They mostly come out at 4 p.m. … mostly.
The Javits Center briefly resembled the exomoon LV-426 on Tuesday afternoon when Disney’s upfront presentation was hijacked by a marauding Xenomorph. The scream-inducing moment was all in service of FX on Hulu’s upcoming Alien: Earth—the first scripted series based on the beloved sci-fi film franchise—and also featured 50 performers playing scientists pushing 11 crates holding eggs of nearly-hatched aliens.
Besides thrilling the crowd, the Alien: Earth interlude also demonstrated the full power of Disney’s showmanship, not to mention the depth of its IP library. “Everyone recognizes Alien,” Rita Ferro, Disney’s president of global advertising, tells ADWEEK. “It’s made for that kind of stage where the storytelling is in line with the quality and expectation of something coming from Disney.”
That’s a theme that Ferro reinforces throughout our latest upfront postmortem interview. While the Mouse House is home to many doors—all of which lead to many different platforms, brands, and content—they all lead to the unrivaled production value and reach made possible by the Disney name.
“Disney is a brand that is elastic,” Ferro emphasizes. “It includes Marvel, Star Wars, ESPN, ABC News, and FX. But it’s all coming from Disney, and our quality and storytelling owns the hearts and minds of fans and consumers across any platform you want to watch. That’s simply not the same everywhere.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
ADWEEK: Let’s start at the end of the presentation: Jimmy Kimmel closed out the show with his annual roast, and he was particularly fiery this year. What was your reaction to his set?
Ferro: The beauty of Jimmy’s annual roast is that it’s always a surprise. Every year, I brace for impact, but I felt pretty good about the fact that I personally wasn’t roasted much this year. My mom was in the room, so I was a little more sensitive! [Laughs] But Jimmy’s always so funny and free in that roast. He goes after all of us, and he made no exception to Bob Iger, too. There have been some years where it was more painful than this year; it was funny and, at the end of the day, very Jimmy.