The incoming chief executive will inherit
a mixed bag Saturday when he becomes only the sixth
person to lead the Walt Disney Co., replacing longtime
CEO Michael Eisner.
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MickeyXtreme's News Archive September 2005 |
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Friday September 30, 2005 |
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THE MICHAEL EISNER ERA at the Walt Disney Co.
officially ends today, when the 63-year-old chief executive
steps down after 21 years at the helm. Unfortunately for
Eisner, he is more likely to be remembered for the missteps
and controversies of the last decade than for the phenomenal
successes of his first 10 years, when Disney blossomed into a
media powerhouse. That's the way Hollywood operates, after all
— you're only as good as your last screenplay.
Eisner's tenure would have made for a tense drama. His "Machiavellian (and imperial)" management style, to quote a federal judge in Delaware, prompted many talented underlings to jump ship. And when former pal Michael Ovitz didn't mesh with Eisner's tight-fisted operational style, Eisner threw him overboard 15 months after hiring him as Disney president.
Naturally, Eisner had to pay Ovitz handsomely
to leave — the buyout was valued at about $130 million. This
fabulous parting gift prompted a shareholder lawsuit, leading
to an embarrassingly public dissection of the whole sorry
episode.
Unlike Ovitz and such media moguls as News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch and Viacom's Sumner Redstone, Eisner was not a habitual dealmaker trying to build an empire through takeovers. Instead, he preferred to grow by squeezing more out of assets the company already owned. The main exception was in 1996, when Disney got into the TV broadcasting business by acquiring Capital Cities/ABC. Now Disney's broadcasting and cable properties generate the largest chunk of its revenue. This conservative streak saved Disney from making a colossal blunder during the late 1990s, when billions of dollars were bet and lost on dot-com-fueled fantasies. But the low-risk, low-reward approach also led Disney to bet on the wrong horse: It bought Infoseek, a second-tier Internet portal, instead of grabbing market leader Yahoo when it had the chance. As a result, Disney's attempt to compete for everyday Web surfers was a dismal failure. Still, Eisner deserves credit for breathing new life into the flagging Disney entertainment business. During his first dozen years on the job, Disney expanded its theme park business dramatically, released a string of hits by its own animators and by Pixar Animation Studios, took control of ABC and ESPN, built a burgeoning home-video business and gained a foothold on Broadway. The company's revenue grew from $1.5 billion in 1984, when Eisner was hired, to nearly $31 billion last year, and its shares are worth more than 20 times as much as they were when he took over. The company may not dominate children's entertainment the way it did in the days of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," but it is thriving. The successes are easy to overlook amid all the contretemps Eisner generated with his iron-fisted rule. Instead of being celebrated for the corporate turnaround, he became a poster boy for poor corporate governance. In a way, he's like an aging star on one of the teams Disney used to own: He stayed in the lineup long after he should have quit. |
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During his five years as No. 2 to Walt Disney
Co. Chief Executive Officer Michael Eisner, Robert Iger has
earned a reputation as a hard worker, a quick study and, well,
a pretty buttoned-down guy.
Steven Bochco came to know another, looser Iger in the early 1990s, when the prolific television producer sat down with the then-head of ABC to map out NYPD Blue, the gritty cop show that would feature, among other things, its stars' naked derrieres. "I remember sitting in Bob's office, just the two of us, with a pad and a pencil, drawing dirty pictures like a couple of sixth-graders," the producer recalled. Bochco laughs at the memory of using those sessions "to decide what was acceptable and what wasn't." But he is quick to credit Iger for developing a clear set of standards for the series, which ran for 12 years beginning in 1993, and for standing by the show when the religious right assailed it for its racy themes. Bochco and others say it is this Iger -- deliberate and steadfast -- who will prove effective when he officially succeeds Eisner at midnight Friday. "Bob has a terrific metabolism for that job," Bochco said. "He may not have been the exciting choice, given all of the drama that surrounded the whole issue of succession. But I think he is absolutely the right choice. He knows that company inside and out." In a sense, Iger is the flip side of Eisner, who had little compunction about roiling the corporate waters and seeking the spotlight. Iger is known for being more collegial than combative, a man who hopes to create a calmer environment in a company that has been through much upheaval in recent years. For all practical purposes, Iger, 54, already has put his mark on Disney. Soon after the board picked him in March, Eisner handed over the reins to the entertainment empire, whose theme parks, movies, television networks and consumer products generate more than $30 billion a year. He has drawn good reviews from company insiders, investors and analysts. For starters, Iger dismantled a strategic planning unit that many executives viewed as Eisner's right hand in micromanaging the company. He also began talks with Pixar Animation Studios chief Steve Jobs, who after clashing openly with Eisner had vowed to end Pixar's partnership with Disney. Iger negotiated a truce with Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold, former directors who led a shareholder revolt against Eisner. Lately, it seems, everyone loves Bob. Privately, however, some who have worked with Iger question whether he has the creative chops to replace Eisner, who since 1984 has guided Disney's revenue growth from $1.5 billion a year to more than 20 times that much. They rate Iger high on hard work and likability, but they are less enthusiastic about his prospects as CEO. A former associate described Iger as more technocrat than visionary. Another questioned whether his "great temperament and people skills" will translate to creative leadership. Iger declined requests for an interview. Through these doors Last fall, Iger sent an e-mail to the principal of Fulton Avenue School 8 in Oceanside, N.Y., as it prepared to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Iger said "he'd heard about the celebration and had wonderful memories" of the school but could not attend the festivities. That surprised Principal Ronald Schoen because Iger hadn't been invited. What surprised him even more was Iger's sentimental connection to the school, which he attended 40 years earlier. In his e-mail, Iger asked Schoen whether the words, "America's hope for the future passes through these doors" still graced the school's entrance. Yes, the principal told Iger, who then sent another message. "He said, 'Isn't it amazing that a little boy of that age who walked through those doors could actually become president of Disney?' " Schoen said. Iger majored in broadcasting at Ithaca College in upstate New York, where he worked for the campus TV station and graduated magna cum laude. After a stint as a weatherman, Iger gave up his aspirations to be on the air and joined ABC as a studio supervisor in New York. He later moved to ABC Sports and became vice president of programming in 1987. Iger is now married to broadcast journalist Willow Bay, with whom he has two sons. Second-in-command In 1989, Iger moved to Los Angeles to head ABC's entertainment division, where he was involved with not only NYPD Blue but also the hit Home Improvement. In 1994, Iger was named president and chief operating officer of ABC. He was widely considered to be heir apparent to Capital Cities Chairman Tom Murphy. Then Murphy sold the company to Disney for $19 billion in 1996. Four years after moving to Disney with ABC, Iger became Eisner's second-in-command as president. In the five years since, the company has endured the shareholder revolt led by Roy Disney and Gold; survived a hostile takeover bid by Comcast Corp.; and been dragged through the embarrassing details of a lawsuit over Eisner's hiring and firing of Michael Ovitz, Iger's predecessor as president. Iger also had to weather reports that Eisner was repeatedly dismissive of him as his replacement. In a 1996 memo to the Disney board, Eisner said Iger "is not an enlightened or brilliantly creative man." He later expressed his support for Iger, calling him "an excellent guardian of the Disney assets." An eye for the bottom line In addition to finally getting Eisner's backing, Iger has benefited from Disney's return to double-digit earnings growth and the remarkable rebound of ABC. Looking ahead, Iger has said he will give a hard look to the money the company spends on its film operations. He also said he will concentrate on expanding Disney's international business. He has stressed in recent months that theme parks in Asia are high on his agenda, from the park that opened in Hong Kong this month and then most likely mainland China. One of Iger's biggest hurdles will be to distinguish himself from Eisner. Producer Brian Grazer said Iger had the benefit of observing "the aggressively creative" Eisner up close -- for good and bad -- and probably will use those observations to shape himself as a leader. Grazer, who has known Iger for 15 years, disputes the notion that he lacks creativity and says his penchant for privacy is sometimes misinterpreted. Iger has never been a guy to show up at every party, he said, and he doesn't expect that to change. "I don't think he wants that level of intimacy or sees the value in it," Grazer said. "He's just the worker. He's always been the worker. Now he's the worker and the CEO." |
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Emergency crews have responded to more than 100
medical calls at Disney's Mission: Space since the ride opened
two years ago.
The WESH 2 I-Team investigated why emergency calls at theme parks are handled differently than those made off property. No investigation will bring back 4-year-old Daudi Bamuwamye, who died after riding Mission: Space in June, but a closer look at the frantic minutes that followed his ride demonstrates how Disney's emergency response plan works. His mother carried him from a ride capsule to a bench in the hallway. Some experts who reviewed the 911 call point to confusion and miscommunication as seconds and minutes went by. "First thing that you want to do is to check for breathing. You want to check an airway, you want to check for pulse. I mean that's standard procedure," said former paramedic James Coker. But that didn?t happen until nearly one minute, 17 seconds into the call. "Is he breathing?" asked the 911 operator. "No, he's currently not breathing," the Disney employee replied. Despite the fact that two Disney workers later told a deputy "they are CPR certified," it appears that no one did CPR until ordered to do so by the dispatcher. "Is anyone doing CPR?" asked the 911 operator. "No one is doing CPR right now," the Disney employee responded. Four ½ minutes into the call, paramedics from a station ½ mile away arrived. Paramedics are also based inside the park at a first-aid center, located less than 200 yards from the Mission: Space. It took WESH 2's I-Team 4 minutes to walk to from the first-aid center to the ride -- the same time it took Epcot's paramedics to get there on a golf cart. Reedy Creek still calls that a "quick response time." Experts who spoke with the I-Team agree, but some believe Disney's emergency plans need improving. "I think they could do better," said Coker. When Coker was vacationing at Disney in May, he discovered a man barely breathing in his hotel. A Disney worker told him she called 911, but she offered no first aid. "It just struck me as very strange that they didn't have anyone local, close by, that was first-aid qualified or CPR-qualified that would even come up and try to help," Coker said. Other guests are critical of Disney as well. "When you go to the 'happiest place on earth' with your child, they shouldn't die. They shouldn't be in danger," said park visitor Kristina Juergens. Juergens and her son, Eric, visited Disney last year and rode Mission: Space. The boy said the ride's restraint was so tight he couldn't breathe. "It was like the bar went down and was not letting me breathe," he said. Despite his mother's screams to stop the ride, it kept going. "Nobody heard me. Nobody saw me, I guess. And if they did, there was no attention paid to it. But it was very upsetting that nobody paid attention," she said. They also said Disney workers ignored their complaints afterward. Eric wasn't physically hurt, but he was very shaken up. A Disney spokesman said the company stands by its emergency response program. According to the program, a 911 call summons help from one of four Reedy Creek stations. Paramedics are sent from the stations and from substations in each park. Disney also employs 70 doctors and medical technicians and encourages employees to use CPR or one of 500 automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, that can quickly restart a heart. According to Disney's own safety manual, 4,000 workers have been trained in CPR. How does that safety plan compare to other parks? Universal and SeaWorld tell workers to phone call centers in the parks, not county 911 dispatchers. Operators then dispatch paramedics or nurses employed by the parks. If needed, operators call 911. Both parks require supervisors to be CPR and AED trained. The bottom line is that safety is different from theme park to theme park. In each park, visitors place their trust in the park staff?s hands. "The safety of our guests and cast is always our top priority. We continue to believe the response to the incident was handled appropriately," a Disney spokesman told WESH 2 News. |
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Strange
Smell Delays Boarding Of Disney Ship
A suspicious smell emanating from a suitcase turned out to be food but it was strong enough for a pair of alert bomb-sniffing dogs to keep passengers from boarding the Disney Wonder cruise ship Thursday, according to Local 6 News partner Florida Today. The Brevard County sheriff's bomb squad was called into Port Canaveral to search several pieces of luggage being loaded onto the 964-foot-long ship about 11:30 a.m. after two bomb-sniffing dogs picked up on the scent. The ship was scheduled to leave about 5 p.m. for the Bahamas. "There was a suspicious suitcase found and as part of our standard procedures, we evacuated the terminal," Rena Langley, a spokeswoman for the Disney Cruise Line told Florida Today. The suspicious smell apparently came from food someone packed away in the suitcase, said Andrew Walters, spokesman for the Brevard County Sheriff's Office. Bomb squad members X-rayed each piece of luggage on the cart headed for the ship, Walters said. Passengers waited just over two hours before being allowed to finally board the vessel about 2 p.m. "It's just the climate that our country is in right now," said Bill Nowak, an Orlando man who was cruising with his wife and two children. |
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Eisner's
Exit Interview
What was the
darkest period of your tenure? When [Disney president and
chief operating officer] Frank Wells died [in 1994], and I had
my bypass surgery within the next four months. I wondered if I
had the energy, the executive power, to continue to do it and
keep morale high. The answer is, I did. |
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Flight
Attendants Say Boycott 'Flightplan'
Three groups representing flight attendants are calling for a boycott of the box-office hit "Flightplan." In the Jodie Foster thriller about a mother looking for her missing daughter aboard a plane, a flight attendant colludes with an air marshal as part of a plot to extort a ransom from the airline. Other flight attendants are shown treating passengers rudely and being unsympathetic to Foster's character, whom they think might be delusional. The groups contend that the Disney film could breed distrust of their members among real airline passengers. "Should there be another 9/11, it would be critical for the cabin crew to have the support of their passengers, not the distrust that this movie may engender," said Tommie Hutto-Blake, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants. "Our fellow crew members who perished in the line of duty deserve more respect." Two other organizations — the Association of Flight Attendants and Transport Workers Union, Local 556 — also called for a "Flightplan" boycott. Combined, the three groups represent more than 80,000 flight attendants at 23 airlines. In a statement, Disney said it regrets the groups' reaction to the film. "There was absolutely no intention by the studio or filmmakers to create anything other than a great action thriller," the company said. "We are confident that the public will be able to discern the difference between fiction and the incredible job that real-life flight attendants perform on a daily basis." The film was No. 1 at the box office last weekend, collecting $24.6 million. |
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Regime
change might restore Disney's sparkle
The Eisner era at Disney comes to an end Saturday. Outgoing CEO Michael Eisner will be remembered for taking a sleepy theme-park company with a struggling animation division and building it into an entertainment empire. However, the emperor's choke hold on this magic kingdom had begun to squeeze the life out of the company. From the huge loss of Jeffrey Katzenberg years ago, to the recent split with movie moguls Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Eisner was increasingly perceived as doing more harm than good. Investors, insiders and the board grew restless, and the call for new leadership was, finally, heeded. Stepping into Eisner's Goofy-sized shoes will be Robert Iger, the company's president and chief operating officer for the past five years. Since being tapped as CEO-in-waiting in March, Iger has moved quickly to patch up relations with the Weinstein brothers and is working hard to renew Disney's Putting out Eisner's personal fires is the easy part, though. Keeping Disney's recent revival going is the real challenge. If he can, investors will profit handsomely. Iger's to-do list Disney has renewed growth over the past couple of years by streamlining its operations, by reviving theme-park traffic that lagged after Sept. 11, 2001, and by performing CPR on ABC. Now Iger says he's comfortable with the current size of the company, so don't expect him to prune more deadwood. As such, investors shouldn't expect the company to enjoy the same earnings leverage from improved operating efficiencies that it has in recent years. At the theme parks, Iger also isn't in a position to raise ticket prices to generate income, as Eisner did when he first took the reigns, because the economy wouldn't support such a move. Growth on this front will have to come from new park openings. There are reports that Disney plans to open a park in South Korea. New parks are good for the long-term, but the costs associated with building could dampen results over the near-term. There's also no guarantee that the new park will be well received. Euro Disney, though successful, has never lived up to its original hype. |
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You're Hired!
