform.

The boss believes that there will be few adjustments to make to conquer all these markets, if not to ensure the balance to be respected between American and local content, some countries like France imposing a minimum quota of national programs.

A niche in which Netflix, the industry giant with more than 168 million subscribers worldwide, has taken the lead.

© 2020 AFP