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| MickeyXtreme's News Archive December 10-16 2006 | ||
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Saturday December 16, 2006 |
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Disney's rumored project now is on paper Orlando Sentinel - Bulldozers might soon push around dirt in an area called Walt Disney World's "Western Beltway Development," but they would not be preparing the land for any immediate construction. Reedy Creek Improvement District filed paperwork Thursday seeking state permission to clear and excavate a small part of a 330-acre site at the interchange of the new State Road 429 expressway and Disney's Western Way entrance road. This fall, unconfirmed Internet reports pinpointed the area as a future Disney hotel, condominium, shopping and dining district known as the "Western Beltway Development." Disney officials would not discuss plans for the site, and until now would not acknowledge a "Western Beltway Development" exists. The grading application filed Thursday with South Florida Water Management District publicly names the area as "Western Beltway Development," defines it as 330 acres and identifies it with maps. The application includes a consultant's report that says the site likely would be for "hotels, clubs, restaurants and similar tourist commercial use." If developed, the site would effectively expand Walt Disney World to the west, creating a commercial center at the resort's new western entrance. Disney and Reedy Creek officials said Friday that the proposed excavation work is not to prepare the site but to provide dirt that is needed elsewhere, at a grading project along Celebration Boulevard. Any resulting prep work at the Western Beltway Development would be "on a very preliminary basis," said Reedy Creek Executive Director Ray Maxwell. Before Disney could build anything, Reedy Creek would have to approve development plans. "From what I understand, it's still at corporate being reviewed," Maxwell said. The grading application's maps outline Western Beltway Development as filling out the four corners around the new interchange and stretching eastward to Disney World's current boundary and westward across Hartzog Road. The application seeks permission to grade 31 acres of "remnant citrus groves" west of Hartzog. |
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Disney
learns lessons from "High School" Reuters - If you were caught a little off guard by the explosive success of this year's Disney's "High School Musical," well, you weren't alone. "I would love to say I had a crystal ball," says Damon Whiteside, VP of marketing for Walt Disney Records. "There hadn't been a musical done like this for kids in years, and we knew the freshness would work," Whiteside continues. "For the soundtrack, we knew there was a musical movie airing in 90 million homes on the Disney Channel and that kids exposed to our music tend to purchase it. But I didn't think we would have triple-platinum success. We're moving toward 6 million units worldwide. It's really the first tween Disney product that has reached around the world. And it's still growing." The TV movie revolves around a couple of teens who meet at a karaoke contest. Once the show found its legs, the powerhouse synergy of Disney's various sectors took over: "High School Musical" pep rallies at the theme parks, merchandise, branded magazines, soundtracks, DVDs, games and more. "Our company knows how to maximize a franchise," Whiteside says. "This is just the biggest example of a tween franchise that the company could get behind." But one of the earliest parts of the campaign may hold a lesson for the music biz -- giving away a song for free. In print and online advertising for "High School Musical" that preceded the movie's airing on the Disney Channel, tweens were directed to the "HSM" Web site to download a free track. That song, "Breaking Free," ended up being one of the biggest hits on the album. "It was a great way to sample the music and to drive kids to the site," Whiteside says. "The interesting thing is the track we were giving away as the free download ended up being the most-purchased on iTunes." That's no small feat considering the success of the various tracks. Disney spawned nine Billboard Hot 100 singles, including the No. 4 hit "Breaking Free." No other soundtrack has ever managed the feat of charting nine original songs on the Hot 100 -- not "Saturday Night Fever," "Purple Rain," "The Bodyguard" or even "Grease." That sort of jackpot showed the industry a few things. For one, Disney had the top-selling album of the year with no mainstream radio play. And, thanks to "HSM," tweens -- 6- to 14-year-olds by Whiteside's definition -- may have been the buzzword of '06. "We knew coming out of the holidays last year that so many tweens had iPods, and the promotion hit right after Christmas ... It woke up the industry overnight to the power of the tween market." Next year, Disney will try to cash in on its own lessons. "Jump In," something of a hip-hop version of "HSM," airs in January. And a proper "HSM" sequel is expected in late summer. |
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The
Magic of Mickey The Monitor - Scenes from Disney movies come to life in Mickey's Magic Show. Aladdin's Princess Jasmin levitates over head and the Fairy Godmother transforms Cinderella's rags into a magical ball gown. Through illusions or Disney sleight of hand, Mickey's Magic Show promises to entertain beginning Wednesday at Dodge Arena in Hidalgo. Mickey's Magic Show, which has crisscrossed the United States since March, makes its second to last stateside performance at Dodge Arena before spending more than a year touring overseas. When the show arrives in Hidalgo, it will be its first appearance in deep South Texas. "Mickey's Magic Show is very unique," said Alex Gonzalez, who plays the role of Benny, a struggling magician, in the performance. "It's Disney magic combined with illusionary magic and there is audience participation." The combination of dancing Disney characters and magic "wows" both adults and children, Gonzalez said. "Parents go to the show to see it through the eyes of their child, but they leave pleasantly surprised," Gonzalez said. In Mickey's Magic Show, Mickey is coming to Hidalgo to perform magic tricks. Along with him is Benny, who is new to magic. The young magician has lots of enthusiasm, but little practice. Mid way through the performance, Benny expresses frustration at his inability to successfully perform magic tricks. That's where Mickey steps in. He encourages Benny to keep practicing and reminds him that eventually he will be able to meet his goal. The moral is if you believe in the magic in yourself you can accomplish anything, Gonzalez said. "It's great to leave with the inspiring message." For Gonzalez, watching that message come across to children and adults alike is what makes him take the stage each day. "My favorite part is looking out into the audience and see young kids and adults light up," he said. "I love bringing happiness and smiles to 1,000 of people at one time." |
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Disney
World offers fun for Nebraskans Fremont Tribune - That's winter in Nebraska. But sunny skies, warm breezes and refreshing ocean water are what many local residents seek in the winter, travel agents said. “You kind of derive a sense of pleasure when you're sitting at the pool and see it's snowing at home,” said Lori Anderson, who lives near Colon. “The winters are so cold here you really enjoy the weather more. You're tired of having to warm up the car and get bundled up.” This year she went to Disney World with her family a bit earlier than usual, at the end of October. However, in past winters she has traveled to Mexico with just her husband, Jeff, and is planning a Hawaii trip next winter. “It gives you something to look forward to when it's gray and dreary,” Anderson said. “I love the seasons, but my favorite is warm weather.” The warm weather is part of the reason why Sheila Blackburn and her family went to Disney World in Orlando over Thanksgiving. “This is the first time we've gone this time of year,” she said. “We had gone (to Disney World) when our boys were younger and our daughter's been begging us. We picked winter because summer's always so busy with sports.” She said the weather wasn't as warm as she'd have liked - in the 60s - but it was still warmer than Nebraska. “It was nice to get away at a different time of the year,” Blackburn said. “They had just put up all of the holiday decorations before we got there. It was a really neat time.” Mary Novotne, branch manager for AAA Fremont, said Disney resorts are always popular at this time of the year. “We have people who go to Disney year round,” Novotne said. “It's a great place for families and some people combine it with some time at the beach.” Orlando is in the middle of the state, but still within 90 minutes from many beaches. She said other than actual holiday weeks, the parks are less crowded through March than they are in the summer. “After next week, things will really kick into high gear for people planning trips,” said Rose Sutton, owner of Fremont Travel. “It's cold and it's a long time between October when it starts getting chilly and April when it starts warming up. People just want to get away, get out of the cold.” She said a few people book skiing vacations, but they are few and far between. “For ski vacations, really we're pretty drivable from here,” Sutton said. “The warm weather places are the huge push.” From Mexico to the Caribbean and warm weather states like Florida, that is the push during the winter months. “A lot of times people come in after the first of the year, there's snow on the ground and they want to get out of here,” Novotne said. “They want to forget about winter. We have families going on vacation for fewer days, but they may go more than once a year.” Both women said the earlier people plan, the better off they are. “We like to plan as long in advance as possible. We like to book at least a month or two in advance,” Novotne said. “We work with some vendors who offer early booking discounts. Once the (lower) price is gone, they aren't going to add more inventory. The prices will keep going up.” Another option for travelers to consider is whether they want to pay for meals and drinks separately or if they want them included. “The big thing now are the all-inclusive resorts,” Sutton said. “You can go there and not have to spend more money. It takes all the stress away when you know you don't need to spend a lot extra.” Not having your heart set on a specific date can help with prices. “You need to be a little bit flexible with your dates to get the best prices,” Novotne said. “We try to get a budget and work within those parameters.” Budgetary restraints are one of the first things both agents ask about. Prices range from about $300 per person to Las Vegas with a room and airfare or $300 to $400 for a cruise without airfare to as much as someone wants to spend. The average five to seven day vacation during winter is going to cost about $1,500 per person depending on the destination. If travelers call the travel agent in advance, tell them where and when they'd like to go and budgetary requirements, the agent can search for packages until they find one that fits. “I'm all about sending people within their budgets,” Sutton said. “I want to plan a vacation that works for them. I want something to appeal to that group specifically.” |
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The appeal of
Mickey Mouse Republican-American - Walt Disney died 40 years ago. But his legacy lives on: in a multi-billion dollar enterprise that includes theme parks, movies and indelible characters like Mickey Mouse. For the man who became a mogul and for Mickey -- the cartoon upon which the nascent Disney empire was built -- everything coalesced at the right time and place, with the right rendering and characteristics. Garry Apgar, a Southern Connecticut State University adjunct professor and former newspaper cartoonist, has been researching Mickey for years. He called Mickey an admittedly simplistic cartoon drawn from a couple of circles. But the circle is a form of perfection, Apgar explained, and the number of orbs that make up Mickey's head, a trinity, is inherently appealing. As with many artists and their creative progeny, elements of Disney manifested in Mickey, Apgar said. The cartoon's characteristics reflected the fantastical dreams and optimistic messages which Disney peddled. It is Apgar's belief that Mickey has become an emblem of American values. The mouse certainly made his mark on Waterbury. |
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Hoping to Write
a Happy Ending The Wall Street Journal - After three tough years at the box office, Hollywood studio executives are popping open the champagne at the prospect of finishing the year a hair ahead of last. But the celebration is likely to be short-lived. Summer blockbusters such as "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and "Cars" have helped drive a 3.6% bump in movie-theater attendance for the year to date. Even with expected hits such as the musical drama "Dreamgirls" yet to come though, the absence of a "Harry Potter"-style heavyweight over the holidays is expected to shave that back by the end of the year, according to tracking firm Media by Numbers. More importantly, Hollywood's DVD profit engine is on track for another year of slim growth before an expected swing south next year. Adams Media Research predicts that consumer spending on DVDs will rise just 2.4%. Stripping out television shows and other nonmovie fare on DVD, the major studios are expected to post a 5% slide in their U.S. feature-film DVD revenue. After nearly doubling studio revenue between 1996 and 2004, DVD sales growth came to a screeching halt last year as the business matured and prices tumbled. Hollywood had little to cheer about with a dismal year at the box office, too. Attendance sank more than 8%, despite big year-end hits such as "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." Adams Media Research forecasts that consumer spending on DVDs, excluding high-definition DVDs, is expected to sink 4% next year. The studios have been considering high-definition DVD and online distribution as potential saviors. But most executives now accept that high-definition DVD is unlikely to revolutionize the industry in the way DVDs did. And online distribution is expected to take several years to make any real impact. A strong slate of films this year has shown that good movies make a difference. Walt Disney Co.'s "Pirates" has outstripped the top performers of 2005, including the latest "Star Wars" and "Harry Potter." But even big hits have problems in today's maturing DVD market. Disney this past week said the "Pirates" sequel sold a seemingly robust 10.5 million units on DVD and video during its first week of release in North America. But, on Friday, Bear Stearns analyst Spencer Wang lowered his earnings estimate for the studio in fiscal-year 2007, saying the "Pirates" debut implied total sales of 25 million units, well below the 30 million he had been expecting. Next year there will be no shortage of big franchise movies. The summer season is to start with the third installments of "Pirates," "Shrek" and "Spider-Man," and continue with a long list of other sequels. But, while the deluge of big titles might seem like good news, they may pose another headache. Sequels are expensive and it is unclear whether audiences will have the appetite for so many. |
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DVC Previews Announced for Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
Comedy Club WDW News - Disney Vacation Club Members are invited to be among the first to experience Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club, at Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland, January 19-21, 2007. The interactive attraction invites guests of all ages to joke around and match wits with comedian wannabes recruited by Mike Wazowski, the one-eyed hero from Disney-Pixar's "Monsters, Inc." Each Vacation Club member must present their ID. Admission to Magic Kingdom is required. |
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Adrienne Tytla, Disney Animator's Widow, Dies at 92 Animation Magazine - Adrienne Tytla, wife of famous Disney animator Vladimir "Bill" Tytla, passed away yesterday from cancer. According to Disney spokesperson Howard Green, Tytle died at her farm in East Lyme, CT, the same one she and her husband bought back in 1942. She was 92. She is survived by her son, artist Peter Tytla and daughter Tamara Schacher-Tytla and granddaughter, Fantasia. Adrienne le Clerc met her husband in 1936 when she was a 22-year-old actress and fashion model, posing in the art classes of Don Graham. She shared her husband's excitable temperaments and noted, "My glass was half-filled with enthusiasm, his often half-empty with self-doubts. We were, however, definitely yin and yang," according to an entry in wikipedia." Their 30-year marriage began on April 21, 1938. Last year, Tytla released her long awaited book Disney's Giant, which focused on the life and career of her husband. The 1000-page-long tome is part-scrapbook, part-biography of her husband, who passed away in 1968. One of the original Disney animators, Bill is considered by many to be the best character animator working during the Gold Age of Hollywood animation. He is credited for animation of Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Chernabog in Fantasia's Night on Bald Mountain sequence and the magician Yen Sid in the film's The Sorcerer's Apprentice segment. He also designed Dumbo, the big-eared baby elephant based on his own son, Peter. |
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Friday December 15, 2006 |
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MEGA Brands Announces Global Launch of Disney Arts and
Crafts Product Line Yahoo! News - MEGA Brands Inc. today announced its global entry into the arts and crafts category with a new line featuring popular Disney properties, including Disney Princess, Pirates of the Caribbean, Hannah Montana and Little Einsteins. Products will be available in North America, Europe, Scandinavia, Africa and the Middle East in 2007. Vic Bertrand, COO of MEGA Brands, states, "We're excited to enter the arts and crafts category with a venerable brand such as Disney, one of the world's most powerful children's brands. The tremendous popularity of the Disney characters, coupled with the creative appeal of our arts and crafts sets, will help us accelerate our penetration of this category into international markets." The Disney art sets will allow kids to create latch hook, picture frame and pillow art, make their own pirate boots and pirate gear, paint works of art in 3D, make their own temporary tattoos, and more. The products will begin shipping to mass market retailers in North America in early 2007 and to international markets by April 2007. "The new product expansion with MEGA Brands will allow kids around the world who love Disney characters to have fun, use their imaginations and create great works of art," said Nancy Geller, Director, Category Management, Disney Toys. About MEGA Brands MEGA Brands Inc. provides stimulating creative experiences for children and families through innovative, well-designed, affordable and high quality products that are marketed worldwide under the leading brands MEGA BLOKS, ROSE ART, MAGNETIX and BOARD DUDES. We design, manufacture and market high quality construction and magnetic toy sets, games and puzzles, craft and activity sets, art materials, boards, writing instruments, school supplies and stationery. MEGA Brands is headquartered in Montreal and present in 14 countries with sales in over one hundred. For more information: please visit http://www.megabrands.com . |
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Santa Look-a-Like Gets In Trouble At Disney CBS4 - A strange case of mistaken identity has left a Florida man shaking his head after the man, who resembles Santa Claus, got into a bit of trouble at the happiest place on earth, Walt Disney World. The whole mess began when a group of excited children created a scene at Disney World after they confused 60-year old J.D. Worley with St. Nick himself.  The
rotund-white bearded man graciously played along with
the dreamy eyed kids, and that he says, sparked problems
with the Orlando theme park management.Someone apparently complained that a man in a red shirt and blue jeans was pretending to be Santa Claus and managers asked him to stop. Disney states it’s not because he looks like Santa but because Worley said he was Santa to the children who asked him. Worley claims Disney officials asked him to alter his appearance so he took off his red hat. However, Worley said he can’t help looking like the Santa. “I look this way 24/7, 365 days a year,” he explained. “This is me.” Disney managers say they didn’t ban Worley from the park, but simply asked him to stop saying he was Santa. Worley still loves Disney and Christmas but says he left the happiest place on earth, a little sad. A Disney spokesman says the park was just trying to protect the magic of Santa. |
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Busy holiday
season expected Orlando Sentinel - Orlando's theme parks, AAA and the Travel Industry Association of America all are expecting lots of travel this holiday season.
Both SeaWorld and Univeral Orlando said their
indicators, including advance sales, lead them to
expect a strong Christmas season. Walt Disney World
stopped short of prediting how this season will fare
compared with previous years, but noted the holiday
period always is a peak time.
And AAA and the TIA issued the findings of their annual survey Thursday prediting that a record number of Americans be on the road or in airplanes this year. The result should be some thick crowds in Orlando.
AAA and the Travel Industry Association expect about
65 million people to travel between Dec. 23 and Jan.
2, more than last year's record of 63.5 million.
