Target Backs Off in Online Movies Feud

 

Discount retailer Target backed off plans to pull in-store promotions of products from Walt Disney after Disney threatened not to ship DVDs of hit movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," a person familiar with the situation said Friday.

 

The companies are at odds over The Walt Disney Co.'s decision to sell movies online through Apple Computer Co.'s iTunes store for less than it charges Target and other retailers.

The dispute is part of a feud between a number of major retailers and Hollywood studios over online movie sales.

Target Corp. stores had removed signs promoting the DVD of the Disney-Pixar animated film "Cars" and other Disney products, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak for either company.

The two sides are discussing their differences after resolving the standoff, the person said.

A Disney spokeswoman declined comment. A call to Target for comment was not immediately returned. The situation was reported on the Disney Internet fan site JimHillmedia.com and in the Wall Street Journal.

Studios selling digital copies of films for less than the wholesale price of DVDs rankles retailers, who see Internet distribution of films as a threat to their business and have reminded studios that DVD sales provide the majority of profit for most films.

Studios counter that digital versions of films should be less expensive because they are lower quality and typically do not contain the kinds of extra features included on DVDs.

Last month, Target President Gregg Steinhafel sent a letter to every Hollywood studio warning them about undercutting the wholesale price of DVDs by giving online services a better deal on digital offerings.

"Target cannot be expected simply to accept that risk and continue to do business as usual," Steinhafel wrote.

"Our space, signing, promotional programs and the hundreds of millions of consumers in our stores annually should not be undervalued," he wrote.

Disney so far is the only studio offering films over iTunes, which sets its own price for all titles.

Disney and other studios also sell films through other online services, which allow the studios to set their own prices.

Disney Gives $5 Million to Hospital

The Walt Disney Company has donated $5 million to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, making it the largest donation ever made to the hospital by a corporate foundation.

Burbank-based Disney has supported the hospital for many years and this latest gift is earmarked to fund the construction of a new hospital building.

Disney President and CEO Robert A. Iger recently presented the donation to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles President and CEO Richard D. Cordova.

“All of us at Disney hope that this donation for the new inpatient building will help Childrens Hospital Los Angeles further enhance its already outstanding reputation for providing the best possible care to those in need,” said Iger.

The new addition, scheduled for completion in 2009, will be a state-of-the art 460,000 square-foot medical and surgical facility. In addition to the care of the patients, the new wing will also create an environment where the children and their families can heal together.

“With this generous contribution, Disney sets an excellent example for other corporations to give generously to their communities,” said Villaraigosa.

Times Square religious ad canceled

Disney-owned ABC has pulled the plug on a church's "God Gives Hope" advertising campaign, saying the message violates its advertising guidelines.

The Assemblies of God had reserved space on ABC's Super Sign, which towers above Times Square and serves as a backdrop for "Good Morning America."

But hours before the ads were to air, ABC canceled the contract, church officials say.

ABC spokeswoman Julie Hoover said rejecting the ad is consistent with company guidelines. "This is a policy, not of years, but decades, not to take advertising for religion," she said. "I can only presume an eager salesman was unaware of that."

Hoover declined to say why ABC refuses to air religious messages.

Juleen Turnage, a spokeswoman for the Assemblies of God, said she is not sure why ABC refused to honor its contract.

"The only thing we know for sure is that it was nixed by top-level leadership, who said it was too religious," Turnage said.

The 30-second spot was scheduled to run more than 600 times from Nov. 13 to Nov. 26 at a total cost of $12,000. The sign reads, "Life is never hopeless. God gives hope" and includes a toll-free prayer hotline.

Originally, the Assemblies of God hadn't planned to advertise with ABC. But the company approached the church after learning its ads would be appearing on a competitor's jumbo screens, Turnage said.

The Assemblies of God, based in Springfield, Mo., is the nation's 10th-largest religious body, with 2.8 million followers and churches in all 50 states.

In 1996, it encouraged members to boycott Disney and accused the entertainment conglomerate of "abandoning the commitment to strong moral values."

At the time, the church's top leadership accused Disney of promoting homosexuality and opposing the Christian faith.

ABC's decision won't prevent the church from airing its message in Times Square. A 15-second ad will appear on the News Astrovision Screen (formerly known as the NBC Jumbotron) about 460 times, Turnage said.

Ron Ferrell, pastor of Trinity Assembly of God in Georgetown, Ky., said he wasn't surprised ABC would block his church's ad. "They don't want to mention us or support us or promote us because we're going to mention 'God,' " Ferrell said. "There is a bias in the media [against] God and spiritual things."

University of Kentucky journalism professor Mike Farrell was surprised by ABC's decision: "What is controversial about 'God Gives Hope?' "

Kansai Nerolac casts ‘IMPRESSIONS’ on India

Kansai Nerolac, one of the leading Paint manufacturers in the country, has announced the launch of their latest range of premium products under the new brand name Impressions.

Nerolac Impression Disney Emulsion is a water-based, premium super luxury interior wall finish. Developed especially for kids room. With this parents can make their kids dream come alive by having various Disney characters on the walls of the room. Impression Disney comes with eight different room concept like Mickey & family, Pooh and Princess. These designs are for various age group of kids Nerolac Disney Emulsion walls provides a distinctly rich, velvety smooth with exquisite satin finish. These walls  are a  beautiful  delight to have on your kids walls  

Commenting on the launch of the product, Mr. Anuj Jain, Vice President-Marketing & Sales (Decorative), Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd said, “True to our promise of helping consumers with ‘evergreen homes’ we have launched the latest range of premium products for home interiors under the Impressions brand. With its unique value propositions, we expect the product to do well in the hitherto under tapped market. These superior performance products will ensure more value for money.”

Disney to turn over some jobs to service company
Target, Disney in Online Movies Tiff
Disney/ABC Launch SOAPnetic
Brighter "Mary Poppins" wins mixed U.S. reviews 

Disney Store outlet at Las Americas 

Comcast and Walt Disney amusement channel launched in Romania 

Disney disaster in L.I.

Anne Sweeney, Disney-ABC Television Group

Hensleigh Leaving Disney 

Starz Serves Disney Pix for Thanksgiving

DeMille's silent Chicago and Disney's Silly Symphonies

Portuguese visitors to Euro Disney rise as it records 70m loss

ZAGAT Surveys featuring WDW Experiences 

ABC sweeping up in key demo 

Alaska Air Lines helps Disneyland wishes come true 

THQ Announces plans for global release of Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille across all major gaming systems

Miley Cyrus 

Duchess of York wants on 'Dancing'

VHS, 30, dies

Disney/ABC Launch SOAPnetic
 

Disney/ABC has unlocked the gates to SOAPnetic, its broadband video site for the SOAPnet cable channel, making the previously restricted site available to any broadband customers through Nov. 30. Since its launch in April, the "gated broadband" site has only been open to Verizon's high-speed customers.

SOAPnetic offers clips of the soaps that SOAPNet runs - same-day episodes of daytime dramas - as well as full episodes of the channel's originals. For the "Open Access" preview, it has beefed up its content with a special on this month's 25th anniversary of General Hospital's Luke and Laura and other extra video.

As a gated broadband network, SOAPnetic makes its money from licensing fees from high-speed providers, rather than advertising. Other Disney/ABC websites, including the Disney Channel's, are open offer to any broadband subscribers, their streaming video supported by ads. As companies like Disney continue to learn about digital distribution, they are weighing both the gated and open site models to see which is the most prudent business model.

SOAPnet, a digital cable channel, has also been beefing up its network homepage, soapnet.com, with new features lately. The site Monday launched a "Fantasy Soap League" game in which viewers can pay $9.99 for a ten-week pass to participate. As in fantasy football, players pick teams but in this game the players are soap characters.

Brighter "Mary Poppins" wins mixed U.S. reviews

Magical English nanny Mary Poppins has descended upon Broadway to mixed reviews, with critics saying the musical would likely please U.S. audiences because it has more glitz than its London counterpart.

"Mary Poppins," which opened in New York on Thursday, is Disney's latest show to hit Broadway following other movie-based musicals including "The Lion King" and "Beauty and the Beast."

Based on the book series by P.L. Travers and the 1964 Disney (DIS.N) movie it inspired, the musical was produced and directed by British theatrical heavyweights Cameron Mackintosh and Richard Eyre. It is still showing in London where it received critical acclaim when it opened two years ago.

But reviews were mixed for the big-budget U.S. show featuring lavish costumes, detailed sets and special effects that include a flying Mary Poppins and friend Bert tap dancing on the ceiling.

The New York Post ran the headline on Friday "No stoppin' this 'Poppins,'" with critic Clive Barnes saying the musical topped the movie that starred Julie Andrews and was "smoother and perhaps slicker" than the London production.

"Film musicals don't normally translate well into stage versions," Barnes said. "But 'Mary Poppins' doesn't simply translate, it transcends. This is a great show that, for the first time this season, has Broadway singing again."

'SPOONFUL OF SPECTACLE'

But the special effects and stunts failed to win over some critics.

New York Times critic Ben Brantley called the show a "megamusical" that was "handsome, homily-packed and rather tedious," and "ultimately less concerned with inexplicable magic than with practical psychology."

"The operating philosophy, it would seem, is that a spoonful of spectacle helps the medicine go down," he said.

Brantley noted the New York show had dropped the gray colors used in the London production, as well as a controversial scene in which children were sentenced to death by firing squad by their own toys.

"Cake-frosting pinks, greens, lilacs and yellows have, for the most part pushed away sootier tones," he said. "As for those vengeful toys, well, they still get angry, but not homicidal."

The Washington Post critic Peter Marks said the special effects and sets won over the show's musical and emotional appeal.

"If a few mechanical marvels are enough for you (or your little ones), then the charms of this highly anticipated adaptation of the 1964 movie musical will not feel fleeting or sporadic," he said.

"But anyone hoping that this show ... would provide much in the way of musical pleasure or emotional substance is likely to find a wee bit of let down."

Any charm the show lacked did not seem to bother preview audiences, The Wall Street Journal's Terry Teachout said.

"I'll be surprised if this show doesn't run for at least a century," he said.

Disney Store outlet at Las Americas

The Shops at Las Americas, San Diego's largest fashion outlet shopping center, celebrated the grand opening of a 6,655-square-foot Disney Store outlet last month.

"The Disney Store Outlet will be the only one of its kind in San Diego County," The Shops at Las Americas General Manager Michael Liberatore said.

The outlet store will offer merchandise with no irregulars or seconds.

Disney Store North America is owned, and under license operated, by a subsidiary of The Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc.

The Shops at Las Americas is located 20 minutes south of downtown San Diego off either I-5 or I-805 at the Camino de la Plaza exit. The center is a joint venture of Stoltz Real Estate Partners LP and Pacific Coast Capital Partners LLC. Stoltz, based in Philadelphia, owns and manages a diversified national portfolio of approximately 12 million square feet. Pacific Coast, with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento, is a provider of debt and equity capital.

Loan arranged for Stoneridge in Moreno Valley

Burnham Real Estate's Capital Markets Group announced it has arranged a $40 million permanent construction loan for the development of a 563,328-square-foot retail center in Moreno Valley.

The center, to be called Stoneridge Towne Centre, is being built on a 26-acre site at the southeast corner of Highway 60 and Nason Road. The loan was arranged for theStoneridge Centre Partners LP, and was funded by Northwestern Investment Management Co. of Newport Beach, Calif. Gary Goss of Burnham Real Estate's Capital Markets Group arranged the loan.

Construction of the center, anchored by Target (California's first Super Target) and Kohl's, is scheduled to be complete in the third quarter of 2007.

Burnham Capital Markets is a specialized group within Burnham Real Estate, a leading real estate firm serving the western United States. Burnham Capital Markets offers the complete range of capital markets expertise and mortgage brokerage services.

Queen wants real-estate agents reined

The U.K. government plans to introduce a bill to make it easier for consumers to get compensation for malpractice by real-estate agents, Queen Elizabeth II said, outlining Prime Minister Tony Blair's final legislative program.

The Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill will oblige house brokers to join a compensation program, increase the inspection and punitive powers of consumer protection bodies and broaden prospective homebuyers' cancellation and cooling-off rights, according to a Department of Trade and Industry briefing note.

Malpractice complaints may be most acute in London, where a shortage of homes for sale, particularly for luxury residences, is inflating prices amid increased competition between brokers and would-be homebuyers. The proposed legislation comes as house-price inflation in the United Kingdom's $6.9 trillion residential real-estate market climbed to an 18-month high in September.

"We have a silly situation at the moment, where anyone can set up an agency with no experience and no insurance," National Association of Estate Agents CEO Peter Bolton King said. "The legislation needs to be linked to minimum competency standards."

Blair's administration has shied away from licensing house brokers by a regulator after a Office of Fair Trading study in 2004 suggested it would reduce competition and increase costs to consumers.

UBuildIt opens newest Temecula/Murrieta office

UBuildIt Corp., a consulting firm for homeowners who choose to manage the remodeling or building of their own homes, has opened of its newest franchise in Temecula to serve southern Riverside County. In San Diego, Ubuildit has offices in Escondido and El Cajon.

The franchise owners are Randy Tutor and Robb Skinner, who for the past three years serviced the southern Riverside market from their UBuildIt office in Escondido. To date, they have completed 50 custom homes and remodel/additions, with more than 120 projects currently under way in both San Diego and Riverside counties. UBuildIt claims its system has helped owner-builders complete more than 6,000 homes valued at more than $1 billion nationally since 1988. The franchise was founded in Kirkland, Wash., in 1988.

Comcast and Walt Disney amusement channel launched in Romania

The TV channel E!, the property of the US companies Comcast and Walt Disney, announced its entry on the Romanian TV market, at the 11th edition of the Cable Communication Convention.

The main objective of the channel, which broadcasts programmes intended exclusively for the amusement world, is to present the life from Hollywood, focusing on celebrities from film and music. The channel whose main offices are in Hollywood will be entirely subtitled in Romanian, and will address the high income youth.

Brad Walt, managing director Europe, E! Entertainment, declared that the channel has not yet concluded a distribution contract with a cable operator from Romania, but this was the first appearance of the TV channel on our market. He also said that several E! Entertainment programmes have appeared on Romanian channels which acquired them in time, this being the only contact of the company with the Romanian market so far.

"We focus on Romania and on other countries from this area at this moment," said Brad Walt, explaining that the channel broadcasts now in 12 languages, and has global coverage.

Some of the programmes to be transmitted by the new channel are news from the showbiz, live transmissions from the major galas, reality TV series, documentaries about celebrities and various classifications. Thus, these programmes are 'The E! True Hollywood Story," "101 Countdown Entertainment Specials," "The girls of the Playboy Mansion," "50's," "The Soup," or "E! news." The channel also broadcasts the Emmy Awards, SAG, the Golden Globe, Grammy, BAFTA, Caesar and Oscar.

Disney disaster in L.I.

Children and parents watching a Disney on Ice performance got quite a scare yesterday when a skater botched a stunt and slammed headfirst to the rink at Nassau Coliseum.

The audience gasped as the as-yet unnamed performer lay motionless on the ice for more than a minute after falling more than 10 feet while reenacting a scene from "The Little Mermaid" during the "Princess Wishes" ice show.

"Is he hurt?" one child asked.

"Does he need a Band-Aid?" asked another.

Some shaken families walked to the exits as an announcer said there would be a 10-minute "intermission" in the midmorning show. After the awkward pause, a stretcher was brought onto the ice and the performer carried out. He was later taken to Nassau University Medical Center, where his injuries were described as non-life-threatening.

"They are professionals, they are highly trained," said Lisa Taylor, a Disney on Ice spokeswoman. "But it is live entertainment and what we do is risky."

The frightening fall came after the skater was sent hurtling into the air when two other performers hopped onto the other end of a seesaw. He was supposed to land in a chair suspended by a pole, but missed the mark.

Anne Sweeney, Disney-ABC Television Group

Helping the Walt Disney Co. take a bold leap into the unknown, Anne Sweeney led the charge last fall when the company unveiled its groundbreaking licensing pact with Apple that made "Desperate Housewives," "Lost" and other ABC and Disney Channel programs available for download-on-demand access via iTunes. As co-chairman of Disney's Media Networks division and president of the Disney-ABC Television Group, Sweeney oversees a wide swath of international TV turf, from the bustling Disney Channel Worldwide operations in 100 countries to ABC and its offshoots to the Touchstone Television production unit. With the one-year anniversary of Disney's plunge into digital distribution approaching, Sweeney recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter's Cynthia Littleton about insights gained during the past 12 months and where she sees the business headed in the future.

The Hollywood Reporter: What stands out in your mind about your recent experiences with digital licensing and delivery? Any eureka moments?
Anne Sweeney: There are three moments that stand out. The first moment was the morning after the (Season 1) finale of "Desperate Housewives" had aired (in May 2005). I had my cable executive team meeting, and I walked into the meeting thrilled. The ratings had come in, and they were spectacular. This was a hit show. Vince Roberts, our worldwide head of technology and operations, said, "Congratulations! We're all thrilled for you and ABC. This is a tremendous moment. Can I show you something?" He got up and popped a DVD into the player in our conference room, and the finale of "Desperate Housewives" came up. And he said, "Fifteen minutes after the show ended last night, I downloaded this from BitTorrent.com." The quality was very good. The commercials had been stripped out. Talk about having a pause in the conversation. We started talking about piracy in a new way, which was piracy as a true competitor for our viewers. That was the moment when we knew we had to do something, but we didn't have many options.

THR: And the second?
Sweeney: The second moment was when (Disney president and CEO) Bob Iger called me and said, "Give (Apple CEO) Steve Jobs a call. He has something he wants to talk about." And that conversation was about the video iPod and putting "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives" and other shows on iTunes. And that was the moment that took us back to the "Desperate Housewives" example because it presented us with an opportunity to keep people honest and to give our viewers more opportunities to see the show. We knew that even with a hit show, an avid viewer generally only sees six to eight episodes a year. We produce in the neighborhood of 22 or 25 episodes. That leaves a lot of room -- not for cannibalization but for opportunity for these shows. So, making these shows available on the iTunes platform was a plus for ABC, and it was a plus for these franchises. We also saw it was a way of continuing these franchises into the future because they would be able to draw more people. The third moment was the launch of the ABC.com player test in May and June, when we put "Lost," "Desperate Housewives," "Commander in Chief" and "Alias" on ABC.com and streamed it for free with advertising. That was an experiment. We knew a lot from our iTunes experience. This new experience was ad-supported. So, we had all of the same questions as we did at first with iTunes. Would it cannibalize? Would it be additive? What would this mean to the shows themselves?

