Disney’s CEO Bob Iger has been quietly overhauling the company’s film business to chart a course back to financial and creative success. 

Iger did damage control at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference in San Francisco yesterday, reassuring stockholders that the company is on track for growth across all of its segments. 

Historically open in his presentations, Iger didn’t pull any punches about the difficulties the company has experienced since he stepped back in to lead 15 months ago. High on his list of priorities is team focus, and not making too much content is a big part of that. “[Audiences] want great films. And if you build it great, they will come.”

On the studio side of things, Disney is looking to manage its costs better and build a culture of excellence and respect. (Iger models this by watching films multiple times with his teams and giving detailed notes.) In line with this new focus on quality, he revealed that Disney has canceled studio projects—without naming which ones—that “we just didn’t feel were strong enough.”

Marvel came up a fair bit yesterday, and Iger confirmed that Disney has reduced its output of both films and TV shows. He’s pushing for a more iterative approach to these productions instead of trying to plan years ahead. “You don’t say, well, here’s our menu of movies from now until 2029; you keep looking, and you keep looking.” 

While Marvel’s recent films haven’t exactly been box-office hits, Iger notes that Marvel’s track record is historically quite strong. Its 33 films have collectively earned nearly US$30 billion at box office. “That is not an accident,” he said, arguing that Marvel’s consistent success for several years was thanks to IP strength, but also to great execution from a management and creative perspective. 

Iger addressed Disney+’s troubles as well. Disney entered the market in a rush to attract global subscribers without a strong enough plan for profitability. Sign-ups came quickly, but the platform didn’t have the technology to lower its acquisition and retention costs, increase engagement and reduce marketing spend. Bundling Hulu with Disney+ has helped bring churn rates down, but there’s still room for improvement, especially when it comes to lowering the “significant” amount spent on distribution and high-quality content. 

By Q4 this year, Iger expects to hit profitability in streaming, and that’s due in large part to Disney’s upcoming film slate, which is very franchise-heavy. 

His presentation contextualized the company’s most recent deals as an effort to build towards real growth, and not just get bigger. This includes an US$8.5-billion merger of its TV and streaming business in India with Reliance that will help Disney stay in a big market in a significant way, while lowering its regional risk. 

Disney’s US$1.5-billion investment in Epic Games last month is also an important move with respect to the company’s future, said Iger. The companies plan to develop new games and build a digital universe together that will let consumers engage with all of Disney’s brands in multiple ways—from creating and playing games, to watching short-form content and buying digital goods. 

Iger stated that he was stunned to learn that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are spending about 30% of their screen time playing games, on par with the time they devote to watching TV and movies. He saw that the company was underrepresented in games, and while it has a decent licensing business (Sony’s recent Spider-Man games are doing well, for example), there was an opportunity to do more. Epic will build this universe at its own expense, and in return, Disney has taken an equity position in the company. 

Addressing the ongoing proxy battle, Iger labeled it as an attempt to distract his senior management team from focusing on the many balls Disney has in the air. 

Summing up, he is very bullish about Disney’s future, and predicts that the company will keep growing as long as it embraces disruptions, takes chances and makes great content. “I do believe, by the way, it’s important when you lead any organization to be an optimist. But I also think that [optimism must be] based on fact or reality. And I think I’ve cited a number of reasons why I should be optimistic.”