The Walt Disney World College Program offers students from across the world the opportunity to participate in its magical world internship. The college program, which debuted in 1981, draws interns from many schools across the country. "I had a marvelous experience working at the Mouse Gear at Epcot, in Walt Disney World and I encourage all Kirkwood students to participate in this program, especially business students," said Beth Bloomfield, a former Walt Disney intern. "I am going to connect my experience to what I am studying and also to use my experience throughout my life." Interns live in exclusive complexes on a diverse campus and take seven courses offered through the program. The courses are worth three credits each, as recommended by the American Council of Education. Kirkwood has participated in the program since its inception. "Internship learning is the practical aspect of learning through agencies that work in the field that are related to your course of study. "We all learn through experience. Therefore, while you are studying a theory of a course, it is important that you also do the practical in order to get a tangible evidence of what you are studying" said Disney intern Ben Waycoff. The Spring Advantage internship presentation is scheduled for Oct. 6 in Iowa Hall at rooms A&B at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. |
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I love Candy!
Disney has more candy this year with
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. |
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A
new twin treat from Disney Channel
Disney Channel premieres its newest TV action/ comedy series called "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" with 'twin' episodes (Episode 1: "Grounded on the 23rd Floor" and Episode 2: "Hotel Hangout") tomorrow, Oct. 1, at 6:30 p.m. which will be simultaneously shown in Singapore and Hong Kong. In association with It's a Laugh Productions, the show is created by Danny Kallis and Jim Geoghan. It is executively produced by Danny Kallis (creator of "Who's The Boss?") and Irene Dreayer (who discovered the popular Mowry sisters). It is co-executively produced by Jim Geoghan and Pam Eells. And it stars identical twins Dylan and Cole Sprouse who play the 12–year–old twins Zack and Cody who live a life of antics, mischief, mayhem, and various catastrophes in their elegant new digs at the upscale Tipton Hotel in Boston. A press launch for the show was held last Sunday at the Mandarin Grand Ballroom of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Makati. The afternoon event, which was mainly put up for children was hosted by teen star Khalil Kaimo, son of TV news anchor Mari Kaimo. Disney Channel's junior journo Nadine Lustre was among the kids who graced the affair. The programme of the launch included a live music lounge act, a seeing double game, a magic show by magician Roy, the screening of the first two episodes of the show, and a raffle draw. Contest winners claiming their prizes and photo opportunities with the handsome Khalil marked the end of the event. "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" follows the daily life of naughty and hyperactive twins Zack and Cody whose single mom gets a job as a headlining singer at the Tipton Hotel and as part of her contract, they get to live at an upper floor suite of the hotel. To the chagrin of the hotel management,the twins turn the hotel into their playground, and the staff and guests into unwitting participants in the outrageous situations they manage to create. The stars of the show, Dylan and Cole Sprouse, who may be hailed as the next set of twins bound for stardom since Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, have graced the big screen in the 1999 Hollywood comedy flick "Big Daddy" and TV's "Friends." Here are some trivia about the main stars of the show: Cole Sprouse (Cody Martin), was named after songwriter Cole Porter. He was born in Arezzo, Italy and is 15 minutes younger than Dylan. Raised in Southern California, they began a career in front of the cameras in a TV commercial when they were only six months old. Aside from "Big Daddy" and "Friends," he's also appeared in "Grace Under Fire," "The Astronaut's Wife," "Master of Disguise," "Eight Crazy Nights"and "Piggybanks." He's shared all roles with his brother Dylan and this is the first time that the twins received separate roles. Cole likes Math and the color blue. His hobbies include video games, snowboarding, surfing, basketball, and motocross. Dylan Sprouse (Zack Martin), was named after poet Dylan Thomas. Born 15 minutes before Cole, he shares the same hobbies as Cole. Dylan likes Science, the color orange and the Los Angeles Lakers. Like his brother Cole, he too is sports-minded and possesses great love for animals. The rest of the cast include Ashley Tisdale as Maddie,the hotel's teenage gift shop clerk and part-time babysitter who foils the twins' antics; Thai-American teen actress Brenda Song as the hotel owner's spoiled daughter London; impressive TV veteran Kim Rhodes as the twins' mom, Carey, the singer; and Phill Lewis as Mr. Moseby, the hotel manager who always catches the boys in their mischief and always saves the precious 'vase' at the end of the day. |
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Disney
gives African art collection to Smithsonian
On the eve of Eisner's departure, he says the Smithsonian will get the private collection long sought by LACMA, other suitors. In a move to close his leadership of Walt
Disney Corp. with a philanthropic flourish, Chief Executive
Michael Eisner announced Thursday that the company would
donate its African art collection, hailed by experts as one of
the most important such collections in private hands in the
U.S., to the Smithsonian Institution. |
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Eisner’s
record at Disney will be hard to beat
In two decades he transformed a struggling animation studio and its pair of amusement parks into a global entertainment powerhouse with 11 theme parks, a dozen television channels, a top-rated broadcast network, one of Hollywood’s biggest film studios and more than $30 billion in annual revenues. In fact, Michael Eisner’s record at Disney will be hard to beat says Laura Martin, an analyst with Soleil-Media Metrics: “That is a feat almost unprecedented in corporate America over a 20-year period,” she said. In many ways he was a pioneer. It was Eisner who perfected synergy in Hollywood, taking creative content from one division in a company and exploiting it across multiple business lines notes Martin. “I think Michael Eisner did the best job of any of his competitors in the industry of really creating a very tightly knit, integrated entertainment conglomerate around that strong animation position that he had,” Martin said. But things changed dramatically for Eisner and Disney in 1994 when his chief lieutenant, company president Frank Wells, died unexpectedly Under pressure to find a new second in command, Eisner hired his friend, Hollywood super agent Michael Ovitz, who wound up leaving the company after just 14 months on the job with a $140 million severance package. Angry shareholders sued Eisner and the company board for negligence. “Some of that difficulty and turmoil was obviously self-inflicted by the personality traits that Mr. Eisner brought to the job,” said Hal Vogel, president of investment firm Vogel Capital Management. Eisner was also blamed for a string of bad business moves, including a billion-dollar bath on failed Internet investments and the disastrous acquisition of the Fox Family Channel. Eisner clashed with Pixar chief Steve Jobs, who decided not to renew a lucrative partnership with Disney. He also fought with Disney studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, who left and launched DreamWorks — now a major Disney competitor in the red-hot animation field. But Eisner’s biggest mistake was taking on Walt Disney’s nephew Roy Disney, who launched a shareholder revolt after he was forced off the company board in 2003. At the company’s annual meeting a year later, Disney dissidents handed Eisner a resounding vote of no confidence, prompting his resignation as chairman and his ultimate departure from the chief executive suite. “[Eisner] was a colorful and charismatic figure, and there aren’t as many of those these days,” said James Bates of the Los Angeles Times. “And it’s kind of that personality, that charisma that helped to make the company what it is today.” Incoming Disney CEO Bob Iger has already put his own stamp on Disney — he recently made peace with Roy Disney, reached out to Steve Jobs and decentralized the company’s corporate structure. But Eisner says he’ll keep his hand in the entertainment business, and he’ll keep his seat on Disney’s board until next year’s annual meeting. |
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Vacation
Discounts Announced
Disney has released Magic Your Way package discounts for guests traveling October 23 through December 25, 2005. Rates are valid most nights from: 10/23/05 - 11/20/05, 11/26/05 - 12/4/05 & 12/10/05 - 12/25/05. Travel must be completed by 12/25/05. Prices start at $999 for a family of 4 at a select Value Resort. Ask for code YQC. Vacations must be booked before October 23, 2005. The number of rooms is limited. |
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Eisner
leaves mixed legacy as Disney chief
When Michael Eisner hands over the keys to Disney's Magic Kingdom on Friday after 21 years of running the media giant, he'll leave behind a stormy legacy -- brilliant early success mixed later with executive turmoil, an operational slump and a shareholder revolt. But industry experts say that ironically, as Eisner says farewell as Disney's chief executive officer, the company has begun to return to the double-digit earnings growth that marked his first decade running Disney with late president Frank Wells. Under new CEO Bob Iger, Disney will continue facing challenges settling issues at its movie studio -- including landing a new distribution deal with Pixar Animation Studios (PIXR.O) . But with a new park in Hong Kong open, and a turnaround at TV broadcaster ABC in progress, Eisner is leaving on a high note. "His legacy is brilliance, mixed with turmoil," said Hal Vogel, a veteran Wall Street analyst and money manager who has tracked the media industry for years. There is no doubt that Eisner's tenure has been successful. In the 21 years since he joined a then struggling Disney, the company has gone from $1.5 billion in annual revenues to nearly $31 billion today. The stock price was $1.33 in 1984 and traded at around $24 a share on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Disney has split its shares since 1984, and Disney said $10,000 of its stock 21 years ago would now be worth more than $200,000. When Eisner ran the company alongside No. 2 executive Frank Wells, it seemed Disney could do no wrong. Along with studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, they reinvigorated Disney's vaunted film animation group, cranking out movies like "The Lion King." SUCCESS TO MISSTEPS The early successes peaked in 1995 when Disney agreed to acquire Capital Cities/ABC, which owned the ABC and ESPN TV networks, in a $19 billion deal. A year earlier, Wells died in a helicopter crash. Katzenberg left Disney after failing to ascend to Wells' job. Eisner instead hired Hollywood superagent Michael Ovitz to be president, but he departed in 1996 after clashing with other Disney executives and his former friend, Eisner. Katzenberg later sued Disney for bonus money and settled for an amount reported to be around $250 million, and Ovitz got a severance package with an estimated value at $140 million. "After Frank died, you can't say the company did much of anything that was all that brilliant," said one former Disney executive who asked to remain unidentified. Although ESPN has proven highly valuable, ABC stumbled badly until this past year when hit comedy "Desperate Housewives" and drama "Lost" sparked a viewership rebound and higher advertising revenues. Wall Street viewed Disney as paying too much in 2001 when it agreed to acquire Fox Family Channel from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Ltd. (NWSa.N) for $5.2 billion, including debt. The company had been an ambitious player on the Internet, but in 2001, it shuttered its uncompetitive GO.com Web portal and took over $800 million in quarterly charges. Like others, Disney's theme parks suffered from a tourism slump after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, although they have since rebounded. The missteps caused Roy Disney, nephew of company founder Walt Disney, to launch a campaign to oust Eisner. The board made many of the changes Roy Disney advocated, although Eisner leaves on his own terms. Iger still faces issues ahead. ABC's recent hits need support from new shows like presidential drama "Commander in Chief" to keep ratings momentum going. And the studio must rejuvenate its Miramax Films specialty division and its animated division, perhaps signing a new distribution agreement with Pixar Animation Studios Inc. (PIXR.O) after Eisner alienated Pixar CEO Steve Jobs. |
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ABC
dominates Wednesday with 'Lost'
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Winter
Garden man takes Disney triathlon
Two weeks ago, Marc Bonnet-Eymard of Winter
Garden beat the nearest competitor in the OUC Downtown Orlando
Triathlon by more than four minutes. Andriy Yastrebov, who lives in Dade City but
hails from the Ukraine, won Ironman Wisconsin three weeks ago.
Yastrebov, who specializes in the Ironman distance, took third
at Ironman Coeur d'Alene in Idaho in 2004 and second at
Ironman Florida in Panama City Beach in 2003. He consistently
runs sub three-hour marathons in triathlons -- after swimming
2.4 miles and biking 112 miles. |
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Thursday September 29, 2005 |
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| Disneyland Celebrates 50th Anniversary of The Mickey Mouse Club | ||
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Disneyland, "The Mickey Mouse Club" and the
Mouseketeers -- three American pop culture icons -- share
their 50th anniversaries in 2005 and 10 of the original
Mouseketeers are returning "home" to Disneyland on
Monday, October 3, to celebrate their golden milestone where
they first made their initial public appearance. In salute to
one of the most popular children's television shows of
all-time, the Mouseketeers will return "home" to
Disneyland for a 9 a.m. reunion saluting the debut of the
classic 1950s television series. The special salute honoring
the original cast of Mouseketeers and "The Mickey Mouse
Club" is just one of many memorable moments taking place
during the 18-month Disneyland "Happiest Homecoming on
Earth" 50th anniversary celebration as it kicks into high
gear and continues throughout 2006. Additional upcoming
milestones and celebrations include "Golden"
holidays at Disneyland, the January opening of the all-new
attraction "Monsters, Inc. -- Mike & Sulley to the
Rescue" at Disney's California Adventure and the 40th
anniversary of "it's a small world."
In a nostalgic ceremony in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, the Mouseketeers will reflect on 50 years of "Mouske-Memories" in story and song before unveiling the world's largest pair of "Mouseketeer Ears," comprised of nearly 1,000 "Honorary" Mouseketeers filling the expansive forecourt of the castle. Seen from above, and to the strains of the familiar "Mickey Mouse Club Alma Mater," the iconic black ears with the "Mickey Mouse Club" logo will magically come alive and be transformed to mark the milestone occasion. "We are very proud to honor the Mouseketeers for their contributions to Disneyland and to children's television," said Matt Ouimet, president of Disneyland Resort. "The Mousketeer hats that 'The Mickey Mouse Club' made so popular 50 years ago continue to be popular with Disneyland Guests today." "The Mickey Mouse Club" made its national television premiere on Monday, October 3, 1955, on the ABC television network. The Mouseketeers were a talented cast of youngsters who starred in the popular variety series that included cartoons, music and live-action adventures. The show began with the famous "Mickey Mouse Club March" (a tune still familiar with today's generation) and ended with another popular song, "The Mickey Mouse Club Alma Mater," which expressed a heartfelt goodbye with the famous: "M - I - C -- See ya real soon -- K - E - Y -- Why? Because we like you! M - O - U - S - E." The Mouseketeers were first introduced to the public during the live broadcast of the Disneyland opening day festivities, televised nationwide on Sunday, July 17, 1955. They were featured in the inaugural Main Street parade and were showcased with their very own musical production number. All 24 initial Mouseketeers performed the "Talent Round-Up" song at the Mickey Mouse Club Theater in Fantasyland, culminating in the soon-to-become familiar "Mouseketeer Roll Call." Over the course of a four-year run (1955-1959), 39 original Mouseketeers appeared on the show. For many years, The Mickey Mouse Club Theater at Disneyland was the official home of the Mouseketeers. Opening on August 27, 1955, the theater featured a program of Disney cartoon shorts and 3D films. On November 24, 1955, Disneyland premiered the elaborate "Mickey Mouse Club Circus," starring many of the Mouseketeers as stunt riders and trapeze artists, plus head Mouseketeers Jimmie Dodd and Roy Williams. From 1963-64 the Main Street Opera House at Disneyland became the "Mickey Mouse Club Headquarters" where children could sign-up and get their own official membership cards in the club. Throughout the years the original Mouseketeers have returned to Disneyland numerous times, including reunions in 1980, 1990, 1995 and most recently at the actual 50th anniversary of Disneyland on July 17, 2005. "The Mickey Mouse Club" featured numerous Mouseketeers that would go on to successful entertainment careers including Annette Funicello ("Babes in Toyland," "The Shaggy Dog," numerous "Beach Party" films with Frankie Avalon), Bobby Burgess ("The Lawrence Welk Show"), Tommy Kirk ("Old Yeller," "Swiss Family Robinson"), Cubby O'Brien (professional drummer for numerous Broadway shows and headliners) and Tommy Cole (Emmy Award winning make-up artist). The show was revived in 1977 as "The New Mickey Mouse Club" with a whole new cast of Mouseketeers including Lisa Whelchel who later starred in the hit TV series "The Facts of Life." From 1989-1994, the "MMC" was broadcast on The Disney Channel and launched the careers of such successful performers as Christina Aguilera, J.C. Chasez, Ryan Gosling, Keri Russell, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. More information about the "Happiest Homecoming on Earth" and vacations at Disneyland Resort is available at www.disneyland.com, by calling (877) 700-DISNEY, or by visiting local travel agents. |
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Disney's
MP3 player for kids
Going after a market that includes children as young as 6, Disney on Thursday unveiled a new line of portable digital audio players for preteen consumers. |
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Disney Mix Sticks are digital audio MP3/WMA players designed to download music files or copy from CDs. They also accommodate memory cards, called Mix Clips, that feature prerecorded music from Walt Disney Records. "Digital music is exploding and is ready to take off with kids," Chris Heatherly, Disney Electronics vice president, said in a statement. "The Disney Mix Stick-Mix Clips combination is the perfect way for kids to get started with digital music because it's easier to use than players that can only be used with a PC, and it is just as capable." |
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Disney Mix Sticks have a storage capacity of 128MB, enough for about 60 songs, and work with a USB 2.0 connector. The MP3 players also feature an SD/MMC card slot for as much as 1GB of storage, or approximately 500 songs. The Mix Clip memory cards carry full-length albums from Walt Disney Records and are compatible with computers, cellular phones and other devices. |
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The MP3 players are scheduled to ship in mid-October to major retailers and are expected to sell for about $49. The Mix Clips will be offered separately in the same price range as CDs. Disney isn't the first to attract young consumers with a media player. Apple's iPod has caught the attention of young teens and toy maker Hasbro also carries a portable digital-music recorder, PlayItNow. |
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Disney has its own iPod contender, the Mix
Stick MP3 player, for kids of all ages. The Mix Stick comes
with 128MB of built-in memory and is expandable to 1G to
store data and music files. It is expected to sell for
$49.99.