THR: What did you learn?
Sweeney: We learned a couple of key things during the test because we did all kinds of research. Of course, we looked at server data, but we also did focus groups, and we also did exit interviews after people had watched and experienced the player. And we learned a couple of key things. The first was our approach to putting advertising in the shows. Our approach was to get one sponsor for an entire episode. So, in "Desperate," you would have Olay doing a 15- or 30-second commercial and a lead-generation ad where you could type in your information and receive a $3 coupon for their products, or you could link to a Web site. So, you had all these opportunities to interact with the advertiser. And we found that 87% of the people who watched the shows on the (ABC.com) player remembered correctly the name of the sponsor and the products in that episode. That's a great fact. Those are wonderful numbers. We also found out that the average age of people watching the shows on ABC.com was 29. They were upper-income, highly educated. That was a sign that this is additive compared to the average age of viewers of the shows on the network.

THR: Did you bundle advertising on the ABC.com platform with sales for the broadcast network during this year's upfront sales period for the 2006-07 season?
Sweeney: We elected to keep it out of the upfront. We've been selling (ABC.com advertising) in the scatter market.

THR: How is the revenue base for the Disney-ABC Television Group changing as you move deeper into digital business? Do you see a proportional shift coming between digital and traditional broadcast revenue?
Sweeney: (Digital) is a small percentage of advertising compared to the behemoth that the ABC television network is. But is it growing? ... I don't see proportional shift in the short term. I see it as additive, but I don't see it shifting from one to the other.

THR: Will streaming become a real business for your channels? Do some in the industry see it as more of a marketing tool at this stage?
Sweeney: The thruline on all of these new technologies is about reaching consumers who would normally come to your content if it were easier for them to access. Now, we have several ways of getting to them. We have iTunes, we have ABC.com, we have the ABC television network -- and you realize that these things come together holistically. They're not platforms that live separate and apart. One of things we did to take a test to the next stage was with a show called "Kyle XY." It's produced by Touchstone Television. It premiered on ABC Family on a Monday night, repeated on ABC on a Friday night and went into the iTunes store on Saturday. And all of these platforms cross-promoted to one another in an effort to make life easier for the viewer. ... Disney Channel uses its uberbrand to help kids navigate between their DisneyChannel.com player and their network. The Disney Channel broadband story is wonderful. It launched in June. To put it in perspective, during the ABC test, we had 5.7 million streams of episodes. Far more people watched than the number of streams. In contrast, during same period, Disney Channel had 37 million streams, and that tells you so much about kids and technology.

THR: Do you see a time in the near future when your studio produces wholly original programming for new platforms? Do you think you could launch a new property via iTunes or one of the Disney Web sites or broadband channels?
Sweeney: We may. ... It's wonderful because it's all green fields at this point. We're in a world where anything can and probably will happen. For the moment, we realize the value of putting our hit programming on those platforms to help build audience for them. One of the things we've announced are the "Lost" mobisodes to air on (mobile) phones. You'll see some of characters from "Lost" in these mobisodes and then others who are part of the myriad back stories of those characters.

THR: What has surprised you the most as you've ventured into these uncharted waters?
Sweeney: Everything was a surprise because we didn't know. One of the great things that came out of the iTunes experience -- in the process of the negotiation, we were actually able to develop a criteria for dealing with new media, starting with: Is this a company that respects and will protect our content as we do? Is there a business deal to be done? Is this a company that has a strong and positive relationship with their consumer? Is this a company that is going to get behind the marketing of our content and not just rely on our network to push it? This was what we learned that Apple would do. It really did become the gold standard for us. The morning after the iTunes deal was announced, I gathered the troops together and asked them about the phone calls they'd received. Of course, everyone (from other outlets) was saying, "I want your shows for X platform." We discussed the criteria that had been developed in the context of the iTunes deal, and we started to put all of these requests through that filter and to determine what questions we should be asking next. It became the criteria through which we would evaluate other opportunities.

Hensleigh Leaving Disney

The top marketing executive for Disney’s cable and broadcast networks, Eleo Hensleigh, is leaving the company, officials confirmed Friday.

Hensleigh, chief marketing officer and executive vice president of marketing and brand strategies for the Disney-ABC Television Group, sent a memo to her staff earlier this week saying that she was leaving the Burbank, Calif.-based company to move back to New York, according to Disney-ABC spokesman Kevin Brockman.

Hensleigh, who cited personal reasons for her exit, is set to actually leave Disney at the end of January.

Cable-industry sources said Hensleigh may be joining iVillage in Manhattan. A spokeswoman at NBC Universal, which owns iVillage, said she couldn’t confirm that Hensleigh was joining the women’s Web site.

In her current Disney post, Hensleigh oversees marketing and advertising for the ABC Television Network and Disney’s entertainment cable channels, including Disney Channel, Toon Disney, ABC Family and SOAPnet.

Prior to her promotion in January 2005, Hensleigh was executive VP of worldwide brand strategy for the Disney-ABC Cable Networks Group.

Starz Serves Disney Pix for Thanksgiving

Cable outlet Starz Kids & Family won’t be putting any turkeys on the table this year as it airs a Thanksgiving Day marathon of popular Disney films. Among the treats on the menue are the animated features The Incredibles and Chicken Little, as well as Disney and Walden Media’s vfx-laden adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s fantasy classic The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Chicken Little will kick off the marathon at 7 a.m., followed by The Incredibles at 8:30 a.m. Narnia will have its first airing at 12 p.m. and all three features will be repeated throughout the day. Also joining the fun are the live-action Mouse House efforts SpyMate and Herbie: Fully Loaded, which air at 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.

In addition to showing animation, Starz is getting into the production side as well. The newtork’s parent company, Liberty Media Corp., recently acquired rising animation powerhouse IDT Ent. and combined it with its Starz Entertainment Group to crate Starz LLC. The unit released the CG feature Everyone's Hero through 20th Century Fox on Sept. 15 and has a full slate of animated theatrical features on the way. Upcoming productions include Rob Zombie’s The Haunted World of El Super Beasto for 2007 and Space Chimps and Sheepish for 2008. For television, the group is producing the animated series Wow! Wow! Wubbzy for Nick Jr., Eloise for Starz Kids & Family and DVD release, Hellboy Animated and Stan Lee Presents. In addition, Starz on Demand is home to Angry Alien Prod.’s Bunnies Theater, a series of 30-second, animated versions of major motion pictures starring rabbits.

DeMille's silent Chicago and Disney's Silly Symphonies

The he original 1927 silent film Chicago will return to the big screen on Saturday, December 2, 2006, at the Castro Theatre, San Francisco. This Bay Area revival of the film's long-lost roadshow version (restored by UCLA Film and Television Archive) will be presented by The Silent Film Festival, producers of the annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and will be scored live by the Baker-Mehling Hot Four, who specialize in authentic 1920s jazz.

With a striking performance by Phyllis Haver as jazz baby Roxie Hart, Chicago is producer Cecil B. DeMille's classic depiction of Roaring Twenties greed, larceny and murder upon which later film versions – Roxy Hart (1942) starring Ginger Rogers and Chicago (2002) starring Renee Zellweger (based on the 1975 Broadway musical) – have been compared.

From the Walt Disney Archives, the Festival will also present the early cartoon series Silly Symphonies, a trailblazing marriage of music and animation. Hosted by Russell Merritt (co-author, Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series), the series will include The Skeleton Dance (1929), Night (1929), Hell's Bells (1929), The China Plate (1931), Egyptian Melodies (1931), The Ugly Ducking (1931), Flowers and Trees (1932) and Music Land (1935).

Following the screening will be an on-stage discussion with animation experts and Disney scholars including Neal Gabler, author of the brand-new biography Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination. Book signings will take place in the theater lobby throughout the day. Authors scheduled to appear include: Merritt; Gabler; John Bengtson, Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Charlie Chaplin; and Jack Tillmany, Theatres of Oakland.

Silly Symphonies will be screened at 1:30 pm; Chicago at 7:30 pm. The Castro Theatre is located at 429 Castro Street in San Francisco. For more information, contact The Silent Film Festival at (800) 838-3006 or visit http://www.silentfilm.org.

Portuguese visitors to Euro Disney rise as it records 70m loss

The number of Portuguese visiting Disneyland Paris during 2005 to 2006 has risen, according to figures published by Europes most popular theme park.

While French and Spanish tourists represent the greatest number of customers, the number of Portuguese visitors is gradually increasing.

Visitor numbers to Disneyland Paris increased by 500,000 in the 12 months up to the end of September, but operating company Euro Disney said last week that it had made a loss of 73.1 million euros over the period.

A total of 12.8 million people visited the theme park, 30 kilometres east of Paris, which was better than the previous 12 months but below the 13.1 million customers in 2002.
After a year of transition, after the restructuring of the debt in 2005, we are returning to growth, finance director Ignace Lahoud said during a press conference.

He confirmed that the rise in visitor numbers had been driven mainly by increased trips made by French and Spanish tourists, which represented 42 per cent and 11 per cent of total visitors respectively. Estimates put the number of Portuguese tourists visiting the theme park during the 12 months to September at just under two per cent of all visitors.
Sales in Euro Disneys theme parks and nearby hotels grew to 1,088 billion euros in the 2005-2006 financial year from 1,041 billion in 2004 to 2005. The operating loss fell sharply during 2005-2006 to 2.4 million euros from 31.9 million in the previous financial year.
The average amount spent per visitor rose from 44.3 euros to 44.8 euros and the occupancy rate in hotels increased from 80.7 per cent to 83.5 per cent.

The debt-ridden Euro Disney group has had to restructure its finances twice since being launched in the early 1990s and completed a 253.3-million-euro capital increase in February to avert insolvency.

The rights issue was undertaken after agreement was reached with Walt Disney and creditor banks to restructure and cut the groups debt from 2.4 billion euros to 1.9 billion euros.

The rise in visitor numbers to Disneyland Paris comes despite a number of disturbances that might have been expected to deter tourists.

France was rocked by violence in depressed suburbs around Paris and other cities last November when youths burned thousands of cars to protest against joblessness and alleged police mistreatment.

Poor summer weather in northern Europe worked against the company as well, and recent strikes by staff led to visitors to Euro Disney being confronted by workers protesting about their low pay.

ZAGAT Surveys featuring WDW Experiences

Zagat has posted surveys regarding various WDW experiences and registered users of that site may post their reviews. The active vote period will close December 3rd. For more Information click the link below.

http://www.zagat.com/vote/

ABC sweeping up in key demo

ABC is halfway home to a November sweeps demo victory but left the door open for CBS -- and perhaps even NBC -- after the Alphabet's "Day Break" opened to nothing-special scores.

The Taye Diggs drama did OK coming out of the "Dancing With the Stars" finale, but it has big shoes to fill since it will be replacing "Lost" on the sked the final two Wednesdays of the ratings period. And CBS looks poised to move to the lead on the night thanks to its winning crime dramas "Criminal Minds" and "CSI: NY."

Wednesday also saw "Medium" return to the NBC sked with numbers similar to "Day Break."

Through two weeks of the four-week sweep period (Nov. 2-29), Nielsen reports ABC was in the lead among adults 18-49 with a 4.2 rating/11 share (down 2% in rating vs. last year), followed by NBC (4.0/11, up 21%), CBS (3.8/10, down 16%) and Fox (2.8/7, down 10%). CW (1.5/4) is flat compared with the WB last year.

CBS, which is going almost exclusively with its regular programs this month, leads in total viewers (12.9 million to 12.4 million for ABC).

ABC has held up well despite the loss of "Monday Night Football," while the addition of "Sunday Night Football" has helped NBC become the only net to improve vs. a year ago through two weeks.

And football could very well decide the month's winner in the 18-49 demo.

While ABC will go without "Dancing With the Stars" and "Lost" the rest of the month, NBC could make the race interesting with two more big NFL numbers (Chargers-Broncos this week and Colts-Eagles on Nov. 26).

And CBS' best shot at catching ABC is Sunday's NFL overrun.

The Indianapolis Colts-Dallas Cowboys matchup (set for 4:15 p.m. ET) has the potential to become the highest-rated football game of the season, and if it extends to 7:30 or later, the Eye's chances for a sweeps victory improve considerably since anything past 7 p.m. would be included in the net's overall averages.

Alphabet will also benefit from football on Nov. 25 with what's expected to be a highly rated college contest between USC and Notre Dame.

Fourth-place Fox won't really be a factor for the month, although it's sure to generate big ratings on Nov. 27 and Nov. 29 for its two-part O.J. Simpson special, "If I Did It."

Don't be surprised to see rival nets juggle their skeds on these nights, with young shows like Monday's "Heroes" on NBC or Wednesday's new "Day Break" possibly moving back to 10 p.m. to avoid taking a big hit.

Looking at Wednesday's action, Emmitt Smith's victory on "Dancing With the Stars" averaged a 7.1 rating/19 share in adults 18-49 and 27.52 million viewers overall from 8 to 9:02 -- down in demos from the most recent finale but the largest audience to date for any episode of the franchise.

"Dancing" goes out as a top-10 performer for the season in both 18-49 and 25-54 and a top-5 skein in total viewers. Wednesday's finale, in fact, was the most-watched telecast on television this fall, beating out the prior night's performance edition.

It will be interesting to see how ABC skeds "Dancing" for its spring edition, as the format it adopted this fall would put it opposite Fox's megahit "American Idol" on Tuesday.

One option would be to keep the results show on Wednesday but shift the performance edition to Monday.

As for "Day Break," from 9:02 to 11 p.m. Wednesday it averaged a 3.6 rating/9 share in adults 18-49 and 10.16 million viewers overall, putting it on par with NBC's two-hour season premiere of "Medium" (3.5/9 in 18-49, 9.44m) and well behind the CBS combo of "Criminal Minds" (4.9/13 in 18-49, 16.48m) and "CSI: NY" (5.2/14 in 18-49, 16.18m).

Coming out of "Dancing," "Day Break" saw ratings declines as expected throughout its telecast but did maintain its 18-49 share with its final three half-hours. From 10 to 11, it outperformed the last four episodes of "The Nine" in the time period.

So while not a great bow, its numbers were credible. Show will air regularly at 9 beginning next week, behind new gamer "Show Me the Money."

Opposite "Dancing" at 8, it was a demo draw for second between CBS' "Jericho" (2.9/8 in 18-49, 9.34m) and Fox's "Bones" (2.9/8 in 18-49, 7.83m), followed by NBC's "Biggest Loser" (2.8/7 in 18-49, 6.37m) and CW's "America's Next Top Model" (2.2/6 in 18-49, 4.71m).

The "Loser" score, like the "Medium" bow from 9 to 11, repped NBC's best deliveries in the time period this season. "Medium" is slated to air regularly at 10 beginning next week.

Alaska Air Lines helps Disneyland wishes come true

A special plane with a half-dozen special guests among the passengers left Sea-Tac today for Southern California.

The Alaska Airlines plane is painted with the blue Genie from Disney's "Aladdin" movie and the Make-A-Wish logo to demonstrate support for the program that grants wishes for seriously ill children.

Alaska Air donates about 100 flights a year for the program. A vacation to Disneyland is one of the most frequent wishes and Disneyland Resorts is part of the partnership.

Among families on today's flight is five-year-old Angelina Karlson-Rivera of Olympia whose leukemia is in remission, and five-year-old Shelby Miller of Everett who has had surgery to remove cancerous growths.

THQ Announces plans for global release of Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille across all major gaming systems

THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) today announced plans to bring Ratatouille, based on the summer 2007 film from Disney·Pixar, to gamers of all ages around the world.  The game is in development across 11 systems, including Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION3 computer entertainment system, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and PSP (PlayStationâPortable) system, Nintendo’s Wii video game console, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Windows PC and Mac, as well as wireless devices.  Ratatouille will mark the most comprehensive simultaneous cross-platform launch in THQ’s history and is scheduled to coincide with the worldwide release of the highly anticipated film.

“Disney·Pixar films have consistently captivated audiences of all ages with their imaginative and memorable characters, visually stunning animation, and unparalleled story-telling,” said Kelly Flock, executive vice president of worldwide publishing, THQ.  “THQ has shipped more than 22 million units of Disney·Pixar video games to date, illustrating the success of our long-standing relationship and dedication to the Disney·Pixar business.”

About the Ratatouille Video Game

In the game, players will assume the role of Remy, a young rat whose love for great food puts him at odds with the needs of his family.  Fans will be able to relive some of the film's most thrilling moments and experience the sights, sounds and most importantly, the smells, of Paris a la Remy across a multitude of gaming systems.  Players will instantly recognize the storyline, characters and key locations of Ratatouille, as they engage in a series of unique mini-games, cooking challenges and head-to-head multiplayer.  Ratatouille will allow players to create culinary masterpieces, evade detection from dangerous and often hungry enemies, and brave the perils of the dinner-rush in this senses-shattering journey to fulfill Remy's life-long dream of becoming a great chef.

THQ’s Heavy Iron Studios is leading development for Ratatouille across THQ’s Studio System.  In addition, THQ Wireless is developing a suite of wireless content including games, wallpapers and ring-tones based on Ratatouille.

About the Ratatouille Movie

In Disney·Pixar’s upcoming animated-adventure, Ratatouille, a rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession.  When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely - and certainly unwanted - visitor in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant, Remy's passion for cooking soon sets into motion a hilarious and exciting rat race that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down.

Remy finds himself torn between his calling and passion in life or returning forever to his previous existence as a rat. He learns the truth about friendship, family and having no choice but to be who he really is, a rat who wants to be a chef.

Landry’s Ying & Yak to Open at Animal Kingdom in 2007 

Pixar U and Whistling While You Work 

Holden HSV and Disney Pixar's Cars: Best. Product Tie-In. Ever

Disney World: Where to Stay?

Disney Chooses All Natural HINT Essence Water to Promote Film

Why "you" hate "Monday Night Football"

The Magic of Disney 

Disney dollars encourage family volunteers

Landscape Contractor's Talents in Bloom for Disneyland Holiday Opening
Energizer Brings the Magic of Disney-Pixar's Cars DVDs to Families Everywhere
'Arrested' Crew in 'The Thick of It' at ABC
ABC Looks to Placate 'Lost' Fans
Housewives on Top

Landry’s Ying & Yak to Open at Animal Kingdom in 2007

 

Ying & Yak, a sprawling Asian-themed concept featuring full- and limited-service dining, is the product of Golden Valley, Minn.-based Schussler Creative. It is scheduled to open in Disney World's Animal Kingdom in the summer of 2007. The complex will be comprised of a Table Service location and four individual Quick Service counters. The Ying & Yak is the first of two new Landry's operations to open at Walt Disney World, the second is a T-Rex Cafe franchise at Downtown Disney to open in 2008.