"Hotel rates, air fares and gas prices have risen only slightly from this time last year," said AAA President Robert Darbelnet. "This Christmas-New Year's holiday we will see a healthy growth in travelers, following relatively flat travel seasons earlier in the year." That jibes with what SeaWorld and Universal see in their tea leaves. "All of our indicators in the market show that it should be a very strong Christmas," said SeaWorld spokeswoman Becca Bides. Universal spokeswoman Cindy Gordon agreed, adding, "We're feeling positive because we're seeing strong advance bookings." The Thanksgiving week rush appeared strong for the parks, though a lull has now set in before the late-December rush. Thursday morning, for example, light crowds and wait times under 30 minutes were seen at Walt Disney World's Epcot and Universal's Islands of Adventure. That will change soon. Dec. 23 is expected to be the busiest travel day of the holiday season at Orlando International Airport with estimates reaching higher than 110,000 arriving and departing passengers that day, said airport spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell. The airport is expecting holiday traffic to increase beginning Dec. 22 and continuing through Dec. 30 with more than 100,000 passengers expected every day during that period except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Both Disney and Universal entered the season with new attractions, in addition to their usual holiday fare. Disney formally opened The Seas with Nemo & Friends ride at Epcot, launched several new street shows at Magic Kingdom, and unofficially opened the new show Finding Nemo — The Musical at Disney's Animal Kingdom. |
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Hotel association to recognize Disney's Al Weiss for
leadership
Orlando Business Journal - The Central Florida Hotel & Lodging Association will present Al Weiss, president of worldwide operations for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, the 2006 Charles Andrew Hospitality Award for Community Leadership on Dec. 16. Each year, the award honors one local leader for his or her contribution to the area's tourism industry through community service. The award is named after the founding father of the CFHLA, Charles Andrew, and is given to someone who exemplifies perseverance and dedication to a cause. "Weiss's dedication to the Orlando area embodies the spirit and intent of this award," says CFHLA President Rich Maladecki, in a written release. "In addition to his superb management of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, his vision and dedication were recently displayed when he worked to build industry consensus to support the penny increase of the tourist development tax in Orange County." More than 1,000 hospitality executives are expected to attend the gala awards dinner, which will be held at The Peabody Orlando. |
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Seven Lessons
of Walt Disney
Forbes - The essence of the life of Walt Disney, dreamer, innovator, entrepreneur and protean exporter of American culture--and dead for 40 years this month--has eluded biographers. Until now. The Hollywood historian Neal Gabler masterfully fills the gap with his 851-page Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (Alfred A. Knopf). If you're in search of a long, satisfying holiday vacation read, this is the book. I read it from San Francisco to Miami (and back) and during our tenth FORBES Cruise for Investors in the eastern Caribbean Sea. So good was Walt Disney (nyse: DIS) that I skipped a snorkeling trip in Grand Turk and a splash with the dolphins in Tortola. I will now publicly beg my abandoned wife's forgiveness. Honey, the book was that good. Enough gushing. Here's why I liked it. Walt Disney is the best business book I've read in years. That's not a high bar, as most books written directly to address business challenges are hopeless bores, of course. Of the few good ones, most are only indirectly about business. Last year I recommended, as a terrific "business" book, Wooden on Leadership, by John Wooden, former head basketball coach for UCLA. A couple of years ago I hailed Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Church as a useful read. Just substitute "business" for "church" and it's all there. In Walt Disney Gabler takes us inside the heart and head of one of our greatest entrepreneurs. Here are some lessons Walt has to teach: An unhappy childhood doesn't kill. When Walt was 9 years old, his father, Elias, sold the failed family farm and bought a paper route in Kansas City. Elias put his boys to work. The youngest, Walt, "would rise early, in the darkness, to get his allotment of 50 papers. … He returned home at 5:30 or 6:00, took a short nap and then woke and ate his breakfast. … At times the cold and his tiredness would conspire, and Walt would fall asleep, curled inside his sack of papers." Out of this Dickensian boyhood grew Walt's vision of escape to a utopian world. That vision, of course, would inspire his animations and theme parks. Don't fall in love with money. Walt was a lousy businessman, by his own admission. His brother Roy handled all money matters. "[Walt] cared nothing for money except as a means to an end," writes Gabler. "Walt's only ambition was to make great cartoons." Time and again Walt and Roy would gamble all they owned on making breakthrough movies and, eventually, a theme park. Knowing the money could come and go, Walt, his wife, Lillian, and their two children lived modestly in a three-bedroom house. They rarely hobnobbed with other Hollywood moguls. Exploit the latest technology. During the mid-1920s Disney's main competitor was the New York shop of Max and Dave Fleischer, creators of Koko the Clown and, later, Betty Boop and Popeye. Disney's Hyperion studio had recently introduced Mickey Mouse in a silent short called Plane Crazy. Then came the technology of sound. Disney saw the potential. He innovated a way to synchronize sound and action, which spawned Steamboat Willie, the movie that forever propelled Disney ahead of the Fleischers. Disney spent his career looking for the technology edge. Demand perfection, but play loose. Walt often worked 'til midnight and demanded the same of his employees. In grueling "sweatbox" sessions he could ream an animator for a poorly drawn dwarf's thumb. But Walt also built a corporate campus with airy rooms, air-conditioning and top furniture, in the manner of today's coolest ad agencies or software firms. Dress, led by Walt, was casual. He encouraged pranks among the staff. Borrow from the outside. Flush from the successes of movie shorts featuring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and the Three Little Pigs, Walt wanted to make a feature-length picture. But he knew the gag-driven pace of the shorts would wear out over 80 minutes. So, to prepare for making Snow White, Walt sent his animators to classes in acting, fine arts and even to classes on motion and gravity. Be a storyteller. If Walt Disney had one towering gift, it was this: He was an extraordinary storyteller. He used stories to convey his vision and inspire employees. In the winter of 1934 he gathered his top animators on a soundstage. "Walt was standing at the front, lit by a single spotlight in the otherwise dark space," writes Gabler. "Announcing that he was going to launch an animated feature, he told the story of Snow White, not just telling it but acting it out, assuming the characters' mannerisms, putting on their voices, letting his audience visualize exactly what they would be seeing on the screen. He became Snow White and the wicked queen and the prince and each of the dwarfs." The performance took more than three hours. "'He was a spellbinder,' recalled animator Joe Grant." Reinvent yourself when necessary. The huge success of Snow White created employee expectations that Walt couldn't fulfill. In 1941 Disney studio animators went on strike. Walt was shattered. He would never again feel the same passion for cartoons and movies. Thus began his wilderness period, which lasted a decade. Out of that period came Walt's inspiration for Disneyland, and he threw himself into the theme park. Where did Walt's second wind come from? Can't tell you--I'm out of space. Read Neal Gabler's fine biography on a great American businessman. |
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Disney renovates Toontown Online
C21Media - The Walt Disney Internet Group has relaunched its UK virtual world Toontown Online, which has so far attracted over half a million users since going live in 2004. Changes to the site's massively multiplayer online (MMO) game include the introduction of ToonClub, a community zone offering players weekly news updates, special events, competitions and special downloads. In 2007, ToonClub will be expanded to include 'Top Toons' player rankings, behind-the-scenes updates, detailed game guides and more. Toontown.co.uk is one among a growing portfolio of MMOs Disney is developing, which includes Virtual Magic Kingdom and plans for a site dedicated to Pirates of the Caribbean. |
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General Mills and Disney Bring the Magic of Disney
Cereals to the Supermarket
WebWire - General Mills and Disney are launching a new line of breakfast cereals at an everyday suggested retail price of $1.99. Offering whole grains and a good source of Vitamin D and Calcium, the new line meets Disney’s recently announced food guidelines for ready-to-eat cereals. “We are excited about this new launch,” says Kymm Pollack, Marketing Director of General Mills’ Big G cereal division. “This new cereal line leverages strong Disney equities that need no introduction while delivering everyday value at very attractive, competitive price points. They are high-quality cereals with a strong nutrition profile that parents will appreciate and popular Disney characters that kids will love.” “This new line of Disney branded cereals reinforces our direction of broadening our business offerings at price points that all families can enjoy,” said Lance Gatewood, vice president of food, health and beauty for Disney Consumer Products, North America. “Importantly, General Mills has ensured that the new cereals meet Disney’s food guidelines.” The new line will feature three leading Disney properties: Disney’s Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Disney Princess and Disney’s Little Einsteins. They are the first Disney branded ready-to-eat cereal products to launch since Disney announced its food guidelines in October. The new cereals ranging from 9.9 oz. to 11.6 oz. will appear nationally in grocery, in January at a suggested retail price of $1.99. About General Mills General Mills, with annual net sales of $12.5 billion, is a leading global manufacturer and marketer of consumer foods products. Its global brand portfolio includes Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Häagen-Dazs, Old El Paso and more. It also has more than 100 U.S. consumer brands, more than 30 of which generate annual retail sales in excess of $100 million. General Mills is also a leading supplier of baking and other food products to the foodservice and commercial baking industries. About Disney Consumer Products Disney Consumer Products (DCP) is the business segment of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) that extends the Disney brand to merchandise ranging from apparel, toys, home décor and books to interactive games, food and beverages, stationery, electronics and animation art. This is accomplished through the work of DCP’s various lines of business: Disney Toys, Disney Softlines, Disney Home, Disney Food, Health & Beauty, Disney Stationery, Disney Publishing, Buena Vista Games, Baby Einstein, the Muppets Holding Company and Disney Shopping, Inc.’s catalog and disneyshopping.com. The Disney Store, which debuted in 1987, also falls under DCP, through stores currently owned and operated by unaffiliated third parties under licensing agreements in North America and Japan, and wholly owned stores in Europe. For more information about DCP, please visit our web site at www.disneyconsumerproducts.com. |
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Hannah Montana Soundtrack has now shipped double
platinum Top40-Charts.com - The t.v. soundtrack to the smash hit Disney Channel Original Series Hannah Montana has now shipped double platinum (2,000,000 units), with certification by the R.I.A.A expected within the next 30 days. The CD takes a significant jump in sales numbers, with over 231,000 units scanned for the week ending December 10, 2006 (according to Nielsen SoundScan). Additionally this week, the soundtrack continues to reign at No 1 on both the Billboard Soundtrack Chart and the Billboard Kids Chart, where it has topped both charts for seven consecutive weeks. Released October 24, the Hannah Montana Soundtrack shattered industry records as the first-ever TV soundtrack to enter the Billboard Top 200 at No 1. The soundtrack went on to break additional Billboard records when seven tracks entered the Hot 100 Singles Chart, the most tracks by an artist in one week in the history of the chart. The album is produced by some of the industry's best, such as; Matt Gerrard and Robbie Nevil, Adam Watts and Andy Dodd, Andrew Lane and Eddie Galan, and Jaime Houston. The Hannah Montana series is seen on Disney Channels all over the world and on DisneyChannel.com via streaming broadband video. In the U.S. year-to-date, Hannah Montana is No 1 on basic cable TV among Tweens 9-14 and No 2 among kids 6-11. For third quarter 2006, Hannah Montana is the No 1 rated series on broadcast and basic cable TV among Tweens 9-14 and tied for No 1 among kids 6-11. It is also seen Saturday mornings on the ABC Television Network's "ABC Kids." Hannah Montana is a live-action comedy series that follows typical tween Miley Stewart, who lives with her older brother and widowed dad, a songwriter. But unbeknownst to her friends and classmates, Miley has a secret double life ? she is the world famous pop star Hannah Montana. Disney Channel is a 24-hour kid-driven, family inclusive television network that taps into the world of kids and families through original series and movies. Currently available on basic cable in over 89 million U.S. homes and to millions of other viewers on 25 Disney Channels around the world, Disney Channel is part of the Disney-ABC Television Group. Walt Disney Records is part of the Buena Vista Music Group, the recorded music and music-publishing arm of The Walt Disney Company. For more information, please visit Disney Records.com. |
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Disney-ABC TV receives 12 Golden Globe Nominations Futon Critic - "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost" Receive Repeat Nominations for Best Television Series - Drama Hit Newcomer "Ugly Betty" Receives First Nomination For Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical Two-Time Golden Globe Comedy Winner "Desperate Housewives" Earns Third Straight Nomination for Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical Patrick Dempsey, Ellen Pompeo and Evangeline Lily Earn First Nominations for Best Performance By an Actor/Actress in a Television Series -- Drama Marcia Cross, America Ferrera and Felicity Huffman Secure Nominations for Best Performance by an Actress In a Television Series - Comedy or Musical Katherine Heigl Recognized For Best Performance by an Actress/Actor in a Supporting Role In a Series, Mini-series or Motion Picture Zach Braff Receives Third Nomination for Best Performance By an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical for "Scrubs" Disney-ABC Television Group series received 12 nominations, including Best Television Series Comedy nominations for the ABC series "Desperate Housewives" and "Ugly Betty," and Drama Series nominations for "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost" for the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards, which were announced this morning. Touchstone Television, which produces all of the nominated series, currently has the #1 ("Grey's Anatomy"), #2 ("Desperate Housewives") and #3 ("Lost")-rated primetime shows for the season in A18-49, the first studio ever to have the top three primetime programs in the history of the Nielsen People Meter. First-time Best Television Series - Comedy nominee "Ugly Betty" is the #1-rated new comedy of the season in both Total Viewers and A18-49. In addition to "Betty's" comedy series nomination, America Ferrera proved to be a beautiful addition to the Golden Globes, garnering her first nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical. Previous Golden Globe nominee "Grey's Anatomy" received four nominations, including Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama for Patrick Dempsey, a first Best Actress nomination for Ellen Pompeo, and Katherine Heigl's first nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television. Previous Golden Globe comedy series winner "Desperate Housewives" received three nominations, including repeat nominations for Marcia Cross and Felicity Huffman for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical. Last year's drama series winner "Lost" received two nominations, with Evangeline Lily capturing her first nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama. Zach Braff received his third nomination for Best Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy for "Scrubs." The 2007 Golden Globe Awards will be presented Monday, January 15, 2007 in Los Angeles. |
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Change in Directors or Principal Officers Form 8-K for WALT DISNEY CO - Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangement of Certain Officers (e) On December 12, 2006, the Compensation Committee of the Registrant determined that the performance criterion for purposes of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code under the Registrant's 2002 Executive Performance Plan for fiscal year 2007 and for fiscal years 2007 and 2008 combined would be adjusted net income, which means net income adjusted to exclude the following items or variances: change in accounting principles; acquisitions; dispositions of a business; asset impairments; restructuring charges; extraordinary, unusual or infrequent items, excluding early extinguishment of debt; and extraordinary litigation costs and insurance recoveries. This performance criterion will be applied to bonus awards for fiscal 2007 and for performance vesting restricted stock units whose vesting is based on performance in fiscal 2007 or the fiscal 2007-2008 period. On December 12, 2006, the Compensation Committee also approved amendments to the forms of the following agreements pursuant to which the executive officers of the Registrant named in its proxy statement are entitled to receive awards: • Performance-Based Stock Unit Award (Dual Performance Goals), to provide that awards vest on the applicable anniversary date of grant (subject to confirmation that performance targets are met) even if the date that satisfaction of the performance target is determined is later, and to apply this change to previously granted awards. • Performance-Based Stock Unit Award, to provide that awards vest on the applicable anniversary date of grant (subject to confirmation that performance targets are met) even if the date that satisfaction of the performance target is determined is later. • Restricted Stock Unit Award (Bonus-Related), to provide greater flexibility as to the vesting schedule and to accelerate vesting of the award when an executive leaves the company except in circumstances that would be a breach of an employment agreement or would constitute termination for cause, and to apply this change to previously granted awards. The revised forms of agreement for the Performance-Based Stock Unit Award (Dual Performance Goals), Performance-Based Stock Unit Award and Restricted Stock Unit Award (Bonus Related) are set forth as Exhibits 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3, respectively, to this report and are incorporated herein by reference. |
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Devil Rays Players at Disney World after announcement WDW
News - Tampa Bay Devil Rays infielder Jorge Cantu (left)
and pitcher Scott Kazmir (right) pose with Minnie Mouse
and Pluto at the Magic Kingdom theme park in Lake Buena
Vista, Fla. Dec. 14, 2006, following the announcement
that the team would play three 2007 regular season games
at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. The Devil Rays
will host the Texas Rangers May 15-17, 2007 at The
Ballpark at Disney's Wide World of Sports. The games are
subject to the approval of the St. Petersburg City
Council. Tickets will go on sale Feb. 17, 2007. |
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Card
design is a Euro Disney winner Barking and Dagenham Post - A talented student won an all-expenses family trip to Euro Disney for his brilliant Christmas card design. Matthew Rex, 10, beat 2,256 entries from 18 primary schools to win overall prize in Barking MP Margaret Hodge's annual competition. The St Margaret's Primary School student wowed judges with his stunning watercolor depiction of Father Christmas riding through the sky on a reindeer-driven sleigh. His colorful design will now be reprinted and sent out to Mrs Hodge's friends and parliamentary colleagues, including Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Matthew and 30 other young talents collected prizes at the awards ceremony in Eastbury Manor House, last Friday. And as if the holiday was not enough, lucky Matthew snapped up a DVD player, toys, cinema vouchers and board games. Mrs Hodge said: "Each year we hold the competition it gets better and better. This year we broke the 2,000 barrier for the first time and short-listing all the designs took nearly a day." She added: "The prizes we were able to offer were the best yet and I must thank our sponsors for this. "I say it every time, but I honestly don't know how we're going to beat this year's competition." Mrs Hodge was joined by Cllr John Davis, who chairs Barking Labor Party, and John Harris, Chairman of Alba plc, who has supported the competition since it began six years ago. Mr Harris said: "This is an excellent occasion which gives children across the borough the chance to demonstrate their artistic talents. " Sponsors of the 2006 competition were Ford Motor Company, Euro Disney, Alba plc, Tesco, Jive Leisure Promotions, Mace plc, Vue Cinema and the Barking & Dagenham Post. |
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Reuters - Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN network will soon
announce new licensing agreements for its wireless
phone content, the network's chief said on Wednesday.