Disney's Jam Stand (sold separately) allows kids to play music from their Disney Mix Stick player while recharging its battery. The Mix Stick comes with a lithium battery that will last up to 8 hours. The Jam Stand's expected price is $39.99. |
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The Mix Sticks come with four different
styles: Disney Chrome, Forever Princess, Sassy Pixie and
That's So Raven. Another accessory is a carrying case, a unisex black one or a pink purse with a see-through front. Disney is also offering a plain chrome model of the Mix Stick. The fourth model is called That's so Raven. A Raven Mix Clip can also be purchased separately. |
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The Robert Iger era is beginning at Disney.
The 54-year-old Iger takes over a company
whose ABC network is on the rebound, whose theme parks
are recovering from the Sept. 11, 2001 tourism slowdown
and whose film division has lined up a slate of
potential blockbuster movies, including two sequels to
"Pirates of the Caribbean."
But he will face considerable challenges
as he tries to execute his vision of expanding Disney
internationally and leading the company into a digital
future.
Perhaps his most important task involves
animated films, a franchise lost in recent years to
Pixar Animation Studios Inc. and DreamWorks Animation
SKG Inc.
"Bob Iger's highest priority in our
view is to re-establish Disney and its affiliates as the
pre-eminent source of animated film," said Laura
Martin, an analyst with Soleil-Media Metrics.
Disney stumbled in recent years with traditional hand-drawn feature films while competitors were finding great success with computer-generated movies. |
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Disney's (NYSE: DIS)
movie studios may not be doing so well these days, but
its broadcast network is coming up roses.
ABC bested General
Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC, News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox,
and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) CBS in the ratings race for the
first week of the new television season in terms of the
vital 18-49 demographic, something it apparently hadn't
done in 10 years. The Mouse secured the pole position
via success stories such as Desperate Housewives
and Lost, generating a 21% increase in the 18-49
category versus one year ago. CBS, however, was No. 1 in
terms of overall viewer levels. Plus, consider that the
spread between CBS and ABC in terms of average overall
viewers was narrow (12.9 million vs. 12.3 million,
respectively).
This is great news for shareholders of Disney, including me. Then again, I'm also a shareholder of General Electric, whose NBC unit didn't do so well after posting a decrease of 7% in overall viewers. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Coming back to ABC, I have to say its performance impressed me because I was concerned that the network might not maintain its recent momentum. As we all know, you can be top of the heap one year and then bottom of the barrel the next. That's how it goes in Hollywood. But I'm pleased to see that ABC is still bringing in the eyeballs. Those eyeballs equal revenues, of course. Check out Rick Munarriz's commentary back in June, aptly titled "Easy As ABC." Considering that Invasion performed the best among all the new shows, one has to wonder whether it truly is that easy. It probably isn't. Bob Iger shouldn't rest on ABC's laurels just yet; he needs to ensure that this asset continues to rake in the ad dollars and serves as an antidote for the weak studio segment. Hopefully, last weekend's box office showing of Disney's Flightplan indicates good things to come, as it topped the Boxofficemojo.com charts with a gross of $24.6 million. ABC may be hot right now, but Disney's stock is not. The downturn in the company's movie business is really taking a toll. Things could be worse, though, if ABC weren't doing gangbuster ratings. So shareholders should take a positive attitude and a long-term perspective for the stock. |
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The U.S. Department of Transportation's
National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA)
and the Advertising Council (AdCouncil) today announced
an unprecedented tie-in with Walt Disney's original
"Cinderella" animated feature and Buena Vista
Home Entertainment (BVHE), to educate families on the
importance of booster seats until children reach 4 feet
9 inches in height. As part of the effort, an expansive
Public Service Advertisement (PSA) campaign will roll
out via television, radio, outdoor and online media,
featuring facts about booster seat usage, themed to the
"Cinderella" story and utilizing original
footage and characters from Walt Disney's classic
animated motion picture, to make the campaign more
effective and appealing to both children and parents.
This new and innovative way of combining
life-saving information about child safety seat use with
a well-known entertainment property is the first-ever
collaboration of the three organizations and was created
in response to overwhelming statistics indicating
booster seats reduce the number of avoidable deaths and
serious injuries from car crashes each year. The
expansive new public service campaign is designed to
create awareness among parents of young children who
have outgrown their toddler seats, that a booster seat
is a must for any child under 4 feet 9 inches tall, to
lift them up so that a safety belt fits properly.
Booster seat use is required by law in 33 states and the
District of Columbia.
"We're delighted that the Ad Council and BVHE have agreed to help us get kids between four and eight into booster seats," said NHTSA Deputy Administrator Jacqueline Glassman. "What better messenger than the Fairy Godmother to tell us that the magic number is 4'9"." "We are very proud to stand with NHTSA in promoting child safety by lending Walt Disney's original beloved 'Cinderella' characters to this important safety campaign," Robert Chapek, President, Buena Vista Home Entertainment said. "Using the beloved Fairy Godmother and Cinderella to help deliver this message, but in a more family-friendly way, can heighten the public's receptivity to such an important safety issue." |
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Disney
and Raven-Symone Unveil ``That's So Raven'' Fragrance
& Cosmetics Collection
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) and international teen superstar Raven-Symone (a.k.a. Raven), of Disney Channel's hit series "That's So Raven," introduced a new fragrance and cosmetics collection for tween girls today at an exclusive launch event in New York City. The collection, from Disney Consumer Products and licensees Townley Cosmetics and boom!, reflects the spirited, fresh and warm "That's So Raven" brand for today's tween. It offers the opportunity for girls to express themselves with this season's hottest color palettes and a fun new fragrance, all while further connecting with their favorite TV series and star. Both lines will be available at May Dept. stores, Wal-Mart, Limited Too, Claire's stores and specialty retailers nationwide beginning in October. Raven-Symone will make personal appearances at Wal-Mart stores in Orlando, Dallas and Atlanta in early October to coincide with the product's in-store arrival. To ensure her personal preferences were infused in the development of the product, the multi-talented 19-year-old entertainer collaborated with Disney Consumer Products and its licensees Townley Cosmetics on the color cosmetic line, and boom! on the "That's So Raven" fragrance. "I am a make-up and fragrance fanatic who likes creating art with all kinds of beautiful color and texture, so the process of working alongside the pros to create these lines was an intriguing and fun experience for me," said Raven-Symone. She continued, "I also wanted to provide some tips to girls about the best way to apply make-up so that it looks natural and doesn't freak their parents out." "Raven-Symone is a great inspiration and role model to girls everywhere," said Shiela Ullery, category director, health and beauty, Disney Consumer Products. She continued, "We've seen a tremendous response to `That's So Raven' products such as apparel and video games, so extending the brand into personal care was a natural fit. Working alongside industry leaders boom! and Townley Cosmetics, we set out to develop a line that truly captures her energy and spirit while playing up the series' fun attributes." In addition to selecting the fresh and natural color palettes, the teen superstar chose "flavors" for lip gloss and suggested shade names for lipstick, eye shadow and blush. A make-up enthusiast, Raven-Symone provided "how to apply make-up" tips for tweens on the product packaging. She participated in lab reviews with fragrance makers from boom!, contributing to the creation of the fragrance by sharing her preferences for certain notes and scents. The new "That's So Raven" fragrance bouquet contains vanilla bean notes with white lily and lemon zest contrasted with low notes of soft, warm musk to create the energetic and playful scent. The collection offers cologne sprays and a fragrance shimmer stick at a suggested retail price from $7.50- $12.00. The new cosmetics collection offers an array of color blends in blush, eye shadows, all over compacts, lip gloss, lip pots, lip wands, nail polish and more. The collection is available individually and as make-up sets, packaged in stylish, useful make-up bags, kits and notebooks, with a suggested retail price from $3.00-$15.00. "That's So Raven" is seen on Disney Channels around the world. In the U.S., it is televised daily (7:30 p.m. ET/PT) on Disney Channel. It is also seen Saturday mornings (10:30 a.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT) on the ABC Television Network's ABC Kids. 2005-to-date, "That's So Raven" is the basic cable television industry's #1 series with Girls 6-11 and Tween Girls 9-14. For 2004, it was the #1 series on basic cable with Tween Girls 9-14. It is also Disney Channel's #1 series in Households and Total Viewers and the #1 Saturday morning program on ABC Kids with Tween Girls 9-14. Disney Channel, part of Disney ABC Television Group, is available in over 86 million U.S. homes. Disney Consumer Products (DCP) is the business segment of The Walt Disney Company that extends the Disney brand to merchandise ranging from apparel, toys, home decor, stationery and books to interactive games, food and beverages, electronics and animation art. This is accomplished through the work of DCP's various lines of business: Disney Toys, Disney Softlines, Disney Hardlines, Disney Home, Disney Publishing, Buena Vista Games, The Baby Einstein Co. and The Muppets Holding Co. 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 by Disney in Europe. boom! LLC, based in New York City, is a full service company focused on design/development and distribution within the fragrance, color cosmetic, bath, body and hair care categories. Clients have included brands like Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Sears, United Retail, Limited Too, Disney, Wrangler and the National Football League. Townley Inc., a New York based cosmetic and accessories company with over 50 years of industry experience, specializes in Kids, Tween and Teen cosmetics and covers all aspects of the licensed and private label cosmetic markets. Townley has created dynamic partnerships with brands from Disney, Warner Brothers, Cartoon Network and Sanrio. Retail partnerships include Club Libby Lu, Hot Topic, Limited Too, Target and May Co. |
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Veteran
to head Disney union
Morty Miller, a longtime union organizer,
business agent and officer, was elected Wednesday to head the
Service Trades Council, an umbrella group for six unions
representing 27,000 full- and part-time employees at Walt
Disney World. |
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Don't
forget Eisner also saved company
There was a before, you know. Before the Michael Ovitz lawsuit. Before the shareholder revolt. When Michael Eisner got to Disney 21 years ago, he wasn't the guy with the target on his back. He was the guy brought in to fix things, to protect the sleepy company from another attack by corporate raiders. And that's just what he did. Say what you will about Eisner -- and I've said plenty -- but there's no disputing the facts: The reluctant retiree who leaves his post this week had a passion for entertainment. And, despite a privileged background, he had an uncanny feel for popular taste. Eisner purchased the ABC television network; he launched Disney's theatrical productions; and he oversaw a hotel and theme-park building boom in Central Florida. Did pettiness and ego sometimes mask his skills? Absolutely. Were there flops? To be sure. You don't hear much about the Disney Institute at Walt Disney World these days. And those plans in Virginia for Disney's America, a history park about which an executive said tourists would "feel what it was like to be a slave," were scuttled, fortunately. But through much of his career, Eisner was golden, as near as it came to a reincarnation of Walt himself. Charlie Ridgway, a retired Orlando publicist, remembers the first time Eisner and Frank Wells, Disney's late president, walked through the Magic Kingdom. Hundreds of workers lined up to shake their hands outside Cinderella Castle. "I think there was a significant feeling of relief," Ridgway said. That's because Disney had weathered two raiders -- Saul Steinberg and Irwin Jacobs. Had either succeeded, they may have busted up the company and sold off the parts. Eisner was the guy who kept Disney together. Early in his tenure, Eisner recognized the key to success in Orlando would be keeping people on property. That meant giving them more hotels to stay in and something to do at night -- namely Pleasure Island (where, incidentally, he tooled around on skates with Michael Jackson). In the boom-building days, it wasn't unusual to find Eisner in a hard hat at construction sites. Before he was so recognizable, he would sneak into the park as a regular tourist to see what the experience of paying customers was like. His favorite ride or show? It was always the one that had just opened. "He's a promoter. The newest thing will always be his baby," said Tom Elrod, a retired marketing and entertainment executive at Disney. "And he was fanatical about the competition." He wanted to know about everything -- and his sneaking around included trips to SeaWorld and Universal Orlando, too. At his parks, he would insist on changes, like closing the Magic Kingdom's Alien Encounter show to make it more intense. He rode Mission: Space at Epcot at least 20 times when it was under development. I asked current and former executives if Disney would be Disney -- a $31-billion-a-year conglomerate -- were it not for Eisner. No way, they said. The last couple of years have been difficult for the Big Mouse. Shareholders, who once stood in line to get his autograph, stripped him of his chairman's title. And a judge, though clearing Eisner and other directors of wrongdoing, had harsh words for him regarding the $140 million in severance paid to his buddy, Michael Ovitz. But there was a time when folks were happy to credit Eisner with turning a tired company into a powerhouse. I hope when people look back on his tenure, they remember that, too. |
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Fox
Valley Disney store opens after makeover
Disney stores in suburban Chicago are sporting a new look, complete with a dressing room, outfits for newborns and entryways styled as Mickey Mouse ears. They also have a new retail strategy, mingling discounts and two-for-one sales with higher-priced goods. The Disney store at Fox Valley Center in Aurora already has been made over. Stores at Orland Park Mall and at the Old Orchard shopping center in Skokie will reopen Nov. 4 and Nov. 8, respectively, with the remodeled look. "The new prototype is designed to capture the imagination ... to bring back some of the fun of the theme park experience," said Mario Ciampi, president of Disney Stores North America. Mickey as an 11-foot-tall sorcerer stands prominently in the front of the stores, with sparkling lighting overhead. An imaginatively designed checkout stand features huge molds of Mickey's ears, hands and feet. A media wall in the back of the store shows previews of Disney movies and memorable clips from movie and DVD releases. The stores sell Disney DVDs. Children sit in Donald and Daisy "duckbills" as seats. The dressing rooms sport Tinkerbell, Peter Pan and Captain Hook motifs. Shoppers should notice that the Disney store clothing has improved fabrics, some tagless items and easier washing requirements, Ciampi said. Nearly all of Disney's stores will get the makeover in the next three years. The remodeling was announced four years ago, at the same time Disney said it would close 100 of its 508 stores nationwide as their leases expired. The Children's Place Retail Stores bought the 313-store Disney chain for $100 million last year. Shoppers will notice only minor touchups at the Disney flagship store at 717 N. Michigan, among the top three stores in sales nationwide. "It's not as old as some of the other stores, and it was built to last a long time, as a flagship," Ciampi said of the six-year-old store. |
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Michael
Eisner steps down, Robert Iger takes helm