Thanks to the release of concept art, Landry's new table service location at the Animal Kingdom is now known to be called The Ying & Yak.

It appears the complex will be comprised of a Table Service location and four individual Quick Service counters.

An earlier released opening date is July 2007, however this was issued before construction was delayed.

Below is the released art and its released description:

Pixar U and Whistling While You Work
 

Animation giant Pixar has produced a long line of box-office blockbusters, including Cars, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Monsters Inc. So what animates the success of the now Disney-owned company? Will Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Pixar produce a fairy tale ending? And is there really a Pixar University? I recently talked about the power of Pixar with Bill Taylor, author of Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win.

Question: In your book, I was really interested to read about Pixar, the animation giant, and specifically Pixar University. Tell us a little about Pixar U.

Bill Taylor: Steve Jobs bought control of it [Pixar] 20 years ago for $10 million and, as everyone knows, sold it to Disney earlier this year for $7.4 billion, so he did pretty well. He and the shareholders at Pixar all did pretty well for themselves by producing hit after hit in the movie business.

We went into Pixar expecting to be dazzled by their technology and their computers and their software. When we got to know the company, they really had very little interest in talking about that. What they really wanted to show us was Pixar University, because much like Whole Foods (Nasdaq: WFMI), they believe that the reason they're successful in the marketplace is they've got such a distinctive approach to the workplace.

So at Pixar, rather than a traditional movie studio where, when you make a movie, everybody is a free agent and you get a director from one place and a producer from another place and a screenwriter from another place and everybody is cutting their own deal and being a free agent -- at Pixar, everybody is an employee of the company. Brad Bird, the Oscar-winning director of The Incredibles, helps out with all the other movies. He's just a member of the team like everybody else. And Pixar University is the institution inside Pixar that makes all this possible.

So it offers 110 different courses to all the employees. Everybody is expected to spend at least four hours a week taking classes in drawing, screenwriting, lighting; and that goes by the way -- maybe you're part of the script-writing crew, but maybe you're a marketer or maybe you're an accountant or maybe literally you're a security guard. You're still expected to take four hours a week in courses in Pixar University for two reasons. One, they want everybody at the company to understand how to think like a filmmaker. Not just because it's a neat thing to say or a nice idea, but because they feel their advantage is they've got more teamwork than the typical Hollywood studio where everybody's out for themselves, and ultimately the way they're going to produce hit after hit in the marketplace is to create a workplace where everybody is loyal to one another. There's not a lot of loyalty in Hollywood, and so we took a class in lighting and shading...

Question: And how was your lighting and shading?

Bill Taylor: Not so good, I have to say, but to some degree, it kind of wasn't the point. The real idea was to take a wide array of people from Pixar. Very senior executives, Chef Luigi -- one of the company's chefs -- was in the class, a 20-something programmer who had just gotten off an all-nighter from working on Cars. Cars hadn't been released yet when we took the class.

The idea is for everybody to learn a little bit together, get to know each other, kind of fail together, see how my lighting and shading skills really aren't that great, but that's OK. The point is how much of it can you develop and you just build this culture of teamwork and honesty and communication and collaboration, which really sets them apart from most Hollywood studios.

When you would talk to the Pixar executive about what the killer app at Pixar is -- it's not about the computers. It's not about the digital animation software. It's about they believe they have developed a better and smarter way for creative people to work together. Their mantra is, "How do we do art as a team sport?" In a Hollywood legendary for individualists and self-interested people, how do we create a culture of collaboration and a culture of people who want to stay around here for decades producing great work? So, another great example of the power of ideas and people...

Question: And do you think that culture is going to change now that Disney owns them, or do you think Disney is smart enough to leave them alone?

Bill Taylor: Well, I think it's maybe none of the above. I think the hope is that Pixar will be allowed in its own ways to change the culture of Disney. So I think clearly Disney is going to be smart enough to leave them alone. I think it has the chance to be certainly within the realm of the animated output of Disney, almost kind of a reverse takeover where Disney may have bought Pixar's shares, but the hope is that the Pixar culture methodology approach to creativity winds up casting a long shadow over all of the Disney people involved in the world of animated movies.

It's funny, because the original kind of cultural DNA, if you will, for Pixar was established in a memo written 70 or 80 years ago by Walt Disney himself, talking about the right way to build a great animation company, and John Lassiter and Ed Catmull, the co-founders of Pixar, discovered that memo and said, "This is the kind of company we want to build."

We spent a lot of time with Randy Nelson, the dean of Pixar University, and when Randy showed up for work on the first day, they handed him the so-called "Walt memo" and said, "This is what we want to build, just like Walt Disney said." Pixar University is going to be a key to it, and so it's kind of poetic justice that so many years later, Disney itself spends a fortune to acquire Pixar. I think the hope is some of that Walt Disney-inspired Pixar culture will rub off on Disney itself.

Holden HSV and Disney Pixar's Cars: Best. Product Tie-In. Ever

The HSV E Series GTS is one of the hottest sedans you can buy anywhere, and as it happens, "anywhere" in this case is Australia. For its part, Disney Pixar's Cars is set to be one of the hottest-selling DVDs of this Christmas season everywhere, including, of course, Australia.

GM knows this, and has partnered up with the Mouse on a big DVD tie-in in Oz. Inside each copy is a mail-in coupon on which you're encouraged to write, in 25 words or less, which HSV features you'd like most in your own GTS. One lucky winner will drive away in a brand-spanking-new HSV GTS finished in Cars star Lightning McQueen's full Rust-Eze racing livery.

Those harboring concerns about potentially driving a car made up to look like a cartoon character should take solace in the fact that anyone with the nerve to giggle and point at the winner's ride will be eating dust and inhaling tire smoke every time that light turns green. Ka-chow!

PRESS RELEASE:
The hottest DVD to hit the stands this Christmas – CARS – from Disney Pixar, has just got hotter. One lucky purchaser will win Australia's very own Lightning McQueen, a hot new Holden Special Vehicles E series GTS, by filling out a special coupon contained inside every Cars DVD.

To launch the Cars DVD, Holden Racing Team's Mark Skaife recently put Lightning McQueen to the test at HSV's Clayton headquarters.

Australia's own version of Lightning McQueen was specially designed by Holden Special Vehicles, and is a one of a kind iconic GTS incorporating Lightning McQueen's trademark decals.

Mark Skaife and the HRT pit crew, on hand to welcome Australia's Lightning McQueen to HSV, were impressed with the likeness to the CARS character taking the DVD market by storm.

Cars is the story of Lightning McQueen's quest to win the Piston Cup and the lessons he learns along the journey.

The perfect Christmas gift for all ages can be purchased through the HSV online shop.

Disney World: Where to Stay?

We’ve stayed outside the park (inexpensive but too far away from the Park for me), in one of the outer Disney hotels and in the park. On our last visit, we drove from Wisconsin to Florida and stayed in a cabin at the Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground (close to the Magic Kingdom).

That was my favorite and I highly recommend it. Since we had a car, it was nice having it parked right outside of our cabin. (Do you realize how long it takes to walk to your car in the hotel’s parking lot when you stay in an upper floor of a resort that has hundreds of rooms?) There was even an outdoor hose to wash the car and a grill on the outside deck.

Our cabin had a Murphy bed in the living room, with bunk beds and another double bed in the one bedroom. There was a kitchen, eating area and bathroom. It was perfect for our family of four.

Yes, it wasn’t cheap—but our vacation plans were to visit Disney World. Once we arrived in the park, we stayed there for six nights. With so much to explore, by staying in a Disney hotel we were able to enter the parks early and it didn’t take long to get back to our room to crawl into bed each night.

We checked out the Contemporary Hotel, the Grand Floridian Resort and the Polynesian Resort. But for our family (with kids), it’s nice to have a kitchen to limit the amount of time and money spent on restaurants.

While we did use our car every day, we made use of the transportation, too. Riding the monorail is always fun, taking the boat to Magic Kingdom from Fort Wilderness was a treat. We also took a boat from one of the other Disney resort areas right into Epcot.

Disney Chooses All Natural HINT Essence Water to Promote Film 

This week Hint Inc., maker of all-natural, great tasting Hint™ essence water without sugar, preservatives or anything artificial, launches its first major promotional tie-in with its Peppermint water and the release of Disney's The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, starring Tim Allen and scheduled for release on November 3, 2006.

Hint Peppermint Essence water includes images from the film along with a call to action for an online instant win game. The live action holiday comedy is about Jack Frost's attempt to take over the North Pole from Santa, and the series of modern-day hijinks that ensue in an effort to foil Jack Frost's crafty scheme.

Hint, whose mantra is Drink Water, Not Sugar, is the brainchild of Kara Goldin, a San Francisco mother of four who was seeking a simply delicious, calorie-free beverage to give her family. She developed Hint in response to the growing wall of sugary juices and sodas. "Hint doesn't claim to make you smarter, calm you down, amp you up or ward off illnesses – we're just offering a great tasting extremely simple product that makes it enjoyable to drink more water," says Hint founder, Kara Goldin. "The feedback from consumers and the media has been phenomenal. To have the opportunity to work with an entertainment giant like Disney is a dream-come-true. We couldn't imagine a better collaborator with a proven track record with both kids and adults."

Hint comes in eight extraordinary flavors including: Pomegranate-Tangerine, Peppermint, Pear, Raspberry-Lime, Lime, Tropical Punch, Apple and Cucumber. Now sold in specialty markets, grocery stores, fine spas, luxury hotels and on www.drinkhint.com, Hint has a suggested retail price of $1.69 for 15ml. A case of 24 bottles can be purchased online for $44.

Why "you" hate "Monday Night Football"

A rant about what's wrong with MNF led to a barrage of reader e-mails who also are sick of ESPN. But does the sports network care?

It looks like I'm not the only one who isn't ready for some football on Monday nights.

E-mails poured in following yesterday's rant about how displeased I am with ESPN's "Monday Night Football" telecasts this year.

At last count, I had well over 100 responses from readers and almost everyone agreed with me that ESPN is doing football fans a disservice with the gratuitous promotions for ESPN's sister network ABC -- both of which are owned by Walt Disney -- and the distracting celebrity interviews in the booth.

We also included a poll within yesterday's column. And the admittedly unscientific results do support my contention that ESPN needs to focus less on "Dancing with the Stars" highlights and more on football highlights.

Only 7 percent of the respondents said they actually like ESPN's MNF broadcasts while 79 percent said they did not. The remaining 14 percent said they do not watch MNF.

Fans aren't happy. And it might even finally be starting to hit ESPN where it matters most: ratings. MNF has had its two lowest audiences during the past two weeks.

After topping the 10 million viewer mark every week this season, ratings dipped slightly below that level for the November 6 game. And this past Monday's game, featuring the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, hit a new low, with 9.6 million viewers according to preliminary figures from Nielsen Media Research.

Granted, these numbers are still great for cable. In addition, this past week's game and the game from the week before, which featured the Seattle Seahawks and Oakland Raiders, involved teams from relatively small markets.

Of course, Oakland obviously isn't small if you lump it in with San Francisco ... but the Raiders are a bad team that few people in their right mind would want to watch. It's worth noting that NBC, which has also enjoyed huge ratings for its Sunday Night Football telecasts, had it lowest ratings of the season when it aired a Raiders game.

Jed Drake, a senior vice president and executive producer for ESPN, maintained that it was the poor match-ups and not dissatisfaction with the quality of the broadcasts, that have led to the lower ratings during the past few weeks.

Still, couldn't part of the ratings declines of the past two weeks be a sign that fans, like Howard Beale in "Network" are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore?

Drake disagreed with that notion.

"We think what we have going here is working pretty well and we will continue with it," he said.

But I can't help but think that viewers are losing patience even if ESPN doesn't want to admit it.

Here's a sampling of what some readers had to say about "Monday Night Football." Thanks again to all of you who took the time to send me an e-mail.

"Thank you so much for finally putting to the forefront what many REAL football fans have felt from the beginning of the season this year. MNF has turned into to a sensationalistic chat group about everything other than the game at hand and football as a whole," wrote Courtney R.

See that ESPN? You can say all you want that people are happy with the current MNF format and that the guest interviews bring in the "casual" fan. But a lot of fans are angry.

Yet, ESPN doesn't seem to care. Even though Drake conceded that negative emails to ESPN.com about MNF outweigh positive ones by about a 9 to 1 margin, ESPN is undaunted.

"We're going for an audience that is not just the hard core football fan. We have been successful. Have you looked at our ratings?" Drake said.

But who is this mystical "casual" fan anyway? Why is it more important to please them than the core group of sports fans that made you the ratings powerhouse you currently are? Doesn't the 'S' in ESPN stand for sports?

If "casual" is supposed to be a euphemism for women, ESPN might want to know that there are plenty of women who actually enjoy football and aren't nagging their husbands to change the channel on Monday nights after the obligatory celebrity interview.

In particular, a bunch of readers (male and female) pointed out that they thought it was highly inappropriate for commentator Tony Kornheiser to ask "Desperate Housewives" star James Denton about which of his female colleagues he would want to have sex with.

"Kornheiser posed the sickening question, "Which housewife would you sleep with?" As a FEMALE fan of Monday Night Football...I was quite frankly disgusted and felt like this man had just taken sexism to a new low," wrote Valarie C. (In ESPN's defense, a spokesman said Kornheiser actually asked Denton to "rate the housewives" and did not specifically refer to sex.)

Still, I couldn't agree more with Valarie. I watch a lot of ESPN (love it or hate it, it's kind of like the Microsoft Windows of sports news) and unfortunately, I do get the sense that the male on-air personalities (both former athletes as well as trained journalists) often act like teenaged boys in a locker room. ESPN really needs to stop resorting to hackneyed gender stereotypes (Man like sports. Woman likes soap operas) and join the 21st century.

And the Disney/ABC shilling has to become less intrusive. Of course, it's not going to stop. Disney paid a lot of money for the rights to MNF and should get more bang for its buck. But some readers fear that ESPN has more sinister cross-promotion plans.

"I know that professional football is no longer a sport and is more entertainment, but does Disney/ESPN have to make it worse? Next we will see 'Little Mermaid' halftime shows during MNF?" quipped Aaron C.

Aaron, don't give ESPN any ideas. Plus, ESPN probably wouldn't just reserve this just for halftime. Am I the only one having nightmares about a Sebastian the crab-Hank Williams, Jr. duet of "Under the Sea" taking place in the booth while a key third down play is taking place?

Many of you also wrote in to suggest that I start watching the game with the sound turned off and listen to the radio broadcasts instead. That is a good idea. But still, why should I have to? Is it unreasonable to expect that the TV team will actually talk about the game most of the time?

Of course, some people (although not many) did think I went overboard with my attack on ESPN.

"I think your criticism is too harsh. I feel their argument to have a guest for some 5 or 6 minutes during a 3+ hrs broadcast is pretty valid," wrote Thomas H., adding that he liked the interview the MNF crew did with former basketball player Charles Barkley. "Maybe ESPN should invite sports people rather than "normal" celebrities."

I'll admit that having more athletes and fewer Hollywood celebrities would be welcome. And fans do appear to be in luck for this coming week's game. ESPN plans to have Ronde Barber, a cornerback for Tampa Bay and the twin brother of Giants' running back Tiki, as the guest in the booth.

Ronde is a good "get" since he is a very funny guy. Plus, Tiki has announced plans to retire this season (please reconsider Tiki!) so Ronde probably will have some interesting insights about that announcement as well as the game itself.

Hopefully, ESPN will keep the focus on the game and not have Kornheiser ask Ronde who his favorite "Dancing with the Stars" contestant is, whether or not he would want to sleep with any of his team's cheerleaders or present him with a kitchen appliance for his wife. Is that too much to ask?

The Magic of Disney

For a media company the size of Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), a 14% sales increase in its most recent quarter is quite remarkable. Was it magic? Well, no, but that isn't to say that Walt Disney still doesn't have that magic touch upon children and adults alike -- it clearly does.

My colleague Rick Aristotle Munarriz provided an extensive look into what's been driving growth for the company over the past year. You'll see that it experienced growth across all of its major business segments -- networks, parks, studio, and consumer products.

Rick also highlighted that in fiscal 2007, you won't see Disney resting on past successes; it plans to increase capital expenditures during the year somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 million to $500 million, according to the conference call. Approximately half of this increase will be devoted to theme-park development, which will further reinforce Disney's competitive advantage against the likes of Cedar Fair and Six Flags. The other half of the increase will be dedicated to digital initiatives.

We'll use this latest edition of Fool on Call to look at those initiatives. Using the company's latest quarterly earnings conference call, we will unearth some of the steps Disney is taking to expand in the following high-growth segments:

• Internet and downloadable content.
• Interactive gaming.

Surfing, Disney style
In FY 2007, Disney is aiming to generate approximately $700 million in revenues from Internet and downloadable content. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was the year's biggest film and Disney's third-largest ever, with global box-office revenues surpassing the $1 billion mark. Look for Disney to capitalize on the film's success even further in the coming months. DVD sales will be one natural complement, but in addition, the film will be available before Christmas for download via iTunes.

"Over the past year, approximately 85 million of our TV shows, movies, and shorts have been played or downloaded on iTunes, DisneyChannel.com, and ABC.com," remarked CEO Bob Iger. Among ABC TV programs alone, 12 million have been purchased on iTunes since October of last year. Since June, 53 million shows have been played at DisneyChannel.com. Additionally, in the first eight weeks of Monday Night Football this season, ESPN.com has "averaged more than 27 million page views each game day." The results led Iger to surmise that "TV viewing and Web use can reinforce rather than cannibalize each other."

While ESPN.com and ABC.com continue to go through "substantial ongoing upgrades," investors should also watch for a new "state-of-the-art" Disney.com in FY2007. Parents will be able to use the site for booking vacation trips to Disney's cruise lines or theme parks. And kids can chat with friends, watch Disney shows, and play interactive multiplayer games. Iger indicated during the question-and-answer portion of the call that the new Disney.com is slated for release "sometime after the first of the year."

The social-networking aspect of Disney.com is one area worth paying particular attention too. News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) has benefited from the astounding success of MySpace.com, despite being widely criticized for a lack of features that further protect individuals from scam artists, frauds, and potential predators. Disney has an opportunity to carve out its niche in social networking if it can lock down the kids-and-tweens part of the market by offering a fun, safe, and highly customizable interactive environment.