"We simply recognized quickly that we needed to adjust our business model and that's what we're preparing to do," George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports and co-chairman of Disney Media Networks, told Reuters. "You'll see an announcement from us relatively shortly on that." "The Mobile ESPN application is going to be available to fans, just in a different method than how we started out," he said in a telephone interview. The comments were part of a wide-ranging conversation about ESPN's international growth plans, the value of sports television rights fees and the impact of the National Football League's cable network. In relation to Mobile ESPN, the network's plan to license its brand to existing carriers as an add-on service would complete a shift from a previous strategy. In September, ESPN said it would shut the Mobile ESPN phone business by year's end. Analysts said the much-hyped venture couldn't draw enough subscribers, and the company said it would spend $30 million on the shutdown. The service was launched in February on Sprint Nextel Corp.'s network, but analysts said the problem was a specially designed $199 cell phone that forced most users to switch wireless service. Bodenheimer also said international markets will be a key driver of growth for ESPN. He pointed to a new TV contract in India to televise cricket and last week's announced acquisition of NASN, a European sports network. ESPN does not disclose international revenue figures, but Bodenheimer said the figure will grow and Europe will be a focus. "We're looking at other opportunities," he said. "I see international expansion as a focus of our company." The company plans to launch the 11th version of its popular "Sports Center" highlight show in Australia and New Zealand early next year, and this fall is rolling out versions of its Soccernet.com Web site in French, Spanish, German and Italian. "We're putting our money where our mouth is to show you how we're working to make these products global," Bodenheimer said. He dismissed concerns that ESPN's profit margins would be squeezed by rising sports TV rights fees. National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern said last month at the Reuters Media Summit that the U.S. sports league had opened talks with Disney and Time Warner Inc. about extending current TV deals that expire after the 2007-08 season. Stern said then that he expected a "healthy" increase from the current six-year, $4.6 billion contract. Bodenheimer said: "What we are purchasing from leagues is so much broader these days than just a game to fill up a three-hour window. "With the NBA agreement, we're fueling anywhere from eight to a dozen ESPN businesses, including around the world," he added. "It's way too simplistic to look at the rights fee without an equal analysis of what it is you get for that." Bodenheimer also said the U.S. National Football League's three-year-old cable network is not a future rival as some analysts have suggested. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell outlined plans at the Reuters summit to add more nonleague football games to the network's lineup over time. "Obviously, we televise quite a bit of football so anything that strengthens interest in football is a plus," Bodenheimer said. "We're really a different business than the NFL Network, which is a single sport network." |
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Oprah primed for ABC
Variety - The queen of daytime is headed for primetime. Oprah Winfrey has sold a pair of reality skeins to ABC via her Harpo Prods. banner. Despite her involvement in everything from magazine publishing to satellite radio, projects rep the first time Winfrey has attached her name to a weekly primetime series. Skeins are the first productions to emerge from Harpo's recently formed TV development group, headed by exec VPs Ellen Rakieten and Harriet Seitler. Winfrey will appear in at least one of the two shows. It's unclear if she'll host either. Deal reps a major coup for ABC Entertainment prexy Steve McPherson and alternative topper Andrea Wong. For years, ABC execs have subtly tried to woo Winfrey to primetime -- but have had to accept her decision to produce only specials and a handful of highly rated "Oprah Winfrey Presents" movies and minis. "Oprah Winfrey getting into series TV is monumental," McPherson said. "These two shows are a perfect fit for our alternative brand, with their focus on wish fulfillment and making lives better." First project, dubbed "Oprah Winfrey's The Big Give," has an eight-episode order from ABC. Skein follows a group of 10 people who will be handed money and resources -- and then challenged to find dramatic and emotional ways to use the coin to help others. Contestant field will be winnowed down each week, with the winner getting his or her wildest wish granted. ABC also is teaming with Harpo on the tentatively titled "Your Money or Your Life." Each self-contained episode will focus on a family facing a crisis. An "action team" will move in and give the family a total money and life makeover. ABC is developing the projects with Harpo's Chi-based TV development group, which Winfrey launched in September. Seitler and Rakieten said Winfrey decided to get into the reality business herself after years of watching others "borrow" ideas from her show. "Everybody and their brother would call us asking for tapes of our shows, and we'd send out the tapes," Rakieten said. "The next thing you know, just about every reality show that had a soul would have a kernel of daytime television in it." Indeed, one of ABC's biggest reality shows -- "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" -- is the sort of pay-it-back fare that one could easily imagine existing as an episode of "Oprah." Not surprisingly, Harpo isn't planning to delve into the sometimes salacious or mean-spirited territory unscripted producers often occupy. For example, while there will be eliminations on "The Big Give," contestants won't be humiliated in the process. "There's not going to be any losers on a Harpo show," Seitler said. "Nobody's going to be treated in a mean way." Harpo plans to split production of the skeins between Chicago and Los Angeles. That likely means bringing in some producers from outside the Harpo fold to supplement the work producers in Chi perform. "We'll be supervising, bringing in whatever resources we need to make the shows great," Seitler said. Execs said there's no firm timetable on when the two shows will launch or which will air first. What is certain: The TV production group plans to be active in all types of programming. "We're starting to open the door in all sorts of arenas, from scripted and unscripted to digital," Rakieten said. "We're open for business in any area that's within the mission statement for Harpo and the Oprah brand." While ABC and Harpo have had a close relationship over the years --thanks, in part, to the fact that her syndie skein airs on many ABC-owned stations and affils -- execs at Harpo said they plan to talk to all nets. "We want to build relationships everywhere," Seitler said. Early projects in development clearly reflect the influence of past "Oprah Winfrey" episodes. Indeed, "The Big Give" is similar in theme to a recent two-part Winfrey event in which the host gave audience members $1,000 gift cards and then challenged them to find dramatic ways to help us many people as possible. However, "That show wasn't the only tipping point," Seitler said. "This is an amalgamation of many ideas we've done on the show." |
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President Of Construction Company Arrested On Child
Porn Charges
WFtv - A prominent local contractor who worked on high profile Disney projects is under arrest Friday and accused of making child pornography overseas and bringing it to the United States. Investigators said he used the internet to deliver the horrifying pictures. Lake Buena Vista Construction president, William Irey is being held in the Seminole County jail on a federal charge with no bond. Prosecutors said the husband and father of young children is suicidal.
Several other search warrants have been served in Central Florida and more arrests are expected. Irey’s company helped build Epcot's Mission:Space attraction. They helped build Hong Kong Disneyland and his company built a $900,000 interactive water playground at Lake Downey Park in Orange County. Federal investigators said 49-year-old Irey has also been sexually abusing children to create his own child pornography and has been distributing it over the internet. Irey has young children of his own including a young daughter. He stands to lose his freedom as well as his $500,000, 4,300-square-foot home on a double lot in south Orange County. No one answered the door or the phone at his home Friday. A neighbor was stunned when we told her about his indictment. “They're good friends of ours,” she said. “I find it hard to believe.” She wasn't any less stunned when Eyewitness News showed her his mug shot. Federal prosecutor Cynthia Hawkins can't talk about the specifics of Irey's case, but said his case would be unusual if he did not have extremely violent pornography involving very young children. “Torture, S&M bondage, rape of small toddlers,” Hawkins said describing the types of things they expected to find associated in similar instances. And it's not only still pictures these days; Its video with sound. She said there's a demand for more and more shocking images, so the supply keeps growing. “Simply by possessing images and acquiring them and looking at them, they're creating a market so that someone else somewhere in the world, in the US or abroad, will go out and victimize another child to meet that demand,” Hawkins added. A federal grand jury said that's exactly what William Irey did when he traveled to Asia earlier this year. Hawkins said very poor families readily sell their children for child porn. In some cases, villages have webcams set up ready for the children to perform. |
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Thursday December 14, 2006 |
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First couple of official stills from Pirates of the
Caribbean: World's End
Hong Kong Disneyland to Add New Rides Disney’s Pirates DVD strikes gold ABC Family's 'Falcon Beach' Headed for SoapNet 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Weeds' lead Globe's TV picks Canning Laughter |
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First couple of official stills from Pirates of the
Caribbean: World's End M&C - We have added the first couple of official stills from the forthcoming Disney release Pirates of the Caribbean: World's End. Johnny Depp will return as Captain Jack Sparrow as will Orlando Bloom as Will Turner and Kiera Knightley as Elizabeth Swann. Pirates of the Caribbean: World's End, the spot on the map that remains undiscovered, the area where charted waters disappear and sailors are forced to deal with the, well, the world's end. According to maritime legend, the world's end is where you'll find all sorts of giant monsters and devious dangers. |
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Hong
Kong Disneyland to Add New Rides Houston Chronicle - Stepping up its expansion program, Hong Kong Disneyland said Thursday it plans to add three new attractions by the first half of 2008, including the classic Disney ride "It's a Small World." Hong Kong Disneyland said in a statement it will also add Animation Academy, where Disney artists will teach cartoon drawing, and "Mickey's WaterWorks" water-based parade. The announcement came after the addition this summer of the "Autopia" driving ride, "Stitch Encounter," a theater show that allows audiences to interact with the "Lilo & Stitch" characters, and the space-themed "UFO Zone." The park narrowly missed its first-year attendance target of 5.6 million visitors. Hong Kong Disneyland, which opened in September 2005, has come under intense scrutiny. The park is a joint venture between the Hong Kong government and The Walt Disney Co., with Hong Kong taxpayers having shouldered most of the $3.5 billion construction cost. Park executives expect mainland China to be a major source of tourists. The park's statement said "Animation Academy" and "Mickey's WaterWorks" will open in the summer of 2007 and "It's a Small World" will open in the first half of 2008. "It's a Small World" is a boat ride that features dolls singing the song by the same name. The Hong Kong version will feature China's Great Wall and the local skyline, the park statement said. |
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Disney’s
Pirates DVD strikes gold Walt Disney Pictures - Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, is now firmly in place to become the number one live-action DVD of all time and the number one DVD of the year selling 10.5 million units on DVD in North America in its first week of release – the highest week one for any title this year. The announcement was made by Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment (BVWHE) president Bob Chapek. Chapek said, “With the incredible success of the release of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, it is evident that the home entertainment industry continues to flourish. It also further illustrates the worldwide phenomenon of everything Pirates of the Caribbean.” Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest has become an international phenomenon sailing into the top spots in the UK and Japan. In the UK market, nearly 1.5 million copies were sold in its first week of release, the nation’s largest week one ever. Japan had similar results also selling nearly one million units in the first week of release becoming the number one live-action title of all time in that market. Starring Johnny Depp as that mischievous, heroic rogue Captain Jack Sparrow, this adventure directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer has taken audiences by storm. The film’s theatrical opening weekend was the biggest in the US box-office history. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was released as both a deluxe two-disc Special Edition DVD set and as a single-disc DVD. The single-disc DVD features screenwriter audio commentary and the hilarious, never-before-seen “Bloopers of the Caribbean.” The Special Edition features limited availability holographic packaging and includes all single disc features, plus a treasure-chest of bonus booty: a behind-the-scenes documentary; a Captain Jack featurette; a sword-fighting featurette; “Creating The Kraken” on the film’s stunning sea beast; “Fly On The Set” – an on location view of filming; a featurette on the legend of Davy Jones; bonus program on the newly “re-Imagineered” Pirates of the Caribbean resort attraction; star-studded, red-carpet Hollywood premiere footage; producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s personal on-set photo diary, and more. Much of the bonus material is exclusive to this DVD release. |
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ABC Family's 'Falcon Beach' Headed for SoapNet TV Week - SoapNet said Tuesday it will rerun the first season of "Falcon Beach" from its Walt Disney Co. sibling ABC Family. SoapNet will launch the series with a two-hour episode Jan. 6 at 11 a.m. (ET) and Jan. 7 at midnight. Subsequent episodes will run Saturdays at noon and repeat Sundays at midnight. "It is a natural opportunity for cross-promotion with ABC Family and introduces the series to a new audience who will get hooked in time for season two," said Deborah Blackwell, general manager of SoapNet. SoapNet similarly televised the first season of ABC's "What About Brian" earlier this year. |
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'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Weeds' lead Globe's TV picks Reuters - The hit hospital drama "Grey's Anatomy" and offbeat comedy "Weeds," about a pot-dealing soccer mom, led the field of Golden Globe contenders for TV awards on Thursday with four nominations each. "Grey's Anatomy," one of the most watched shows in U.S. prime time this season, scored nominations for best drama and for three of its cast members, including Ellen Pompeo, who stars as the title character, and Patrick Dempsey, who plays her hunky love interest. Centered on the medical and personal complications confronting a group of young surgical interns at a Seattle hospital, "Grey's" is one of several hit shows that has helped the ABC network reverse a severe ratings slump in recent years. "Weeds," drawing a much smaller audience on the Showtime cable channel, was nominated in the Golden Globe race for best TV comedy or musical and garnered three acting bids, most notably for Mary-Louise Parker, who stars as a suburban widow who makes a living by selling marijuana to her neighbors. ABC, a unit of the Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N), is the most recognized broadcast network in this year's Golden Globes competition, with 11 nominations total, all of them from four powerhouse shows -- "Grey's," "Lost," "Desperate Housewives" and comedy newcomer "Ugly Betty." However, Time Warner Inc.-owned (TWX.N) pay-cable channel HBO once again dominated the overall roster of Golden Globe TV contenders, amassing 14 nominations. NBC, a unit of General Electric Co.(GE.N), followed with nine nominations and Viacom Inc.-owned (VIAb.N) Showtime had six. Television shows have been honored by the Golden Globes since they were added to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's motion picture accolades in 1956. While the Globe movie nominations are regarded as a bellwether for the more prestigious Oscar race, the TV nominees invariably take a back seat, coming as they do months after the U.S. television industry's highest honors, the Emmys, are already presented for the year. Still, the Globes, which are presented in January, can play a key role in drawing attention to shows in need of a mid-season promotional boost. And unlike the Emmys, which tend to recognize more well-established hits, the Globes are known for celebrating lesser-known critical favorites or new shows like "Ugly Betty." |
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Canning Laughter WDW
News - The more Walt Disney World guests chuckle during
performances of Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club,
the happier it will make Mike Wazowski, the one-eyed
hero from the Disney Pixar film “Monsters, Inc.” Mike
has discovered laughter is stronger than screams as a
power source, so he has created the comedy club as a
means to collect laughter. The attraction opens in early
2007 in Magic Kingdom as part of “The Year of a Million
Dreams” celebration. |
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In-Stat predicts iTunes may offer HD versions of Disney
movies in 2007 DigiTimes - In-Stat has released its annual predictions for 2007, saying iTunes is likely to provide high-definition (HD) versions of Disney movies for "download-to-own," as HDTV programming will be will be available via broadband Internet. According to the research firm's predictions, Intel is delivering quad-core CPUs that cry out to decode HDTV, and Apple's Intel-based machines will also bring iTunes into play. AMD, with ATI, can build portable PCs that include HDTV tuners and HDTV graphics accelerators, said In-Stat. Outside the US, countries that provide very high-speed broadband services, such as Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, can deliver 10GB HDTV files quickly, and Intel's ViiV architecture has connections to content owners and Internet service providers (ISPs) that are ready, willing and able to begin delivering HDTV files over their ultra-high-speed Internet services, In-Stat says. During 2007, it is likely that only the higher-end market will be interested in HDTV via broadband, but the ability of the high speed connections and quad-core PCs to deliver great looking video and surround sound audio will send a shiver through pay-TV industry and the Hollywood studios. Until now, pay-TV services and Hollywood studios have assumed that the sheer size of HDTV files would be a natural impediment to delivering them via the Internet. By the end of 2007, some people will be asking their ISPs to give them 30Mbps connection, and then canceling their pay-TV service because they can download their shows and movies via the Internet, according to In-Stat. |
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Digest: 2% 'upside' for Disney Hollywood Reporter - Morgan Stanley on Wednesday raised its price target on shares of the Walt Disney Co. by $4 to $35, but reiterated his "equal weight" rating because of the stock's run-up this year. "Disney has about 2% upside to our target," analyst Richard Bilotti said in a report. "Given the increase in the stock, Disney now trades at 20 times-21 times fiscal-year 2007 estimated earnings per share, closer to the highest growth quartile of the S&P 100" stock index. |
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Walt
Disney World: Let the parties begin! Bradenton Herald - Here's a preview of the holiday merriment in store beginning as early as mid-November: More Nights of Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party - Magic Kingdom has added four more nights for the park's annual celebration - meaning there will be 18 evenings brimming with holiday magic: Dec. 14, 15, 18, 19, 21 and 22. Beginning at 7 p.m. (after regular park hours), guests with tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party can enjoy a holiday celebration featuring festive live stage shows, the famous "Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Parade," Disney characters in their holiday best for meet-and-greets and the nighttime spectacular "Holiday Wishes-Celebrate the Spirit of the Season," a winter wonderland of dazzling fireworks set to classic holiday tunes. No holiday celebration would be complete without snow - even in Florida, where the weather outside is hardly frightful. At Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party there is a 100 percent chance of flurries on Main Street, U.S.A each party night. And just in case the sight causes a chill: Complimentary hot cocoa and cookies are served. In addition to the holiday fun, guests can enjoy many of the most popular Magic Kingdom attractions. Admission to the party requires a separate ticket. Tickets are $45.95 plus tax for ages 10/up and $37.95 plus tax for ages 3-9 (but with advance purchase, guests can save $6 per ticket for select dates). Note: Many party nights have sold out in advance. To purchase tickets, guests can call 407/W-DISNEY or visit disneyworld.com. Christmas by the Numbers at Walt Disney World Resort LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The Christmas season of Walt Disney World Resort promises to be spectacular as Disney decks the halls of the 40-square-mile resort. Here's a sample of what guests will experience during the holiday festivities: * 150 tractor-trailer truckloads of decorations adorning 22 resorts, 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, Downtown Disney and more * 11.3 miles of garland strung throughout the Vacation Kingdom * More than 300,000 yards of ribbon and bows draping over 1,360 Christmas trees * 7 million lights hung throughout Walt Disney World property * 11 countries dressed for Holidays Around the World at Epcot World Showcase * 50-piece orchestra with live mass choir in harmony for Disney's Candlelight Processional, a celebration of the Christmas story at Epcot>> * 28,000-pound showcase holiday trees at the theme parks * 1 tree at Disney's Contemporary Resort with a base 26 feet wide * One 45-foot-tall centerpiece tree in Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa lobby featuring nearly 60,000 miniature LED lights * 6 life-sized creations cooked up by Walt Disney World pastry chefs featuring: One 16-foot-tall gingerbread house at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa baked with 1,050 pounds of honey and decorated over 160 hours One life-size gingerbread carousel at Disney's Beach Club Resort made with 100 pounds of sugar, 50 pounds of dark chocolate and 36 pounds of honey * 800+ holiday musicians, characters, storytellers, singers and entertainers performing daily throughout all four theme parks * 100% chance of snow flurries during Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, taking place on select holiday nights at Magic Kingdom |
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Disney Chnl launches in Papua New Guinea Businessofcinema.com - Disney Channel has launched in Papua New Guinea on HiTRON, the country's premier television and data service provider. At launch, Disney Channel will form part of HiTRON's range of channel offerings on its basic tier. HiTRON Limited is now also the distributor of the channel to other cable TV platforms in the market. Walt Disney Television International (South East Asia) vice president and channel manager Laura E. Wendt said, "Disney Channel has been the channel of choice for kids and families across the region. We are excited that our fun, quality programming can now extend its reach to Papua New Guinea through this platform and we look forward to extending that to other forms of media." HiTRON managing director Lindsay Jorgensen added, "We're pleased to have the strong family entertainment brand of Disney Channel on our channel line-up and we are confident families in Papua New Guinea will enjoy Disney's quality shows." |
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It's no joke -- Country Bears skip Christmas Orlando Sentinel - The Country Bear Jamboree's annual Christmas show may have run its course at Disney's Magic Kingdom. The Jamboree typically features strummin', singin', dancin' and joke-tellin' robotic bears. But every year since 1984, the bears have been reprogrammed, reoutfitted and restaged for a Christmas show. Not this year. Disney spokesman Jacob DiPietre said there's no word on whether the show will return next year. Also unknown is the fate of the bears' annual summer vacation-themed show. |
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Disney backs High School Musical DVD with schools link Incentive Bulletin - Disney has tied up with the National Schools Partnership to support the UK DVD launch of the movie High School Musical. As part of the deal, the schools body has created resource packs that primary-school teachers can use to get pupils to take part in themed dance classes. They include DVDs and lesson plans based on various dance moves from the film. Mark Fawcett, chief executive of the National Schools Partnership, said the deal reflects Disney's targeting of the family market and added that schools provide great access to that audience. The activity has been overseen by Ryan Virgo, senior brand manager at Disney. |