The Robert Iger era is beginning at Disney. The incoming chief executive will inherit a mixed bag Saturday when he becomes only the sixth person to lead the Walt Disney Co., replacing longtime CEO Michael Eisner. The 54-year-old Iger takes over a company whose ABC network is on the rebound, whose theme parks are recovering from the 9/11 tourism slowdown and whose film division has lined up a slate of potential blockbuster movies, including two sequels to Pirates of the Caribbean. But he faces considerable challenges as he tries to execute his vision of expanding Disney internationally and leading the company into a digital future. Perhaps his most important task involves animated films, a franchise lost in recent years to Pixar Animation Studios and DreamWorks Animation SKG. ''Bob Iger's highest priority in our view is to re-establish Disney and its affiliates as the pre-eminent source of animated film,'' said Laura Martin, an analyst with Soleil-Media Metrics. Disney stumbled in recent years with traditional hand-drawn feature films while competitors were thriving with computer-generated movies. The company has since switched to computer animation. Iger is already trying to strike a new distribution deal with Pixar, a move that would give Disney breathing room as it launches its own slate of computer animated films, beginning with this year's Chicken Little. Iger has also convened a group of top executives who will work with a management consulting firm to envision what Disney and its component businesses will look like in 2015. In recent months, Iger has declined requests for interviews about his plans. But he has told analysts that adapting Disney's content to the digital future will be one of his priorities. Consumers ''are going to put demands on how, when, where and how much they consume in media and how much they spend as well,'' Iger said at a recent investment conference. ``Those dynamics, we believe, create a voracious appetite for content.'' While Disney continues to rebound and promise double-digit growth this year and next, Iger faces hurdles sustaining that growth long-term, analysts said. In recent years, Disney has improved profits by shedding underperforming assets, like its retail stores, and is now talking to potential suitors about its radio business. For the latest quarter, net income rose 41 percent to $851 million from $604 million for the year-ago period, helped by higher ratings for ABC shows such as Desperate Housewives, and increased attendance at its theme parks. Disney's stock has rebounded from a low of less than $15 a share in 2002, closing Wednesday at $23.37, up a penny, on the New York Stock Exchange. Iger doesn't have the luxury of raising already expensive theme-park prices to boost growth. And his plans to expand the company's television and movie businesses into China and Asia will be tempered by restrictions placed on American media by those countries. He has told analysts he is happy with Disney's current size and mix of businesses, a structure that has helped it weather downturns in tourism and slumps in the television advertising market. ''We like the size of the company today given the environment and have no plans to split it up and make it smaller,'' Iger told analysts, referring to plans by rival media company Viacom Inc. to split into separate entities to operate its TV and movie interests. Iger inherits a much different Disney than Eisner found when he took charge.In 1984, Disney was a small, sleepy movie studio with three theme parks and a moribund animation department. Eisner quickly raised park prices and invested in animation, spurring quick growth. Unlike his predecessor, Iger will not be consumed with quieting corporate turmoil and fending off dissident shareholders. After being named Eisner's successor in March, Iger quickly persuaded ex-directors Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold to drop their two-year feud with the company. Disney, the nephew of company namesake Walt Disney, was named a director emeritus and consultant last July. In exchange, he and Gold agreed to support Iger. Iger also moved quickly to mend fences with Bob and Harvey Weinstein, co-founders of Miramax, the Disney-owned company responsible for some of its parent's most respected films. |
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BST excels with challenging 'Beauty' Like the song goes, "Disney's Beauty and the Beast'' tells a tale as old as time. But the splashy stage production at Billings Studio Theater weaves another story - of homegrown talent like the tap-dancing Howland siblings, Judy Morrell's velvety vocals as Mrs. Potts and the acrobatics of Andrew J. Smith as Lefou. This musical features heaps of talent, including the two leads, Hana Pestle as Belle and Casey Visser as the Beast. The costumes are flashy, if a bit cumbersome. Visser had trouble opening night projecting his rich voice because part of his mask was covering his nose, and a dancing fork struggled with folding tongs. Otherwise, the show was a flawless mix of ambitious choreography, whimsical costumes and inspired vocals. Shows have been selling out since opening weekend, so the theater has added two Saturday matinees. The musical, the theater's most expensive undertaking in recent years, is a full staging of "Disney's Beauty and the Beast.'' No detail is left out, from the gargoyles that embellish the castle walls to a perfect replica of Belle's golden gown from the animated Disney movie and the light-up candlestick hands on Lumiere, whose antics make him one of the highlights of the show. Played by BST veteran Tom Wagner, Lumiere is a persistent flirt throughout, tickling the feather duster Babette, played by Janet Morgenstern, and advising Beast on how to court a lady. The big production numbers are dazzling, especially the "Be Our Guest'' scene where 40-some dancers, most of them dressed as household items, waltz and strut around the stage without losing a beat. The scene showcases individual talents, including some fancy tap dancing by the cream and sugar bowl, played by brother and sister Ben and Mandy Howland, the waltzing silverware, and the can-can napkins. Mary Monaghan does a fine job moving and singing in her boxy wardrobe costume, intricately decorated with feathers and glitter. And Morrell dressed as Mrs. Potts in a full-blown teapot still manages to float around the stage as if she were wearing a tutu. Director Gerry Roe put together a strong cast well-suited for the roles and added an extra bite to the show by beefing up the comedic role of Gaston, played by Mark Jurovich. The pairing of Jurovich and Smith as Gaston's sidekick Lefou is especially strong. The wiry, gymnastic Smith adds much physical humor to the show, and Jurovich enhances that with his portrayal of the brutish Gaston. At one point, Lefou leaps into Gaston's arms, smirking the entire time. Choreographer Michelle Guelff brings some bold strokes to the production, most noticeably in the wolf scene, where the costumed actors tangle with the Beast in a dreamy, balletlike scene. And the costuming is phenomenal, from Belle's gorgeous gowns to Chip's unique setup as a cup on wheels. Gary Treglown designed and built the magical costumes, with help from several others putting them all together. Jeff Boschee, who also played Cogsworth, created the sets, which included the extraordinarily detailed castle, and Kathryn McLain does a fine job as musical director. The show runs almost three hours, but it feels shorter and you'll leave hoping for more. |
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Iger
plans to animate Disney
The Robert Iger era is beginning at Disney. The incoming chief executive will inherit a mixed bag on Saturday when he becomes only the sixth person to lead the Walt Disney Co, replacing longtime CEO Michael Eisner. The 54-year-old Iger takes over a company whose ABC network is on the rebound, whose theme parks are recovering from the tourism slowdown after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and whose film division has lined up a slate of potential blockbusters, including two sequels to Pirates of the Caribbean. But he will face considerable challenges as he tries to realise his vision of expanding Disney internationally and leading the company into a digital future. Perhaps his most important task involves animated films, where Disney has lost ground in recent years to Pixar Animation Studios Inc and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. Disney's stock has rebounded from a low of less than $15 (£8.50) a share in 2002 and has traded at between $22 (£12.50) and $29.99 (£17) per share over the last year. It closed at $23.37 (£13.25) in New York yesterday. |
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Jim
Brickman: the Disney Songbook
Platinum-selling pianist Jim Brickman and the industry's #1 family music label are proud to present their first collaboration - Jim Brickman: The Disney Songbook. The release makes its debut in stores October 4, 2005 on Walt Disney Records. Jim Brickman: The Disney Songbook pays tribute to the timeless Disney musical repertoire through Brickman's heartfelt interpretations and special guest vocal performances. The CD features two brand new, original tracks inspired by the first-time-ever DVD release of the beloved Disney original animated feature Cinderella - "I'm Amazed," featuring platinum-selling country recording artist Lila McCann, and the all-new adult contemporary track, "Beautiful." The single "I'm Amazed" was "most added" at AC radio on September 13. The soaringly romantic "Beautiful" was co-written by Jim and performed by Emmy® Award-winning TV star Wayne Brady. As a special bonus feature, the CD includes the full length "Beautiful" music video showcasing Jim Brickman and Wayne Brady. In The Disney Songbook, Jim romances Disney favorites including "Beauty and the Beast," "Mary Poppins Medley," "Cruella De Vil," "Reflection," "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," "Some Day My Prince Will Come," and "When You Wish Upon A Star." Additional collaborators on Jim Brickman: The Disney Songbook include pop/R&B artist Kimberley Locke ("A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes"), "One Life to Live" star Kassie DePaiva ("Baby Mine") and country music sensation Josh Gracin ("When I See an Elephant Fly"). This exciting new CD will be featured in Jim Brickman's third PBS musical special, Jim Brickman at the Magic Kingdom: The Disney Songbook, premiering November 2005 and airing through the end of the year. This vibrant television special will highlight Jim's piano virtuosity and feature special guests Wayne Brady, Lila McCann, Broadway star Linda Eder and Grammy Award-winner Michael Bolton, all giving electric performances filmed earlier this year at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando. Over the course of ten albums since Jim's solo recording debut No Words, he has been awarded one Platinum and four Gold records and has sold over 5MM units in the US alone. Jim is a staple at AC Radio with a long string of Top 10 hits. In addition, he was a recipient of the Gospel Music Association's Dove Award and earned a 2003 Grammy nomination for the holiday CD Peace. On October 4, 2005, Jim Brickman: The Disney Songbook will be available for a suggested retail price of $18.98 wherever music is sold. All Buena Vista Records and Walt Disney Records audio products also can be ordered by visiting DisneyRecords.com. |
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Disney
brings its Princesses to India
Disney has launched the Princess Collection of Dolls and Role-Play sets in India. The Walt Disney Company has entered into an agreement with Funskool India to retail Disney's range of toy merchandise. The products are priced between Rs 299 and Rs 649 for the dolls and between Rs 199 and Rs 1,500 for the role-play sets. The eight princesses - Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White - were brought together under the same marketing umbrella by Disney Consumer Products in 2000. Rajat Jain, Managing Director, Walt Disney Television (India), said: "This move represents another significant step in The Walt Disney Company's business strategy in India." Funskool will import the Princess products and distribute them in India. The company will also manufacture board games and puzzles from its facility in Goa. |
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'A Disney
Serenade'
Young Hearts Theatre, now in its 26th year of continuous performances, is presenting "A Disney Serenade" at the Ursuline Campus. The program features nearly three dozen senior adults singing and dancing to music from such Disney favorites as "Beauty and the Beast," "Mary Poppins," "Cinderella" and "Peter Pan." The performers range in age from the early 60s to the late 80s. The group's founder, Eloise Terry, who still performs, will celebrate her 90th birthday next month. The show, which opened last week, has remaining performances at 7 p.m. tomorrow and 2 p.m. Sunday. It is directed by Cy Webber with musical |
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Daddy
Yankee bags ABC Radio gig
ABC Radio Networks is catching on to the Raggaeton craze. In a bid to expand its Hispanic audience, ABC has signed a multi-year agreement with Raggaeton superstar Daddy Yankee, the network will announce today. ABC Radio will create a weekly two-hour syndicated program hosted by the Puerto Rican singer. "The Daddy Yankee Radio Show," is set to debut later in the fall and will air on Saturday evenings. The all-Spanish language program will feature music and interviews and will target young music fans. "In just a few short years, Daddy Yankee has quickly established himself as an international music phenomenon and we look forward to bringing him to a national Hispanic radio audience here in the United States," said ABC Radio Networks' general manager Darryl Brown. "I am proud to be the first Reggaeton artist to have his own nationally syndicated radio show," Yankee said. A fast-rising Latin music genre, Reggaeton is a blend of reggae, hip hop and dance hall. Hispanics are the fastest growing segment of the population. The group's buying power is currently $766 billion, and will approach $1.1 trillion by 2010. ABC has been adding Spanish language stars with the goal of capturing more Hispanic ad dollars. Through a deal with Hispanic media giant Spanish Broadcasting System, ABC Radio syndicates three Hispanic radio programs, including "El Vacilón de la Mañana with Luis Jimenez and Moonshadow" which originates on New York station WSKQ-FM. In addition to Daddy Yankee, another pop star just got his own radio show. Yesterday, XM Satellite Radio said it struck a deal with rapper Ludacris who will host weekly music program that will debut in January on XM's uncut hip-hop channel RAW. |
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Wednesday September 28, 2005 |
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The Robert Iger era is
beginning at Disney. The incoming chief executive will inherit
a mixed bag Saturday when he becomes only the sixth person to
lead the Walt Disney Co., replacing longtime CEO Michael
Eisner.
The 54-year-old Iger takes over a company whose ABC network is on the rebound, whose theme parks are recovering from the 9/11 tourism slowdown and whose film division has lined up a slate of potential blockbuster movies, including two sequels to "Pirates of the Caribbean." But he will face considerable challenges as he tries to execute his vision of expanding Disney internationally and leading the company into a digital future. Perhaps his most important task involves animated films, a franchise lost in recent years to Pixar Animation Studios Inc. and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. "Bob Iger's highest priority in our view is to re-establish Disney and its affiliates as the pre-eminent source of animated film," said Laura Martin, an analyst with Soleil-Media Metrics. Disney stumbled in recent years with traditional hand-drawn feature films while competitors were finding great success with computer-generated movies. The company has since switched to computer animation. Iger is already trying to strike a new distribution deal with Pixar, a move that would give Disney breathing room as it launches its own slate of computer animated films, beginning with this year's "Chicken Little." Iger has also convened a group of top executives who will work with a management consulting firm to envision what Disney and its component businesses will look like in 2015. In recent months, Iger has declined requests for interviews about his plans, preferring to keep a low profile during the transition. But he has told analysts that adapting Disney's content to the digital future will be one of his priorities. Consumers "are going to put demands on how, when, where and how much they consume in media and how much they spend as well," Iger said at a recent investment conference. "Those dynamics, we believe, create a voracious appetite for content." While Disney continues to rebound and promise double-digit growth this year and next, Iger will face hurdles sustaining that growth long-term, analysts said. In recent years, Disney has aided its bottom line by shedding underperforming assets, such as its chain of retail stores, and is now talking to potential suitors about its radio business. For the latest quarter, net income rose 41 percent to $851 million, compared to $604 million in the same period last year, thanks to higher ratings for ABC shows such as "Desperate Housewives," and increased attendance at its theme parks. Disney's stock has rebounded from a low of less than $15 a share in 2002 and has traded between $22 and $29.99 per share for the last 52 weeks. The stock closed Wednesday at $23.37 per share on the New York Stock Exchange. Iger does not have the luxury of raising already expensive theme park prices to boost growth. And his plans to expand the company's television and movie businesses into China and Asia will be tempered by restrictions placed on American media by those countries. He has told analysts he is happy with Disney's current size and mix of businesses, a structure that has helped the company weather downturns in tourism and slumps in the television advertising market. "We like the size of the company today given the environment and have no plans to split it up and make it smaller," Iger told analysts, referring to plans by rival media company Viacom Inc. to split into separate entities to operate its TV and movie interests. Iger inherits a much different operation than the one Eisner found when he took the company's reins more than two decades ago. In 1984, Disney was a small, sleepy movie studio with three theme parks and a moribund animation department. Eisner was able to quickly raise prices at the parks and invest in animation, moves that led to quick growth. Unlike his predecessor, Iger will not be consumed with quieting corporate turmoil and fending off dissident shareholders. After being named Eisner's successor in March, Iger quickly persuaded ex-directors Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold to drop their two-year feud with the company. Disney, the nephew of company namesake Walt Disney, was named a director emeritus and consultant last July. In exchange, he and Gold agreed to support Iger's leadership. Iger also moved quickly to mend fences with Bob and Harvey Weinstein, co-founders of Miramax, the Disney-owned company responsible for some of its parent's most respected films. Iger "has subdued most of the fires of the past," said Harold Vogel, head of the investment firm Vogel Capital Management and a longtime Disney observer. "That gives management time to focus on the future more confidently." The transition to the Iger era has gone smoothly, with Eisner taking a back seat for most of this year and letting his second-in-command take the spotlight. "He did it the honorable, wise and decent way," Vogel said. For his part, Eisner has not focused on the transition. Speaking to film and television executives this week, he made only a passing reference to his departure, noting the ratings success ABC has had so far this season. "And just in the nick of time," Eisner joked. "Next week, I couldn't take credit for it." |
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More than 30 ABC Daytime stars from "All
My Children," "One Life To Live" and
"General Hospital" will appear at the 10th Annual
ABC Super Soap Weekend at Disney-MGM Studios, November 12-13,
2005. ABC Super Soap Weekend is the largest soap fan event
held anywhere in the country and is included with theme park
admission to the Disney-MGM Studios.