Interactive Disney
Over the next several years, Disney will significantly ramp up efforts in the critically important video game market. In FY 2007 alone, the company expects to spend roughly 30% more in this segment compared to 2006. Over the next five to seven years, investments in annual video game development are targeted at around $350 million.

According to CFO Tom Staggs, "Video games represent an important long-term growth opportunity for us, with the potential for very attractive returns on our investment." With Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox 360 in full swing, and Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PS3 and the Nintendo Wii also plugging in this month, a new generation of electronic gaming is about to flood the market, and Disney is intent on grabbing a piece of this growth pie.

The good news for Disney is that it is already naturally positioned to expand its presence in this market. Kids-and-tweens games currently account for roughly $8.5 billion, or half of the video game market -- Disney's natural demographic target. Evidence of the potential can be found in the success of its Kingdom Hearts franchise. Kingdom Hearts 2 was "one of the year's biggest-selling video games," with the franchise now having sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.

Going forward, look for Disney to publish more of its own titles, "the majority of which will be Disney-branded." Pirates of the Caribbean seems like a natural fit, and indeed, Iger indicated that Pirates would soon be turned into an online multiplayer game.

Publishing titles in-house benefits Disney by giving it a greater piece of the profits. The drawback of such a strategy, however, is that video game development is more complex than ever before; it requires significant resources and expertise to make attractive, user-friendly games. Activision (Nasdaq: ATVI), in its most recent conference call, noted that one of its competitive advantages is that the barriers to entry in this market are becoming increasingly more substantial. For this reason, it's no wonder that Marvel Entertainment (NYSE: MVL) has relied on licensing to gets its brand out in the interactive-gaming segment. 

Videogaming represents too important of a market for Disney to drop the ball, so this will be one area that long-term investors will want to monitor over the next few years. Can Disney do it better in-house, grabbing greater profits and a bigger piece of the market in the process? Stay tuned.

New markets
Disney has posted strong earnings growth over the past few years. Keeping up at this pace will prove to be quite a challenge, but Disney seems to be making the right moves, both in interactive gaming and in Internet content. And we haven't even mentioned the enormous growth opportunities currently under way from the burgeoning middle classes in China and India.

In total, long-term-minded shareholders have to feel good about their ownership in Walt Disney -- a brand that continues to find new ways to share its magic.

Disney dollars encourage family volunteers 

The Walt Disney Company gave $5,844 to the Volunteer Center of East Central Wisconsin for this Saturday's Family Volunteer Day and to promote family volunteering.

Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse handed the $2 million check at the annual National Conference on Volunteering and Service this June in Seattle to the Points of Light Foundation and the Volunteer Center National Network, said Julia Drobeck, Volunteer Center of East Central Wisconsin executive director.

The national organization, Points of Light, received $200,000 and 300 volunteer centers statewide will divide the rest of the money, Drobeck said. Disney's dollars will pay for volunteer center staff costs and encourage staff to develop family volunteer opportunities with the agencies they work with.

The annual day of service traditionally takes place the week before Thanksgiving to get into the holiday spirit and encourage families to get involved in community projects together, Drobeck said.

Vicki Drabandt, local Volunteer Center program director, said there are several local families that volunteer together in Oshkosh. Such families organize fundraisers for local agencies, help clean the Christine Ann Center and ring bells together for the Salvation Army.

The Walt Disney Company uses a more flexible term for "family" when it comes to volunteering, Drobeck said.

"They use the term 'you make up your own family,'" Drobeck said. "Family units, no matter how you define them, are the ones who provide you support and connection to the community. That can be mom, dad and kids, aunts and uncles, and even co-workers."

Family volunteering impacted sisters Lynnae Sievert and Lori Gruse. Sievert was 14 and Gruse was 12 when their family started getting involved with Cerebral Palsy of Mideast Wisconsin, Inc.

As they helped organize a picnic for families with cerebral palsy, Sievert and Gruse said their father instilled his philosophy of "one hand washing another" - if you help one person, they will help someone else.

"Quality time is precious," Sievert said. "We were spending time with our family and learning that other people need assistance."

Sievert and Gruse said they now work for Cerebral Palsy of Mideast Wisconsin. Sievert said she also encourages her own kids to volunteer.

"They don't see it as a chore," Sievert said. "I see people who volunteer because they feel like they have to do it for school credit. But when my kids volunteer, they see it as something worthwhile and beneficial."

But the best part of family volunteering to Sievert and Gruse is that more helping hands get the job done faster.

"Then you can help someone else," Gruse said.

Bishop, a lifelong Fullerton, Calif. resident, and his crew worked from 2-7 a.m. Nov. 10 plugging hundreds of red poinsettias and cyclamen into the Frontierland gardens for the 8 a.m. opening of Disneyland's holiday season.

"We had to wait until workers strung all the Christmas lights before we could do our job," said Bishop, 44, the lead gardener for Frontierland, Critter Country and Tom Sawyer Island.

The "holiday magic" can't appear until the first day of the seasonal celebration, leaving one morning to replace fall foliage with red-and-green flora.

Although the 10,000 poinsettia plants ordered for the entire resort look hardy, they are perhaps the most fragile decorations, Bishop said.

"Children stand on foot rails to see the reindeer, and accidentally step on the plants," Bishop said. "Or guests stumble into the planters."

The seasonal plants are also susceptible to Botrytis disease caused by over watering or bugs.

"We sometimes have to change the plants out every two days," he said.

Bishop worked the night shift beneath movable halogen lights to also spruce up all sizes of live Christmas trees, amaryllis plants and showy ornamentals.

Each year, the 1 million annuals, 5,000 trees and 40,000 shrubs are planted throughout the resort. More than 800 species from 40 nations are represented, making Disneyland one of the most extensive and diverse botanical locations in the western United States.

Energizer Brings the Magic of Disney-Pixar's Cars DVDs to Families Everywhere

Much like the Energizer Bunny, Disney-Pixar's smash hit Cars keeps going and going -- first at the box office, grossing more than $240 million nationwide, and now, upon the recent release of the film on DVD as the #1 DVD in America. Energizer Holdings, Inc. and Disney-Pixar have teamed up again to offer two new promotions in conjunction with the DVD release of the hit film.

When consumers purchase two multi-packs of Energizer MAX batteries (8-AA, 8-AAA, 2-9-Volt, 4-C, or 4-D), they will receive $3 off the Cars DVD. As an added incentive, people who purchase the DVD and three multi-packs of Energizer MAX batteries will get a one-of-a-kind, specially designed Cars DVD case while supplies last. The offer runs through December 31.

"We are extremely pleased to be continuing our partnership with Disney- Pixar, and to make this offer to families across the country," said Jeff Ziminski, vice president North American marketing for Energizer. "We know that both children and adults will want to watch this amazing film again and again, and it's just in time for family travel and gifts. This fun and cool DVD case will make it more convenient for them to bring Cars and some of their other favorite films along for the ride."

In the spirit of Cars' racing theme, Energizer is kicking off the promotion today at a special event in Charlotte, N.C. at the NASCAR SpeedPark. NASCAR's Reed Sorenson, driver of the #41 Target Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, will arrive at the SpeedPark with the Energizer Bunny to make a special delivery of Cars DVDs to children from the Victory Junction Gang Camp. The racing-themed camp provides children with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses with exciting, fun and empowering activities in a safe environment.

Sorenson and some of the kids will take a few laps around the track, as the Energizer Bunny encourages them to keep going to the finish line. After the race, Sorenson and the Energizer Bunny will host a special DVD screening of the movie for the kids as they cheer for their favorite Cars characters.

To extend the message to children everywhere, Energizer also will be donating special DVD gift packs to select children's hospitals nationwide, as the Energizer Bunny makes special deliveries of the Cars DVDs throughout November and December.

Loaded with a full tank of electrifying DVD bonus features, the highly anticipated Cars DVD is freewheeling fun for everyone! Bonus features include an exclusive animated short Mater and The Ghostlight, the Academy Award- nominated short One Man Band; "The Inspiration for Cars"; deleted scenes; hilarious end credit vignettes shown in full screen; and a special sneak peek at the highly anticipated next Disney-Pixar feature Ratatouille.

When Cars opened in theaters last May, Energizer and Disney-Pixar partnered to offer free collectible Energizer Cars launchers and Cars- inspired flashlights.

'Arrested' Crew in 'The Thick of It' at ABC

Some of the folks behind FOX's late, lamented "Arrested Development" are getting back into the "The Thick of It."

Richard Day, a writer and producer on "Arrested," and series creator Mitch Hurwitz are collaborating on an adaptation of the BBC 4 series "The Thick of It" for ABC. The network has given a pilot order to the show, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The original series, which won two BAFTA Awards (the British version of the Emmys) earlier this year, including best comedy, focused on a harried British government minister and the inept staff members and bureaucrats he dealt with on a daily basis (it aired on BBC America in this country). ABC's version will transplant the action to Congress.

Day, who will write the pilot script, has five Emmy nominations, including writing nods for "The Larry Sanders Show" and last season's "Arrested Development" finale. He's also shared in outstanding comedy series nominations for both those shows, as well as "Mad About You" in 1997. His credits also include writing and producing stints on "Ellen," "Spin City" and "Good Morning, Miami."

Hurwitz will executive produce the project, along with Day, Paul Telegdy and Armando Iannucci, who created the British series. Sony Pictures TV and BBC Worldwide are producing the pilot.

ABC Looks to Placate 'Lost' Fans

Wednesday will be the first week for "Lost" fans without a new episode this season, but ABC is offering up some teases of what's to come in hopes that they'll stick around.

Starting with the two-hour premiere of "Day Break" -- which is scheduled to occupy "Lost's" 9 p.m. Wednesday timeslot for the next three months -- the network will air teasers from upcoming episodes each week. ABC is calling them "Lost Moments"; each will run 30 seconds during that week's broadcast of "Day Break."

The clips will also show up on the "Lost" page at ABC.com the day after they air. ABC is also keeping the season's first six episodes online throughout the hiatus to allow viewers to refresh their memories or catch up on the series.

Additionally, the network has added a "Lost" wiki to the show's site, asking fans to contribute material on the show's characters and mythology, offer theories about what's going on and share their fan films, spoofs and other content. (There's also has a link to unofficial but exhaustive Lostpedia.)

"Lost" is scheduled to return to ABC on Wednesday, Feb. 7 and finish the season with 16 uninterrupted episodes.

Housewives on Top 

Something's up on Wisteria Lane: Ratings.

Desperate Housewives was TV's most watched show for the third week running, according to the latest Nielsen Media Research rankings.

More than that, ABC's suburban spoof has emerged as TV's most watched show of the two-month-old season.

Since its splashy debut in 2004, Housewives has done very little quietly, but with Grey's Anatomy and Dancing with the Stars hogging the headlines, its new Nielsen dominance has flown somewhat under the radar.

Housewives appears to owe its recent ascension to fellow ABC show Grey's Anatomy, which has knocked around TV's old number one, CBS' CSI, on Thursday nights. And because CSI has wobbled but not fallen, it has done Housewives a favor by keeping Grey's Anatomy in check—and just out of the number one spot.

So far this season, Desperate Housewives is averaging 22 million viewers, giving it the slimmest of leads over Grey's Anatomy (21.98 million) and CSI (21.7 million).

Claiming the top spot or no, Housewives is still in recovery mode from a second-season funk that apparently spurred millions of viewer defections. Overall, the show is drawing nearly 3 million fewer fans this fall compared to last.

But Housewives now appears to have stemmed the losses, even opposite tougher, if not direct, competition from NBC's Sunday Night Football.

The bottom line: It's probably wise not to cross Eva Longoria just yet. 

Other ratings highlights for the TV week ended Sunday:

• The latest Thursday heavyweight round went to CSI (third place, 20.8 million) over Grey's Anatomy (fifth place, 20.65 million).
• The latest Wednesday heavyweight round saw Lost's "fall finale" (ninth place, 17.1 million) fall to CBS' Criminal Minds (eighth place, 17.6 million)—or, as ABC likes to think of the show, "CBS' older-skewing Criminal Minds."  
• Scientific proof that it's not possible for ABC to air Dancing with the Stars too many times: We will watch dancing night (second place, 22 million), we will watch a recap show (seventh place, 18.2 million), and we will surely watch Joey Lawrence's emotional departure (fourth place, 20.69 million).
• Good news for Faith Hill: ABC's 40th annual Country Music Awards (14th place, 16 million) drew a larger audience than the YouTube clips of the singer's backstage "tantrum."
• The comedy smash of the season is...nothing. There was not a single half-hour comedy of the live-action or animated variety in the Top 10. Or the Top 20. And there was but a single Two and a Half Men (22nd place, 14.5 million) in the entire Top 25.
• NBC's Heroes (23rd place, 14.5 million) hit a season high in 18-to-49-year-old cheerleader-curious adults.
• The last time The Nine was aired, back on Nov. 2, the freshman serial drama was watched by 6.5 million—or about 2 million less than ABC scored just by running an old Desperate Housewives (46th place, 8.7 million) in place of the new show.
• Studio 60 (56th place, 7.7 million) and Friday Night Lights (69th place, 5.9 million) got full-season pickups from NBC. The just as little-watched What About Brian got one from ABC, too.  
• Fox's Justice (72nd place, 5.9 million) will watch the remainder of the November sweeps from the bench, usurped on Monday nights by House reruns. The freshman legal drama is scheduled to return Dec. 11, likely en route to being canceled for good.
• Maybe it's not Thursday night that ails The O.C. The sagging soap did even worse in a special Wednesday outing (94th place, 3.5 million) than in its killer timeslot opposite Grey's and CSI (90th place, 3.7 million).
• Fox's Vanished (106th place, 2.9 million) has not been pulled from the schedule. Yet.
• 60 Minutes'  tribute to the late Ed Bradley was observed by 16.2 million (12th place).
• To briefly recap last week's cable leaders: Monday Night Football (9.9 million), Spongebob, Spongebob, Spongebob, College Football Thursday Night (6.2 million), Spongebob, Spongebob, Spongebob.

Time to talk Turkey at Walt Disney World 

New technology to aid Disney's pass holders 

Disney Announces 2007 Blu-Ray Releases

Worker must repay £2000 she took from Disney stores

Hot Springs boy enjoys Disney Make-A-Wish cruise

Rockbridge Middle School Gets Schooled at Walt Disney World

Why I hate 'Monday Night Football'

Uncovering the woman behind Mary Poppins

Snowboard World Cup Going to Disney
Disney Shooting Part Of Movie In Westerly
Disney to step up digital distribution drive

New technology to aid Disney's pass holders

 

Hong Kong Disneyland has introduced new technology to fight ticket fraud and reduce admission time for annual-pass holders.

"Every annual-pass holder only needs 10 seconds to get through the gate," said Noble Coker, the theme park's vice president and chief information officer.

It is the first time the technology has been used in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Disneyland is the second Disney theme park in the world to adopt it after Walt Disney World Resort in Florida began using the technology in September this year.

The technology - jointly developed by the American theme park giant and a US biometrics company, Lumidigm - uses physical or behavioral characteris- tics to verify the identity of an individual.

"But it's different from fingerprint identification," Coker explained, adding that annual-pass holders need not worry about their personal data being leaked if their passes are lost or stolen. A ticketing tag system will be installed in existing ticketing machines to identify each holder after his or her index finger has been scanned, but it does not contain sufficient information to recreate a fingerprint image, Coker said.

Annual-pass holders can choose to use this technology or present valid identification, like their Hong Kong ID card, to gain admission.

The system's failure rate is less than 1 percent, Coker said.

Two ticketing machines will be used for a trial run from Tuesday, and the technology will be installed in 16 other machines within six months.

Hong Kong Disneyland has sold more than 10,000 annual passes so far, a spokesman said. The cheapest type, priced at HK$650 for adults and HK$460 for children for use on weekdays has been the most popular.

Disney Announces 2007 Blu-Ray Releases
 

You’ve just blown a grand (or close to it) on a Blu-ray player. Now what are you going to do? Go get Disney titles! Seriously though—the player isn’t all that exciting when it’s empty…

Buena Vista Home Entertainment just four HD titles for January. Here’s what I don’t get: Why do they go to the back of the Disney vault for the first of 2007?

OK—”Chicago” is a home theater demo favorite, as well as an Oscar winner. However, was ”Casanova” or ”The Guardian” at the top of people’s “must-see” lists? I guess if it’s one of the few Blu-ray titles you don’t have yet, it soon will be. Also, I think ”The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” might look cool in high-def, but it was sort of disappointing (sorry if you don’t agree).

The one good thing is that each of the releases are 50GB dual-layer discs, which should pack tons of bonus goodies.

Where is “The Little Mermaid?” “Kill Bill?” Pry open that vault, fellas. We want the good stuff.

• $34.99 each
• Titles available January 23, 2007
• 50GB, dual layer discs

Worker must repay £2000 she took from Disney stores

A Disney store manager who embezzled more than £2000 from its two Edinburgh shops in a desperate bid to pay off spiralling debts has been ordered to pay the cash back.

I'm a huge New York Giants fan. Yet, I'm not looking forward to watching their next game.

The fact that the Giants are decimated by injuries partly explains my wary attitude. But the main reason I'm dreading Big Blue's upcoming match-up against the Jacksonville Jaguars is because the game is on Monday night, which means ESPN will broadcast it.

ESPN has taken self-promotion to a ridiculous new extreme this year. And that has raised the ire of many fans.

I'm in a fantasy football league with a bunch of friends. And on Monday nights, we often have more to say on our league's message board about how infuriating the ESPN broadcast is than about the game itself.

We're not alone. One sports blog, Outside the Beltway, has a page called "Monday Night Football on ESPN sucks." And an item on sports blog TheBigLead.com from last month was titled "Can the JV MNF Crew Start Warming Up in the Pen? Because This is a Debacle." (Since I agree with the comment, I'll forgive the author's mixed sports metaphor here ... using a baseball term to describe action on the gridiron.)

In case you didn't know ... and it would be impossible to remain blissfully ignorant for long when watching ESPN ... the sports network is owned by Walt Disney, which also owns ABC.

MNF has been guilty of heavy cross-promotions for other ABC shows when MNF actually aired on ABC, which it did up until this season. But this year, it seems to have gotten worse. James Denton, one of the stars of ABC's hit show "Desperate Housewives," was featured in the booth yukking it up with the broadcasters during one game. Pointless.

During the Giants-Dallas Cowboys contest on October 23, Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time league-leading rusher, was asked more questions about his fancy footwork on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" (Smith is one of the show's finalists) than he was about his former playing days .... and this was during a game featuring his old team!

