The theme park is expected to attract 10 million visitors in its opening year. (Photo : www.insidethemagic.net)
Walt Disney Co. has promoted Bob Chapek, the head of its consumer products department, to be the chairman of theme-parks, which replaces Tom Staggs.
According to Bloomberg, Chapek started immediately while Staggs became the chief operating officer, which puts him in line to succeed Bob Iger as the chief executive officer of the biggest entertainment company in the world.
The promotion puts the 55-year old Chapek in charge of the biggest division of Disney in terms of number of employees as well as its second-biggest by revenue. He also operated the film distribution and home entertainment business of the company in the previous years. Chapek was also the president of the Disney Consumer Products that sells various merchandise including toys since 2011.
Chapek assumes his new position as Iger wants to make more attractions and rides based on the television and film properties of the company. He made a similar shift in the strategy at the unity of consumer-products.
Iger stated on a conference that there are many opportunities for him and some of these are great franchises across the parks. He also said that he planned to increase Star Wars attractions rapidly in different locations across the globe.
Chapek joined Disney in year 1993 and will supervise the grand opening of Shanghai Disney Resort in the country of China next year as well as an Avatar attraction, which will be opened in 2017 at Orlando, Florida.
As the head of consumer products, Chapek shifted its focus to TV and film franchises like "Star Wars", "Frozen", and "Spider-Man" from the categories of merchandise including apparel. The retail stores of Disney were redesigned in line with such shift.
A source also told Variety that the promotion of Stagg will replace Iger and that is a guarantee.