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Benton casts
eye on Disney event St Petersburg Times - Christa Benton is peaking toward a major challenge. After running a women's course-record time at Sunday's Gulf Beaches Half Marathon, the five-time state high school champion will meet with her coach, Lance Lipham of Keswick Christian School, and plan her schedule leading up to Jan. 7 when she debuts at the Disney Marathon. Benton, 22, won the women's division comfortably on Sunday in one hour, 21 minutes, 57 seconds, finishing second overall to Mike Mollad of Sarasota. Her time established a women's record for the course, eclipsing Christy Phillips' 1:22:26 set last year. Benton, who has won the past two Times Turkey Trots, is hesitant to predict how fast she'll run at Disney. "I like the longer distances," Benton said after a 6-mile warmdown run at Taylor Park after cruising to the finish unchallenged. "I have no idea what a realistic goal for me would be for Disney. I know the importance of pacing, but will rely on Coach Lipham to guide me to a realistic goal. I'm confident God will be with me giving me the strength to do my very best." Lipham said it's too early for Benton to start thinking about goals but there are three out there. One is an easy Boston qualifying time of 3:40. Another is three hours. A third is the 2008 Olympic Trials B standard of 2:48. That equates to a 6:25-per-mile pace. Russell Acker, 36, of Lakewood Ranch ran with Benton during the first 6 miles of the half marathon from Redington Beach. "We were clipping off the miles and then she took off," Acker said. "I had to let her go; I couldn't keep up with her. She's awesome." |
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Disney
Protest News 13 - Protests by several Disney workers continue outside the Walt Disney World resort gates today and expand to other parts of Orange County. Members of the Service Trades Council Union are upset
at Disney for outsourcing hundreds of their jobs. The jobs include valet parking and several cleaning positions. |
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Wednesday December 13, 2006 |
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Disney's
Shanghai park plan in doubt A Castle Suite Fit for a Princess Hong Kong Disneyland Appoints Samson Woo as Director of Travel Trade Sales Disneyland's Grier talks about his life, career and management style 'Pirates' DVD Previews Disney's 2007 Blu-ray Booty Local kids in Disney movie Trademark Dispute over the Blockbuster ‘Cars’ Cheetah Girls to play Blaisdell in February Disney to Make Movies in Russia Hot Springs boy enjoys Disney Make-A-Wish cruise `Monday Night Football' Tops Cable List Oakmont cheerleaders, band show skills at Disney |
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Disney's
Shanghai park plan in doubt Reuters - Walt Disney Co. is exploring other locations beside Shanghai for a theme park in mainland China amid concern that the central government may not support its plans in Shanghai, sources familiar with the issue said on Monday. The U.S. entertainment giant has been exploring the possibility of opening a park in China's biggest city for over a year, according to city government officials. But the chances of Beijing approving the project have shrunk since Shanghai's Communist Party boss was implicated in a big corruption investigation in September, leading Disney to also considering other options, the sources said. Shanghai had hoped to have the park built by 2010, when thousands of people will visit the city for the World Expo, but that schedule may become unrealistic if Beijing does not give its approval early next year, the sources said. "It's hard for Shanghai to win approval from the central government at the moment," said a government source who has knowledge of the issue. The source cited the political climate created by this year's corruption scandal, which implicated the city's Communist Party chief at the time, Chen Liangyu, and other senior city officials and businessmen suspected of embezzling local pension funds. "I won't say Beijing will never give its approval for the Shanghai park. But nobody knows when, and the timing is the biggest problem," the source said. Disney has in the past confirmed that it was considering Shanghai as a site for a park, but has not revealed details of talks with the city government. Contacted by e-mail on Monday, a Disney spokeswoman in Hong Kong said: "The Walt Disney Company has not reached an agreement with Shanghai to build a second destination resort in China." "Our focus is on the successful operation of our first theme park in China — Hong Kong Disneyland," she added. "China is a priority for the entire company and we have a continuing dialogue about a variety of Disney initiatives, including television, motion pictures and consumer products, of which theme parks are only a part." In March this year, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng told reporters that the city was eager to host a Disney park after the company opened a $1.8 billion Disneyland in Hong Kong in 2005. In early August, the official China Securities Journal reported that Shanghai authorities had started preparing a site for the park, even though Beijing had still not reached agreement with Walt Disney and the city government. Under Chen's leadership, Shanghai became known for a string of showy real estate projects, including a $350 million Formula One race track, one of the world's most expensive tracks, and a futuristic $150 million tennis stadium. Some officials in Beijing opposed such projects as wasteful and liable to encourage real estate speculation, and the Shanghai corruption probe may have increased their influence for the time being, analysts believe. Disney cartoons are already a hit among Chinese children, so even if a Shanghai park does not materialize, the company may look at other possible locations, including non-coastal areas where the local government is eager to attract foreign investment, said another source familiar with the issue. "It's not going to be in the South or on the coast — (it may be) somewhere where they're desperate to promote some growth," said the source. |
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A Castle
Suite Fit for a Princess Disney Insider - For everyone who has ever dreamed of becoming fairy-tale royalty and dwelling in an enchanted castle -- even if only for a night -- the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort is about to become a bit more magical. Those prince and princess dreams will come true -- for one lucky family every night throughout Year of a Million Dreams*. An exquisite fairy-tale suite is being prepared inside Cinderella Castle at the heart of the Magic Kingdom Park. What will lucky winners of a night in the castle find inside? The Insider wanted to find out, so we went to the source, Imagineer Stephen Silvestri, who has been working night and day (quite literally!) to help create a suite that's truly the stuff dreams are made of.  Stephen
gave us a quick verbal tour through the suite, which has
been designed as though the Guest were an honored
visitor spending the night as a Guest of Cinderella.
Everything captures the flavor of late 17th-Century
French palace life -- this is the period when the
original story of Cinderella was written by Charles
Perrault, and also the period in which Disney's
"Cinderella" was set. "You go through a concierge area off the breezeway, with tapestries and a French desk. Then you enter the elevator, which is very 21st Century! But we looked at Cinderella's carriage from the film, and we thought that this was the carriage for the Guest to enter the suite. We took some of the design themes from the carriage -- the crest from the carriage is on the floor in a mosaic, and some pillowing on the walls. "That carries you up to the suite, which opens and then you find yourself in a lobby space. There once again we captured the time period of the late 1600s. We have all of these beautiful wooden walls with some nice mosaics or scenes from the film worked in. On the floor there's a full mosaic showing Cinderella's carriage. We went for the feeling of a chateau, more than a Gothic castle. We've got some wonderful display items there -- Cinderella's glass slipper. "Then it's time to enter the suite! When you open the door, the first thing you see is the beautiful fireplace and some of the stained-glass windows, and the parlor in the distance. "We extended some of the castle stonework into the bedchamber, because we still wanted you to feel like you're in our castle. But not on all of the walls, because stone everywhere would be a very cold experience. So some of the walls are paneled with wood, with some mirroring. That helps extend the space and is very appropriate to the era." Stephen explains that the goal was to remain true to the feel of the classic film, and to Cinderella Castle itself, while creating a luxurious contemporary suite that makes a 21st Century visitor feel utterly pampered. This took some creative thinking -- for instance, the suite contains two flatscreen TVs. To blend in with the décor, these have been made to look like mirrors when not in use, and one can also display a portrait of Cinderella herself. Other spectacular touches include stained-glass windows overlooking Liberty Square on one side and Fantasyland on the other. Guests will also be stunned by the beautiful hand-assembled mosaics throughout the suite. As one might imagine, putting together this beautiful retreat is a major undertaking -- teams of artisans, designers, and specialists are working around the clock in the Castle. And because the elevator needed to be removed and replaced with a much larger one, for much of the construction period, all the people and supplies have had to reach the suite the old-fashioned way: by climbing eight long flights of stairs. "We want to make sure the Guest experience is as seamless as possible -- that when they come to the Park they see what they came to see," Stephen assures us. The suite is scheduled to be completed by the beginning of 2007 -- the whole project has come together in only around six months. "We put this together quite quickly. Fortunately we had a team that was so well-versed in Disney history and the Castle's history, and Cinderella!" Stephen explains. "It's something that has been proposed before but never came to pass, so we researched what already existed and had been done." Stephen adds, "We have an incredible team, and I believe Guests are going to have quite the experience." We have no doubt that next year, some lucky Guests are going to have a Disney experience unlike any before -- one that is truly a dream come true. *NO PURCHASE NECESSARY to enter or win the Disney Dreams Giveaway. A purchase will not increase your chances of winning. Open only to legal residents of 50 U.S., D.C., Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico & UK. Void elsewhere and where prohibited. Giveaway runs October 1, 2006 -- December 31, 2007 (mail in entries postmarked starting September 18, 2006 & received by January 14, 2008, on 3.5x5 postcard with complete name, address, daytime phone #, birth date and proper postage sent to PO Box 8629, Elmhurst, IL 60126 USA). UK residents only mail to 483 Green Lanes, London N13 4BS. Castle Suite stay will be awarded most days starting January 25, 2007. It will likely be awarded early in the day for a stay that night and is only available to eligible participants at the Parks and Downtown Disney® area in Florida. Mail-in winners of Castle Suite stay and DREAM FASTPASS badge will receive a prize of comparable value. Approximate retail value of prizes advertised: Castle Suite stay US $587. Prizes range in value from US $3.83 to US $83,701. All prize awards are subject to verification. Odds of winning on a given day depend on the number of eligible participants at a selected location or within the mail-in entry pool for the time or date (as applicable) selected. Subject to Official Rules (see disneyparks.com/rules). Sponsor: Magic Kingdom Productions, Inc., PO Box 10000, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830. For residents of Canada, a mathematical skill-testing question must be correctly answered to win any prize. |
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Hong Kong Disneyland Appoints Samson Woo as Director of
Travel Trade Sales Asia Travel Tips - Hong Kong Disneyland has appointed Samson Woo as the Director of Travel Trade Sales. In this key role, Samson will be responsible for all of Hong Kong Disneyland's travel trade relationships, sales management and business development in the resort's key markets. Josh D'Amaro Vice President Sales and Travel Trade Marketing, Hong Kong Disneyland, said, "Samson brings with him an extensive wealth of experience working with international brand name hotels throughout China and Hong Kong. His knowledge and understanding of sales and marketing strategy development makes him a valuable asset for Hong Kong Disneyland." Prior to this appointment, Samson worked at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group as Regional Director of Business Development, China. He was responsible for China outbound business development as well as sales and marketing activities for the Group's 24 properties worldwide. Samson received a Master of Business Administration in 2005. He won the "Best Individual Achievement Award – Asia 2004/2005" from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. |
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Disneyland's Grier talks about his life, career and
management style OCRegister - Ed Grier, the new president of Anaheim's Disneyland Resort, spoke to the Register last week about moving from Tokyo to Tustin, his open-door policy for employees and how his career at Disney developed over 25 years. Before being appointed to the Disneyland job in July 2006, Grier was the top Disney official at the Tokyo Disney Resort, which is operated by a licensee. It took several months for Grier to fully transition to his new job. During those months, he traveled frequently between Anaheim and Tokyo. Grier worked at Walt Disney World in Florida before taking the Tokyo position. He joined Disney in 1981. Q. Is your family here now or in Florida or in Tokyo? A. Or all of the above? (laughs). When I was assigned to go to Tokyo, by nature they are temporary assignments, from two to four years. I was there for two years. So my permanent residence was in Orlando. So when I had the honor of getting this assignment, which is very good, it was a permanent move back to California. So I had a house in Florida, an apartment in Tokyo and now I've moved here. I have three children and I'm married, I've been married for 26 years. So it was a matter of collecting them all from various spots and pushing them back here. Two of my sons are here. I have a son who's in boarding school. My wife goes back and forth but she's here now. So we're here. Q. Where are you living? A. We live In Tustin. Q. Do you find life here in Orange County similar to Florida? A. It's similar to Florida – different weather, which is great here – but totally different from Tokyo. Moving to Tokyo was quite different. We lived in downtown Tokyo. Transportation's a little different there. The culture is different. But I think my family's been blessed by being able to move around the world. We find that it's an easy move to make because of the Disney environment for us which has been one of the constants. Q. Did your whole family go to Tokyo with you? A. I had one son who was at Northwestern at the time so he stayed here. My sons are 22, 20 and 16. My son from Northwestern moved to Tokyo anticipating to work for a year but he's come back now because he wants to go to graduate school for an MBA, so he's assessing where he wants to go to graduate school. My middle son goes to Chapman. He's in their film school. So that was great for him, you know. He was interested in film so what better place for him to land? We were fortunate that the timing was just right that he was able to enroll in Chapman for the fall semester. My youngest son is in boarding school and he'll moving back here shortly. Q. You were working in Pittsburgh when Disney recruited you (in 1981). What were you doing? A. In college I was an accounting major, so I was working for a CPA firm. It was Ernst & Ernst at the time. Now it's Ernst & Young. I was a CPA working in Pittsburgh. When I was recruited to work for Disney, my first job was working in the management audit division. Q. So you began as a numbers guy, a bean counter as they say, and now you are in this very extroverted role of managing people. It seems very different. A. It's very different, but for me personally it wasn't very different. I learned a tremendous amount being a CPA. It's a great foundation from a business standpoint. From that standpoint, I haven't changed. Disney is such a diverse company it lends opportunities to do a lot of different things. I've done a lot of different things over my 25 years at Disney, from finance, I've worked in marketing, worked in operations, worked worldwide, so it was a growth experience for me. Looking back on those experiences, it prepared me for this role. All those disciplines I learned to know and become proficient at, it's all here, wrapped up in this one package. So, bean counter? I guess you could call me a bean counter at one time. Q. Well, this is probably a stereotype, but you know, we think of accountants as people who are focused on numbers and computers, analyzing data, not necessarily the guys who are out in the community, shaking hands with the mayor, dealing with 20,000 employees. Tell me a little about how you personally felt. Where did this come from inside of you? A. I don't know. I've always been comfortable doing that. It's just who I am. So I think going back to the business fundamentals, you know, we run a business here, I think that's been a very strong training ground for me. The other aspects of it – those are things I learned. Whether it's marketing disciplines or disciplines in food and beverage or operations, I learned those. But foundationally I'm still the same person, for my style. I think I'm very approachable. I have an open-door policy. And I like to listen to the people out there. So it's been very good for me. And so it was a natural progression in my personal view. So I guess if you looked at it from typical accountant or financial person, probably not, but I don't think that's who I was, that was just one component of my make-up. Q. Open door policy? What does that involve? A. When there are issues, I want our leaders as well as our cast to be able to come to me if they need to. Certainly, we have a lot of great leaders out there and normally if there's something we need to take care of or help our cast members in any way, they do a tremendous job with that. But if there's some need I'm available to listen no matter how big or how small. Q. So any cast member, if they feel they really need to talk to you, they can make an appointment to come see you? A. They can do that if they want. I think, more often than not, we don't need to do that. But occasionally we do that and it doesn't bother me. Like I said, we have tremendous leaders out there and they care so much about the cast and we take care of them. On the other hand, I have sessions with cast members, We just sit down and talk with cast members. It's an open forum, they can ask me anything they like. And usually you hear a few things they're interested in, things they want to see or make improvements on. But overall, our cast have great leadership and we really take care of them. But it isn't just for our cast, any of our leaders can call me also. |
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'Pirates' DVD Previews Disney's 2007 Blu-ray Booty HIGH-DEF DISC NEWS - Offering a tantalizing preview on its recent DVD release of 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest,' Disney appears to have a bountiful 2007 lined up for Blu-ray fans. In a brief teaser that appears at the beginning of the 'Dead Man's Chest' standard-def DVD release (which, coincidentally, sold over five million copies in its first day in stores), Disney presents an animated ad promoting its line-up of upcoming Blu-ray movies in 2007. Among the impressive, high profile slate of catalog releases are such hits as the first 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' 'National Treasure,' 'Remember the Titans,' 'Father of the Bride,' 'Snow Dogs' and 'Herbie: Fully Loaded.' Many of Disney's most famous animated classics are also included on the list, among them 'Beauty and the Beast,' 'Aladdin,' 'The Lion King' and 'Finding Nemo,' which would make the latter the first Pixar title to see release on a next-gen platform. Oddly, however, one title not making the list is 'Dead Man's Chest' itself -- are we to take from this that Blu-ray fans will have to make do with only the original 'Pirates' in 2007? Though Disney has not officially announced any of these titles for Blu-ray release yet, the studio is expected to make a major Blu-ray announcement at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held January 8-11 in Las Vegas, Nevada. All other Blu-ray and HD DVD-supporting studios are expected to unveil their 2007 title line-ups as well at the show. We'll certainly keep you posted as more official news on Disney's future Blu-ray titles is announced. |
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Local kids in
Disney movie Cincinnati Enquirer - “Jump In!,” a Disney Channel made-for-TV movie starring members of Cincinnati-area competitive Double Dutch teams, is set to air at 8 p.m. Jan. 12 on the Disney Channel. Members of four local teams are featured in the movie: The Cincinnati Ropin’ Rockets, the Rope Twisters and Bobo’s Beanie Babies from Greater Cincinnati, and the Comet Skippers from Mason. Ropin’ Rockets members Alyssa Mendlein, 15, Kathryn Hook, 13, and siblings Brianna and Stewart Isaacs, ages 13 and 11, were filmed for the movie. Teammate Marcus Taylor, 21, was the body double for “Jump In!” star Corbin Bleu,Ö who stars as Chad in Disney’s “High School Musical.” In “Jump In!,” Bleu plays 14-year-old Izzy Daniels, a teen boxing protégé from Brooklyn who realizes that his true passion lies in competitive Double Dutch. Members of the award-winning Ropin’ Rockets team, a nonprofit organization based at North Avondale Montessori School, were featured in a September Enquirer article and video. |
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Trademark Dispute over the Blockbuster ‘Cars’ Markenbusiness - A company from Oklahoma is suing Walt Disney and Mattel for trademark infringement. Collectible Promotional Products (CPP) maintain that the media concern and the toy maker had used a logo for the marketing of the blockbuster film ‘Cars’ which was extremely similar to its own symbol ‘Real Cars’ which it uses for its own toy cars CPP had protected its logo and the name ‘Real Cars’ at the American Patent and Trademark Office in 1994. The company later closed an agreement with the toy maker Mattel for the production and packaging of a limited number of toy cars which were to be sold under this name. All told it was a matter of six batches of each 10,000 pieces. Disney applied for its ‘Cars’ trademark in 2004, and in 2005 it was entered into the register. When the film ‘Cars’ started playing in cinemas this year, the logo was also to be seen everywhere. The film counts as one of the classic film of 2006 and is, after ‘Pirates of the Caribbean, the second most-successful from Disney this year. In the train of the marketing for the blockbuster, Mattel, as licensee from Disney, produced toy cars bearing the logo ‘Cars’. CPP saw this as an infringement of its older rights and decided to submit a complaint. |
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Cheetah Girls to play Blaisdell in February The Honolulu Advertiser - The Cheetah Girls, Disney's megastar girl pop group, will perform at 4 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Blaisdell Arena. The early curtain time targets the pubescent teenage girl market that has helped make The Cheetahs' books, recordings and TV movies a roaring success. The Cheetah Girls — Adrienne Bailon as Chanel, Kiely Williams as Aquanetta, and Sabrina Bryan as Dorinda — will be making their Hawai'i debut. A fourth member of the ensemble — Raven-Symone as Galleria Garibaldi — will not be part of the show. The Cheetah Girls emerged as characters in Deborah Gregory's series of 16 books that told the story of a girl group trying to make it. Disney acquired the film rights, made two made-for-TV movies and the fictional band became a certified national touring act. A third movie and album are expected next spring. Tickets — $39.50 and $29.50 — go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Blaisdell box office and at Ticketmaster locations, including Times Supermarket locations. To order by phone, call (877) 750-4400. To purchase tickets online, go to www.ticketmaster.com. |
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Disney to Make
Movies in Russia Russia-InfoCenter - Walt Disney Company is going to make movies in Russia. According to Vedomosti, the company is negotiating with Thema Production and VGTRK (the All-Russian State Television and Radio Company) about cooperation. Disney Company is supposed to be a film producer and invest $ 1.5 – 3 million into the first movie. Thema Production will act as a service organization providing a studio in Saint Petersburg and a film crew. VGTRK will carry out advertising support of the movies made by Disney in Russia and get television rights for them. The studio of Thema Production in Saint Petersburg will be ready for Disney's shooting by the early March. At present the parties are negotiating about filming there The Last Station starring Anthony Hopkins and Meryl Streep, and A Deal with Meg Ryan. |
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Hot Springs boy enjoys Disney Make-A-Wish cruise Hot Springs Star - In the winter of 2005, at just seven years of age, Richard Moen was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Known in medical circles as Wilms’ tumor, it is one of the most common childhood tumors of the abdomen, and the most common type of kidney cancer.