ESPN committed an even more egregious penalty earlier in that game. Just as Giants linebacker LaVar Arrington was writhing on the turf due to what turned out to be a season-ending injury, the announcers in the booth were busy chatting with Hank Williams, Jr., who has been singing MNF's grating theme song since 1989.

The announcers were goofing around, laughing at Joe Theismann wearing Hank's cowboy hat instead of talking about how a key player on the Giants just got hurt. Actual news...ignored by ESPN for the sake of "entertainment."

For now, ESPN can point to great ratings for MNF telecasts as evidence that what they are doing is working. The Giants-Cowboys game had an audience of 16 million viewers, a record for cable TV. And viewers are watching telecasts for a longer period of time than they did last year. But how long can that last? Does ESPN risk losing its core audience if it keeps ramming ABC down football viewers' throats?

I'd argue yes. For ESPN to consistently garner good ratings, it needs to make sure that all football fans are interested in the MNF game and not just fans from the two teams' local markets.

But I think ESPN is making it harder and harder to get fans to want to tune into MNF games unless they involve their favorite team. Sure, I'll watch the Giants this coming Monday ... but it's most likely the last MNF game I'll catch this season.

And if more pigskin diehards like me grow tired of the shtick on MNF and start watching "Heroes" on NBC or "CSI: Miami" on CBS, that's not good news for ESPN and Disney. I highly doubt the same people who watch MNF are likely to switch to ABC's "What about Brian" on Monday nights instead.

ESPN doesn't seem to be worried. In an e-mailed response, ESPN spokesman Bill Hofheimer wrote that the ratings speak for themselves and that there are plenty of people happy with the broadcasts ... they just don't go on blogs to proclaim how satisfied they are.

"While a small fraction of fans have voiced concern with the new approach, when was the last time a customer bought a computer and called Dell to say how much he/she loved the new monitor?" wrote Hofheimer.

Still, who really wants to see "Dancing with the Stars" footage while a game is going on? If ESPN needs to do a soft feature about Emmitt's new career, at least save it for halftime.

The big difference between ESPN and its rivals is that other networks don't allow the corporate shilling to get in the way of the game.

This past Sunday, for example, NBC had Alec Baldwin pop-in to the studio just before kickoff in the guise of his character from NBC's sitcom "30 Rock." This was forced and annoying but at least it was done during the pre-game show.

Fortunately, viewers didn't have to listen to Alec pretend to be a GE executive while the Giants and Chicago Bears were actually playing. Once the game started, John Madden and Al Michaels were all business. Baldwin didn't show up in the booth. Nor did Matthew Perry, Howie Mandel, Maria Bartiromo, King Kong or any other NBC Universal "talent."

Other networks seem to realize this too. The Sunday afternoon telecasts on CBS and News Corp.'s Fox are, more often than not, highly professional and focus on football first.

Now to be fair, ESPN hasn't only invited people toiling on the House of Mouse's payroll into the MNF booth. Spike Lee appeared during the game against the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints and talked about his Hurricane Katrina documentary, which was co-produced by and aired on HBO, a subsidiary of my parent company Time Warner.

And actor Christian Slater came on during the November 6 game to talk about his new movie, "Bobby." The delicious irony there is that "Bobby" is being distributed by The Weinstein Company., the studio founded by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein after their messy Miramax divorce with Disney. I bet Disney studio honchos in Hollywood weren't pleased.

But this speaks to the bigger problem for Monday Night Football ... even if ESPN isn't pimping ABC or other Disney products, football often seems to be the last thing on the minds of play-by-play man Mike Tirico and commentators Theismann and Tony Kornheiser (or, as I like to refer to them, the unholy trinity).

ESPN's own ombudsman (coolest word ever) even agrees. George Solomon, a former editor at the Washington Post who now writes critiques of the network's coverage on ESPN.com, took ESPN to task for the preponderance of guests in the booth in a recent column.

"Many viewers feel the guests are a distraction from the football game. I agree. It's a football game, not a night-time talk show," Solomon wrote.

Despite this firestorm of criticism, ESPN still doesn't appear to get it. This past Monday, during the game between Carolina and Tampa Bay, NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon was the "celebrity" guest. At least they had an athlete on instead of a movie or TV star. But this segment was still relatively worthless if you're a football fan.

The "highlights" were Gordon and Kornheiser discussing why the NASCAR season should be more like "American Idol" or "Survivor" and Kornheiser giving Gordon a Belgian waffle maker because Gordon's new wife is a model from Belgium. Wow! Make room for an Emmy!

But ESPN's Hofheimer defended the practice of having guests in the booth.

"Guests and celebs are broadening our telecasts and helping to attract more casual fans to the game, which is in the tradition of MNF, and we have had many non-Disney guests. Plus, we are usually talking about 5-6 minutes over the course of a three-hour telecast, and our down to down football coverage and analysis is as strong as it's ever been," Hofheimer wrote.

I don't buy the "casual fan" argument. Does ESPN think someone will choose to watch MNF as opposed to say, "Heroes" on the off chance that the MNF crew might interview their favorite celebrity?

The F in MNF should stand for football, not fun, frivolity or fluff. ESPN needs to learn that you can still have an entertaining telecast without celebrities.

And the network shouldn't be fooled by the ratings. If Monday Night Football remains a Monday Night Fiasco for much longer, I think more hardcore football fans are eventually going to change the channel.

Uncovering the woman behind Mary Poppins

Who was P.L. Travers?

The easy answer is that she was the author of the Mary Poppins books that resulted in a beloved Disney movie and a Broadway musical.

But Travers played other roles during her 96 years: she was an actress and a journalist in Australia and the U.K.; she wrote propaganda for the U.S. during the Second World War; she was a poet respected by the great Irish poets.

Travers’ remarkable life gets full-scale treatment in a biography, Mary Poppins, She Wrote, by Valerie Lawson.

"In the 1980s, someone had told me, ‘Did you know that the author of Mary Poppins was born in Australia?’ I filed that in the back of my mind, and I did a little work on it. One day I realized I really had to tell this woman’s story," said Lawson in an interview from her home in Sydney, Australia.

Lawson, who writes for the Sydney Herald, began her four-year pursuit of the elusive Travers in New Mexico, where Travers had lived in Taos and Santa Fe. Then it was on to Washington, D.C., where Travers worked for the U.S. propaganda office.

Next came New York, where Travers and her adopted son lived during the war, followed by Massachusetts, where she had been a writer in residence at Smith College and Radcliffe College. Lawson also did intensive research in England and Ireland.

Travers was born Helen Lyndon Goff on Aug. 9, 1899, in Maryborough, Australia. Her Irish father was a bank employee and a drinker. Lyndon, as she was called, left school in her teens to go on the stage, a move that shocked her staid Scottish mother. The girl rose from walk-ons to leading roles, changing her name to the more theatrical Pamela Lyndon Travers, the latter her father’s first name.

As her stage career flourished, Travers suddenly quit to become a writer.

"She knew what her father had taught her — that she came from a family of great Irish literary people," Lawson said. "He had drummed that into her, even though he died when she was seven. She felt that was where she belonged: as a writer."

She wrote for a time for Australian newspapers, but then decided her future was in England and Ireland. She became involved in the literary scene in both countries — intellectually and romantically. But she never married.

"I think she fell in love with the wrong people," Lawson said. "There was a mad Irish poet, Francis Macnamara, a womanizer and alcoholic. Then there was AE (pseudonym for Irish poet George William Russell), but he was married and much older. Although she was strongly involved with women for a period in her life, I found no proof that she was actually a lesbian."

Travers wrote 18 books, signing them P.L. Travers, "hoping people wouldn’t bother to wonder if the books were written by a man, a woman or a kangaroo." In 1934, the first of six Mary Poppins books was published. Ten years later, the stories came to the attention of Walt Disney.

Disney had found the book on the bedside table of his daughter, Diane. She told him that it was about an English nanny who could fly. Disney read the book and sent his brother, Roy Disney, to make a deal with the author in New York, where Travers and her son had gone to escape the London bombings.

Travers finally agreed to sell the film rights in 1960. Walt Disney had become so frustrated by the long negotiations that he gave Travers the extraordinary power of approval of the screen treatment — a mistake. The author came to the studio twice and was totally opposed to the Disney approach to the Poppins stories.

Richard and Robert Sherman, who composed the Mary Poppins songs, worked intensely with Travers on orders from the boss. Richard Sherman recalled Disney telling him and his brother: "You handle her; I can’t stand all that negativism."

"It was Walt’s dream to have a musical based on the Poppins characters. But if you researched through all of the books, you wouldn’t find a plot," Sherman said.

Disney aimed to portray a mother fighting for a cause (women’s suffrage) and a father so busy at the bank that he had no time for his children. Enter Mary Poppins.

"That was our curve, our arc," Sherman said. "Travers didn’t know what we were talking about. She claimed we were butchering her story. She would listen to the songs but had nothing nice to say about them. ‘I like Greensleeves,’ she said. But I did get her to sing Feed the Birds with me on a tape."

Disney liked to tell the story of how Travers approached him at the Poppins premiere and said the movie was "quite nice." She approved of Julie Andrews as Poppins but considered Dick Van Dyke "all wrong" and objected to mixing animated characters with live actors.

"When do we start cutting it?" she inquired.

Disney smiled indulgently and reminded her that the contract stipulated that when the picture was finished it became the studio’s property.

Lawson said that in later years, Travers "talked in private about how terrible Walt Disney was, but in public she was more cautious." Perhaps that was because the immensely popular movie and the long-lasting book sales — the six Poppins books are still in print — made her a millionaire.

The Travers trust will likely become further enriched with the Disney stage musical of Mary Poppins, which has already been well received in London. The show opens Thursday at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York.

Pamela Lyndon Travers died on April 23, 1996. Her estate was valued at US$3.7 million, most of it the result of Mary Poppins.

Snowboard World Cup Going to Disney

After the opening of the Big Air season of the Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup 2006/2007 in Stockholm, the air artists are preparing to compete in this winter’s second contest. On December 8th, Paris will organize a Big Air in the Disney Village at Euro Disney as the French capital celebrates its debut as a World Cup host.

Spectators can anticipate watching the snowboarders jumping the kicker, offering an amazing show in the battle for World Cup points.

Event sponsor Corona's new website snowboard.corona-extra.net is providing news and photos of the tour stops of the Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup as well as video footage.

The movies are available downstream in the section “Snowboard News Videos”. The FIS homepage also links to the new snowboard website in all World Cup event pages.

Disney Shooting Part Of Movie In Westerly

Hollywood has come to town in the form of a movie production crew for Walt Disney Studios' “Dan in Real Life,” a romantic comedy starring Steve Carell and Juliet Binoche.

Disney's art, construction, lighting and special effects departments are transforming The Windjammer Lounge on Atlantic Avenue in Misquamicut into a set depicting the exterior of a bowling alley. Shooting will begin next week, and will continue in other locations for about a month.

Scenes will be shot at Napatree Point in Watch Hill, Seaport Studios and St. Clair's Annex on Bay Street in Watch Hill, and at Alley Katz Bowling Center on Granite Street. No construction will be done at Napatree, where filming will be monitored by Grover Fugate, executive director of the state Coastal Resources Management Council. All production activities should wrap up by Dec. 19.

According to the Rhode Island Film & Television Office, principal photography began Oct. 23, and will end Dec. 22. Other Rhode Island towns being used for the movie are Jamestown, Middletown, East Greenwich, Newport and Providence.

“Dan in Real Life” tells the story of Dan Ashburn, a widower with three daughters who learns that the woman he has fallen for is his brother's girlfriend. The title role is played by Carell, star of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” and winner of a Golden Globe for his role in the hit NBC series “The Office.” The love interest, Marie, is played by Binoche, who won an Academy Award for her supporting role in “The English Patient.” Dan's brother Mitch is played by comedian Dane Cook.

Also appearing in the movie is Dianne Wiest, who had award-winning roles in “Hannah and Her Sisters,” and “Bullets Over Broadway.”

The movie is being directed by Peter Hedges, who wrote and directed “Pieces of April,” and wrote “About A Boy” and “What's Eating Gilbert Grape?” The screenplay was written by Hedges and Pierce Gardner, who wrote the 2000 horror film “Lost Souls.”

According to preliminary information, Seaport Studios will be transformed into a bookstore, where Dan and Marie will meet for the first time. They will then go to a coffee shop, which will be St. Clare's Annex. The Napatree scene will show the main characters walking along a beach.

A 2007 release date is anticipated. Representatives from Walt Disney Studios could not be reached for comment.

Disney to step up digital distribution drive
 

Disney is to revamp its flagship Disney.com web site, streaming programmes and providing social networking features so as to compete more effectively against Google-owned video-sharing site YouTube and News Corporation's social networking site MySpace.

The revamp comes as Disney chief executive Bob Iger—who has made digital distribution a key plank of the entertainment giant's growth strategy—revealed Disney had served 53m downloads of shows via Disney.com since June, while its TV network, ABC, had streamed 19m advertiser-funded episodes of shows such as Lost and Desperate Housewives.

At the same time Disney has now sold 12m TV shows and 500,000 movies via Apple's iTunes Music Store. Disney is the only studio to use iTunes to sell full-length movies, though News Corporation's Twentieth Century Fox is reportedly close to a deal to sell movies via iTunes.

Iger conceded that digital distribution was creating tensions with retail partners such as Wal-Mart, who are concerned that DVD sales will decline in the long-term.

Last week in the UK Disney announced a tie-up with BT to offer a broad selection of movies to customers of BT's soon-to-launch video-on-demand service, BT Vision.

In January, Disney acquired digital animated film studio Pixar in a $7.4bn deal putting Pixar founder and Apple CEO Steve Jobs on the Disney board as the company's largest shareholder.

Details fall into place at Disney 

Disney's $350m development warchest

DisneyShopping.com Heads into the Holidays with Strong Sales & New Website Design

Disney to step up digital distribution drive 

Toon Disney Spruces Up Big Movie Show

Five win art honors at festival

'Schwa' noticed by Disney Channel

Chip 'N Dale's Rescue Rangers Volume 2 on DVD 

Home Improvement: The Complete Fifth Season on DVD

The Golden Girls Season 6 on DVD

Mary Poppins to debut in New York

Disney Enlists New 'American Girl' Movie

Dream Disney job sabotaged by email

Disney wins 6 awards at Promax|BDA Asia 

TJ grad braving wild world of Disney 

Disney Offers A Dreamscape 

From Rocketboom to ABC

Details fall into place at Disney

 

Designers create a suite where some lucky winners will stay as part of the Year of a Million Dreams campaign.

 

Does Cinderella have a TV?

Curious Walt Disney World fans such as Leny Sou of Chicago want to know.

Of all the prizes Disney is giving away in its big, 15-month "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign, perhaps none is more tantalizing than a night in Cinderella Castle, the signature icon of the Magic Kingdom.

It's also the one prize that seems to have most taxed Disney officials' imaginations.

What's a fictional 17th-century French princess's home like, anyway?

Is it haughty and opulent, or does Cinderella draw on her humble roots to mix luxury with down-home comfort? Is there food? Would a night in her room be boring? Does Cinderella have her own butler -- pardon -- her own comte du cierge? Is there a good view from her castle windows? Would Cinderella herself drop by for a visit?

Sou, visiting Magic Kingdom Monday with husband Tony, son Kyle, 4, and daughter Kayla, 2, loves the idea of staying in the castle. But she's a mom. So she's practical.

"Do they have television? I mean, what is there to do up there, for kids?" she asked. "Especially overnight. That's going to be a long night, you know."

When the Cinderella Castle plan was announced, Disney officials weren't sure how it would work. Only now are some of the details emerging.

Abdul Delgado (right) and other Disney artists create an intricate glass tile mosaic that will hang in the Royal Suite at Cinderella Castle.

Yes, there will be TV. Yes, it looks as if the family will be shut in after the theme park closes for the night. And yes, a butler (known as a comte du cierge in old French), will be at their call.

In June, Disney announced the Year of a Million Dreams campaign. The company is giving away more than 1 million prizes, some worth tens of thousands of dollars a piece, such as time-share contracts and trips halfway around the world.

The plan to give away stays in the Royal Suite of the Cinderella Castle provided a challenge: The suite never existed. There is a roughed-in living space halfway up the castle, which was once envisioned as the Disney family apartment. But it had never been finished.

So since the campaign was announced, planners have been trying to sort out the logistics of putting a family into a single, lonely hotel room in the middle of a closed theme park. And Disney's designers are trying to create a royal suite worthy of a 17th-century princess living in a 21st-century fake castle.

And they're having a ball doing so, insisted Disney Imagineer Stephen Silvestri, who's overseeing much of the design. The project was dropped on Silvestri and his team without much warning in June.

Disney artist Margarita Rivero works Friday on the tile mosaic at Disney-MGM Studios.

"Exactly. It was about that way. But could you think of a better way to spend your time?" he said. "It's such a pleasure."

He and his team have been researching 17th-century royal French life and trying to create mosaics and other artwork, accoutrements and furnishings, often by hand, to fit in.

The suite, he said, will come with a "traditional" big, flat-screen, high-definition TV. But people won't notice it unless they look for it, just like the complimentary shampoos and lotions in the bathroom, bottled in what will look like old, French glassware.

"You want the fantasy," Silvestri said. "All those things are there, but they're not immediately recognizable to your eye."

Among other details:

Before dinner, the winning family will be escorted to the suite, regaled with the Cinderella story, and shown around the rooms. Disney will arrange transportation for them and their luggage from wherever they were.

They'll be taken to Cinderella's Royal Table Restaurant for dinner, where the actress in Cinderella character will meet with them.

This mosaic of Cinderella's Castle is one of the glass tile work pieces that Disney artists have completed at Disney-MGM Studios.

After dinner, they'll go back upstairs to freshen up, then be escorted to the "Wishes" show or other evening Disney entertainment.

In the morning, Cinderella will give them a wake-up call and check on them.

The 650-square-foot suite has a bedchamber, a bathroom and a parlor. The parlor has two sets of three windows: one overlooks Fantasyland; the other, Liberty Square.

Silvestri promised the rooms will be comfortable and luxurious, but not embarrassingly so. Designs call for an elevator inspired by Cinderella's carriage, a foyer with inlaid stone floors, wooden walls, a big stone (though faux) chateau-style fireplace, two big, soft beds and other pieces of faux period artwork and furniture. The princess' glass slippers will be on display.