Now in its tenth year, ABC Super Soap Weekend
is the largest soap opera fan event held anywhere in the
country. Event activities are included with theme park
admission to Disney-MGM Studios.
2005 Information: Stars scheduled to attend this year include: "All My Children": "One Life to Live": "General Hospital": Throughout Super Soap Weekend, fans will have the opportunity to meet favorite stars from the three ABC Daytime dramas. Also featured: Hollywood-style motorcades, star autograph sessions, interactive game shows and much more. Soap Central: |
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Disneyland
Paris - Halloween has taken over the Disneyland Park ready for
a “not so” scary celebration. Once you enter the park you
will not be save for either the pumpkin Men or the Witches.
Main Street U.S.A. is Pumpkin Men zone with orange everywhere.
Pumpkins are growing from under the roof or have taken big
proportions at the end of Main Street U.S.A. on central plaza
while the streets pavement is not saved from the orange
paintbrush. But it seems the Pumpkin Men will not be save on
their turf as the Witches have already send some of their
black cats over to see what all the guest think about the
decorations. |
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Walt Disney TV Names Marketing VP Walt
Disney Television has appointed Paul O’Higgins, former
creative VP at Nickelodeon, as VP of marketing for Europe, the
Middle East and Africa. O’Higgins will oversee all aspects of marketing, on and off air, across EMEA. He will be responsible for creating major marketing campaigns for Disney’s key TV shows and channel launches. |
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Amp'd
Mobile Inc. and Disney both offered details this week about
their upcoming mobile virtual network operator services. McGuire did not release subscriber forecasts, but said Amp'd needed to generate $180 million in revenue per year to break even and that it expects to post average-revenue-per-user results in the mid-$50 range. McGuire noted that unlike some MVNOs that were hatched by larger companies or sprung from carrier partners, Amp'd is totally venture-capital funded and will be looking to provide a return for its investors. To hit those revenue numbers, Amp'd said it initially will offer postpaid rate plans that include competitive voice pricing and tiered data rates that mimic what is offered by the cable TV industry. That model will include a basic package that will likely be included in a bundle and can be augmented with extra-cost premium content. "Pricing is something we have to nail from a simplicity standpoint," McGuire said. "We have done a lot of research on how people want to pay for service and found the cable model is very popular. We want to package everything on the base plan so that they still have money left over to buy the premium content." Disney In anticipation of the launch of its much-hyped MVNO next year, the House of Mouse is aggressively expanding its wireless content operations. In addition to developing content based on its legendary cast of characters, Disney is building a library of entertainment, personalization and information offerings to deliver both through carriers and directly to consumers. "Every CTIA (show), there's a whole new wave of religion, but we want to play in all the spaces," said Larry Shapiro, executive vice president of business development and operations for the Walt Disney Internet Group. "Hopefully, out of those broad offerings, 25 percent will be big hits." Separating the hits from the misses will provide a road map for the future, he added. "That helps us shape what we want to do and how we want to invest in the business." Indeed, few companies aside from pure-play wireless content providers are pursuing the platform as aggressively-and few can afford to. Disney's mobile content operations has grown from Shapiro's split role (he also oversees the company's Internet content business) to five full-timers. The company plans to double that staff by year's end. Much of the new content will come from Starwave Mobile, the Disney subsidiary that licenses content from outside parties. And much of it is worlds away from Mickey and Minnie: The company is developing Homies: Dominoes and Dice, a multiplayer online game featuring urban characters based on a popular line of collectibles; as well as videos, graphics and ring tones from noted extreme sports filmmaker Warren Miller. But while content is a top priority for Disney, its planned MVNO will be less about content than it will be about family-friendly calling plans and services that include parental controls, Shapiro said. And while the company has been cited by consumer activists who claim the company is unethically targeting young wireless users, no operator will succeed unless they successfully market to the family as a whole. "Because of the Disney brand, we're held to a higher standard, and we accept that standard," he said. "And 8-year-olds, 10-year-olds, they don't go to the store with credit cards." |
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Seawolf men to play at prestigious Disney tourney The UAA men’s basketball team will play at Disney’s Division II Tip-Off Classic, the premier early-season tournament in Division II basketball, Nov. 11-13, at the Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex at WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort. Along with the Seawolves, the 2005 men’s field features Caldwell (N.J.), Columbus State (Ga.), Philadelphia (Pa.) University, Presbyterian (S.C.), Bridgeport (Conn.), Nebraska-Omaha and Southern Indiana. The ninth annual event, which is produced with the support of the NCAA Division II Commissioners Association, regularly features schools ranked in the BCA coaches’ poll. The Seawolves will play Bridgeport in their opening-round game, Nov. 11 at 11:30 a.m. Alaska Standard Time. That game and the entire UAA schedule can be heard live in Anchorage on AM-550 KTZN “The Zone” or in RealPlayer at www.GoSeawolves.com. “Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex has formed a unique relationship with the NCAA Division II Commissioners Association,” said former Sunshine State Conference Commissioner Don Landry. “Disney offers our athletic teams the chance to compete at a high level, in a world class facility,” he said. Anthony Travel, a full-service travel management company specializing in sports travel, is providing spectator packages that include: hotel accommodations for three and four nights, a WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort Theme Park ticket, admission to Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex and Disney’s Division II Tip-Off Classic, admission to Disney’s Division II Tip-Off Classic Welcome Party, a commemorative game program and use of the WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort transportation system. “We are pleased to work with the Disney sports team to help these dedicated Division II athletes compete in a phenomenal setting,” said John Anthony, President and CEO of Anthony Travel. “It is a pleasure to assist the teams and their fans travel to such a memorable tournament and destination.” Spread over 240 acres in the heart of WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort, Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex plays host to more than 170 events each year for professional and amateur athletes in some 30 sports. The state-of-the-art facility includes multiple venues and is home to more than 40 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Championships, Atlanta Braves spring training, Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp, the Sports Experience interactive area, and the All Star Cafe sports-themed restaurant. Since opening its doors in 1989, Anthony Travel has serviced more than 20,000 athletes and 25,000 spectators participating in sporting events at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. Anthony Travel is the Official Travel Provider for Disney’s Division II Tip-Off Classic as well as numerous other events at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. The company also serves as the Official Travel Partner for the University of Notre Dame, University of North Carolina Athletics Department, Purdue University Athletics Department, Stanford University Athletics Department, University of Tulsa Athletics Department and many others. |
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Disney selects cartoon scripts in China American cartoon giant Walt Disney Co. has been involved in selecting elite original cartoon scripts in China, according to sources with an international cartoon arts festival opened here Wednesday. Organizers of the 2005 China International Cartoon Digital Art Week said Disney as one of the co-organizers of the event would have the final say of the winner of 100 entry works that the organizer has selected nationwide for a show of cartoon drafts at the art festival. The organizing committee in Changzhou City, south China's Jiangsu Province said Disney has contracted to invest 100,000 US dollars per 22-minute episode for the winner's cartoon series, which will be jointly produced by Chinese and Korean cartoon makers. Members with the judging panel of the entry works also included chairman of the International Cartoon Association Noureddin Zarrinekelk, and prestigious cartoon designers from France, Canada, ROK, America and Italy. The cartoon festival has received cartoon and flash art works from 23 countries and regions. Cartoon designers and producers will discuss the industry's future at forums and shows held during the week-long event. China has a large group of cartoon designing talents and abundant art and literary resources for cartoon production. The country's burgeoning cartoon industry earned 8 billion yuan (one billion US dollars) in revenue in 2004. |
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During his five years as No. 2 to Walt Disney
Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner, Bob Iger has earned a
reputation as a hard worker, a quick study and, well, a pretty
buttoned-down guy.
Steven Bochco came to know another, looser Iger in the early 1990s, when the prolific television producer sat down with the then-head of ABC to map out "NYPD Blue," a gritty cop show that would feature, among other things, a procession of its stars' naked derrieres.
"I remember sitting in Bob's office, just
the two of us, with a pad and a pencil, drawing dirty pictures
like a couple of sixth graders," the producer recalled.
Bochco laughs at the memory of using those sessions "to decide what was acceptable and what wasn't." But he is quick to credit Iger for developing a clear set of standards for the series, which ran for 12 years beginning in 1993, and for standing by the show when the religious right assailed it for its racy themes. Bochco and other's say it is this Iger — deliberate and steadfast — who will prove effective when he officially succeeds Eisner at midnight Friday. "Bob has a terrific metabolism for that job," Bochco said. "He may not have been the exciting choice, given all of the drama that surrounded the whole issue of succession. But I think he is absolutely the right choice. He knows that company inside and out." In a sense, Iger is the flip side of Eisner, who had little compunction about roiling the corporate waters and seeking the spotlight. Iger is known for being more collegial than combative, a man who hopes to create a calmer environment in a company that has been through much upheaval in recent years. For all practical purposes, Iger, 54, already has put his mark on Disney. Soon after the board picked him in March, Eisner handed over the reins to the entertainment empire, whose theme parks, movies, television networks and consumer products generate more than $30 billion a year. So far, Iger's drawn good reviews from company insiders, investors and analysts. For starters, Iger dismantled a strategic planning unit that many executives viewed as Eisner's right hand in micromanaging the company. He also began talks with Pixar Animation Studios chief Steve Jobs, who after clashing openly with Eisner had vowed to end Pixar's partnership with Disney. Iger even negotiated a truce with Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold, former directors who led a shareholder revolt against Eisner and filed a lawsuit challenging Iger's selection as CEO as "a sham." Lately, it seems, everyone loves Bob. In keeping with Hollywood's tradition of never kick 'em while they're up, public criticism of Iger is hard to come by. Even some people who had only good things to say about Iger called his office for clearance before returning a reporter's calls. Privately, however, some who have worked with Iger question whether he has the creative chops to replace Eisner, who since 1984 has guided Disney's revenue growth from $1.5 billion a year to more than 20 times that much. While they rate Iger high on hard work and likability, they are less enthusiastic about his prospects as CEO. One former associate described Iger as more technocrat than visionary. Another questioned whether his "great temperament and people skills" would translate to creative leadership. Iger declined requests for an interview and had little to say to reporters Tuesday at a Hollywood Radio and Television Society luncheon for Eisner in Beverly Hills. "This is Michael's event," he said. "I'm trying to avoid it being about me right now." His friends and colleagues say such statements typify his modesty. Still, he does seem to relish his achievements. "I have to admit I'm excited about this opportunity and deeply appreciative to have that," he said Tuesday. Last fall, Iger sent an e-mail to the principal of Fulton Avenue School No. 8 in Oceanside, N.Y., as it prepared to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Iger said he'd "heard about the celebration and had wonderful memories" of the school, but could not attend the festivities. That surprised principal Ronald Schoen because Iger hadn't been invited. What surprised him even more was Iger's sentimental connection to the school, which he attended some 40 years earlier. In one of several more e-mails, Iger asked Schoen whether the words, "America's hope for the future passes through these doors," still graced the school's entrance. Yes, the principal told Iger, who then sent another message. "He said, 'Isn't it amazing that a little boy of that age who walked through those doors could actually become president of Disney?' " Schoen said. At Oceanside High School, Iger tried a bit of everything, according to his 1969 senior yearbook. He played intramural softball, was on the Human Relations Club and was president of the Key Club, a sort of junior Kiwanis. He also was sports editor of the school paper, worked as a varsity sports announcer and played Francis Nurse in "The Crucible," an Arthur Miller play. His senior year he was voted "most enthusiastic," a title he shared with a classmate. "He was one of those student government guys," said his boyhood chum Elliot Krufky, who described Iger as a straight arrow who hung out with a small circle of friends at the local Nathan's hot dog stand and gathered weekly for nickel-dime poker games at each others' homes. "I don't think I ever saw him be nasty to anybody," he said. "He wasn't like one of the cool kids who wouldn't talk to the other guys." Iger majored in broadcasting at Ithaca College in upstate New York, where he worked for the campus TV station and graduated magna cum laude. Since 1989, he has served on the board of trustees and made other contributions, including a gift to the music school that prompted the college to name a 75-seat lecture hall after him. After a stint as a weatherman, Iger gave up his aspirations to be on the air and joined ABC as a studio supervisor in New York. He later moved to ABC Sports and became vice president of programming in 1987. At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, he proved his mettle when the temperature soared to 65 degrees and there wasn't enough snow for the venues, said Tom Murphy, former chairman of Capital Cities/ABC. It fell to Iger to figure out how to juggle programming for schedule changes caused by the melt. "We noticed how cool he was under fire," Murphy said. "As far as the American public was concerned, or the world public, they weren't conscious of the temperature. It went off very, very well." Iger's well-known work ethic was evident even during his early days in New York, said Patricia Fili-Krushel, who started as a secretary and became president of ABC television before leaving in 2000. She has known Iger since the mid-1970s and says that then, as now, he rose before dawn to work out at a gym and get to the office early. "I can e-mail him at 6:30 in the morning and get an e-mail back in 10 minutes," she said. One of the things that most struck her, Fili-Krushel said, was Iger's commitment to his family. Married then to a television news producer, Iger left the office each day around 6 to get home for dinner with his two daughters while his wife worked the evening newscasts. Just last week, Iger combined a trip to New York for the wedding of his daughter, Kate, and an appearance at a Goldman Sachs investment conference, where he loosened up the audience with a joke. "One thing I learned, by the way, is don't lend your car to your daughter on the week she is getting married because she is not going to concentrate on driving," he said. "She told me last night she used the car to pick up her dress and hit something along the way." Iger is now married to broadcast journalist Willow Bay, with whom he has two sons. In 1989, Iger moved to Los Angeles to head ABC's entertainment division, where he was involved with not only "NYPD Blue" but also with the hit "Home Improvement." He also took risks with other shows such as "Twin Peaks" and "Cop Rock," a short-lived musical series by Bochco. "At first we were wondering who is this guy coming out from sports," said Stu Bloomberg, a former ABC executive who said Iger quickly "got it." He and others say Iger is a voracious reader who also scours the Internet — and retains what he absorbs. Andy Mooney, who heads Disney's consumer product division, said Iger quickly learned the complexities of his business. "He is such a quick study that I can discuss things in shorthand with him," Mooney said. In 1994, Iger was named president and chief operating officer of ABC. He was widely considered to be heir apparent to Capital Cities Chairman Murphy. When Murphy sold the company to Disney for $19 billion in 1996, some took it as a signal that he lacked confidence in Iger's ability to run the company. Murphy denies this. "That's a lot of nonsense," Murphy said. "I sold it because I got a very, very good price for the company and I felt an obligation to take it. It had nothing to do with Bob whatsoever." Four years after moving to Disney with ABC, Iger became Eisner's second-in-command as president in 2000. In a rough and tumble five years since, the company has endured the shareholder revolt led by Roy Disney and Gold; survived a hostile takeover bid by Comcast Corp.; and been dragged through the embarrassing details of a lawsuit over Eisner's hiring and firing of Michael Ovitz, Iger's predecessor as president. Eisner and Iger also were cast unflatteringly in "DisneyWar," James Stewart's behind-the-curtains book that portrayed Eisner as vindictive and controlling, and Iger as sometimes insecure and too eager to please his mercurial boss. Iger also had to weather reports that Eisner was repeatedly dismissive of him as his replacement. In a 1996 memo to the Disney board Eisner said Iger "is not an enlightened or brilliantly creative man." He later expressed his support for Iger, calling him "an excellent guardian of the Disney assets." In addition to finally getting Eisner's backing, Iger also has benefited from Disney's return to double-digit earnings growth and the remarkable rebound of ABC. The network had languished for several years before being revived last season by the hits "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives." His detractors say he is owed little credit for those successes, considering that he fired the two ABC executives most responsible for getting them on the air. Looking ahead, Iger has said he will concentrate on expanding Disney's international business and exploiting new technologies to promote the company's brands. He also has said he will give a hard look to the money the company spends on its film operations. Just two weeks ago, Disney announced that its movie unit would lose $250 million to $300 million this fiscal quarter, largely because of a string of poor-showing Miramax releases. One of Iger's biggest hurdles, however, will be to distinguish himself from Eisner. Producer Brian Grazer said Iger had the benefit of observing "the aggressively creative" Eisner up close — for good and bad — and probably would use those observations to shape himself as a leader. Grazer, who has known Iger for 15 years, disputes the notion that he lacks creativity and says his penchant for privacy is sometimes misinterpreted. Iger has never been a guy to show up at every party, he said, and he doesn't expect that to change. "I don't think he wants that level of intimacy or sees the value in it," Grazer said. "He's just the worker. He's always been the worker. Now he's the worker and the CEO." |
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OK, so she hasn't had the greatest track record with TV remakes.