The exact cause of this
malignant tumor in most children is unknown. It is more
common among some siblings and twins and is associated
with certain birth defects, which suggests a possible
genetic link. |
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`Monday
Night Football' Tops Cable List NYTimes - Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Dec. 4-10. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses. 1. NFL Football: Carolina vs. Philadelphia (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), ESPN, 7.97 million homes, 10.52 million viewers. 2. ''The Closer'' (Monday, 8 p.m.), TNT, 3.96 million homes, 5.44 million viewers. 3. ''WWE Raw'' (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.50 million homes, 5.14 million viewers. 4. ''WWE Raw'' (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.28 million homes, 4.65 million viewers. 5. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.13 million homes, 4.13 million viewers. 6. Movie: ''Santa Baby'' (Sunday, 8 p.m.), ABC Family, 2.92 million homes, 4.73 million viewers. 7. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.91 million homes, 3.60 million viewers. 8. ''Fairly Odd Parents'' (Sunday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.89 million homes, 3.99 million viewers. 9. ''Fairly Odd Parents'' (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.87 million homes, 3.88 million viewers. 10. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (Thursday, 5 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.86 million homes, 3.59 million viewers. 11. ''Drake & Josh'' (Thursday, 5:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.82 million homes, 3.57 million viewers. 12. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.78 million homes, 3.78 million viewers. 13. ''Jimmy Neutron'' (Saturday, 8:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.77 million homes, 3.30 million viewers. 14. ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (Tuesday, 5 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.65 million homes, 3.52 million viewers. 15. ''Drake & Josh'' (Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.62 million homes, 3.48 million viewers. |
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Oakmont cheerleaders, band show skills at Disney SentinelandEnterprise.com - The 23 Oakmont Pop Warner cheerleaders who traveled to Florida last week took sixth place in the national championships at the Walt Disney World Resort. The Oakmont Chargers, who range from 12- to 14-years old, missed fifth place by only nine-tenths of a point, said Debbie Gauvin, whose daughter, Amanda, cheers on the team. "They were a little disappointed, but there were no tears," Gauvin said Tuesday. The Oakmont team competed against 13 other teams in the Midget Large Advanced division. The squad won the spirit award in its division, Gauvin said. This was the first time a Oakmont Pop Warner cheerleading squad made it to nationals. The cheerleaders and their coaches said at a recent practice that they were ecstatic to reach a new level of competition. The team left for Florida on Thursday, competed on Friday, explored Disney over the weekend, and came home Monday evening. "They all looked pretty tired when they came off that bus," Gauvin said of the cheerleaders' return Monday. The Marching Spartans, the combined band of Overlook Middle School and Oakmont Regional High School, also performed at Disney World this weekend. The band took part in Disney Magic Music Days, and performed twice as pre-parade entertainment in the Magic Kingdom. "It's so exciting. (The students) feel so proud of themselves to be able to perform down there," said Kris DeMoura, the marching band director. "It's such a wonderful feeling to be able to perform for 30 or 40 thousand people, and hear your name announced on Main Street USA." DeMoura said he tries to bring the band to Disney once every three years. Bands that want to perform at Disney need to apply and be approved, according to Christine DeMichael, marketing manager for Disney Youth Group Programs. The Spartans have one more performance -- the Ashburnham holiday parade this weekend -- and then the students get a break until practice starts in the summer for next year's season. But DeMoura and his design team will start planning next year's routine almost immediately: over winter break. |
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Tuesday December 12, 2006 |
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Reports of Narnia
loss wrong Walt Disney Pictures - Britain's The Times newspaper reported Prince Caspian - sequel to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe filmed in New Zealand in 2004 - was to be made at Pinewood studios in England. As recently as late last month the Narnia website reported the movie would be filmed in New Zealand in February and March next year. Post production was to be done in Prague, Czech Republic, the website said. The Times reported tax breaks available to overseas film-makers – which had been recently introduced – played an important role in switching the movie to England. However New Zealander Tim Coddington said there would be no change to New Zealand's involvement in the project. The reports were wrong, he said. Mr Coddington told Radio New Zealand he understood the role New Zealand would play in the film was still the same and details were expected this week. Film New Zealand chief executive Judith McCann said the industry always knew the film's entire production would not be based in New Zealand. Ms McCann said she would not comment further until more comment had been made by Pinewood Studios. Ms McCann would not comment on whether Film New Zealand would be seeking clarification from the studio. A decision not to make the film in New Zealand could have had a devastating effect on New Zealand's industry, potentially leaving around 200 crew jobless. New Zealander Andrew Adamson, who made the first movie, will also direct Prince Caspian. Prince Caspian, first published in 1951, is the second book in the seven-book series written by C S Lewis. |
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Jury can hear of changes to Disney ride after death OCRegister - A judge ruled Monday that a jury can hear about changes The Walt Disney Co. made to the Indiana Jones Adventure ride after a woman's death from a ruptured brain aneurysm, which her family contends was triggered by the Disneyland attraction she rode on her honeymoon. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James R. Dunn issued his ruling as trial approaches in the case brought by the estate of Cristina Moreno of Spain in September 2001. According to the suit, the 23-year-old Barcelona woman complained of a severe headache after riding the Indiana Jones Adventure on June 25, 2000. She was hospitalized that evening after losing consciousness and was found to have brain hemorrhaging. She died Sept. 1. Her family's complaint alleges Disney decided to "push the envelope to the extreme" in designing the attraction, creating a ride that is "fast, turbulent, combining the ups and downs of a roller coaster with jarring jumps, drops and unpredictable movements." Riding the attraction's jeep-style vehicles "shakes and whipsaws riders with such fury that many passengers are forced to seek first aid and in some instances hospitalization," according to the suit. The design has a history of causing injury to riders, causing severe brain bleeding similar to that seen in "shaken-baby syndrome," the complaint alleges. Attorneys for Disney maintain the attraction is safe and that the woman's death was unrelated to the ride, which opened in March 1995 and is still part of the park's Adventureland. It is based on the "Indiana Jones" films starring Harrison Ford. Jury selection in the case is scheduled to begin early next month. Although Disneyland is in Orange County, the trial will take place in Los Angeles County because Disney is headquartered in Burbank, said Barry Novack, the attorney for the Moreno estate. Gary A. Wolensky, an attorney for The Disney Co., told Dunn that the changes to the ride were made in May 2002 to make it more reliable and so that it would last longer, not to make it safer in response to Moreno's death. Wolensky argued that allowing jurors to hear about the improvements could prejudice them against The Disney Co. by allowing Moreno's lawyer to say, "See, these modifications were made to smooth the ride down for safety issues." Novack said Disney's lawyers were making a familiar argument. "In all my years handling cases against The Disney Co., they've never once admitted they made changes for safety reasons," said Novack, who has handled several other cases involving patrons allegedly injured on the Indiana Jones ride. Moreno's estate is seeking more than $1 million in damages on grounds of common carrier and strict products liability. According to the attorney, the woman's medical bills amounted to more than $1 million. Dunn said he expects the trial to last about two months. The case became the subject of significant discussion in the legal community in June 2005, when the California Supreme Court upheld a state appellate court decision regarding Disney's duty of care to Moreno and other riders of the Indiana Jones attraction. The high court ruled the duty was similar to that owed to passengers on a public bus line. |
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Disney
Winning All Three Battles Motley Fool - Disney (NYSE: DIS) CFO Tom Staggs was busy last week. Just hours before addressing the audience at the UBS 34th Annual Global Media Conference, he had spoken at the Credit Suisse Media & Telecom Week. After being lauded for being named the top CFO in the entertainment industry by Institutional Investor magazine, Staggs addressed the three areas of focus that were outlined by Disney at last year's conference: creating and nurturing branded content, leveraging technology, and globalization. Creating and nurturing branded content That success will continue to play itself out in the current quarter with Pirates and Cars on DVD, even though there were some areas where Disney was perhaps too good in fiscal 2006. A record 2005 holiday season at Walt Disney World and the success of Disneyland's 50th anniversary celebration set a high standard for the company's key theme parks division here in its first fiscal quarter of 2007. The company has also tugged at the reins of what had become a frenetic pace of theatrical releases. Under Disney's new approach, the company will produce Disney-branded live action films, targets two new animated releases a year, and release 10 annual low-budget offerings from Miramax. Another challenge for 2007 will come from consumer products; there, the company has less recognized guaranteed revenue coming in than it did in 2006. Meanwhile, ABC is no longer broadcasting the popular Monday Night Football games; still, when you adjust for those lost ratings, ABC has been able to improve on its healthy ratings from a year ago. Ad rates have also inched higher, and it's not as if Disney isn't cashing in on Monday Night Football anymore. The game has simply moved on over to Disney's ESPN, where, according to Staggs, it is "actually outperforming our expectations in terms of both viewership and the ad rates that we're seeing." Leveraging technology This accompanies other technologically enhanced efforts, including next month's relaunch of Disney.com, the early success of its Disney Mobile offering, and what will eventually be a pair of digital studios over at ESPN. Globalization In China, Disney has been leveraging its presence in different ways. Whether it's reaching potential consumers through Dragon Club -- a television program that reaches 250 million households in the world's most populous nation -- or building out Disney Corners (4,000 small retail outlets that sell branded merchandise), the family entertainment leader has more going on in China than just the theme park that opened last year. Over in India, Disney has hit the small screen with aplomb. Between Disney Channel, Toon Disney, and its recently acquired Hungama, the company reaches 25 million homes in the world's second-largest country. Even though Staggs says that it's still "a long ways off from a theme park being viable in India," the push toward greater globalization continues. The moves have paid off in at least one way, as the company's consumer products division is now generating more than half of its revenue outside of the United States. That contrasts nicely with rival Viacom (NYSE: VIA), which is generating 80% of its consumer products sales domestically. It all started with a mouse It's shaping up to be another good year for Disney -- and Staggs -- as the company's stock reaches highs last seen six years ago. It's winning in all three areas of focus. In theory, that should be good enough to win the war. |
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ESPN
Lands European Soccer Championships Broadcasting and Cable - Disney's ESPN and ABC continue to up their investment in soccer, securing the rights to soccer's 2008 European Championships. ABC will air two matches and the rest will be carried on ESPN outlets. As part of the deal, ESPN also acquires Spanish language rights for its ESPN Deportes network and pay television rights for Latin America. The tournament, which takes place every four years, features the top national soccer teams in Europe, meaning ESPN could end up with several games featuring popular television draws such as England and defending World Cup champions Italy. The event will take place in June 2008 in Austria and Switzerland. The last tournament, held in 2004, was available in the United States predominantly via pay per view. But after drumming up strong ratings for this past summer's World Cup, ESPN/ABC continues to build out its soccer portfolio. In addition to continuing to carry the World Cup every four years, the Disney networks also recently agreed to pay Major League Soccer its first significant rights fee (said to be around $8 million annually). Terms of the deal for the 2008 European Championships were unavailable at press time. The Union des Associations Europeennes de Football, the governing body of European soccer, also granted rights for the summer 2008 event to ESPN Star for the Indian Sub-Continent, Al Jazeera for the Middle East and North Africa, and PCCW for Hong Kong. |
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The Chronicles Of Narnia Four-Disc Extended Edition &
Gift Set Buena Vista Home Entertainment - For a very limited time, Walt Disney Home Entertainment presents the ultimate "Narnia" DVD collection: Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media present C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe Four-Disc EXTENDED EDITION available on DVD December 12. This extraordinary 4-disc DVD edition, a wondrous celebration of C.S. Lewis' beloved fantasy world, will only be available for seven weeks over the holidays, making it an excellent holiday gift.
For the ultimate collector, there is The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe Four Disc GIFT SET. This limited-edition offering features the 4-disc DVD plus a pair of heirloom-quality bookends from the master creative artists at WETA Ltd., the innovators who designed the breathtaking creatures for the film. The Extended Edition: (U.S. $42.99 SRP, Canada $59.99 SRP) and the Gift Set: (U.S. $79.99 SRP, Canada $119.99 SRP), each a treasure for collectors, will go back to the Disney vault after the holidays. There are very limited quantities available for each title. |
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The Fox And The
Hound 2 on DVD Buena Vista Home Entertainment - Walt Disney Home Entertainment proudly presents the cherished characters, star-studded voice cast and tail-wagging musical adventure of Disney's all-new THE FOX AND THE HOUND 2, the much anticipated sequel to the studio's 1981 animated treasure. Brimming with memorable songs from country music luminaries Reba McEntire and Trisha Yearwood, boasting a celebrity cast featuring Patrick Swayze and comedian Jeff Foxworthy, filled with Disney's renowned rich animation, and offering interactive and entertaining bonus features, THE FOX AND THE HOUND 2 premieres on Disney DVD December 12, 2006.