The grotto-style bathroom will be dominated by three large, handmade mosaics of 17th-century landscapes, designed by Disney artists Katie Roser and Mary Hartwig to match the five 15-foot-tall mosaics that Dorothea Redmond created in 1971 for the castle breezeway.

A half-dozen Disney artists have been tediously selecting, cutting and gluing thousands of imported glass tiles for over a month to create the new mosaics. But given the tight castle conversion schedule they were all handed, that's hurrying, Roser said.

An artist meticulously place bits of shaped glass to form an intricate tile mosaic at Disney-MGM Studios.

"We think they had over a year and a half to do the originals," she said. "We are in our fifth week, and we have one more week. I think that we've done something that some traditional mosaic artists would think we're crazy."

"But we're good at that," Silvestri insisted.

Disney's $350m development warchest

 

Climax Racing, signing Stainless, opening a Nintendo-only studio - these are just the first steps in Disney's recent development activity; Buena Vista Games plans to keep spending on games production over the next few years.

As part of its end-of-year financials last week, the company confirmed that its fourth quarter profit had doubled to $782m off the back of box office hits Pirates of the Caribbean and Cars.

In addition, CFO Tom Staggs told Bloomberg that a huge chunk of its forward planning balance - specifically, some $350m, is going on video games development during the next five to seven years.

Disney's Buena Vista Games division has been very active of late, acquiring Climax's Racing studio in September and last week announcing it had signed up Stainless Games' Novadrome for Xbox Live Arcade. Last week also saw the announcement that it will open a new games studio in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA which would make games purely for Nintendo platforms.

DisneyShopping.com Heads into the Holidays with Strong Sales & New Website Design

With online holiday retail sales projected to increase 23 percent to $27 billion this year(a), www.DisneyShopping.com, The Walt Disney Company's (NYSE:DIS) shopping portal, has introduced a new website design tailored to make gift giving easy, fun and customizable just in time for the rush of the holiday season. Offering more than 8,000 products, the new site streamlines the online shopping experience, connecting families with favorite character products, new arrivals and seasonal gift shops all at the click of a mouse.

Mirroring the growth of the online shopping industry, DisneyShopping.com has experienced double digit growth in online sales since transitioning to a dedicated online business from an online and catalog format. The new website has already contributed to the company's best October selling period and is projected to continue delivering strong results into the holidays.

"Families consider DisneyShopping more than just an online store -- to many, it's an extension to connect with favorite Disney characters and bring the magic home," said Paul Gainer, vice president and general manager, DisneyShopping.com. "Knowing this, we set out to design a site that is easy to navigate, offers many options and adds value to guests' transactions."

The sleek and clean design at DisneyShopping.com creates an environment that is much easier to shop: white backgrounds with larger pictures of merchandise that vividly 'jump off' the page; easy to navigate product features; and simpler templates -- all encouraging guests to focus on key merchandise. Meanwhile, new technology provides guests with refined search capability, enabling them to locate products specifically by character (even when a name is misspelled), by product type and pricing. A newly added "left spine" also allows guests to more easily navigate directly to their desired category, character shop and age range.

Other new site features include:

• Gift Finder: For guests stumped on gift ideas, this tool offers many recommendations for that special someone. Search by gender, age and even browse the daily deals.
• Create-Your-Own: Personalize your product or add a special touch to the perfect gift. The Create-Your-Own tool enables guests to personalize an array of merchandise from apparel to home decor.
• Streamlined Registration & Checkout: Registered guests will enjoy quicker checkouts, an online address book, and the ability to view and track complete order history, as well as create and maintain a wish list. Registered guests will also receive special offers and previews.

Seasonal gift shops will also be available year round. The current Holiday Gift Shop features approximately 1,000 products -- all bound to make the season a merry one.

(a) According to survey results released in October 2006 by Forrester Research Inc.

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 decor 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.

Disney to step up digital distribution drive
 

Disney is to revamp its flagship Disney.com web site, streaming programmes and providing social networking features so as to compete more effectively against Google-owned video-sharing site YouTube and News Corporation's social networking site MySpace.

The revamp comes as Disney chief executive Bob Iger—who has made digital distribution a key plank of the entertainment giant's growth strategy—revealed Disney had served 53m downloads of shows via Disney.com since June, while its TV network, ABC, had streamed 19m advertiser-funded episodes of shows such as Lost and Desperate Housewives.

At the same time Disney has now sold 12m TV shows and 500,000 movies via Apple's iTunes Music Store. Disney is the only studio to use iTunes to sell full-length movies, though News Corporation's Twentieth Century Fox is reportedly close to a deal to sell movies via iTunes.

Iger conceded that digital distribution was creating tensions with retail partners such as Wal-Mart, who are concerned that DVD sales will decline in the long-term.

Last week in the UK Disney announced a tie-up with BT to offer a broad selection of movies to customers of BT's soon-to-launch video-on-demand service, BT Vision.

In January, Disney acquired digital animated film studio Pixar in a $7.4bn deal putting Pixar founder and Apple CEO Steve Jobs on the Disney board as the company's largest shareholder.

Toon Disney Spruces Up Big Movie Show

 

Eyeing a further ratings boost for its most popular programming block, Toon Disney has begun rolling out a mix of new and old high-profile films for its Big Movie Show franchise.

Disney & Excel Home Videos to kick off DVD Film Festival on Children's Day

 

Disney and Excel Home Videos, the Indian Licensee for Walt Disney, are celebrating Children's day with a Nationwide DVD Film Festival from 14 - 21 November, with the DVD release of Disney/Pixar Cars and the High School Musical.

The Festival will also provide special offers such as "three movies at the cost of two" for select titles including George Of The Jungle, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, Three Men And A Baby, 101 Dalmatians, Ice Princess, Parent Trap, Mary Poppins, Flubber, Sea Biscuit and Inspector Gadget.

The television feature film High School Musical, has created a phenomenon abroad and has also won the Television Critics Association Award for outstanding children's programming, six Emmy Award nominations and a Humanitas Prize nomination. The DVD has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide, making it the fastest selling television movie, states an official release.

The Children's Festival will be underway at DVD stores across the country including Planet M, Crossword, Landmark, Rhythm House and Music World among others, the release adds.

Excel Home Videos managing director M.N Kapasi says, "There is a sea change in the viewership habits in children over the years with mature content on the rise. Movies like High School Musical which deals with the issue of typecasting students at an early age there by stunting their all round growth finds an echo in urban India. We have through our effort, balanced the matured content with the innocent fun movies in our tribute to them on children's day." 

Wall St expects Iger encore, Disney shares fall

After a busy first year spent buying Pixar Animation Studios and slashing costs, Walt Disney Co. (DIS.N) Chief Executive Bob Iger is under pressure to produce a strong second act to keep profit growth in double-digits.

Quarterly results on Thursday pleased the Wall Street crowd, and Disney left unchanged its forecast that it would average double-digit earnings growth through 2008.

But investors sold off the stock on Friday on worries about whether Disney's performance will continue to justify a stock price that hit a five-year high the previous day.

"Disney is selling off because people are afraid it's going to be hard to do an encore," said Jim Awad, chairman of Awad Asset Management in New York.

A number of analysts said on Friday, however, that they expect Disney to maintain the strong growth, given its holiday DVD releases, the next "Pirates of the Caribbean" film in the summer and strength at the parks and television units.

Iger took over last October from Michael Eisner, who after early success left with a mixed legacy from 21 years as CEO.

Prudential Equity analyst Katherine Styponias wrote that she still saw Disney as the "best strategically and financially managed company in our entertainment coverage universe."

She wrote in a note that she saw a greater chance of Disney exceeding Wall Street's fiscal 2007 targets than missing them.

Analysts also forecast increases in advertising revenue in 2007 at Disney's top-rated ABC TV network and its ESPN sports cable network, which lately has enjoyed record ratings for its Monday Night Football franchise.

Lower pension costs coupled with higher ticket prices and per-capita spending at Disney's theme parks could offset difficult comparisons with last year's record attendance from Disneyland's 50th Anniversary celebration promotions.

"Performance of Disney's U.S. theme parks is the biggest concern," Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen wrote in a note to clients on Friday. "Given strong booking trends in (the first quarter of 2007) and continued high occupancy rates, we do not expect a deterioration in the coming year."

The company on Thursday reported flat advance bookings at domestic parks for the current quarter versus last year's record-setting holiday attendance.

Sanders Morris Harris analyst David Miller had warned clients in a note that the market might "penalize" Disney on Friday since investors were used to seeing annual growth in advance bookings in the "high-single digits".

Analysts were counting on Disney's summer movies, including Disney-Pixar's "Ratatouille" and a third "Pirates of the Caribbean," as well as DVD sales for "Cars" and the second "Pirates".

Lower overhead and marketing costs from staff and film output cuts would further strengthen the studio division.

Miller reiterated a "hold" rating on Disney shares and raised his fiscal 2007 earnings forecast, but said the stock was not as "blatantly attractive" as it was earlier this year.

Disney stock is now up 35 percent this year, and trades at nearly 20 times estimated fiscal 2007 earnings, roughly in line with rivals News Corp. (NWSa.N), and Time Warner Inc. (TWX.N).

Reif Cohen, who has a "buy" rating on Disney, said in her note that she anticipated "continued operating momentum and an attractive long-term growth profile will drive the stock."

Disney shares fell 3.5 percent to $32.40 on Friday. (Additional reporting by Ellis Mnyandu in New York).

Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Vol. 1 - Seasons 1-3

Rating: Not Rated

Starring:
Katie Leigh as Sunni Gummi
Lorenzo Music as Tummi Gummi
Noelle North as Cubbi Gummi
Corey Burton as Gruffi Gummi
June Foray as Grammi Gummi
Michael Rye as Duke Igthorn
Paul Winchell as Zummi Gummi
Will Ryan as Ogres
Brian Cummings as Sir Tuxford

Special Features:
None

Other Info:
Fullscreen (1.33:1)
English Dolby Digital Mono
Running Time: 640 Minutes

Synopsis:
The following is from the DVD cover:

"Dashing and daring, courageous and caring, faithful and friendly with stories to share, they're the Gummi Bears! And now, Disney's acclaimed animated television series is on DVD for the very first time! Join the world's sweetest heroes for high adventure in a mystical land of giants and wizards, ogres and dragons, and wondrous creatures both good and evil. Meet Gruffi, Zummi, Cubbi, Grammi, Tummi, Sunni, and all the legendary Gummis as they laugh, play, foil dastardly plots, and fight for what's right in Seasons 1-3 of this hilarious, fun-filled family favorite!"

"Adventures of the Gummi Bears, Vol. 1 - Seasons 1-3" is not rated.

Mini-Review:
There were a lot of cartoons based on toys created in the 1980's. However, few were as absurd as the idea of creating a cartoon based on gummi bears candy. By all rational thinking this show should have been an unmitigated disaster. Yet, somehow, they pulled it off and made a show better than the initial concept. Like "Pirates of the Caribbean," the creators rose above the flawed original idea and made something great.

My sisters and I actually used to watch "Gummi Bears" when we lived overseas. For some baffling reason, I still have neurons devoted to remembering the theme song over 20 years later. ("Gummi Bears! Bouncing here and there and everywhere!") Now I've had a chance to watch it again after all these years with my own kids. I was surprised to see just how well it has held up over time. The animation and character designs still look great. The stories are funny and intriguing. And the whole universe has a fantasy setting which, these days, is having a renaissance thanks to "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter." It's better than a lot of cartoons on TV today.

Since my kids got their hands on this DVD, they've been methodically going through each episode. So if you need to entertain your kids for 640 minutes and you don't want to drive yourself insane, I highly recommend picking up "The Adventures of the Gummi Bears."

Disney Nearing Carriage Pact With Comcast

Disney is rounding the corner in its bid to negotiate a new carriage deal with Comcast, one that will likely encompass video-on-demand rights.

During the company's fourth-quarter earnings call Thursday, CEO Robert Iger told investors that Disney is "in the final stage of the negotiations" with Comcast, and that "it is actually possible that a deal could be signed within the next week."

Iger did not specify Disney's targeted affiliate fee for ESPN, which presently charges the industry's highest rate (roughly $2.50-$2.60 per subscriber), saying only that the company was looking to stick to its "general rate structure."

While Iger did not offer further details on the negotiations, he expressed enthusiasm for Comcast's non-linear platforms. "It is clear that their investment in technology, not just in their standard business but in their new businesses, particularly broadband and the phone service area, provide us with significant opportunities," Iger said.

Disney also may be mulling over a digital service that would be exclusive to Comcast subscribers: "The possibility of creating something that is unique just to that relationship with Comcast that they could use as a differentiator is something that we are going to explore," Iger said.

A separate carriage deal with Time Warner Cable is also expected to be finalized before the end of the year.

Disney's cable nets saw operating income grow 22 percent year-over-year to $854 million, thanks in large part to higher affiliate and ad revenues at ESPN. Revenue for the cable nets rose 16 percent in the quarter to $2.2 billion.

Disney's Disability 

Disney's (DIS) been "pummeled" since it reported its quarter, even though it came out with good numbers, Jim Cramer said on his "RealMoney" radio show Monday.

One theory as to why this is happening is that its prime-time TV costs too much, he said. Cramer said he understands that Disney is No. 1 in the prime-time arena and that the company should be making the most money from that, but costs are up and ad revenue is down.

However, the problem with this theory is that the company also has a great movie business, which should make up for its TV business, he said. Therefore, this can't be the only problem.

A second theory is that Disney's theme parks aren't working. Cramer doesn't buy this because he believes that its theme parks have plenty of room to expand.

"A third theory holds that Disney has had to spend too much to maintain share in ESPN," he said. "But I find the spending to be a short-term issue."

"So why isn't it moving up?" Cramer asked. It's because Google (GOOG) is "sapping" all that is good about the media, he said. No one ever needs to watch a commercial with Google.

This doesn't mean that Disney's stock is done. But it is currently defenseless against the Web, and its costs are going up, he said,

A year ago Cramer said he was pushed to recommend Eddie Bauer (EBHI) off a potential buyout.

However, before getting a bid, the company's stock "got cut in half," he said.

"That's the problem with predicting the private-equity bids," Cramer said. "You simply can't make any money trying to anticipate what these people will buy."

Marker players should not speculate in companies that have bad fundamentals, he iterated.

"You could have predicted Eddie Bauer would have gotten a bid, but you would not have made any money from it," Cramer said. "Eddie Bauer would have gotten you $9 -- $7 less than when it was pushed to me." 

Toon Disney Spruces Up Big Movie Show

Eyeing a further ratings boost for its most popular programming block, Toon Disney has begun rolling out a mix of new and old high-profile films for its Big Movie Show franchise.

Among the titles this fall are Dumbo and the network premiere of Bambi II, as well as the inclusion of a number of perennials in the block during the upcoming holiday season.

Running weekdays from 5 p.m.-7 p.m., the block has built ratings for the service since its November 2004 debut. During its first year, the block increased 9% with girls 2-11 (to a 1.2 average), 11% with kids 6-11 (1.0) and 43% with girls 6-11 (1.0), according to Nielsen Media Research data. Ratings momentum has continued in 2006 with a 13% jump among girls 2-11 (to a 1.2) and a 14% rise with among boys 6-11 (0.8)

"We do share movie windows with Disney Channel and Cartoon Network," Disney Channel senior vice president of programming Scott Garner said. "But we're the only kids' channel with an afternoon block of animated movies. A lot of others are running strips of live-action or anime in the afternoon."

The network hopes its latest initiative will continue the ratings upswing.

"This past fall, we began taking a look at ways to improve the block," Garner said. "Starting in November, we wanted to take some of the stronger titles and roll them out and strengthen the channel as a whole by offering new titles."

The initiative kicked off Nov. 3 with the network premiere of Bambi II. The direct-to-DVD movie delivered a 1.5 rating among kids 2-11, up from a 1.3 in the corresponding time period in 2005.

The Country Bears followed Nov. 4, delivering a 1.6 rating among kids 2-11, a 129% increase from 0.7 the previous year for the same time period.

Next in line: the Dec. 9 debut of animated movie Snow Dogs. Moreover, in the cases where the movies don't fill the full programming block, Toon Disney will run new episodes of such series as Lilo & Stitch (Dec. 18) and American Dragon: Jake Long (Dec. 19).

After Thanksgiving, the network will trot out Alice in Wonderland, Tarzan, Return to Neverland and Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Beginning Dec. 14, the network is running its Twelve Days of Christmas stunt, featuring a different movie every night, including Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas and Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse.

She'll always sound precocious

Although it's no longer true that the sun never sets on the British Empire, there is a part of that empire that never lost its place in the sun.

That is the extraordinary world of British children's literature - the novels of Charles Dickens with their forlorn waifs making their way through the world, the stories by an Oxford math teacher about a girl who falls down a rabbit hole, the tale of a boy who refuses to grow up, and a series about a wunderkind wizard with a lightning-bolt scar.

One of these characters who defy the laws of gravity has just taken up residence on Broadway, doubtless for a long time to come: Mary Poppins.

The new musical, opening Thursday at the New Amsterdam Theater, is the first project co-produced by the Disney Corporation and theater legend Cameron Mackintosh. It has been directed by Richard Eyre, better known for his productions of classics for Britain's Royal National Theater. The sets and costumes are by Bob Crowley, who has designed the grand Edwardian household of the Banks family so that it moves backward and forward, up and down, as if a camera were swooping in and out of closeup.

Choreographer Matthew Bourne has created rollicking dances to familiar songs by brothers Richard and Robert Sherman like "Chim Chim Cher-ee" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from the beloved 1964 Disney film. And there are new songs by the British team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.

The book for the musical is by Julian Fellowes, who won an Oscar for writing Robert Altman's 2001 film "Gosford Park." Fellowes hasn't just dropped in on the Poppins world: An aunt read him the magical nanny's book series as a child in England in the early 1950s.

"I didn't have to find a relationship with Mary," Fellowes says. "I've always had one. Every successful children's story has something that resonates, that touches everybody. Mary Poppins is like the angel who suddenly appears in a Bible story. She arrives in the middle of your troubled life to set things right."

In fact, "Mary Poppins" first arrived in 1934, the creation of Australian-born writer P. L. Travers (born Helen Lyndon Goff, the pen name was a device to disguise her gender).

Throughout the Poppins books, Travers maintains the sense of mystery about the nanny who arrives on the wind from no-one-knows-where to take care of two London children who are taught, and bewildered, by her.

The original novel was set in the Depression; Disney set the story in the Edwardian era, and so the musical follows suit. And contrary to people's memory of the character, Mary is not all sugar and spice. Ashley Brown's Broadway incarnation is true to that.