But Gabrielle Union says unlike the summertime
big-screen flop "The Honeymooners," her latest
project, a small-screen remake of the '70s cult TV series
"Kolchak: The Night Stalker," is different.
"It's not a remake, it's a `reworking,'" she emphasizes, laughing. "I've learned my lesson about remakes." Premiering 8 p.m. EDT Thursday on ABC, the new "Night Stalker" picks up the saga of newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak, who investigates crimes connected to the supernatural. Portrayed for one season (1974-75) by Darren McGavin — whom we see for 24 hours every year on TBS as the father in Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" — Kolchak now is played by Stuart Townsend ("The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen"). The series — reminiscent of "The X-Files," on which executive producer Frank Spotnitz once worked — adds a new twist, with Union's Perri Reed serving as Kolchak's journalistic sparring partner. "I needed other people in the newsroom for Kolchak to interact with," says Spotnitz, "relationships that were going to drive these stories. And I wanted the competitiveness ... Who could outdo the other to get the story." While shooting an episode recently in Pasadena, Union is relaxed and cool, despite sweltering heat and no air conditioning in her trailer — her preference. She's so blissfully chatty about the show and handsome co-star Townsend ("My girlfriends are always dropping by to visit the set") that it's hard to believe she almost passed on the series. "Hourlongs are like doing movies that never end," says Union, who'd soured on TV dramas after her laborious stint on "City of Angels." In the last five years, the 32-year-old Omaha, Neb., native has appeared in more than a dozen films, running the gamut from action ("Bad Boys II") to romantic comedies ("The Brothers"). But she felt as though she was "being put in the box." "It's cool to be in the commercial movie box, but I wasn't getting the opportunity to even audition for more serious roles. I really didn't want to do TV," she says, "but my options film-wise were literally this actress' third best friend and like somebody's wife who you'd see twice." Initially, when she got the "Night Stalker" script, "I was like, I don't get those sci-fi shows." But at her agent's insistence, Union finally read it "and I was like, this is kind of good. Couple more pages, and I was like, this is really good!" She met with Spotnitz and executive producer-director Daniel Sackheim. "They said, `When we think of Perri Reed, we think of you.' And I'm like, `OK, who else passed, because I know you didn't just think of me,'" she says, laughing. "They're like, `No. When we thought about Perri Reed we thought about strength, and thought about you,'" Union says. "And they didn't say we have to change the writing because you're black. It was never brought up. Not once." Spotnitz confirms: "Perri wasn't written to be anything other than a really smart, capable person. I think we're becoming more of a polyglot as a people ... and I'm eager to embrace that." |
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Eisner
Looks Back and Ahead
On the eve of his exit, outgoing Walt Disney
Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner took center stage at the
Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel and reflected on his fortuitous
timing. |
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Eurotunnel
becomes an affiliate partner of Disneyland Resort Paris
Eurotunnel has become an affiliate partner of Disneyland Resort Paris as its campaign to promote self-drive travel in Europe accelerates. According to Eurotunnel, the partnership
deal means that customers booking online at www.eurotunnel.com
Jo Willacy, Eurotunnel commercial director, said, "With a simple click of the Mickey! mouse, our customers can now plan a complete self-drive package to Disneyland Resort Paris. Why bother with the hassle of the airport when you can drive straight to the Magic Kingdom and all that Disneyland Resort Paris has to offer." The company also added that self-drive is becoming increasingly popular with families traveling to the Disneyland Resort Paris, who are tired of airport delays eating into their holiday time. Recently, Eurotunnel stated that its shuttle service revenue were up 6% to £146 million in a favorable local context in the first half of 2005. During the same period, railways revenue was stable at £117 million, including payments of £36 million under the Minimum Usage Charge (MUC). Its first-half operating profit rose 19 percent to 74 million pounds. "Net interest charges, including other financial income and charges, were £161 million for the first half of 2005, a decrease of 4% compared to the same period in 2004. Hedging charges included within net interest charges significantly offset the benefit of lower interest rates. The net loss improved by £18 million to £87 million for the first half of 2005," said the company. |
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Walt Disney Co.(DIS) has
requested extensive information about Seoul Grand Park from
the city of Seoul, indicating the U.S. operator of Disney
theme parks may still be interested in building an amusement
park in South Korea, according to a Seoul city official.
"Disney has recently requested more information, including geological facts, on Seoul Grand Park," said the official who handles foreign investment and who requested to remain anonymous. He added that no decisions have been made and he didn't know when Disney will reveal its plans. Seoul Grand Park is located in the city of Gwachon, at the southern tip of Seoul, and is under the municipality of Seoul. |
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Setting
the Stage at Disney
Since being tapped as Michael Eisner's
successor in March, Robert Iger has taken Walt Disney Co. for
a spin as de facto chief executive. |
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Eisner
legacy: A bigger Disney
There are no airports named for Michael
Eisner in Central Florida. No major roadways or subdivisions.
But the outgoing chief of the Walt Disney Co. has left his
mark. |
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Disney
& Walden to Form a "Bridge to Terabithia"
"Disney Studios and Walden Media are
planning a big-screen adaptation of Katherine Paterson's
Newberry Medal-winning book "Bridge to Terabithia,"
says Variety. |
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HANNspree
Launches Exciting New Line of Disney and Disney/Pixar-Themed
LCD Televisions
HANNspree California, Inc., creator of a
brand new category of design-driven, lifestyle-inspired LCD
televisions, announced today the launch of an exciting new
line of LCD television sets inspired by beloved Disney
characters and films. The line offers seven styles, including
models featuring Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, 102
Dalmatians, and Cinderella. The televisions are currently
available at HANNspree boutique stores, DisneyShopping.com,
The Disney Store and Disney theme parks. View photo's here LINK |
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Disney
Making Navy Marine Mammal Pic
Walt Disney Pictures has set Brent Maddock
and Steve Wilson to write an untitled film about the Navy
Marine Mammal Program, reports Variety. |
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French/West
wins Disney contract
The Triangle's largest public relations agency, French/West/Vaughan, won a contract to publicize the launch of a new fragrance line from Disney Consumer Products. The "That's So Raven" line is expected to be available in October. It will be targeted to girls 6-14, the core fans of the Disney Channel's hit TV series of the same name. |
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Disneyland
on Display
Disney Insider - As Disneyland's 50th
Anniversary celebration continues in full golden glory at the
Park, the time is ripe to explore the dream that turned an
orange grove in Anaheim into the Happiest Place on Earth. A
new traveling museum exhibit aims to let visitors see the art
and inspiration behind the creation of Disneyland. Behind the
Magic: 50 Years of Disneyland premieres this month at the
Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, Michigan, preparing for a
national tour. Created by Exhibitour, the traveling exhibit
arm of the Henry Ford, working in conjunction with Walt Disney
Imagineering, the show aims to take the magic of Disneyland
nationwide. The show follows the creative process from
the first blue-sky dreams to bits of authentic memorabilia
that appeared in the Park when it opened. It includes
treasures like original artwork, ride concept models of the
Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan's Flight, drawings, character
sculpture, original signs from the Park, photographs, and ride
vehicles from both Peter Pan's Flight and Mr. Toad's Wild
Ride. Scott Mallwitz, director of experience design for the
Henry Ford, says "My favorite item would be Disney's
first Audio-Animatronics figure, Abraham Lincoln, which was
featured at the 1964 New York World's Fair. A close second
would be the ‘pitch kit' used by Roy Disney to secure
financing for the construction of Disneyland - a few pages of
description and a wonderful ‘bird's-eye view' sketch by Herb
Ryman set the Park in motion." |
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Tuesday September 27, 2005 |
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Disney's
Auction of 75 Mickey Mouse Statues at Sotheby's Raises
$614,500 for Charity
The Walt Disney Company:
50 Organizations To Benefit, Including Boys
& Girls Clubs of America, Children Affected by AIDS
Foundation, James Birrell Neuroblastoma Research Fund,
Make-A-Wish Foundation of America & Starlight Starbright
Children's Foundation
This afternoon at Sotheby's (NYSE: BID), Disney (NYSE: DIS) raised $614,500(a) when 75 unique Mickey Mouse statues, designed by artists, athletes and celebrities for the celebration of Mickey's 75th anniversary, were sold at auction. A total of 50 charities will benefit from the sale, including Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Children Affected by AIDS Foundation, James Birrell Neuroblastoma Research Fund, Make-A-Wish Foundation of America and the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. Artists whose statues brought premium prices for the charities they selected included Sir Elton John ($52,000 for "Music Royalty"), Michelle Kwan ($20,000 for "Peace & Love") and Tom Hanks ($15,000 for "Space Mouse"). A number of statues designed by Disney legends were also favorites, including those created by Al Konetzni ($45,000 for "Back to School"), Lori Tyminski of Disney Publishing ($29,000 for "Funny Pages") and Tuck Morgan of Disney Consumer Products ($21,000 for "Mickey Through the Years"). Since Mickey Mouse's 75th Anniversary on November 18, 2003, the 6-feet-tall, 700 pound statues have traveled 700,000 miles across the country as the "Celebrate Mickey: 75 InspEARations" tour. The one-of-a-kind tributes to Mickey visited 14 cities and brought smiles to more than 20 million people during the celebration. "Through the Celebrate Mickey: 75 InspEARations statue tour, Mickey Mouse's 75th Anniversary brought one of the world's most beloved characters to millions in ways never before seen," said John Gong, vice president, Marketing and Synergy for Disney Consumer Products. "We are so pleased that the Sotheby's auction, the finale of this milestone event, enabled us to raise $614,500 to benefit 50 deserving charities and help children and those in need." Lee Dunbar, Director of Sotheby's Collectibles department, said: "Mickey Mouse holds an enduring place in the hearts of Americans and people throughout the world, transcending all boundaries as a symbol of happiness and hope. We are thrilled to continue our long-standing relationship with Disney in an auction which will benefit so many worthwhile charities and look forward to working with them in the future." A comprehensive list of statue artists, statue names, specific charities and price achieved for charity follows(a):
Disney was able to bring "Celebrate Mickey: 75 InspEARations" to fruition with the help of The Coca-Cola Company, the primary tour sponsor. The Home Depot® provided "Disney Color by Behr" paint and other supplies to bring the statues to life; Suddath Relocation Systems, an agent for United Van Lines, transported the statues to each destination; and Kodak offered digital photographs in each city via its EasyShare system. For more information on the charity auction, visit www.sothebys.com/mickey. To download high-resolution images of the statues, visit www.disneyconsumerproducts.com. (a) Total raised at Sotheby's auction with buyer's premium included is $737,400. |
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Eisner's
parting words to Hollywood: "Don't panic"
In his parting words to a gathering of Hollywood executives on Tuesday, Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Michael Eisner told an industry facing major technological change: don't panic. "Don't panic over the latest techno jargon like ... peer-to-peer, wi-max, 80211, bittorrent ... the only thing that gives purpose to all these remarkable delivery systems is the kind of creative content we all produce," Eisner said. The chief mouseketeer faces his final day at Disney this Friday when he steps down after 21 years at the helm. Starting in 1984, he took a troubled company that had a few U.S. theme parks and a movie studio and turned it into a media giant with global theme parks, television networks and film operations. In an address to the Hollywood Radio and Television Society, Eisner detailed a laundry list of technology changes from talking films to television to videocassette tapes that Hollywood has faced and, ultimately, used to its advantage. In fact, the Disney chief began his speech with the opening remarks he made at a similar function in 1981 when he had returned from a consumer electronics show dazzled by the display of new TV sets and video recorders on display. "We cannot escape that Hollywood is in the middle of a wave of technological change," Eisner said, quoting from his 1981 speech. "The current angst over all the implications of new entertainment technology is nothing new." Eisner said that while technology changes have ushered in new ways of distributing entertainment products, the one constant is that all of those delivery systems have relied on Hollywood creative content to fill their pipelines. "Over time, the product we produce has been consistently successful here in America and around the world," Eisner said. "Apparently, we are doing something right." He noted that historical figures, such as Joseph Kennedy in 1936, had complained about excessive costs and extravagance of the entertainment business. Since the early days of the entertainment business, Eisner said, critics have argued that creativity and financial success don't mix. Yet billions of dollars have been made because companies like Disney successfully married creative content with business sense. Eisner talked whimsically of his love of the business, from his earliest days as a television network page to a creative executive helping create TV shows like "Happy Days" to his time at the Paramount Pictures movie studio. "The most gratifying experience of my life has been my 21 years at Disney," he added. Eisner, who has been known to clash with creative types like Miramax Films co-chief Harvey Weinstein, who also leaves that company on September 30, said that reasonable conflict can be good when it comes to creating new products. He ended by quoting Shakespeare, saying "All the world's a stage." "It's our stage so let's put on a good show," Eisner said to the Hollywood crowd. |
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ABC
finishes TV premiere week at ratings peak