THE FOX AND THE HOUND 2 stays true to Disney's illustrious animated musical tradition with seven new songs, including four featuring the celebrated vocals of McEntire and Yearwood. McEntire is an entertainment phenomenon, complementing her amazing musical career (two Grammy Awards, seven Gold Albums, Five Platinum Albums, 33 singles reaching No. 1 on the country charts over the past two decades) with starring roles in television ("Reba"), the Broadway stage ("Annie Get Your Gun") and numerous films. McEntire performs on three songs in THE FOX AND THE HOUND 2: the scene-setting "We're in Harmony," the showstopping "Good Doggie … No Bone!" and the heartfelt "We Go Together." McEntire also turns in a tour-deforce performance with her vocal portrayal of Dixie, an endearing canine who finally sees what she wants most when she's forced from the blinding spotlight. As a three-time Grammy Award winner with 10 singles reaching No. 1 and one of the most successful crossover superstars in music today, Yearwood offers her unforgettable vocals to the ballad "Blue Beyond." Joining McEntire and Yearwood on the exceptional soundtrack are High School Musical star Lucas Grabeel belting out the toe-tapping end title song "You Know I Will," award-winning up-and-comers Little Big Town accompanying McEntire on "We Go Together," and popular "American Idol 2" contestant Josh Gracin with the whimsical "Hound Dude." Several notable songwriters have crafted the impressive THE FOX AND THE HOUND 2 soundtrack. Grammy Award-winner Gordon Kennedy (Eric Clapton's "Change the World") penned Yearwood's beautiful song, "Blue Beyond." Kennedy's solo work is joined by the contributions of two-time Grammy winner Marcus Hummon (Dixie Chicks' "Cowboy Take Me Away" & "Ready to Run," Rascal Flatts' "Bless the Broken Road") and Will Robinson (songwriter for Willie Nelson, Wynonna, Trace Adkins). Noted composer of live action and Disney animated films Joel McNeely ("Air Force One," "Holes," "Return to Neverland") provides the score for THE FOX AND THE HOUND 2. The homespun tale features a stellar voice cast beyond the contributions of McEntire and Swayze. Young talents of Harrison Fahn ("Tarzan II") and Jonah Bobo ("Zathura: A Space Adventure") bring new life to the adorable title characters as the voices of Copper and Tod, respectively. Actor/comedian Jeff Foxworthy ("The Jeff Foxworthy Show," "Blue Collar TV") lends his natural country twang to Lyle, the banjo-picking human owner of The Sining Strays. Carol Lawrence ("Yes Dear," "The Carol Burnett Show") supplies the voice of Granny Rose, the eldest member of the crooning canines. Voiceover legends Jim Cummings, April Winchell, Jeff Bennett and Russi Taylor create the remaining significant roles of the voice cast. DVD bonus materials include "The Making of the Music" featurette spotlighting the vocal performances of Reba McEntire and Trisha Yearwood; the "You Know I Will" music video spotlighting High School Musical star Lucas Grabeel; "Mutt Mix Master," an interactive musical mix session where the viewer controls the sounds and effects in creating The Singin' Strays' latest hit recording; and a special animated classic short featuring Disney's first dog – Goofy. Produced by DisneyToon Studios, this inspiring, all-new movie will be available December 12, 2006 for $29.99 (SRP) on DVD just in time for the holidays. |
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Air
Buddies on DVD Buena Vista Home Entertainment - The Next Generation Of Everybody's Favorite Golden Retriever Is Here - Air Bud's Puppies - The Air Buddies, Debuting On Disney DVD -- December 12!
AIR BUDDIES debuts the distinct personalities of the Buddies; Rosebud: girl power all the way, B-Dawg the ultimate hip hop P-U-P', "Buddha," the Zen one who practices Yoga, Mudbud," gets down and dirty, and the big fella, "Budderball". The star-studded cast includes Richard Karn, Cynthia Stevenson, and Patrick Cranshaw, featuring the voices by Michael Clarke Duncan, Wallace Shawn, Debra Jo Rupp, Tom Everett Scott, and Molly Shannon with the Legendary Don Knotts! The puppies voices are star studded too, Spencer Fox (Disney's The Incredibles), Josh Flitter (Disney's, The Greatest Game Ever Played), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), Dominic Scott Kay (Charlotte's Webb) and introducing Skyler Gisondo. AIR BUDDIES is available for $29.99 (S.R.P.), only on Disney DVD, December 12, 2006. |
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New Years At
Walt Disney World Walt Disney World Resort ushers in 2007 with a dazzling display of entertainment, parades, fireworks, thrills and extended hours throughout the Vacation Kingdom. In the spirit of the "dropping ball" in Times Square, Epcot guests experience a special New Year's Eve Countdown Spectacular -- while both Epcot and Magic Kingdom also feature an earlier evening fireworks spectacular so that families with children can join in the revelry before they retire. Parents and their kids can ring in the New Year before the stroke of midnight with a special 7:30 p.m. viewing of the "IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth" fireworks-lasers spectacular at Epcot. Magic Kingdom presents its "Wishes" fireworks extravaganza at 8:30 p.m. Downtown Disney Pleasure Island ushers in the New Year with pizzazz and hosts its annual, island-wide street party. The special ticket event features live bands and DJs mixing it up all night long. Dance to Top 40, Latin, Tropical, Hip-Hop, 70s and 80s, and Techno music. Enjoy live comedy and a wide variety of performers. Savor spectacular lime-marinated chicken, grilled mahi-mahi tacos, petite steak sandwiches and much more. The party is for revelers 21 and older and takes place from 8 p.m.-2 a.m. Admission to the night-long celebration is $89 plus tax, and includes entry to all Pleasure Island nightclubs. For more information or to order tickets, guests may call 407/W-DISNEY. Magic Kingdom - Features special presentations of the "SpectroMagic" parade and multiple nighttime fireworks displays. "Holiday Wishes" lights up the sky early in the evening, and guests who make it to midnight can see "Fantasy in the Sky" fireworks, which begins just before the New Year kicks off. Disney-MGM Studios -Celebrates New Year's Eve not only with multiple presentations of "Fantasmic!" a spectacular of Disney movies and music, but also with a special "Lights! Camera! Happy New Year!" fireworks spectacular, as well as a DJ dance party around the Sorcerer Hat Stage. Park guests have the opportunity to experience Disney-MGM Studios right up until the New Year officially gets underway at midnight. Epcot - Celebrates the New Year "around the world" with DJs and evening dance parties located throughout World Showcase and lasting late into the evening, as well as a special presentation of the "Illuminations: Reflections of Earth" lights, lasers and fireworks display. Atlantic Dance Hall - Pop the cork on a memorable New Year’s Eve at the Atlantic Dance Hall at Disney’s BoardWalk Resort. The champagne is chilled, the snacks are delicious and the dancing is divine. With a rockin’ band like the Big Ide playing your favorite tunes from the ‘80s, ‘90s and now – and the grand champagne toast at midnight – counting down the New Year in the casual elegance of Atlantic Dance Hall is sure to be the highlight of this or any year. Please note that all Guests must be 21 years of age or older to enter Atlantic Dance Hall on New Year’s Eve (proper ID is required). Tickets for this event will go on sale at noon on December 31 at the Atlantic Dance Hall box office. |
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Konami Ships Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Mix to
Retail Stores Business Wire - Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., today announced that Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Mix has shipped to retail stores throughout North America. A Plug’N’Play product that connects directly to television sets without the use of a video game console, the game combines the energetic dance gameplay of Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution® (DDR) video game series with timeless Disney characters and music. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Mix combines the dance gameplay of DDR with classic Disney songs and characters, letting players of all ages and skill levels get in on the high-energy fun. As a Plug’N’Play video game, Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Mix connects directly to television sets, delivering an intuitive experience full of competition and choreography with a custom Disney dance pad. Players can dance with Disney characters including Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck to remixed versions of classic songs such as “It’s a Small World,” “Mickey Mouse March,” and “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” across a number of game modes. Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Mix features adjustable difficulty levels, letting beginner Mouseketeers and DDR veterans alike get into the action. “Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Mix lets the whole family get in on the fun with Disney characters and music that everyone will recognize,” said Jason Enos, Senior Product Manager with Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. “Now players of all skill levels can enjoy the high-energy gameplay of DDR, with intuitive dance action that is both a great source of exercise and an excellent way to become immersed in the world of Disney.” Dance Dance Revolution is the only video game in which players move their body to upbeat tunes while allowing them to exhibit their own innovative flair and original dance moves. DDR combines quick reflex action with pulsating dance music for intense “get-up-and-play” fun. Players are challenged to match their dance steps with the flashing arrows on the screen while keeping up with the high-energy beat of the music. Since its home video game console debut in 2001, the DDR franchise has sold more than four million units in North America. Developed by Majesco Entertainment, a leader in Plug’N’Play products, Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Mix carries a suggested retail price of $29.99. For more information on the DDR franchise, please visit www.konami.com. About Konami Konami is a leading developer, publisher and manufacturer of electronic entertainment properties. Konami’s titles include the popular franchises Metal Gear Solid®, Silent Hill® and Castlevania®, among other top sellers. The latest information about Konami can be found on the Web at www.konami.com. Konami Corporation is a publicly traded company based in Tokyo, Japan with subsidiary offices, Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. in the United States and Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH in Frankfurt, Germany. Konami Corporation, the parent company of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. is traded in the United States on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol KNM. Details of the products published by Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. can be found at www.konami.com. About Majesco Entertainment Company Headquartered in Edison, NJ, Majesco Entertainment Company (NASDAQ: COOL) is an innovative provider of digital entertainment products and content, with a focus on publishing video games for leading portable systems and the Nintendo Wii™ home video console. Current product line highlights include Cooking Mama for the Nintendo DS™, Bust-A-Move Bash! for the Nintendo Wii™ home video console and JAWS™ Unleashed, as well as digital entertainment products like Strawberry Shortcake™ Dance Dance Revolution®. More information about Majesco can be found online at www.majescoentertainment.com. About Buena Vista Games Buena Vista Games, Inc. (BVG) is the interactive entertainment affiliate of The Walt Disney Company. BVG publishes, markets and distributes a broad portfolio of multi-platform video games and interactive entertainment worldwide. The company also licenses properties and works directly with third-party interactive game publishers to bring products for all ages to market. For more information, please log on to http://www.bvg.com. “KONAMI” is a trademark of KONAMI CORPORATION. “Dance Dance Revolution” and “BEMANI” are registered trademarks of Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. 1998, 2006 Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. |
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Rays,
Disney to announce partnership DevilRays.com - The Devil Rays and Disney's Wide World of Sports have announced a press conference for Thursday to announce a partnership, and, ostensibly, to officially announce that the Rays will play three regular-season games in Orlando this season. The Rays have been making efforts to move the May 15-17 games against Texas from St. Petersburg to Orlando. "We're exploring a number of ways to make an impact in central Florida and grow our fan base," said Matt Silverman, Rays team president, in November. "And one of those involves moving some games outside of St. Petersburg. This fits well in our model." Thursday's press conference will take place at The Ballpark at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. |
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Disney
birthplace for sale on eBay Chicago Tribune -As cultural treasures go, the house is a Mickey Mouse job. And the way it's being sold is a little goofy. But there it is on the eBay Internet auction site, for Dumbos or Cinderella investors to bid on: the two-story home where Walt Disney was born 105 years ago on Chicago's Northwest Side. The 4-bedroom frame house at 2156 N. Tripp Ave. was posted Thursday by owners Radoje and Barbara Popovic. The auction is to last 30 days, and bidding starts at $280,000 for the home, built in 1893 by Disney's father Elias Disney. That's slightly above the median price for a house of that size and age in the working-class neighborhood of Hermosa, industry data shows. The Popovices, who bought the home for $190,000 in 2002 and have been renting out the floors separately, hope the historic value boosts the bottom line. They went to eBay, instead of listing the house on the regular market, "because we feel there is someone out there that might be able to take the building to the next step and do something with the historical significance," Barbara Popovic said. Born Dec. 5, 1901, Walt Disney lived inside the house for four years before the family moved to Marceline, Mo. He left behind no wall markings, chicken scratches or any other early signs of the genius that would later create such youthful icons as Mickey Mouse, Pluto and Walt Disney World. "It doesn't make it any less significant," Povovic argued. "I'm sure there are kids who live down the block and maybe even play with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck who may not know Walt Disney was born there." That has long been a concern for Disney aficionados and historic preservationists, who during the 1990s sought to have the house designated as a city landmark. After the owner before the Popovices fought off the designation, those efforts have been dormant, leaving the house's cultural lineage largely invisible to all but die-hard tourists and scavenger hunts. Disney biographer Neil Gabler, who toured the home while researching his 2006 book "Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination" (Knopf), said the house hasn't changed much since Elias Disney - a carpenter for the World's Fair - built it. "There is still a good deal of Elias Disney in that house," Gabler said. "One can still see the general shape and the footprint." The family left the area because they were worried about local crime, spurred by a 1906 neighborhood robbery that led to a Chicago policeman's death, Gabler said. After Walt Disney began realizing his artistic talent in Marceline, the family returned briefly to Chicago when he was a teenager. Young Walt became a newspaper cartoonist at the former William McKinley High School, near Adams Street and Damen Avenue. Given its largely forgotten role as the birthplace to one of the most influential figures in American history, it's almost fitting that the Disney house be sold on eBay, Gabler said. On the Web site, the steeple-shaped house's picture sits a click away from bids for Dallas Cowboy cheerleader shot glasses, electronic Santa figures and, of course, Disney charm bracelets. "Everything winds up on eBay eventually," Gabler said. "It's the great resting place for American culture." |
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Trouble at Euro Disney Spiegel Online - Things are so bad at Euro Disney that the company is now little more than a plaything for shady financial jugglers. Now both French and German officials have launched investigations into possible price manipulations. In Marne-la-Vallée, just one hour by train from the French capital, Euro Disney has been unrolling the Christmas celebrations everyday since mid-November. Ads for the amusement park show a fake Santa Claus putting on a show "with real reindeer," while Snow White's Castle turns into "a glittering ice palace." A four-night stay in the park's Santa Fe Hotel can be had for as little as €187 ($247). But even that bargain may be more than shareholders at Center-Tainment AG, a Swiss-based company, can afford after it announced a "hostile takeover" of Euro Disney at a bizarre press conference in Paris 11 days ago. Since management made the announcement, Center-Tainment's stock price on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange has plunged from €20 to €0.18 a share -- a 99 percent drop. It was a fine mess, but it came as little surprise. It was preceded by a press conference at the small four-star Hotel Littré in Paris, where five Germans told the astonished world press that Center-Tainment planned to submit a takeover bid for Disney's ailing European subsidiary. Ulf Werner, the company's Hamburg-based chief executive, explained that Euro Disney's long-suffering shareholders would receive one share of Center-Tainment stock for every 200 shares of Euro Disney stock. But it quickly became clear how amateurish the megalomaniacal safecrackers had been in planning their forced entry into the artificial world of Donald Duck & Co. The Euro Disney shares listed on the Paris Stock Exchange have no voting rights. Even a package consisting of more than 50 percent of shares would not have automatically sufficed to eject Disney, Euro Disney's US parent company. The Americans were sufficiently astute in developing their corporate structure to prevent such takeover attempts. "Center-Tainment admits, with no ifs, ands or buts, that the outcome of the conference was unsatisfactory," the company announced last week. The men behind the takeover attempt haven't been heard from since. Both the French stock exchange supervisory authority and Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) are now investigating the shady would-be takeover artists. "We are looking into the case," said a BaFin spokeswoman. "We are conducting a preliminary investigation into suspected price manipulation." An IG Farben connection The incident marks a low point in what has been a
14-year tragedy surrounding the amusement park outside
Paris. From the very beginning the French, as
traditionally anti-American as they are, feared a
cultural invasion and punished the park by ignoring it.