"One of my favorite moments in the book is when Mary does for once express emotion," says Fellowes. "Michael, the boy she looks after, wants her back to being [his] sharp-tongued nanny.

"She represents the Rules. In a time when there don't seem to be any, you feel good and safe in her company."

Travers, however, did not consider herself a children's book writer ("I've always been a very anonymous writer," she once said. "I wanted the name of the book put forth, not mine"). And she was fiercely protective of her best-known creation. It took Walt Disney several years to win her approval for the film. Similarly, Mackintosh had to court her before she consented to a stage version, a few years before she died at age 97 in 1996.

Like her creation, Travers had a no-nonsense view of childhood. "Children should have a storyteller or a singer to put them to bed," she once told an interviewer. "It makes bedtime a ritual. It's also a comfort. You can see the end of things when you're grown up, whereas a child sees no end to its misery."

Disney Toys With Discounts, to Chagrin of Brand Champs

Disney magic has been relegated to the bargain bin.

Four years after a failed effort to introduce premium-priced cereals with Kellogg Co. and juices with Coca-Cola Co., Walt Disney Co. is coming back to the grocery shelf. But this time it's partnering with General Mills and Cott Corp. for licensed lines that will be priced a whole lot lower -- just above private-label.

The plan is to roll out in January value-priced, nutritionally sound cereals based on Disney properties such as Mickey Mouse, Tigger and Pooh that retail for $1.99 vs. the $3.49 price Kellogg tried to charge consumers for its Disney cereals a few years back. Likewise the juice lines with Cott, already in stores, are selling for much less than the original products did for Minute Maid. The goal, Disney said, is to continue to license the brand for value-priced offerings in other categories, including pasta, frozen meals and yogurt drinks.

Disney magic fading?
General Mills and Disney tout it as an innovative model in an everyday-low-price world, using a licensed equity to eliminate the need for advertising or trade dollars, and saving General Mills from having to bring its existing franchises to lower price points to win over the penny-pinching consumer. But others see it as an admission that the Disney magic is fading, at least for its older franchises.

"What this says about Disney," said one agency executive, "is that it doesn't think their icons are as valuable to consumers as even the Trix Rabbit."

Disney is quick to defend itself. "Drawing the conclusion that our characters and brands don't have high value is completely wrong," said spokesman Gary Foster, pointing out that the Disney Consumer Products division has grown from $12 billion in sales in 2001 to an estimated $23 billion for fiscal 2006.

Private label for Kroger's
Yet, he added, in the past the entertainment giant "only handed over characters at the highest royalty possible and with the biggest guarantees possible, and how the products were sold didn't matter to us." Success in today's retail environment, however, necessitates Disney care more about how profitable its deals are for its licensees, and help them determine from the outset the "best price to value ratio" for each retailer, he said. That's the logic behind Disney's deal this summer to roll out a Disney Magic Selections line that functions as Kroger's private-label children's line.

A General Mills spokesman said the company "offers a full range of products at multiple price points to deliver value for consumers across the full spectrum of the category -- and the new Disney cereals fit perfectly into that strategy." He added that initial sell-in with retailers is going well.

Some retailers, however, aren't convinced the items will succeed, even on the cheap shelf next to the Malt-O-Meal. "I'd give them six months," said one Midwest retail executive.

'Very fragmented category'
Strategic Resource Group principal Burt Flickinger agreed that it will be difficult for Disney to crack the $6 billion ready-to-eat cereal category -- "a very fragmented category with very few power brands" -- especially with the little marketing spending expected to be put behind them.

And the days when a licensed character were surefire winners are waning, said Landor Associates managing director Allen Adamson.

Not everyone, however, thinks the strategy is flawed. Simon Williams, president-CEO of Sterling Brands, said, "The lower price gives you greater access and potentially higher volume, and Disney is a very democratic brand."

John Tartaglia Joins Cast of Beauty and the Beast

John Tartaglia will be starring as Lumiere in Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, beginning performances on Tuesday, November 21st at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street). Tartaglia is best known for originating the roles of Princeton and Rod in Avenue Q in Las Vegas and on Broadway for which he received a Tony Award nomination in 2004.

Tartaglia is the star, executive producer and creator of Playhouse Disney's new live action musical puppet series “Johnny and The Sprites,” which will premiere in January 2007 on Disney Channel. Tartaglia stars as Johnny, a singer/songwriter who moves out to the country after inheriting a family home. He soon discovers a tunnel in his backyard leading to the enchanted world of the Sprites. Together, Johnny and the Sprites share valuable lessons about getting along with others and respecting the world around them. Each half-hour episode consists of two 11-minute stories featuring music from some of the theater world's most celebrated songwriters, including Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell), Gary Adler (Avenue Q, Altar Boyz), Mark Hollmann (Urinetown), and Michael Patrick Walker (Altar Boyz).

Also joining the cast on November 21st is Jonathan Freeman, who will be starring as Cogsworth. A Broadway veteran, he has appeared in The Producers, 42nd Street, On the Town, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and was nominated for a Tony Award for his work in She Loves Me. Freeman is perhaps best known to Disney fans as the voice of Jafar in the Disney animated feature Aladdin.

Tartaglia and Freeman will star opposite Sarah Uriarte Berry as Belle, Steve Blanchard as the Beast, Donny Osmond as Gaston (who recently extended his engagement through December 24th), Jeanne Lehmann as Mrs. Potts, Mary Stout as Madame de la Grand Bouche, Meredith Inglesby as Babette and Aldrin Gonzalez as Lefou.

Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST celebrated its 5,000th performance this year, becoming Broadway’s longest running American musical and the 6th longest running show of all time. More than twenty million people have seen the show in over twenty productions worldwide. The original cast recording is currently available on Disney Records.

The performance schedule for Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street) is as follows: Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday – Saturday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 1:30pm and 7pm.

There are three easy ways to get tickets to Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST – Online at www.disneyonbroadway.com, via Ticketmaster at (212) 307-4747 or www.ticketmaster.com and in person at the Lunt-Fontanne box office (205 West 46th Street).

Blow It Up and Start All Over Again

“It’s a wonder, isn’t it?” the producer Jerry Bruckheimer asked rhetorically, looking up at a three-story reconstruction of the ship the Black Pearl on the set of “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.”

He wasn’t talking about the three-masted square rigger, or even the 1,400 ceiling lights, which became so hot one day during filming some burst into flames. Nor was he referring to the 60-foot-high blue screen wrapped around the ship like a shower curtain hung from an oversized rail. What was a wonder, Mr. Bruckheimer mused one recent afternoon, was that the sequels to the first successful “Pirates” movie were made at all.

“They almost got canceled many times; money, budget, you name it,” Mr. Bruckheimer said as he walked up a flight of wooden stairs to the deck where director Gore Verbinski was rehearsing a scene with Johnny Depp for the third “Pirates” installment, which is due out this May.

Such challenges getting movies made are increasingly common in Hollywood these days. But what gave it a twist here was that Mr. Bruckheimer was referring to the Walt Disney Company’s biggest franchise in years, “Pirates,” and that cost-cutting was an issue even for him, the most powerful producer in Hollywood.

In an era when producers, directors, and even popular actors are required to toe a stricter line, Mr. Bruckheimer, too, is feeling the squeeze. His contribution to Disney cannot be underestimated; he has produced 17 films for it since 1991 which have brought in $5 billion at box offices around the world. Of those, he is best known for his action-packed adult thrillers like “Enemy of the State,” “Armageddon” and “Gone in 60 Seconds,” where car crashes, sexy leading ladies and explosions abound.

But as part of a corporate shift under the new Disney chief executive Robert Iger, the studio pledged this summer to make fewer films and focus on family-friendly movies that are marketable across all the company’s businesses, including theme parks, plush toys and television. That meant Mr. Bruckheimer was now in the onscreen amusement park business — a far cry from the highly stylized, color-saturated movies and television shows that made him famous.

Indeed his formula has been so successful, the producer’s foray into television in 2000 with “CSI” (an idea rejected by Disney executives) has become the cornerstone of a series of gritty procedural dramas that now make up about one-third of the CBS network’s prime-time lineup.

But while Hollywood producers often leave when a studio changes direction, Mr. Bruckheimer still has a few years left on his five-year contract with Disney. And many in Hollywood who know him suggest that it is Disney who will have to accommodate its star, not the other way around.

Terry Rossio, one of the writers of the “Pirates” trilogy, explained it this way, recalling a recent conversation with Mr. Bruckheimer about the blockbusters he produced during his 30-year career.

“I was standing on the deck of the Black Pearl with Jerry and I had to make small talk which is hard to do because he doesn’t talk much,” Mr. Rossio recalled. “Out of nowhere I asked him, ‘How do you get to be Jerry Bruckheimer?’ He replied, ‘Most people don’t understand the nature of power.’ His sentiment was you fight along the lines of what people already want. You put yourself where your agenda and the agenda of the people you are working with are the same. The reason Jerry rarely has to dig in his heels is because he doesn’t set up a situation where he has to.”

One coming Bruckheimer movie that will not fit the new Disney mold is “Déjà Vu,” a science fiction thriller directed by his longtime collaborator Tony Scott, to be released Nov. 22 by Disney’s Touchstone Pictures. “That wasn’t a typical Disney movie,” Mr. Bruckheimer said. (Among other things, a gas-soaked body is charred by fire.)

Disney would not want to lose Mr. Bruckheimer. The studio has made new deals with other producers, including the New York-based Scott Rudin, who is known for literary fare like “The Hours” and “Closer.” But since Mr. Bruckheimer began making blockbusters in the 1980s with Don Simpson, his late business partner — including “Top Gun” and “Beverly Hills Cop” — few others have matched his record.

“Our bread and butter, and where Jerry’s ultimate value is, is he is our Disney home run hitter,” said Richard Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studios. “And that is what we want him to do.”

As such, Mr. Bruckheimer has the same status commonly conferred on celebrities like Denzel Washington, the star of “Déjà Vu.” So much so, AskMen.com, a men’s lifestyle and fashion Web site, recently ranked him No. 6 on its “Top 49 Men” list ahead of Mr. Depp, Bono and Mr. Washington.

And he is afforded a similar lifestyle. Mr. Bruckheimer owns homes in Brentwood and New York City, a 1,500-acre farm in Kentucky and another farm near Ojai, south of Santa Barbara. While he is loath to admit it, he owns a Gulfstream IV jet which he keeps at the Burbank airport near Disney’s headquarters. And he won’t reveal his age, though friends say he is 63.

Mr. Bruckheimer often travels with an assistant, Daniel Camins, who works as a personal schedule minder. On an afternoon in August, Mr. Camins drove Mr. Bruckheimer in the producer’s BMW 745il, to the Burbank set of “Pirates.” In October on another “Pirates” set in Palmdale, Mr. Camins not only carried a BlackBerry and cellphone for messages from Mr. Bruckheimer’s Santa Monica office, but also a plastic bag filled with almonds and dried fruit, which Mr. Bruckheimer’s nutritionist recommended he eat.

Mr. Bruckheimer, it is clear, likes things just so. At a charity dinner on Oct. 30, where he and the CBS chief executive, Leslie Moonves, were honored, the music from a video segment sounded achingly familiar. It was. Mr. Bruckheimer had commandeered the tape and replaced the planned music with songs from the scores of “Pirates” and “Armageddon.”

“It was so bad,” Mr. Bruckheimer said of the planned music, exhibiting a rare roll of the eyes. At the dinner, the actor Anthony LaPaglia, who stars in the Bruckheimer-produced “Without a Trace,” called him a “Hollywood zen master” and “true perfectionist.”

Tony Scott, who has known Mr. Bruckheimer since the 1980s and has directed six movies for him, including “Top Gun” and “Enemy of the State,” had another take. "The calm is on the outside,” Mr. Scott said. “But inside he’s humming."

And that attention to detail is greatly appreciated at Disney. “You don’t have to worry,” Mr. Cook said.

In October, ago Mr. Bruckheimer attended a music meeting for “Déjà Vu” at a studio in Venice. The meeting was to begin at 4 p.m., but he and Mr. Scott were late. The producer had spent the morning at a screening of “Déjà Vu” and, midday, had been whisked to the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, where he introduced Mr. Scott to an eager crowd of Disney movie executives who had gathered for their annual meeting. (Later that night he attended a charity event honoring Mr. Iger.)

Mr. Scott and Mr. Bruckheimer were to review music composed by Harry Gregson-Williams for several movie scenes. Mr. Bruckheimer tends to work with the same people; this was his fifth movie with the composer. Mr. Scott, dressed in a sweatshirt and shorts, sat in a chair and tapped his foot nervously, while Mr. Gregson-Williams fiddled with a few keys on a monitor to bring up the scenes on a large screen. Mr. Bruckheimer, prone to long silences, sat quietly on the couch.

The composer showed a car chase where Mr. Washington followed a killer to a hideout. The music was loud and unrelenting. "It would help us if we had a melody, maybe his melody," said Mr. Bruckheimer, referring to a leitmotif that signaled when Mr. Washington’s character was onscreen. “You zone out. You need something over it that distracts you.”

The exchanges were polite — Mr. Bruckheimer rarely spoke above a loud whisper — but Mr. Gregson-Williams seemed unnerved.

For another scene, Mr. Gregson-Williams had created a haunting melody, but left out the last notes. "You didn’t finish it and if you did, I’d be happy,” Mr. Bruckheimer said.

“All right," said Mr. Gregson-Williams, dejected. "I’ll have another go at that."

As Mr. Bruckheimer and the crew were leaving, the composer turned to a guest and smiled meekly. “Welcome to my life,” he said.

Mr. Bruckheimer said afterward it was up to him to remind the composer of the audience. “I know what I felt it should be, and when he got it there, he loved it,” he said. “You don’t just not do it.”

Mr. Scott said Mr. Bruckheimer’s exacting standards come from a deep-seated need to remain relevant. "There is a confidence that comes with age, but Jerry is still insecure, as I’m insecure,” Mr. Scott said. “The insecurity comes from the fact you think you might lose it. Not the 10 houses or 4 Jaguars. It’s that your confidence might have gone."

Few would think the producer lacked confidence, although Mr. Bruckheimer himself admitted to a “fear of failure.” But Disney in many ways is a comforting home: most studios cannot rival its marketing prowess.

This year Mr. Bruckheimer has been consumed with the second and third “Pirates” movies. And with good reason. Industry executives estimate the combined budget of the two movies at nearly $475 million, not including marketing costs. (“Dead Man’s Chest,” was released in July and brought in more than $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales.)

While visiting the set in Palmdale in October, Mr. Bruckheimer slipped quietly behind the director’s chair with barely a hello. “He’s a genius,” Mr. Bruckheimer said of Mr. Verbinski. “What can I tell him? If I’m in his face, I hired the wrong director.”

Of course Mr. Bruckheimer isn’t always so deferential. Anthony Hopkins, who starred in “Bad Company,” told reporters he sparred with Mr. Bruckheimer when he was asked to learn new lines given to him by the producer on the day a scene was to be shot. In August, Mr. Bruckheimer met with the “Pirates” script writers Ted Elliot and Mr. Rossio, who wanted to give Will Turner more dialogue to develop the character. (Mr. Turner is played by Orlando Bloom.) Mr. Bruckheimer resisted, fearing moviegoers would be confused.

“He is willing to go with us down the road of complexity,” Mr. Rossio said. “But at times we feel he is constraining us from doing things for fear they are too complex. It’s common for us to polarize, although we end somewhere in the middle.”

Mr. Bruckheimer said of the exchange: "I understand what they were saying but, the difference is this: I am the audience.”

And that sense of what moviegoers want should put him and Disney on the same page, at least most of the time. If not, he has options.

If Disney does not want to make the movies he produces, Mr. Bruckheimer said, “We’ll make them someplace else.”

“We are going to serve it up to them and see if they like it.”

Super Sizzling Saucy Superstar Soap Weekend

Kathy Brier from daytime's “One Life To Live” and the rest of the super soap stars are hanging out at the Disney-MGM Studios this past weekend.

John Handiboe shows us the Disney drama creates a fan frenzy.

MGM Studios is soap central. All the big names from Daytime drama are here. Why? Because it is super sizzling saucy superstar soap weekend.

Jolene Caraballo from Port St. Lucie said: “It's operation soap star weekend. Daytime drama turns Disney drama. The fans are in a frenzy

Dr. Quartermaine cannot save you now. These fans only have one life to live and have already been waiting for about two hours. They are waiting to get a super soap star signature.

We actually have a plan. A list of people we are going to see and when we are going to see them and first and second choices

Luke and Laura are here and Rosie O'Donnell will make some surprise appearances in Beauty and the Beast plus, you might even get a little daytime dish.

John: "So are there any soap secrets you can dish out this super soap weekend."

Kassie: "I can tell you it is going to get bad before it gets worse for Todd and Blair. Spencer is wreaking havoc and Todd and Blair are going to take him down."

Everyone here at MGM Studios loves daytime drama. In fact, some of the fans sleep overnight in the parking lot just to get in line.

Ruth Shellhorn, 97; landscape architect for Bullock's, Disneyland

After studying landscape architecture at Cornell University in the 1930s, Ruth Shellhorn traveled home to South Pasadena on a mail boat through the Panama Canal. On her journey, she kept a meticulous diary of the exotic plants she encountered in Central and South America: bougainvillea, palm trees, birds of paradise.

With her rigorous training and new data on tropical plants, combined with the gardening experiences of her youth in the mild, Mediterranean-like climate of the San Gabriel Valley, Shellhorn embarked on a 57-year career as a landscape architect.

By the time she retired in 1990, she was recognized for helping define the Southern California look of midcentury modern architecture for the now-defunct Bullock's department store chain and planning some of the central landscaping elements of the Disneyland theme park.

Shellhorn, 97, died Nov. 3 at Torrance Memorial Medical Center. No cause of death was announced, but her friend and fellow landscape architect Kelly Comras said Shellhorn had suffered a stroke a few days earlier.

"She was a landscape architect's landscape architect," said Comras, who is writing a biography of Shellhorn. "She was a terrific site planner, she had exquisite planting skills, she wrote well…. When she designed something, she had complete command of construction details. She didn't just rely on employees and contractors to fill in the gaps."

A modest, unassuming woman, Shellhorn enjoyed collaborating with architects and engineers and adapted her designs to fit the particular needs of her clients and their sites. Besides Bullock's and Walt Disney Co., they included UC Riverside and individual homeowners.