For the first time in a decade, ABC finished the opening week of a new U.S. TV season on top of the ratings, led by returning hits "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," while rival network NBC posted its lowest ranking in five years. Walt Disney Co.-owned (DIS.N:) ABC claimed six of the top 10 shows in the key race for young-adult viewers -- including No. 1 ranked "Desperate Housewives" -- and five of the hottest programs overall during the first week of the 2005-06 broadcast season, Nielsen Media Research reported on Tuesday. Among viewers aged 18 to 49, the benchmark group most networks use to measure prime-time success, ABC also boasted the highest-rated new series for the week, alien thriller "Invasion," and the week's top reality show, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Another unsung hero of ABC's lineup, the returning medical drama "Grey's Anatomy," landed at No. 4 in the 18-to-49 group and at sixth place in total viewers. "All of our key programs that we needed to work this week are all in the top 10," ABC ratings expert Jeffrey Lindsey said. The multiple successes added up to ABC's first premiere week at No. 1 in the 18-to-49 ratings since 1995, when the network's schedule included such hits as "Home Improvement," "Ellen," "Roseanne" and "Grace Under Fire." CBS, a unit of Viacom Inc. (VIAb.N:) remained the most watched network overall, with return of mega-hit "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" drawing the week's single-biggest audience in total viewers, 29 million. COMIC SOAP OPERA Darkly comic soap opera "Housewives" and castaway thriller "Lost," two breakout hits that led ABC's ratings rebound last season, ranked second and third behind "CSI" last week with viewer tallies of 28.3 million and 23.4 million, respectively. The launch of CBS's latest detective show, "Criminal Minds," ranked as the most watched new show among all age groups for the week and fourth overall. But ABC, which finished the week a close second behind CBS in total viewers, was the only network among the Big Three broadcasters to see its average audience grow in comparison to the same week a year ago. CBS and NBC both lost viewers. NBC, embarking on its second season since sitcom hits "Friends" and "Frasier" left its lineup, ended the week in third place for both total viewers and the 18-to-49 audience that the General Electric Co.-owned (GE.N:) network had long dominated. That marked NBC's lowest starting point for a new TV season since September 2000, when ABC was still flying high with its gargantuan game show hit "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." One bright spot on NBC's new schedule was the premiere of "My Name Is Earl," which ranked as the highest-rated new comedy in prime time and ranked No. 8 in the 18-49 ratings derby. "ER," the venerable hospital drama that has long anchored NBC's once-mighty Thursday night lineup, returned for its 12th season with respectable numbers. But NBC continued to see ratings slippage on a night it once branded "Must-See-TV." "Friends"-spinoff "Joey" was eclipsed by the premiere of UPN's Chris Rock-inspired series, "Everybody Hates Chris," which yielded the highest-rated comedy debut on the Viacom-owned network in its 10-year history. And "CSI" pummeled real estate tycoon Donald Trump's return for a fourth edition of his reality show "The Apprentice." A new "Apprentice" spinoff starring domestic diva and ex-con Martha Stewart fared even worse against ABC's "Lost" on Sunday night. |
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ESPN
to start mobile service with Sanyo phone
Sports television network ESPN plans to start selling a wireless service for sports fans on a limited basis this year with a mobile phone from Sanyo Electric Co Ltd (6764.T) , it said on Tuesday. Disney's (DIS) ESPN sees the mobile service, which will operate on a high-speed wireless network that Sprint Nextel Corp. (S.N is building, as a way to expand its brand and its sports programming beyond traditional television screens. Sprint Nextel leases network space to several wireless providers including Virgin Mobile USA, its joint venture with Virgin [VA.UL],in an effort to gain revenue from consumers it has not signed up for Sprint branded services. Sprint Nextel, which plans to have a high-speed network that covers about half of the U.S. population early next year, will also support a separate Disney branded mobile service. ESPN said customers could sign up for its Mobile ESPN service and buy the Sanyo MVP phone on its Web site in time for the winter holiday season. It plans to follow with a full national retail launch in February. Along with traditional phone call services it plans to deliver sports score alerts, breaking news and commentary as well as some audio and video clip services to mobile phones. It did not reveal pricing for the service or the phone. The Sanyo MVP has a 1.3 megapixel camera, a video and voice recorder, and an MP3 digital music player, ESPN said. |
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One Frog. One Planet. Fifty Years. Put them together and you have the hoppiest celebration on Earth. To honor the 50th anniversary of his meteoric rise from the swamp to international icon, The Muppets Holding Company today announced that Kermit the Frog is taking his celebration on the road with a whirlwind tour of 50 destinations around the globe. The world's most beloved frog will kick off his worldwide adventure on October 14 in the aptly named town of Kermit, Texas. "Kermit the Frog has not only transcended genres, he has entertained generations of fans for more than five decades," said Chris Curtin, general manager and vice president, The Muppets Holding Company, LLC. "For someone who has touched the hearts of millions, it only seems fit that we honor Kermit with the grandest of celebrations." Through the end of 2006, Kermit will meet fans and participate in major events, visit famous attractions, and enjoy local celebrations in 50 destinations, touching down in numerous countries across four continents. The globe-hopping star will see renowned monuments such as the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower and the Great Wall of China, among others. Our ever-youthful frog will touch down at NASA's Johnson Space Center, brave a Frog Leg Festival in Fellsmere, Fla., as well as run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Other activities will include a visit to Hong Kong Disneyland, a performance with the Rockettes and Kermit's first-ever USO appearance, where he'll bring a smile to service men and women abroad. "Kermit is truly an international star, with a fan base that reaches the far corners of the globe," added Dave Burchianti, director of marketing, The Muppets Holding Company. "We're taking Kermit's celebration to places both far and near -- and everywhere in between." Those who can't meet Kermit frog-to-face along his journey can follow him on Muppets.com. Fans will be able to download pictures and videos, as well as review Kermit's memories and adventures in an online journal -- his "Frog Blog." Truly a frog of the people, Kermit will allow his beloved fans around the world to determine his final destination via an online vote. The Muppets have geared up for Kermit's World Tour with a "rainbow connection" of activities and promotions to celebrate their favorite frog's 50th Anniversary. * The Muppet Show - Season One DVD Box Set -- In August, the Muppets released the first season of their hit television show, "The Muppet Show," on DVD for the first time in its entirety since its original broadcast in 1976. Delighting fans both old and new, "The Muppet Show" Season One quickly rocketed to the top of the sales charts, reaching number one on Amazon.com. * Celebrity T-shirt Designs Honoring Kermit's 50 Years in Show Business -- Some of today's hottest celebrities teamed up with Kermit the Frog to inspire designs of one-of-a-kind T-shirts. The tees are being auctioned off through the end of the year to benefit Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Celebrity participants included Robert DeNiro, Quentin Tarantino, Jennifer Garner, Kelly Ripa, Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria, Virginia Madsen, Tony Hawk, and Jimmy Johnson. * "It's Not Easy Being Green and Other Things to Consider" Hits Stores Shelves -- On September 15, Hyperion Publishing released the book "It's Not Easy Being Green and Other Things to Consider." With commentary from some of Jim Henson's most well-known characters, such as Kermit the Frog, the book provides insight into the philosophy and humor that was essential to Henson's creations. * Commemorative Postage Stamp -- On September 28, the United States Postal Service will issue a commemorative stamp collection in honor of the late Jim Henson and the Muppets. For the first time ever, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam the Eagle, Statler & Waldorf, The Swedish Chef, Animal, Bunsen and Beaker, Rowlf and the Great Gonzo will be featured on postage stamps. For more information about Kermit the Frog's 50th Anniversary activities, visit www.muppets.com . |
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Forbes
Ranks Roy Edward Disney As 283rd Richest In America
Net Worth: $1.2
billion |
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Raglan
Road opening date confirmed
Raglan Road is now confirmed to officially open on October 21st 2005. Irish hospitality and a
bit of blarney come to Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World
Resort when Raglan Road Irish Pub and Restaurant officially
opens Oct. 21. Raglan Road delivers an experience immersed in
genuine Irish atmosphere -- from food and drink to live music
and entertainment. |
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Roy
Disney company buys interest in Harlem Globetrotters
An investment company
controlled by Roy E. Disney has bought 80 percent of the
Harlem Globetrotters and will help expand the basketball
team's merchandising and licensing activities worldwide. |
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Disney is poised to expand further into Asia with plans for a new theme park in South Korea under discussion in Seoul. Lee Myung Bak, the mayor of Seoul, announced that the US media and entertainment giant was conducting feasibility studies for a new theme park in his city. Mr Bak added that the local government had been in talks for some months with executives from Disney. Sources confirmed that Mr Bak’s claims were genuine. |
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Buena Vista Games, Inc. (BVG), the interactive
entertainment arm of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), and
Epic Games, world-class developers of cutting-edge video games
and pioneer of the award-winning Unreal Engine, today
announced an agreement to license Unreal Engine 3 for multiple
next-generation BVG projects. The first game under the
agreement is based on the popular "Turok" franchise,
and will be developed by BVG's new Propaganda Games studio in
Vancouver, British Columbia.
"We have ambitious goals for the future
and a strategy to enhance Buena Vista Games' position as a
major force in interactive entertainment. BVG's intellectual
properties, combined with Epic's leadership in underlying
technology, ensures the best game content for consumers,"
said Michael Ryder, vice president of worldwide production,
Buena Vista Games.
"Licensing Unreal Engine 3 is a strategic move to provide cost-effective and timely delivery of new content, allowing our development teams to leverage the enormous capabilities of emerging next-generation systems," he concluded. Mark Rein, vice president and co-founder of Epic Games, said, "BVG has some awesome IP to work with and we feel privileged to contribute to its success. It's great to be working with the Propaganda Games team, an amazingly talented group of people, and with a management team that appreciates the importance of providing its teams with the best tools and technology to help them deliver. We have no doubt that BVG will be one of the big success stories of the next generation." |
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Call
for Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders
Are you a Mouseketeer? A limited number of Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders are needed to participate in a special event. The special event will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Mickey Mouse Club and will take place at the Sleeping Beauty Castle forecourt. Annual Passholders will be accommodated on a first come, first served basis. Monday, October 3, 2005 6:00am-10:30am Annual Passholders are welcome to come join in the fun. Annual Passholders must be 18 years of age. This event requires standing for an extended amount of time and the ability to hold light production props. IMPORTANT INFORMATION How do I sign up? Where do I park? What time do I arrive? What time do you stop taking participants? Where do I check-in? Do I get paid to participate in this event? Can I bring a guest that does not have an
annual pass? Do I have to stay the entire time? What do I need to bring?
What should I wear?
Can I bring a camera? |
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Disneyland
50th Celebration Sing-Along Songs
It's Disneyland's 50th Anniversary, and in honor of this wonderful event, Walt Disney Home Entertainment is releasing four Disney Resort-themed Sing-Along Songs for the first time on DVD. A favorite with children and families, each "Sing-Along Song" title features fun Disney-themed songs and onscreen lyrics. Available on DVD September 27 for $14.99 (S.R.P.) each. SING-ALONG SONGS: DISNEYLAND FUN (1st time on
DVD!) SING-ALONG SONGS: BEACH PARTY AT WALT DISNEY
WORLD (1st time on DVD!) SING-ALONG SONGS: CAMPOUT AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
(1st time on DVD!) SING-ALONG SONGS: FLIK'S MUSICAL ADVENTURE
(1st time on DVD!) |
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The
Phoenix And The Carpet
Miramax Home Entertainment presents THE PHOENIX AND THE CARPET, the wondrous family adventure tale, available on DVD on September 27. Based on the novel by E. Nesbit, this live-action adventure tells the story of a family of children and their marvelous adventures with the Phoenix and his magic carpet. Jane, Robert, Cyril and Anthea hope for "something to happen" and their wish is granted most spectacularly! Quite by accident, they become the owners of an ancient talking bird, the Phoenix, when it hatches from a magnificent egg after 2000 years of rest. With his encouragement, the children climb aboard his magic carpet and are transported anywhere they want to go—to tropical islands, in search of treasures and on daring rescues! This enchanting film features Miriam Margolyes ("Being Julia") and David Suchet (TV's "Poirot"). With a magical mix of fantasy and fun, THE PHOENIX AND THE CARPET is an extraordinary journey for the whole family. |
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The
Parent Trap 2 Movie Collection DVD
Walt Disney Home Entertainment presents THE PARENT TRAP – 2 MOVIE COLLECTION, a 2-disc DVD which features Disney's original 1961 classic THE PARENT TRAP and the sequel movie THE PARENT TRAP II, first time ever on DVD. This delightful double feature DVD of family fun stars Disney legend Hayley Mills and is available on September 27 for $19.99 (S.R.P.) THE PARENT TRAP: THE PARENT TRAP II: |
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Mickey
& Pals Classic Holiday Stories
Walt Disney Home Entertainment presents two holiday-themed volumes in the popular WALT DISNEY'S CLASSIC CARTOON FAVORITES series: HOLIDAY CELEBRATION WITH MICKEY AND PALS and CLASSIC HOLIDAY STORIES, two terrific DVD collections featuring Disney's classic characters and their animated shorts. These superb collections feature Disney's Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto and more in some of their most hilarious, heartwarming and entertaining holiday film moments. Each available separately on Disney DVD September 27, 2005, for $14.99 (S.R.P.). VOLUME 8: HOLIDAY CELEBRATION WITH MICKEY AND PALS Mickey's Good Deed Peculiar Penguins The Clock Watcher Rescue Dog Corn Chips Lend A Paw Toy Tinkers VOLUME 9: CLASSIC HOLIDAY STORIES The Small One Pluto's Christmas Tree Mickey's Christmas Carol |
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Monday September 26, 2005 |
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Outgoing Walt
Disney Co. CEO Michael Eisner will leave the media
conglomerate this week without fanfare, according to a
published report.