From then on, Euro Disney's debts began to grow. It has become easy prey on the stock exchange -- exactly the kind of company that attracts gamblers who attempt to manipulate stock prices with the occasional adventurous approach. Nor is the company alone in being attacked in this way. In the past, dubious financial jugglers have periodically attempted to unscrupulously profit from of the German company IG Farben's former Nazi connections. During World War II, the Nazis used Zyklon-B, a poison gas manufactured by a company jointly owned by IG Farben and Degussa, to murder Jews in concentration camps. Three years ago, IG Farben shareholders filed a suit against UBS, a major Swiss bank, in an attempt to force the financial services behemoth to hand over billions in war profits made by a subsidiary it had acquired from IG Farben in 1959. For years, UBS's ownership of the former IG Farben subsidiary Interhandel AG remained disputed. The question revolved over whether the company was independent after 1945 or whether it still belonged to the parent company. The question had never been sufficiently addressed, and speculators had their eyes on Interhandel's estimated €2.2 billion. The incident temporarily produced gigantic increases in the price of the rejuvenated IG Farben's stock. The experts at Germany's BaFin will likely encounter similar manipulation attempts in their Disney investigation. Center-Tainment's involvement in the Euro Disney case is reminiscent of the IG Farben rally, not only because the company's stock price experienced similarly massive fluctuations (from about €1 to €30 and back again), but also because of certain personnel similarities. The German investigation has led, once again, to Rüdiger Beuttenmüller, a Hamburg investment manager who was previously convicted of improper accounting practices. In 2003, IG Farben investor Beuttenmüller threatened to sue UBS, and his actions helped trigger the shareholder lawsuit. Beuttenmüller, who was present at Center-Tainment's bizarre press circus in Paris -- supposedly as a consultant to Center-Tainment CEO Werner -- confirms that his company, Makro Capital GmbH, "holds a few shares in Center-Tainment." According to Beuttenmüller, the Euro Disney idea only materialized after Center-Tainment's stock price was driven up "as if by magic." But when the stock price collapsed, says Beuttenmüller, the stock swap "and, as a result, the Euro Disney project was no longer feasible." Beuttenmüller originally planned to use Center-Tainment to raise capital for an amusement park to be called Krawallino in the northern German city of Bremerhaven. But soon there was nothing but trouble with the planned park's creators, and the deal was cancelled in early October. Suddenly CEO Werner and his shady entourage found themselves with a publicly traded company that lacked both a business and substance. Undeterred, the company's executives decided to embark on the Euro Disney venture. Unlike Beuttenmüller, Werner still believes that the project will materialize and continues to tell his Christmas fairy tale: "We now plan to analyze the deal. This exciting plan is not off the table." |
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Disney
completes Hungama TV acquisition Businessofcinema.com - On 12 December, 2006 UTV Software Communications received the entire consideration in respect of sale of the company's holding in United Home Entertainment Ltd (Hungama TV) from The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia). Pursuant to the transfer of the entire shareholding in Hungama TV to Disney, UTV CEO Rohinton Screwvala, UTV Broadcasting COO Zarina Mehta and UTV COO Ronald D'Mello ceases to be directors of Hungama TV. |
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Blu-Ray:
Where does Disney stand? DVGuru - So, I was watching the new "Pirates" DVD over the weekend, and decided to check out the "sneak peeks" on the disk. I should preface this by saying I couldn't find an online version of the clip, so those of you who didn't buy "Dead Man's Chest" will have to take my word. Disney has assembled a trailer of sorts promoting Blu-ray disks. To my surprise, many favorite Disney characters, from Aladdin to the fairies in Sleeping Beauty turned out in support of the format. Basically, Disney pulled every clip of every character they could think of, who said the word "blue" in an animated feature. I have to admit, it was a bit unnerving seeing some of my beloved childhood animations hocking a format that could just as easily disappear as become THE standard. Disney has always supported the Sony developed format over rival HD-DVD, but the company seemed in the past to be...hesitant to jump in feet first. Well, now they come out with a one-two punch that just about made me feel like Blu-ray was a member of my family. Interestingly, the same "Pirates" movie which contained the the trailer will not be coming to Blu-ray in the near future. According to this article, Disney plans not to release any of it's "major A-list titles" until they reach a certain "platform penetration." It seems to me Disney could help the platform grow by releasing all it's major titles in Blu-ray format. At the same time, I realize they have a reputation to think of, and it wouldn't look good to have mountains of unsold copies on store shelves. Maybe you can understand why I'm confused by the the house that Walt built. That was the lecture, now here is your homework. Tell me where you think Disney stands in the format war. Are they: A). totally committed to Blu-Ray B). sitting on the fence to see what happens C). not really concerned about which format they use. For bonus points, tell me "How important is Disney's role in the success or failure of the Blu-ray format?" The winner, who will be selected by an impartial panel of judges, will receive a personalized message board response from an authentic DVGuru blogger. |
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Excel
launches Disney DVD Film Carnival Business of Cinema - Excel Home Videos launched the Disney DVD Film Carnival at select bookstores in the country on 11 December 2006. The event will continue till the end of the year at venues like Planet M, Crossword, Landmark, Rhythm House and Music World across the country. The event opened with the DVD launch of Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man's Chest. The movie was released a week earlier in India, as opposed to its worldwide DVD debut. Says Excel Home Videos managing director M N Kapasi, "The movie's success has prompted us to raise the number of DVDs by 50 per cent, as compared to the prequel. The DVD will also be available at a specially discounted price during the launch period." The DVD bonanza, a prelude to the festive season, will also feature over 50 movies from various genres at attractive discounts, and will include blockbusters like Air-Force One, Bruce Almighty, Pretty Woman, Cold Mountain, Sea Biscuit, Honey- I Shrunk the Kids, Enemy of the State, Mary Poppins, The Rock, Shall We Dance, The Parent Trap, The Horse Whisperer, The Recruit, Dangerous Minds, Crimson Tide, End Of Days, Dick Tracy, Gone In 60 Seconds and National Treasure, among others. |
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Disney's quiet Mel
campaign Monsters and Critics.com - Disney's new and quiet Oscar campaigning for Mel Gibson is to convince Academy members that he's "not as bad as Roman or Woody," reports Nikki Finke for Deadline Hollywood. Disney is asking voters to look at Mel the artist and not Mel the man. Finke reporting that "the studio is saying that Gibson's drunken anti-Semitic ranting was not as bad as Polanski having forced sex 'with an underage girl,' or Allen having sex 'with his step-daughter.' " According to Finke, Disney is using as example Elia Kazan's role of naming names before the McCarthy era Hollywood Un-American Activities Committee to try to bring what Mel did into perspective when it comes to judging his latest release, 'Apocalypto.' |
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Burnham
to get 10-year Epcot exhibit Orlando Business Journal - La Jolla, Calif.-based Burnham Institute for Medical Research is getting some pretty nifty incentives -- like a 10-year exhibit at Epcot Center -- thanks to this year's battle to woo the nonprofit organization to build a satellite research lab in Orlando. Besides getting more than $300 million in local and state funding to build a 175,000-square-foot facility on 50 donated acres of land in the Lake Nona area, Burnham officials just revealed to Orlando Business Journal that the institute also will be featured in Epcot's Innovation section as part of a 10-year exhibit. |
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Romijn joins
'Ugly Betty' cast zap2it - "Ugly Betty," meet beautiful Rebecca. Rebecca Romijn is joining the already large cast of ABC's "Ugly Betty" as a series regular. She'll make her first appearance on the series sometime early next year.
And for the record, that hasn't been Romijn who's been swathed in giant sunglasses and a surgical mask all season. An actress named Elizabeth Penn Payne has been credited as "Masked Woman" in seven episodes thus far. Romijn is probably best known as the shape-shifting Mystique in the three "X-Men" films. She also starred in The WB's series "Pepper Dennis" last spring. Her other screen credits include "Femme Fatale," "The Punisher" and a recurring part on "Just Shoot Me." The addition of Romijn to "Betty" brings the show's number of regular cast members to 12. The show also has a number of recurring characters, including executive producer Salma Hayek, who plays the editor of another magazine in the Meade Publications empire. |
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Monday December 11, 2006 |
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Walt Disney Pictures - "Apocalypto," Mel Gibson's
first film since his anti-Semitic tirade last summer,
led the North American box office with three-day
ticket sales of $14.2 million in its first weekend,
distributor Walt Disney Co. said on Sunday.
The modest sum paled in comparison to the $84 million bow of the director's last movie, 2004's "The Passion of the Christ." It is also the lowest sum for a No. 1 movie since the traditionally slow weekend of September 8-10, when the low-budget horror film "The Covenant" was tops with $8.9 million. Three other new films vied for attention with varying degrees of success at a time when many would-be moviegoers are distracted by holiday shopping. Overall sales were down sharply from the year-ago period, when "The Chronicles of Narnia" opened at No. 1 with $66 million. The romantic comedy "The Holiday" opened at No. 2 with a respectable $13.5 million, the Leonardo DiCaprio action drama "Blood Diamond" at No. 5 with a disappointing $8.5 million, and the kids comedy "Unaccompanied Minors" at No. 6 with $6.2 million. "Apocalypto," which Gibson also produced and co-wrote, is set during the Mayan civilization and revolves around one man's quest to save himself from human sacrifice so that he can reunite with his family. TOUGH CALL Reportedly budgeted in the $40 million range, the film was a tough one to call for box office prognosticators. While it comes from an A-list, Oscar-winning filmmaker, its restrictive R rating, gruesome violence, subtitles and a cast of unknowns are hardly the stuff of a typical Hollywood blockbuster. Gibson's infamous Malibu meltdown, when he accused the Jews of being responsible for the world's wars after he had been pulled over for drunken driving, further clouded the crystal ball. Box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian said he had expected the film to open in the $13 million to $17 million range but was not surprised that it was No. 1 given the "huge awareness" of the movie. He said the Gibson controversy "definitely helped" sales and noted that Disney was not reluctant to use him in its marketing campaign. "Without him, a Mayan epic would not necessarily get much attention," said Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. Disney distribution president Chuck Viane said Gibson's problems were "literally never an issue" when he was pitching the movie to movie theater owners. He said people would be talking about the movie and was confident it would have a long run. Many reviews have praised "Apocalypto" as a gripping and visually spectacular work, although one with an exceedingly high quotient of blood and guts. Not surprisingly, 60 percent of the audience was male, Disney reported. |
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Disney considers options amid Shanghai park doubt
Reuters - Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N) is exploring other locations beside Shanghai for a theme park in mainland China amid concern that the central government may not support its plans in Shanghai, sources familiar with the issue said on Monday. The U.S. entertainment giant has been exploring the possibility of opening a park in China's biggest city for over a year, according to city government officials. But the chances of Beijing approving the project have shrunk since Shanghai's Communist Party boss was implicated in a big corruption investigation in September, leading Disney to also considering other options, the sources said. Shanghai had hoped to have the park built by 2010, when thousands of people will visit the city for the World Expo, but that schedule may become unrealistic if Beijing does not give its approval early next year, the sources said. "It's hard for Shanghai to win approval from the central government at the moment," said a government source who has knowledge of the issue. The source cited the political climate created by this year's corruption scandal, which implicated the city's Communist Party chief at the time, Chen Liangyu, and other senior city officials and businessmen suspected of embezzling local pension funds. "I won't say Beijing will never give its approval for the Shanghai park. But nobody knows when, and the timing is the biggest problem," the source said. Disney has in the past confirmed that it was considering Shanghai as a site for a park, but has not revealed details of talks with the city government. Contacted by e-mail on Monday, a Disney spokeswoman in Hong Kong said: "The Walt Disney Company has not reached an agreement with Shanghai to build a second destination resort in China." "Our focus is on the successful operation of our first theme park in China -- Hong Kong Disneyland," she added. "China is a priority for the entire company and we have a continuing dialogue about a variety of Disney initiatives, including television, motion pictures and consumer products, of which theme parks are only a part." In March this year, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng told reporters that the city was eager to host a Disney park after the company opened a $1.8 billion Disneyland in Hong Kong in 2005. In early August, the official China Securities Journal reported that Shanghai authorities had started preparing a site for the park, even though Beijing had still not reached agreement with Walt Disney and the city government. Under Chen's leadership, Shanghai became known for a string of showy real estate projects, including a $350 million Formula One race track, one of the world's most expensive tracks, and a futuristic $150 million tennis stadium. Some officials in Beijing opposed such projects as wasteful and liable to encourage real estate speculation, and the Shanghai corruption probe may have increased their influence for the time being, analysts believe. Disney cartoons are already a hit among Chinese children, so even if a Shanghai park does not materialise, the company may look at other possible locations, including non-coastal areas where the local government is eager to attract foreign investment, said another source familiar with the issue. "It's not going to be in the South or on the coast -- (it may be) somewhere where they're desperate to promote some growth," said the source. |
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Narnia sequel
gets the chop
Reuters - Disney has axed plans to make The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe sequel in New Zealand, wasting pre-production work and potentially leaving about 200 crew jobless. And New Zealanders have been warned they must lift their game if they want to keep their edge in the film industry. The Andrew Adamson-directed Prince Caspian was set to be based in New Zealand. But Walt Disney International president Andy Bird has announced that the film, which it is making with Walden Media, will be shot entirely at Britain's Pinewood Studios, including all the post-production work, The Times reported. Mr Bird, a Briton, said that the United States media giant was determined to shoot in Britain as part of its policy of localising its image by basing productions away from America, the newspaper reported. Pre-production work on the Chronicles of Narnia sequel - with a reported budget of $300 million - was already well under way in New Zealand. Weta Workshop was also reported to be doing the film's special effects. The five-week shoot alone was understood to be worth at least $10 million to New Zealand's industry. Neither Adamson nor Prince Caspian's producer, fellow Kiwi Tim Coddington, returned calls last night. However, one industry source said there was a possibility some minor location filming could still be done in New Zealand. The film's departure casts doubts on Walden Media's future in New Zealand - it has made Waterhorse and Bridge to Terabithia here in the past year alone. The decision also highlights the increasing competition among countries trying to score studio shoots. New Zealand Screen Council executive director Tim Thorpe said the country had to lift its game if it did not want to be left behind with countries such as the United States, Australia and Canada all upping their offerings to studios through incentives and tax breaks. "We're a small player, we have punched above our weight." The Times reported that Britain's new film tax incentives, introduced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and due to take effect from next year, had played a key role in luring the studio. Prince Caspian's makers were considering New Zealand, the Czech Republic and Ireland as locations for the film. Despite its budget, it is unlikely Prince Caspian would have qualified for a 12.5 per cent rebate through the Large Budget Screen Production Grant scheme, because an overseas studio needed to spend more than $50 million in New Zealand if it was not shooting the entire film here. Mr Thorpe said Disney was obviously taking advantage of the new tax opportunity. There was no doubt the grants scheme, which saw nearly $50 million returned from King Kong, had helped lure big studios, he said. The council recommended last year that the grant's scope be widened, including lowering its threshold. "The Government, when we made those recommendations, chose not to take any of them on board at that time, but I understand that next year they will be looking at (it) again." |
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Walt Disney Internet Group Announces Key Promotions in
Growing Mobile Publishing Division Buisness Wire - The Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) today announced two promotions within its growing domestic mobile publishing division, which includes labels mDisney and Starwave Mobile. Trish Halamandaris has been elevated from director to vice president, marketing and carrier sales; and Stan Liu has been promoted from director to vice president, mobile content development. mDisney develops classic and current Disney-branded titles for the mobile platform, such as Pirates of the Caribbean and High School Musical, while Starwave Mobile cultivates third-party licensed content for mobile such as Scarface, Trivial Pursuit and Beyonce. "We are pleased to recognize the terrific leadership of Trish and Stan, who have both played instrumental roles in the success of our mobile business," said Larry Shapiro, executive vice president and general manager, North American mobile, WDIG. "They have built strong teams and relationships that are a tremendous asset to our mobile team as we continue to grow and create innovative new entertainment experiences on the mobile platform." Halamandaris will continue to lead the unit's carrier sales and marketing organization as well as oversee its consumer and partnership marketing and market research efforts. She also will continue to work closely with other divisions of The Walt Disney Company on cross-property product and marketing opportunities. Halamandaris has more than a decade of experience in marketing and brand-building. Previously, she served as director of marketing and carrier sales, North American mobile at WDIG. Prior to joining WDIG, Halamandaris served as vice president of worldwide marketing for consumer and interactive products at MGM. Her background also includes work on acclaimed marketing campaigns such as Electronic Arts' launch of The Sims and Vespa Scooters' brand reemergence into the U.S. market. Liu will continue to lead the domestic publishing group's creation and development of games, ringtones, graphics and applications for the mobile platform. Liu has more than 15 years' experience in digital media development within the interactive entertainment market. Prior to his promotion, he served as director of mobile content development, North American mobile at WDIG. Throughout his career, Liu has pioneered unique and addictive game play mechanics through the creation of the MotionFX(TM) engine. Before to joining Disney, Mr. Liu founded and served as the creative director for Atomic Bullfrog LLC and its media production division Atomic Bullfrog Studios. Liu began his career at Kronos CG Consulting and later spearheaded the launch of Kronos Digital Entertainment, where he served as president and CEO. There he created and developed the "Fear Effect" franchise for video games, comic books and motion picture licensing, which received multiple perfect ratings as well as game of the year award. About Walt Disney Internet Group Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) provides strategic leadership and operational management for The Walt Disney Company's (NYSE:DIS) Internet and mobile properties including category leaders Disney.com, ESPN.com and ABCNEWS.com. Through relationships with some of the world's largest wireless carriers, Disney's mobile publishing division distributes content and services to wireless users under Disney (mDisney) and third-party brands (Starwave). Steve Wadsworth is president of WDIG, which is headquartered in North Hollywood and has operations in Seattle, New York, Orlando, Tokyo, London and Budapest. |
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Disney to
deliver tons of toys
Orlando Business Journal - Walt Disney World's Toys for Tots drive among its nearly 60,000 employees wraps up Dec. 13 with the delivery of more than 29,000 new toys. Members of the Marine Corps Reserve will pick up the toys at the resort to be delivered to thousands of children in the community. All the toys were collected and donated by Disney employees. In addition to donating toys, Walt Disney World says its employees contributed more than 1,600 hours to the program by registering thousands of families and translating the registration into Haitian-Creole. They will also help sort and distribute the toys. In 2005, the Marines delivered more than 18 million toys to more than 7 million children nationwide. The event has become a 59-year tradition of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, while Disney's involvement with the Toys for Tots campaign goes back to Walt Disney, who designed the original Toys for Tots logo. This year, Central Florida Toys for Tots expects to help more than 16,000 families from Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties. |
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Popular Crocs footwear to do Disney line
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The bid never materialised and shares of Center-Tainment, which was recently listed in Frankfurt, tumbled. Shortly before the Swiss company's announcement, Euro Disney shares had jumped to 9 cents, from 6 cents, but quickly fell back. Center-Tainment is also under investigation by AMF, regulator of Euronext Paris. |