Shellhorn was hired by Bullock's in 1945 as consulting landscape architect for the Pasadena store, designed by prominent Los Angeles architect Welton Becket. Housed in a sleek, modernist structure, it was one of the first department stores to offer a relaxing, enjoyable experience to the sophisticated shopper who arrived by car.

"She was very actively involved in creating the whole setting and ambience of modern shopping," said Kathryn Gleason, associate professor and chairwoman of the Landscape Architecture Department at Cornell. "That transition that one made from getting out of the car and into the mood for the shopping experience was very different."

Shellhorn's design encompassed a bold combination of plants, textures and colors with a minimum of fussy details that matched the architecture, Comras said. "The minute you crossed the property line, you entered a Shellhorn landscape."

Bullock's was so pleased with her work that the company hired her to design the landscaping at most of its future stores and manage the maintenance of the chain's landscaping, which she did through 1978. She also was responsible for landscaping the Fashion Square shopping centers, anchored by Bullock's stores, at Santa Ana, Sherman Oaks, La Habra and Del Amo in Torrance. (Macy's took over Bullock's in the late 1980s and eventually renamed all of the stores.)

Becket, who worked with Shellhorn on several of those projects, recommended her to Walt Disney in 1955, only a few months before his new amusement park was to open in Anaheim. Disney was looking for a liaison between chief landscape architects Jack and Bill Evans and the other designers.

"He had five different art directors, and he was concerned that the five 'lands' wouldn't hang together," Comras said, referring to the five themed areas that made up much of the original park.

Disney wanted Shellhorn to help integrate those disparate parts into a cohesive whole, but she recalled her uncertainty about the project last year in an interview for a Times feature.

"I was sort of thinking it was going to be some honky-tonk like Venice or something, and I wasn't too sure I wanted to do it," Shellhorn said.

But Disney charmed her, and she joined the design group's pressure-filled sprint to opening day.

The art directors quickly approved her landscaping plan for Main Street, so she continued sketching landscaping designs for the Town Square just inside the main gate, the Plaza Hub at the center of the park and finally the pedestrian traffic plan for the park.

By using screens and plants compatible with differing styles of architecture, Shellhorn was able to ease the transition from the Victorian look of the plaza to western-themed Frontierland, for instance.

In looking back at the era, Comras noted, "It was unusual for a woman to have the responsibilities she did…. She was not a feminist, she was just extremely competent."

Gleason, from Cornell, called Shellhorn a "modern professional woman" who maintained that she experienced no discrimination.

"I think a lot of it's in your own attitude," Shellhorn told an interviewer in 2001 for the Pasadena Heritage Oral History Project. "If you go at it as a person, you're not a woman or a man. It doesn't make any difference. You have a problem to solve. So you cooperate and you work on that problem."

She did have the support of her husband, Harry Kueser, a St. Louis native who left his banking career in 1945, when her landscape architecture work was taking off. He handled the business side of her practice, allowing her to concentrate on design.

They married in 1940 — when he was 42 and she 31 — only when she was certain she would not have to give up her career.

The work poured in to her office, first in South Pasadena and then in Redondo Beach, where she had lived since 1961. In 1956, Shellhorn was chosen to be the landscape architect at a new University of California campus in Riverside. For the next eight years she designed and oversaw the university's landscaping plans.

Other campus projects followed, including the elite Marlborough School in Hancock Park and the Harvard School (now Harvard-Westlake School) in North Hollywood.

Shellhorn designed the landscaping for many commercial sites across the Southland, including Becket's Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, as well as hundreds of residential gardens.

She won numerous awards, most notably fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1971.

Arthur L. Shellhorn, a dentist, and Lodema Gould Shellhorn, his socially active wife, moved to California from Nebraska after marrying in 1904. Their only child, Ruth Patricia Shellhorn, was born Sept. 21, 1909, in Los Angeles, and the family moved to South Pasadena two years later.

As a child, she tended a garden, climbed trees, read fairy tales and swam in the ocean on family trips to Laguna Beach. By the time she was a teenager she knew she wanted a career that allowed her to work outdoors.

She studied landscape architecture at what is now Oregon State University and then Cornell, leaving during the Depression a few units shy of graduation. Last year Cornell reviewed its records and belatedly awarded her two degrees, a bachelor's in landscape architecture and a bachelor's in architecture.

"Cornell doesn't give honorary degrees," Gleason said. "She really did earn those degrees."

Shellhorn's husband died in 1991, and she leaves no survivors. And because landscapes naturally change with time and developers alter plans, few of her designs remain intact.

Services will be private. Comras is seeking information for her book about Shellhorn's work, particularly her residential designs. She can be reached at k_comras@hotmail .com.

Disney set still topping U.S. 200

Disney's "Hannah Montana" soundtrack holds onto the U.S. No. 1 album spot this week despite a strong showing for new entries.

Barry Manilow's "The Greatest Songs of the Sixties" lands at two this week, just ahead of the Birdman/Lil Wayne's "Live Father, Like Son". John Legend's "Once Again" drops to four, with Justin Timberlake's "FutureSex/Lovesounds" at five.

The Who's "Endlesswire" debuts at eight this week, with Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose" landing two spots back at eight. "American Idol" finalist Kellie Pickler debuts at nine with "Small Town Girl" with the Deftones' "Saturday Night Wrist" at ten.

On the singles chart, Justin Timberlake's "My Love" featuring T.I., holds the No. 1 spot ahead of Akon's "Smack That" ft. Eminem.

Fergie's "Fergalicious" jumps three places to No. 3, with Ludacris' "Money Maker" featuring Pharrell at four, Hinder's "Lips of An Angel" at five and the Fray's "How To Save a Life" moving up to six.

Gwen Stefani's "Wind It Up" is the highest new entry at No. 40.

Walt Disney Family Museum Features Treasure Island

New to the Walt Disney Family Museum online exhibits is a feature on Treasure Island, a look at Disney's first forays into television and an excerpt of "The Man Behind the Magic"

Click the Link Below for more Info.

http://disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/resources/whatsnew.html

Disney sells 5 million copies of Pixar's Cars in two days

New fantasy soap league presents drama as sport

'Ugly Betty' is belle of U.S. television ball

Over 12 million ABC TV downloads via iTunes

5 Kissimmee teachers win Disney prize

Disney & Excel Home Videos to kick off DVD Film Festival on Children's Day

New Star Analyst Rankings for WALT DISNEY-DISNEY Co

New fantasy soap league presents drama as sport

 

If watching soap operas is your passion, then fantasy game designer Erica Salmon is betting Fantasy Soap League will become your sport.

The Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE:DIS) SoapNet announced the Web-based fantasy site on Friday at its annual Super Soap Weekend in Florida in a bid to attract women aged 18 to 34, and add a social dimension to the six-year-old soap TV channel.

The game works along the same lines as fantasy football, in which real-life players are chosen for virtual teams and results are based on statistics from actual games.

Fantasy Soap players will pick three male and three female actors and five "soapy moments" from nine U.S. network soaps, and score points depending on what the actors' characters do.

Taking off clothing, waking up from a coma, getting an organ transplant, day dreaming or "monologuing" -- when an actor stands alone in a room talking to himself -- are each worth a hefty 50 points in Fantasy Soap League.

Kissing or slapping someone, pleading, lurking or eavesdropping can also boost scores.

Players also win points if any of the five "soapy moments" they choose occur on any soap opera over a 10-week period.

During the site's six-week test, the top-earning character, Fancy Crane of "Passions," scored big for being held prisoner by a murderer.

The site, www.soapnet.go.com/fantasy/, was available for signup on Friday and points start accruing on November 13. It costs $9.99 to play for 10 weeks.

Salmon and the Soap Squad, a nine-member team who monitor the soaps daily and count up points for the game, came up with the point system based on similarities in all soap plot lines.

"The game is only fun when you're earning points," said Salmon, who launched her own Fantasy Fashion League last year as an answer to her boyfriend's addiction to fantasy sports.

SoapNet General Manager Deborah Blackwell said the Fantasy Soap idea was in the works for two years, spurred in part by the success of sister network ESPN's Fantasy Football League.

Like ESPN, SoapNet enjoys a high degree of viewer loyalty, according to Nielsen ratings, and the soap network wanted to emulate ESPN's robust online presence as well.

"We saw how much fun ESPN viewers have with Fantasy Football," Blackwell said. "The game rewards people for something they already are doing and it encourages sampling of other soaps."

ESPN began offering fantasy sports online in 2005, and its free Fantasy Football League has emerged as the most popular by far, ESPN spokesman Paul Melvin said.

"Part of that is because of the frequency of the games - it takes much less time to work on your roster and pick your players when you have a week between games to do it," he said.

ESPN does not release statistics on the number of players who participate, but Melvin said estimates for the entire industry peg the number at 16 million to 20 million.

Fantasy football players generate four times as many Web page views as other ESPN.com viewers and watch about three times as much football on TV, Melvin said.

More than 3 million users play Yahoo! Sports fantasy football, each spending an average 90 minutes a month on the site, a Yahoo! spokesman said.

As well as basic free games, Yahoo Inc. also (NASDAQ:YHOO) offers premium fantasy games for $24.95 per team and $124.95 for a league of up to 20 teams.

SoapNet will offer no real prizes or money for its league, but its designers think winning the title of "Queen of the Fantasy Soap League" will be enough for hard-core soap fans.

"We find that women just want a shout-out," Salmon said.

'Ugly Betty' is belle of U.S. television ball

In Hollywood, thick glasses, braces and frumpy clothes don't go far -- unless they belong to "Ugly Betty," one of the most successful new prime-time shows on American television this season.

The show, a U.S. adaptation of the hit Colombian telenovela "Yo Soy Betty, La Fea," has an ethnically diverse audience that has found a friend in the plucky Latina heroine and comfort in the universal message that real beauty is on the inside.

Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS.N) ABC has converted the show from the traditional Latin American telenovela soap opera format that airs five nights a week into a weekly serial comedy and put it in a lucrative Thursday prime-time slot.

America Ferrera, who debuted in the 2002 film "Real Women Have Curves," stars as Betty Suarez, a capable but not-so-pretty working-class gal who lands a job as a fashion magazine assistant.

Mexican-born actress Salma Hayek, who worked on telenovelas in her home country, is an executive producer of the show.

"It's the perfect hybrid of something Latin and something American," said Carl Kravetz, chairman of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies. "Certainly, it has found a Latino audience but it has also found an 18- to 34-year-old audience and an African-American audience."

Averaging about 14.3 million viewers a week, "Ugly Betty" ranks as the most watched new series on U.S. television this season. The show ranks second in its time slot and is one of the highest rated among viewers aged 18 to 49, the group most prized by advertisers.

"ABC has taken a Latin story line and put it into an American sitcom," Kravetz said. "I think other networks will try to copy it because it is the first general-market TV series that has an American hook that appeals to Latin American sensitivities."

Indeed, all the major networks are angling to appeal to the huge Latino community, the fastest-growing ethnic demographic in the United States. Kravetz' group estimates that $5 billion is spent on advertising aimed at the U.S. Hispanic market.

The buying power of U.S. Hispanic consumers, numbering roughly 45 million, is expected to rise to nearly $900 billion this year and $1.1 trillion by 2010, accounting for 9 percent of all U.S. purchasing power, up from 5 percent in 1990, Kravetz said.

News Corp. Ltd. (NWS.N) went so far as to launch a new mini-network in September dubbed MyNetworkTV, featuring a lineup of steamy, pure-form English-language telenovelas, such as "Desire" and "Fashion House," based on Colombian soaps.

MyNetworkTV has failed so far to gain much traction with American audiences. Still, News Corp. executives say they are committed to giving it a chance.

"We're planning on sticking with the novelas. It's a different way of viewing prime-time television but we think there's a void out there," said Paul Buccieri, president of programming for Twentieth Television, the News Corp. unit that produces the MyNetwork series.

"These shows are just fun, guilty pleasures. We're just trying to appeal to a mass audience, that prime-time soap opera audience who love 'Melrose Place' and 'Dynasty,'" he said. "Novelas, given time, have worked in every country they've entered into ..."

While many industry watchers believe other networks already are exploring ways to replicate the success of "Ugly Betty," some executives believe the show may, in fact, be a phenomenon unique unto itself.

"The central character, the comedic bent, the underdog rooting interest -- a lot of elements, which are specific to this telenovela and this show are what made this such a success," said Stephen McPherson, ABC Entertainment President.

Over 12 million ABC TV downloads via iTunes

Over the last year, approximately 85 million of the entertainment corp's TV shows, movies and short films have been played or downloaded on iTunes, disneychannel.com, and abc.com. In addition, Iger announced that approximately 12 million ABC TV programs have been purchased since October, 2005 via iTunes.

"We have done extremely well on the iTunes platform," he said. "We have launched on two other movie platforms and given some of the announcements that have been made this past week, we believe we will have opportunities to sell movies and television shows on many other new platforms."

Despite beating Wall Street's estimates and doubling profits from the year-ago quarter, shares of Disney fell $1.20 or more than 3.5 percent on Friday amid growth concerns over the 2007 calendar year.

5 Kissimmee teachers win Disney prize

Judith Ziffer, a guidance counselor at Kissimmee's Cypress Elementary, needs to lean on her dog Cyrus to keep her balance as she walks, but her black Newfoundland helps her in more ways than that. Cyrus has been an integral part of a mentoring program used at Cypress to make sure students stay motivated at school.

On Saturday, her efforts paid off as she and four colleagues received Disney's Teacherrific Award, a $15,000 grant given annually to a teacher or group of teachers in each of five Central Florida counties for outstanding work. Other winners at Cypress included Debbie Fahmie, Pam Ollis, Nathan Minium and Monique Harvin.

"I can't believe this," said Ziffer, beaming as she had her picture taken. "I never win anything."

Disney handed out nearly $250,000 to teachers in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake and Polk counties during the luncheon at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

Categories included a $5,000 special judges award, $2,500 outstanding program awards and $1,000 top program awards.

Other $15,000 winners were Devorah Kenney-Benson from Robert Hungerford Preparatory High School in Orange; Anjanette Richard-Jones, Jeffrey Wells, Carole Endicott and Baringthon Brudy from Denison Middle School in Polk; Star Olson and Kellyann Goring from Cypress Ridge Elementary in Lake; and Pamela Ferrante from Lawton Chiles Middle School in Seminole. Those teachers' schools also got $7,500 cash awards.

Top honors went to Cypress Elementary for The Quest to Discover the Gift: FCAT at Cypress Elementary (FCAT stands for Finding the Creativity and Talent in Our Students).

The project required staffers to design "clubs" or guilds, from gardening to robotics and gymnastics, and asked students to pick an area of interest. They had to choose at least four every year. Held every Wednesday, club meetings worked like mentoring sessions and helped boost morale, academics and attendance for 455 students in third through fifth grade.

Ziffer, 59, was selected for using her dog to teach students about animals' role in society as well as their care.

"Animals are living things, and so are people," said Ziffer. "So we make the connection [in the classroom] that how we treat animals also transfers to how we treat each other."

Harvin, a behavior specialist at Cypress, designed a kind of junior ROTC club in which students could learn martial arts and conduct safety patrols around the school.

"There are a lot of students . . . that need to be reminded that they can do and that they can be; that they don't have to be a stereotype," Harvin, 29, said. Ditto for Nathan Minium, 27, a character-development teacher. Minium gives basketball lessons to instill discipline and teamwork.

Disney staffers said they considered innovation and measurable results, among other factors, when choosing winners. Cypress was able to show attendance and reading skills improved since the program's inception last school year.

Disney & Excel Home Videos to kick off DVD Film Festival on Children's Day

Disney and Excel Home Videos, the Indian Licensee for Walt Disney, are celebrating Children's day with a Nationwide DVD Film Festival from 14 - 21 November, with the DVD release of Disney/Pixar Cars and the High School Musical.

The Festival will also provide special offers such as "three movies at the cost of two" for select titles including George Of The Jungle, Honey I Shrunk The Kids, Three Men And A Baby, 101 Dalmatians, Ice Princess, Parent Trap, Mary Poppins, Flubber, Sea Biscuit and Inspector Gadget.

The television feature film High School Musical, has created a phenomenon abroad and has also won the Television Critics Association Award for outstanding children's programming, six Emmy Award nominations and a Humanitas Prize nomination. The DVD has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide, making it the fastest selling television movie, states an official release.

The Children's Festival will be underway at DVD stores across the country including Planet M, Crossword, Landmark, Rhythm House and Music World among others, the release adds.

Excel Home Videos managing director M.N Kapasi says, "There is a sea change in the viewership habits in children over the years with mature content on the rise. Movies like High School Musical which deals with the issue of typecasting students at an early age there by stunting their all round growth finds an echo in urban India. We have through our effort, balanced the matured content with the innocent fun movies in our tribute to them on children's day."

New Star Analyst Rankings for WALT DISNEY-DISNEY Co

This is a list of top research analysts based on the accuracy of earnings estimates on DIS, according to StarMine. Analysts that appear here are limited to those covering DIS for a significant period of time.

EPS ACCURACY FOR DIS - Trailing Two Fiscal Years and Four Quarters

Top-Ranked Analysts	DIS	Overall	Research Reports
Miller, David Sanders Morris Harris
Logsdon, Jeffrey BMO Capital Markets
Singer, Lowell Cowen And Company
Hodge, Gordon Thomas Weisel Partners
Reif-Cohen, Jessica Merrill Lynch
Drewry, William Credit Suisse

The Earnings Estimate Accuracy Rating, displayed as 4 or 5 blue stars, represents StarMine's proprietary metric for earnings estimate accuracy or "Relative Accuracy Score" (RAS). StarMine analyzes every earnings estimate and revision published by thousands of sell side analysts around the world. RAS is a relative measure; it compares an analyst's performance with that of his or her peers. To get a high score, an analyst must make estimates that are both significantly different from, and more accurate than, other analysts' estimates.

RAS takes into account many factors, including the analyst's absolute earnings forecast error, that error compared to the forecast of other analysts, the variance of the errors, the timing of each revision, and the absolute value of the stock's actual reported earnings. StarMine computes RAS daily for an analyst's overall score on a stock and groups of stocks.

StarMine then ranks analysts according to RAS and awards the following ratings:

• the top 10% of analysts earn 5 stars
• the next 22.5% earn 4 stars
• the next 35% earn 3 stars
• the next 22.5% earn 2 stars
• the bottom 10% earn 1 star

Analysts that receive 4 or 5 stars are displayed on Yahoo! Finance with their rating. Analysts who receive 1, 2, or 3 stars are listed as "Other Ranked Analysts."