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Pioneer Press - We were met with quizzical looks and skepticism from friends and family when we unveiled our vacation plans: a weeklong trip to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida with three toddlers in tow. Why, they wondered, would you drag two 2-year-olds and a 4-year-old to an adventure park known for its overstimulating rides and larger-than-life characters, a place deemed more suitable for kids far removed from diapers who can stay awake past 7 o'clock. Then, when they heard that my sister's 2-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son would be joining us, they thought we were insane. I didn't disagree. As our trip neared, I imagined my three out-of-control, overtired toddlers melting in the heat, crying from exposure to scary pirates. I saw our hard-earned dollars going to waste on an expensive trip that our children wouldn't even remember. But I went with it. And I'm glad I did. Our young children surprised us time and again during our Disney week, with their unbridled joy soaring in a pirate ship on Peter Pan's Flight, dancing along to the music of "It's a Small World" (multiple times) and hugging Mickey Mouse. During our week, we learned a few things about surviving the self-described "Happiest Place on Earth" with small children. It can be done, but it takes some planning. Here are some tips to help make your trip work. Testing — one, two, three. Before you head to Florida, make sure your children are exposed to some type of amusement ride, even if it is at a local fair. By the time we arrived in Disney, they'd already flown in "helicopters" and driven "race cars" and even experienced a small but fast-paced roller coaster. So they didn't hesitate to jump onto Dumbo the Flying Elephant or ride through the dark on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Go in the off-season. There are peak visiting times for Walt Disney World, primarily in the summer, any holiday and school vacation weeks. Avoid these. My schoolteacher mom will cringe at this suggestion, but visit during the off-season even if that means pulling an older sibling out of school. I can't imagine waiting in line for an hour, or even 30 minutes, with restless small children squirming and constantly asking, "When is it our turn?" We visited the park in mid-September and crowds were light. Lines stretched more than 30 minutes only at the height of midday. Most other times we waited 10 minutes or less. Arrive early. Don't waste the early park hours, when crowds are at their lightest, lingering in your room or trying to make your kids sit through a restaurant breakfast. Our kids ate granola bars and yogurt in our room, and we were waiting in line before each park opened. For the first two hours, we walked on to almost every ride we wanted, including some of the popular thrill rides. Stay at a Disney hotel. Sure, it's likely to be more expensive, but nothing beats the convenience of staying right on the Disney property, especially with little ones. It's a big place, so even while staying on-site we occasionally had bus rides of about 10 minutes from our hotel to some of the parks. If you can afford it, stay at one of the three hotels along the monorail line. That way you begin and end each trip to your hotel with a "ride." And leaving the park midday for a break isn't as arduous. We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge hotel which, while not on the monorail, offered a boat ride with direct access to the Magic Kingdom. Sometimes the boat was slow, like when we tempted fate and attended the 9 p.m. fireworks. It took more than an hour to arrive back at the hotel, and the three children were in full melt-down mode. But that was the only time the boats failed us. Staying at a Disney resort also gives you extra perks — such as early opening or late closing hours at the parks. Eat early and often. Yes, you can enjoy some delicious meals, but it's best to make an early reservation — with little ones I suggest between 5 and 5:30 p.m. for dinner. At that time there's no waiting for tables. We had our best meal on the 15th floor of the Contemporary Resort at the California Grill — one of the only restaurants that has a dress code (no torn jeans, flip-flops, too-short shorts). But this is Disney. So the tablecloth was white butcher paper the kids could color on. And the first thing the waiter brought over was a plate of goldfish crackers. You can also save money by bringing favorite snacks. Disney lets you bring food and drinks into the park. Our most surprising discovery about Disney: They don't charge for children younger than 3. So our twins entered the parks free, and better still, at buffet meals they were allowed to eat for free off an adult plate. The child-sized meals were large. We usually ordered one and split it among all three kids. Bring helping hands. With five young children in our group, we needed all the help we could get — so the grandparents were invited along. We enjoyed their help wrangling the kids together, taking them to the bathroom and holding them on rides. Our group of 12 was unwieldy at times, but it was worth it. A different kind of ride. Bring (or rent) a stroller. Even if your kids, like ours, have refused to get in one for more than a year. A stroller helps you keep track of your kids in a busy crowd, and it provides a perfect place to sit and enjoy an ice cream. It also provides an elevated view from which to watch a parade. Research. Spend some time on the Web educating yourself about Walt Disney World, especially exploring the height requirements for each ride (go to www.disneyworld.com). Let kids be your guide. Part of the joy of the Disney resort is that there is so much to do. In addition to the four main theme parks, there are swimming pools, water parks and recreational activities such as horseback riding and boat rentals. But it is also overwhelming. As much as we tried to remain flexible, we still found ourselves making plans in two- or three-hour increments: Go to Fantasyland. Hop on rides. Quick water and bathroom break. Then head to Adventureland. So when my daughter suddenly spotted Donald Duck and wanted to stop, we urged her forward: "Not now, honey, we'll do that later." But later never came. So take it slow, and listen to the young sightseers in your group. This is their trip, we must remind ourselves. |
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 WDW
News - "Dream Along with Mickey." Several times
daily, Mickey and friends treat Magic Kingdom guests
to a dreams-inspired party on the forecourt stage of
Cinderella Castle at the Walt Disney World Resort in
Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Favorite Disney
characters and classic Disney villains join the
party as dreams of happily-ever-after and tales of
adventure come alive on stage amid music and
dancing. A grand finale brings the 20-minute live
stage show to a close. |
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Toon Zone - Disney Channel has announced ratings highlights for the month of November. Disney Channel stood as November 2006's No. 1 basic cable network in Primetime, extending its dominance to 21 consecutive months in Kids 6-11 and to 20 consecutive months in Tweens 9-14. Disney Channel also ranked as the month's No. 2 basic cable network in Primetime in Total Viewers. November 2006 was Disney Channel’s most-watched November ever in Primetime in Total Viewers, Kids 6-11, and Tweens 9-14. In Total Day, November 2006 also finished as Disney Channel’s most-watched November on record in Total Viewers, Kids 6-11, and Tweens 9-14. Disney Channel’s Playhouse Disney block enjoyed its most-watched month ever in the daypart (Monday - Sunday, 6:00am - 12:00pm) in Kid 2-5 and Boys 2-5, powered by original series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, and Little Einsteins. In addition, Disney Channel was home to 9 of the month's Top 20 TV telecasts (broadcast and basic cable) in Kids 6-11, and to 14 of the Top 20 telecasts in Tweens 9-14. |
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Sunday December 10, 2006 |
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You, too, can find Nemo at Animal Kingdom The Disney-Apple Connection The triumphant 'King' |
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You,
too, can find Nemo at Animal Kingdom Florida Today, FL - It's been 12 years since Disney brought "Beauty and the Beast" to Broadway and started the transformation of not only Times Square but also of Disney as a Broadway producer. Everywhere you look, it seems to be Disney on stage. "Disney's The Lion King" runs through Jan. 14 at the Carr Performing Arts Centre in Orlando, and Disney's "Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida" comes to the King Center Jan. 3 and 4. Now, the powerhouse entertainment company has created another Broadway-quality production, "Finding Nemo: The Musical." But there's only one place you can find the show: Disney's Animal Kingdom. It is the first time Disney has made an original musical from a nonmusical animated feature. The spirited musical opened in previews to audiences last month. Although its official opening isn't until January, the colorful, feel-good show is destined to please through and through. The fact that Disney has mounted this show in Walt Disney World doesn't surprise King Center executive director Steve Janicki. He suspects amusement parks everywhere will begin delivering what people want -- Broadway-quality entertainment. "Disney spends a lot of money making sure the quality is there," Janicki said. "They certainly hire the best designers and people within the industry." With "Finding Nemo: The Musical," Disney has put together an exciting creative team: Again, the show still is in previews and may be tweaked along the way. But it's difficult to imagine it being any better. Like the movie, it concerns a little clownfish named Nemo who disobeys his overly protective father, Marlin, and ventures into an undersea area. He befriends a lovingly absent-minded fish named Dory, whose dysfunctional, short attention span is a knee-slapping hoot. The two encounter sharks, jellyfish and a cool-dude turtle named Crush. Nemo eventually is caught and put into a fish tank in a dentist's office in Sydney, Australia. (If you didn't see the movie, skip the next paragraph.) Nemo eventually gets away and is reunited with Marlin. (OK, you can read on.) The visuals in this production will warm and thrill even the most blasé audience member. As a matter of fact, go on and count the number of times you say "wow." It begins soon after the start of the musical, when actors dressed in leotards and tights and holding what look like tall, floppy poles sit down with their backs to the audience. They fan out these "poles," which, in fact, are mammoth strands of coral. "Wow." Nemo appears to swim literally up and away from his father toward a shipwreck. "Wow." A procession of huge, iridescent octupi galumph on stage and all around throughout the audience. "Wow" and "wow." The show has a huge payoff, which will leave you tearing up. That's right. You laugh. You cry. What more do you want? Well . . more. When this joyful, 37-minute musical ends, you wish it were only intermission. Animated images, monumental props and artistic theater magic help advance the plot line while compressing it into a little more than a half-hour in length. Eighteen actors portray the principal characters and the fishy ensemble. Each cast member brings a unique quality to the roles and imprints them with strong, lively characterizations. To keep the players fresh, three full casts were hired for this production. Bert Rodriguez, who, as the cool-running Crush, intones "Duuuudde," said Disney "wanted to raise the bar and say to the world we can produce Broadway-type shows on the Disney property." They sure have. |
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The Disney-Apple
Connection MarkeyWatch - Earlier Conjecture about the Potential for to eventually merge with in the wake of Disney's buyout of the Pixar animation studio in January may or may not have been folly. But the deal has clearly put Pixar chief Steve Jobs in a position to leave a mark on the House of Mouse. And Disney (ticker: DIS) is ready to play a leadership role in the convergence of content and technology.
A recently published benign patent application filed
by Disney is a small but tangible bit of evidence that
a new era of cooperation is under way.
The Disney filing pertains to streaming-video
technology for a proprietary Disney handset device;
accompanying illustrations make it look like a flip
phone. In the application, Disney says "the systems
and methods of the present disclosure may be applied
to other mobile electronic devices...such as e.g. the
iPod digital music player available from Apple
Computer" -- the company that, of course, is Jobs'
main gig.
Reading the tea leaves of arcane intellectual-property
filings is tricky business. But the filing does
suggest that Apple and Disney are cooperating on the
mobile-video front. Of course, Apple (AAPL) is
expected to enter the mobile-phone fray next year. In
fact, Apple's shares got nicked last week because an
analyst's note predicted the product's arrival to be
later than expected.
While Disney will pull the plug on its ESPN Mobile
wireless service on Dec. 31 (you couldn't watch live
SportsCenter on it), the company hasn't thrown in the
towel on being a branded wireless provider. In fact,
its Disney Mobile unit is still in business. Wouldn't
those connected kids like to receive their High School
Musical videos on a sleek new Apple iPhone?
It appears that Liberty Media Chairman John Malone is
no fan of Peter Lynch.
Reports circulated last week that Malone and (NWS)
Chairman Rupert Murdoch have mended fences, paving the
way for a deal whereby News will likely buy out (LCAPA)
$11 billion stake in the parent company of Fox in
exchange for News' 38.6% stake in DTV.
Why Malone would want to own a huge stake in DirecTV
is beyond me. If the former chairman of cable
television behemoth Tele-Communications Inc., or
TCI, knew what a lot of DirecTV customers know and
was a disciple of the legendary Fidelity Investments
stockpicker, who draws on personal experiences with
companies' products, Malone would be telling Murdoch
that he can keep his dish outfit.
The company's customer service just isn't what it ought to be. In a recent column ( Plugged In , Nov. 13), I shared my personal travails as a long-time loyal customer with DirecTV. It's true that DirectTV has been sharply boosting its free cash flow and earnings, as Barron's noted in a positive story about the stock last week. Since that piece, the stock is up 6.5%, amid the deal talk. But the customer service snarls point to a fundamental long-term problem: Satellite television presents more technological obstacles and expense than digital cable. A number of readers have corroborated a prevalent customer frustration: DirecTV had been postponing installations due to a shortage of high-definition receivers with digital video recording technology. Subscriber growth has been slowing because the company couldn't install dishes without the receiver boxes. DirecTV assured me that the receiver shortage was a temporary problem caused by unexpectedly high demand in HD. But if the company refuses to install its dishes, customers are likely to turn to digital cable. So, what's behind the deal? In stealthily building a position as News Corp.'s second largest shareholder, Liberty Media -- and therefore, Malone -- became an unwelcome owner. So, it's easy to understand Murdoch's motive for swinging what is essentially a cash and asset swap. Why Liberty went for the deal isn't so clear. Liberty Media Chief Executive Greg Maffei, who honed the art of understatement as chief financial officer of Microsoft during its salad days, told investors at a media stock conference last week that Liberty wanted a big stake in DirecTV to complement its various cable content channels, such as the QVC home shopping network and the Discovery Channel. He also pointed out that satellite provides a national footprint compared to cable television, which is a quilt of regional operations. Still, I must be missing something. Maffei's boss, the king of cable, is betting on the dish. One of the few redeeming advantages to being a DirecTV customer -- the availability of NFL football games -- is now catching flak on Capitol Hill. In one of his last acts as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., last week took the National Football League to task for its exclusive contracts with DirecTV. Specter has threatened to introduce legislation next year that would end the NFL's nearly half-century exclusion from antitrust laws. The senator is on to something. If the NFL wants to keep its coveted exemption, then it might want to consider making out-of-market football games available through more than one distributor of its content. Specter is also apparently ticked off by the NFL's decision to broadcast a handful of games solely on its own proprietary channel, the fledgling NFL Network, which reaches very few American homes. I don't know if Liberty's Malone is a pro-football fan. If not, he will be soon. |
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The triumphant 'King'
Orlando Sentinel - Chris Lewis hadn't thought much about his high-school senior quote before it was due. He had just seen the Disney movie The Lion King, and in an impetuous decision that would do the meerkat Timon proud, he chose Timon's favorite quote: "Hakuna matata." It proved prophetic. At 26, he understudies the lead role of Simba and is in the touring ensemble of the Tony Award-winning puppet spectacle The Lion King, one of the most dazzling and successful shows ever to hit Broadway. [The Disney tour made its long-awaited Orlando premiere Thursday night. It will run for six weeks at the Carr Performing Arts Centre.] Now that Lewis has taken Simba's journey, he can see that "Hakuna matata," Timon's worry-free mantra, is hard to live by. But that makes The Lion King alluring. Simba the lion and his jungle mates have lots of worries. Big ones. Starvation, wildebeest stampedes, hyena thugs. On top of that, poor little Simba mistakenly thinks he caused his father's death. How the animals deal with adversity is what makes The Lion King so powerful. "This story, for me, is the prodigal son," Lewis says. "The son goes away and tries to find himself," he says of Simba, heir to the throne. "It's the guilt and the pressure that he has within himself. . . it's eating him inside. He's restless, and he doesn't know where to go." Something for everyone Little Simba's journey is at the heart of The Lion King. As he grows, he realizes he can't flee from guilt, fear or persecution any longer. He must go home and fight for his honor and his homeland. Lewis says that, as an African-American in a country still plagued by racism, he can empathize with Simba's pain. "Our culture, we've gone through a lot at times. . . been beat down, saying, 'There's no way you're going to do this,' " he says. But each civil-rights victory, each African-American student who gets a college education unavailable to his grandparents is proof, he says, that oppression is not invincible. "These are all things that say, 'You're going to rise,' " he says. " 'You're going to come up from that. And you're going to be a better and a brighter person and a better unit as a culture because you have that hope.' " That's all subtext, Lewis says. Although the cast is largely African-American, the play doesn't talk about race. It can mean many things to many people, which has endeared it to audiences across generations and cultures. Kids love the animal characters, the colorful scenery and the rare chance to see fellow children (the young Simba and his lioness pal Nala) shine in leading roles. Grownups can identify with Simba's catharsis and the moral tale about greed gone awry. Or they can simply marvel at director/designer Julie Taymor's whimsical puppets and the clever machinations that bring them to life. Cultural pride The Lion King also enables Western audiences to get a better feel for South African culture. African-American dancer Garth Fagan won a Tony for his choreography. And although the Grammy-winning music by Elton John and Tim Rice relies more on pop and showtune conventions than South Africa's rich musical heritage, South African composer Lebo M weaves in lovely Zulu choral undercurrents. Few South Africans have seen the musical, says South African actress Phindile Mkhize, who plays wise baboon Rafiki. But many are aware of it. Those who have seen it, she says, are proud. "They are like, 'Oh, my God. This is home.' " coming this weekend Disney's Lion King was a huge departure for the company, which looked to established theater artists such as puppetmaster Michael Curry to make their vision theatrical. The results stunned even the doubters. Meet the artists behind those puppets Sunday in Good Living. Then read Sentinel theater critic Elizabeth Maupin's review of Lion King Monday in the Good Living Section. |
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| Back News |
A
federal grand jury indicted Irey of abusing children
to make his own child pornography. He's caught up in
an ongoing federal investigation called "Operation
Emissary" targeting an internet child-porn sharing
network. 
The
EXTENDED EDITION features a new, extended version of the
film with enhanced special effects and an extended,
climactic battle scene. Viewers will venture even deeper
into the beloved fantasy world of 'Narnia' with "C.S.
Lewis – The Dreamer Of Narnia," an all-new
feature-length film about the creative genius behind the
'Narnia' mythos. "Visualizing the Lion, the Witch and
The Wardrobe: The Complete Production Experience" is an
in-depth look at the process and technology of adapting
the book into the stunning motion picture. 
THE
FOX AND THE HOUND 2 is a timeless, tune-filled tale of
enduring relationships, delivering the simple, yet
powerful message that true bonds run deep and genuine
friendships can't be broken. A perfect complement to
Disney's original classic, this heartwarming story finds
playful pals Copper and Tod, a hound dog and a fox,
still up to their mischievous ways. With Tod's help,
Copper seeks to find his greatest talent – which leads
to an adventure at the county fair. When talented diva
Dixie (voiced by Reba McEntire) quits the harmonizing
novelty dog act, The Singin' Strays, the stage door
swings open for Copper to steal the spotlight and join
the band under the tutelage of its success-driven
leader, Cash (Patrick Swayze, "Ghost" and "Dirty
Dancing"). But as Copper gleams in the limelight, Tod
and Dixie quickly discover that playing second fiddle
isn't their true calling – and they hatch a scheme to
make things right again. As the plan goes awry with
disastrous results, everyone must bond together to bring
harmony back to the mutual friendships, and fame where
it most belongs. 
Celebrating
the 10th anniversary of the overwhelming audience
favorite AIR BUD franchise, Walt Disney Home
Entertainment debuts the Next Generation AIR BUDDIES,
only on Disney DVD in time for the holidays, December
12. It's a daring rescue mission when five adorable
golden retriever puppies (collectively, "the Buddies")
must save their parents from evil dognappers. An
action-packed, tail-wagging adventure for the whole
family, AIR BUDDIES will have audiences of all ages
cheering along as the puppies learn the thrills and
pitfalls of independence, team work and the true meaning
of family while delighting fans with a secret – these
pups can talk! 
The
network says she'll be playing the mysterious masked
woman who's been plotting with Wilhelmina Slater
(Vanessa Williams) to take control of Mode magazine from
the Meade family. Presumably the casting of Romijn, a
former model, will mean the mask is coming off. 
MPDclick
- The Disney by CROCS line, which is targeted towards
children and adults, will debut with special-edition
Mickey Mouse die-cut models. for spring 07. These
styles will be available in a broad range of two-toned
colour options including Mickey’s signature black and
red. Other models include an array of unique designs
emphasizing the distinctive personalities of Disney’s
characters including Mickey and Friends, Winnie the
Pooh and Friends, Disney Princess, Disney Fairies, as
well as Pirates of the Caribbean and Disney*Pixar’s
Toy Story and Cars. The launch will be international
to include Europe, Asia and the