The New York Times reports that Eisner's 21-year career at Disney will include no grand send-off or congratulatory party. Through a spokeswoman, Eisner declined last week to discuss his career with the Times. Instead he is expected to send an e-mail message to Disney's employees before he vacates his office Friday, the paper reported. Eisner's retirement as CEO was first announced a year ago, when he said he would be leaving when his contract expired in September 2006. But while his preferred successor, Robert Iger, will assume the CEO job Saturday, Eisner's departure from the company comes sooner than he would have chosen. Eisner has been important to the growth of Disney, as revenue climbed to $30.75 billion in 2004, from $1.5 billion in 1984. During his tenure, Disney went from a relatively small movie studio and theme park operator to a major media conglomerate that became a component of the Dow Jones industrial average. It has opened many new theme parks, most recently in Hong Kong. Its holdings now include ABC and a slew of cable networks, led by the strongly profitable ESPN brand, which were added on his watch. Part of the reason for low-key exit could be the controversy surrounding Eisner's last two years running the media conglomerate. He was stripped of the chairman post in March 2004 after a shareholder revolt lead by former board member Roy Disney, the nephew of the company's namesake founder. "Whatever Michael's faults were, and we all have them, Michael took a moribund company and energized it to a level I'm not sure anyone else could have done," Richard Nanula, Disney's former chief financial officer, told the paper. "He ensured that Disney provided 10 times the level of entertainment available for children prior to him getting there - high-quality, clean, fun entertainment." The paper reports that Disney stock gained 1,646 percent during Eisner's time. But despite recent successes for the company, Disney shares are down about 16 percent year to date, a far sharper drop than declines at competitors Viacom and Time Warner although similar to the stock decline at News Corp. Eisner has yet to disclose his plans, according to the Times, which reports that his contract says he can remain a Disney consultant. In an interview earlier this year with Charlie Rose, the public television show host, Eisner said he hoped to remain in entertainment, perhaps producing Broadway shows or making movies, according to the report. |
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Disney
Finds Investors for Films
Walt Disney Co., whose film unit said it
would lose money in the fourth quarter, recently raised $505
million from investors to reduce the risk of financing movies,
the first time it has done so in almost a decade. |
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Disney
to scale back Miramax
Less than two weeks before he officially takes over the reins as CEO of the Walt Disney Co., Bob Iger said the Burbank-based conglomerate will dramatically scale down the output from its Miramax Films division now that founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein have departed. "Miramax under them had basically become a major studio," Iger said at the Goldman Sachs Communicopia Conference in New York. "We're still in the Miramax business, but it will be reconstructed to look more like what they started." Miramax initially made its mark by releasing small-budget independent films but in later years had such big-budget productions as Gangs of New York and Cold Mountain. Iger said that he now expects from four to six low-budget film releases from Miramax going forward and that, overall, Disney is "reducing dramatically" its investment in live-action films. He said the company's studio division experiences better returns and across-the-company leverage when it invests in such Disney-branded movies as Pirates of the Caribbean, which has two sequels in the works, including one scheduled for release in summer 2006. On the home-video side, Iger noted that the DVD boxed set of the hit ABC series Lost has already sold more than 1 million units and tops the sales charts. The company also released the first season of its smash Desperate Housewives on DVD on Tuesday. But with the home-video market being crowded with television-show titles and classic films, it's become more difficult for newer feature films to make as big a splash because of increased competition and less shelf space in stores. "There's a glut of product in the marketplace," said Iger, who noted that 8,000 titles will be released in 2005. "It's actually a business that's showing some growth, but it's showing more challenge for the motion-picture side of the business." Also on Wednesday, Disney and Verizon Communications Inc. announced a long-term, wide-ranging programming agreement. Verizon will carry Disney and ESPN programming and broadband services on the Internet. Verizon and Disney will also cooperate to help curb infringement of Disney's copyrighted material over the Internet while still protecting the privacy of Verizon Internet-service subscribers, the companies said. Verizon will track subscribers involved in alleged illegal distribution of Disney material and terminate their service or provide information for subpoenas. "This is a significant step forward in the effort toward inter-industry cooperation in addressing the serious problem of copyright infringement over the Internet," said Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg. |
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'Flightplan'
charts course to the top
Jodie Foster's mother-in-distress elbowed ahead of an animated bride-in-limbo, with "Flightplan" taking in $24.6 million in weekend ticket sales and "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" tallying $20.1 million, according to studio estimates released Sunday. Although the overall box office continues to lag behind 2004, the weekend showed continuing signs of improvement. The two films propelled box office to a fourth consecutive weekend that beat the same three-day periods last year, according to box office tracking firm Nielsen EDI. And that was despite theaters in the significant market of Houston being largely missing in action because of Hurricane Rita. If estimates hold up when more reliable figures become available today, it will mark the first time more than two films have grossed more than $20 million in their initial weekends of wide release during the month of September — ordinarily a slow month for moviegoing. "Flightplan" and "Corpse Bride" will be the third and fourth such films this month, after "Transporter 2" and "The Exorcism of Emily Rose." "Flightplan" moviegoers were split 51% to 49%, female to male, and Disney said exit surveys indicated the Imagine Films production appealed to a broad age group, with 70% of its ticket buyers between ages 18 and 49. In the film directed by Robert Schwentke, Foster plays a mother whose young daughter vanishes during a transatlantic flight, with the crew having no record that the girl even boarded the jet. The movie was playing in 3,424 theaters. "Corpse Bride," Burton's stop-motion animation adventure about a flesh-and-blood groom-to-be who inadvertently conjures a different mate from the land of the dead, ballooned from five theaters in its initial weekend of limited release to 3,204, with Warner Bros. reporting audiences made up of families with children and adults 25 and under, about evenly split between males and females. Among other new releases, "Roll Bounce," about a skating showdown between two groups of kids, opened in fourth place with about $8 million in 1,625 theaters, Fox Searchlight reported. Films debuting in limited release were led by "A History of Violence," which took in $504,000 in 14 theaters for a healthy per-venue average of $36,000, New Line reported. The movie, which stars Viggo Mortensen as a small-town hero who attracts the attention of the Philadelphia mob, rolls out to 1,200 additional theaters on Friday. Roman Polanski's "Oliver Twist" arrived in five theaters spread among Los Angeles, New York and Toronto, with about $69,000 for an average of $13,727. Sony/TriStar said it will expand the film to about 800 theaters Friday. |
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The glass slipper finally fits on October 4,
Buena Vista Home Entertainment (BVHE) proudly debuts the
long-awaited two-disc Platinum Edition of Walt Disney's
original beloved classic, CINDERELLA . On DVD for the first
time ever, the highly anticipated release has been digitally
restored and loaded with bonus materials that allow viewers to
extend their movie experience and transport themselves into
the magical world of Cinderella, and to gain fascinating
insight into the animated classic with never-before-scene
bonus features and footage.
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The clock strikes midnight as one of Disney's
most popular fairytales makes her long-awaited DVD debut after
having been unavailable in any form for almost 10 years -- as
the sixth release in Disney's celebrated "Platinum
Edition" line. The CINDERELLA DVD plays off the theme of
transformation found in the movie -- having undergone a
painstaking restoration with the use of state of the art
digital technology. DVD bonus features also play off this
unique theme, demonstrating the fairytale's integral part in
the lexicon of pop culture with exciting bonus items such as
the all new featurette ESPN Classics' "Cinderella
Stories" which showcases many of the most
unbelievable "Cinderella" moments in sports history.
An all-new DVD-ROM feature, "The Royal Life," allows
participants to scan their picture and become part of a
fairytale world that they can create (read on for more
complete bonus material details). Also returning on VHS, both
the DVD and VHS editions will carry a suggested retail price
of $29.99 (SRP). As well, a special DVD Collector's Gift Set
will accompany the release, priced at $49.99 (SRP).
A major initiative across The Walt Disney Company, CINDERELLA activity will span beyond home entertainment to bring the magic of Cinderella to life. This includes an unparalleled Disney Consumer Products (DCP) partnership which will see the release of dozens of new products in all major retail categories, including toys, apparel, electronics, fast moving consumer goods, stationery, home furnishings and much more (from third quarter 2005, into the holidays and well into 2006). Nearly 10 years in the Disney vault, and not released theatrically since 1987, the twelfth feature film to come from The Walt Disney Company, CINDERELLA was produced by Walt Disney himself, and is one of only three films to have utilized the skills of every member of the formidable group of key animators that have been affectionately dubbed his "nine old men" (others are Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan ). Originally released in 1950, the film features the voice talents of Ilene Woods (Cinderella) and Eleanor Audley (the wicked Stepmother), while future talk show host Mike Douglas supplies the singing voice of Prince Charming. Nominated for three Academy Awards, the film enjoyed theatrical releases in 1950, 1957, 1965, 1973, 1981 and 1987, drawing more than 75 million moviegoers and grossing more than $350 million (combined box office, adjusted to current dollars). Since going back into the Disney vault after its VHS release in 1995, CINDERELLA has become the most requested Disney title for release, even above such classics as "The Lion King," "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Beauty and the Beast." Cinderella Synopsis With a wave of her wand and some "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," Cinderella's Fairy Godmother transforms an ordinary pumpkin into a magnificent coach and Cinderella's rags into a gorgeous gown, and then sends her off to the Royal Ball. But Cinderella's enchanted evening must end when the spell is broken at midnight. It will take the help of her daring animal friends Jaq and Gus and a perfect fit into a glass slipper to create the ultimate fairy tale ending. |
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Is
Disneyland the most expensive place on Earth?
They call it the happiest celebration on Earth. And they could be right - no one puts on a show quite like Disneyland. But sadly, being part of the magic doesn't come cheap. Especially on a Kiwi budget. The dollar was looking good. That's why we chose now to vist Disneyland's 50th anniversary 18-month-long party. The kids were just at the right age - five, seven and nine - and their 60-year-old grandmother was keen on coming too. Still, strong currency or not, our bank account was in trouble long before we boarded the plane. Buy online in advance and save, declares the Disneyland website. But while booking ahead can save up to $US40 ($NZ59, less shipping) on three, four, and five-day Park Hopper Passes, there are no discounts for one and two-day visits. Park hopping was introduced in 2001 with the opening of Disney's California Adventure, just next door to the original theme park. Whereas a one-day one-park pass costs $US53 per adult and $US43 per child (ages three to nine), same-day entry to both is an additional $US20. It may not be cheap but at least it's easy. We chose the two-day Park Hopper pass - a gut-wrenching $US105 for adults and $US85 for children (under 10). Total value in Kiwi dollars for a family of five - $693. True, Disneyland has much to offer. In addition to the old favourites - the Haunted House, Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World etc - there are many new fun and exciting attractions. Like the Indiana Jones Adventure and the 3D movie, Honey I Shrunk the Audience. There are performances –- theatre productions like Snow White and Aladdin, shows that run so many times daily, no expense has been spared. At night comes the spectacular fireworks display, lighting the sky for almost half an hour. And just before dark, the Parade of Dreams, with its wildly extravagant floats and line-up of every imaginable Disney character, which quite simply will never be matched on any New Zealand street. But then, neither will the crowds. While newer rides appear to have been created so as to accelerate the loading of passengers and a "FastPass" system has been introduced to offset waiting in line, queues are still long. Our first day, a Wednesday in May, was fine. Our second day, a Friday, was not so good. Though we expected the masses to thin out later in the day, this was not the case. The opening of California Adventure, which one would think would alleviate crowd numbers at Disneyland, appears to have done just the opposite. More people go because there is more to do. Staff advise the best time to visit is midweek and especially during the off-season. Peak season is any time children in North America are out of school - the Christmas/New Year holiday, spring break and the long northern summer. Unfortunately, this runs in contradiction with operating hours. In order to get more value for money, it's best to pick a day where the park opens early and closes late. Naturally, these days are usually only during the busy season. Luckily, the kids didn't seem to mind. Fuelled by adrenaline and junk food, they were happy and ready to go all day. Food too, is an issue. "Very high prices and poor quality" is how one American - who didn't even have to contend with the exchange rate - described Disneyland's culinary delights. The first day we were taken unawares. On day two, we did as she suggested - we left the park in search of a decent meal. Outside the entrance and across the street is a selection of eateries, which, if not haute cuisine, are at least reasonably priced. Inside California Adventure is a small McDonald's with big prices. Yet just half a block from the entrance is an outlet with usual prices. The short walk saved us $US15. On this same street, Harbor Boulevard is also where you will find perhaps the highest concentration of motels in the US. From the Hyatt Regency to the Red Roof Inns and Motel 6, all accommodation options are available. We had not booked ahead, fooled by some belief that with so much on offer a clean, cheap room would be easy to find. We were wrong. In recent years, Air New Zealand has offered package deals where an extra $NZ100 will get you four nights' accommodation plus return airport transfers. It may be based on twin share but the bottom line is you'll never find a decent night's sleep in Anaheim for less than $NZ50. Having learned the hard way, we were lucky. Using a "Traveler Discount Guide" coupon, we booked a hotel up the road at just $US60 a night. The Traveler is a hotel discount book which is distributed along the US highways and in tourist destinations throughout 48 US states. It can also be picked up in the small tourist office by the Jolly Roger Hotel on Katella St, half a block from Disneyland, or ordered online. Per night, we saved an average $US30, which helped to offset the bizarre $US3 daily resort fee (for a motel?) and the 15 per cent hotel room rate tax imposed over and above the quoted rate. If you intend on travelling further afield, The Traveler is worth looking out for. It's also worth noting that if you hope to save a few dollars by cooking for yourself, US motels are not as well equipped as Kiwi motels. Though some rooms do provide a small fridge, cooking facilities are virtually unheard of - unless you specifically order a kitchenette and are prepared to pay more. In many cases the closer you stay to the park entrance, the greater the room rate. But distance is no longer a problem, thanks to a convenient and frequent shuttle service offered by the city of Anaheim. For US$3 a day, anyone over the age of 10 is permitted unlimited rides. This service allowed us to take our kids back to the motel for a swim, nap and dinner before the busy night ahead. Service begins before the park gates open and does not stop until everyone in the Disney pick-up spot has been accounted for. Looking back, we all had a great time. And yet I remain ambivalent. It's true: you can't fly all the way from New Zealand to California without visiting Disneyland –- not with kids anyway. But for a country that leads the way in "the customer is always right" customer service, one can't help but wonder why "guests" are so tolerant of such unacceptable queues. And why Disneyland doesn't do more. They are trying, so they say. When I ask how, they tell how many shows are purposely scheduled during peak times to alleviate line-ups elsewhere. And, of course, there is the new FastPass system which reduces wait times by letting you save your place in line for a later designated time. And finally, Disney "imagineers" have designed new "heavily themed and entertaining" attraction queues which they say are "very entertaining and in many ways, an extension of the attraction itself". The new waiting areas are not as boring as the old, but to call it an extension of the attraction itself is overly generous. Perhaps on a US budget, wait times are not worth worrying about. But on a Kiwi budget, making memories costs a small fortune. You may feel the magic but be prepared to work and wait for it. |
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A
Quiet Departure for Eisner at Disney
When Michael D. Eisner leaves the Walt Disney Company for good on Friday, there will be no grand send-off or congratulatory party. Mr. Eisner, who served as chief executive for more than two decades, has agreed only to a one-page retrospective in the company newsletter, according to Disney executives. It is a low-key way to end a 21-year career that was both brilliant and controversial and during which Mr. Eisner, 63, became the face of Disney for the generation whose parents grew up with the founder, Walt Disney. In the late 1980's, Mr. Eisner was the host of "The Wonderful World of Disney" television show and presided over the company's resurgence in animated musicals like "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King." He is recognized by youngsters at the company's theme parks, and it is common to see children gathered around his 6-foot-3-inch frame, asking for autographs. Mr. Eisner has little to say about his leaving. Through a spokeswoman, he declined last week to discuss his career. Instead he is expected to send an e-mail message to Disney's employees before he vacates his office. Several Disney executives and others who have talked to Mr. Eisner in recent days said it was an awkward time for him. He is leaving a job he loves before he is ready to, they said. Moreover, they added, he is concerned that last year's shareholder revolt, after which he was stripped of his chairman's title, will be given greater weight in assessing his legacy than the gains he made at the company in his early years. Mr. Eisner has yet to disclose his plans. His contract says he can remain a Disney consultant. In an interview earlier this year with Charlie Rose, the public television show host, Mr. Eisner said he hoped to remain in entertainment, perhaps producing Broadway shows or making movies. He has an apartment in New York and has long expressed interest in the theater there. Under Mr. Eisner's tenure, Disney grew from a small theme-park operator and movie studio into a sprawling media company. In that time, the company added 7 theme parks (for a total of 11), a cruise ship line, a successful stage play division and 10 domestic cable channels - including the highly profitable ESPN - and acquired the ABC broadcast network. Revenues increased to $30.75 billion in 2004, from $1.5 billion in 1984. The stock price has increased 1,646 percent. And the number of employees grew fivefold, to 129,000, from 28,000. Mr. Eisner's recent years, though, were marred by the shareholder revolt and a bitter board fight in which Mr. Eisner clashed with two former directors - Roy E. Disney, the nephew of the founder, and Stanley P. Gold, Mr. Disney's financial adviser. They had originally lobbied to give him the top job in 1984 during another management shake-up. More recently, they sought to oust him, contending his clashes with employees and Disney's partners were a drag on the company. "Whatever Michael's faults were, and we all have them, Michael took a moribund company and energized it to a level I'm not sure anyone else could have done," said Richard Nanula, Disney's former chief financial officer, who worked at the company from 1986 to 1998. "He ensured that Disney provided 10 times the level of entertainment available for children prior to him getting there - high-quality, clean, fun entertainment." Mr. Eisner had few interests other than Disney during his tenure. (He does appreciate architecture.) But since Mr. Eisner announced his retirement last spring, he has let Robert A. Iger, the Disney president who will succeed him on Saturday, run Disney day to day. Still, Mr. Eisner has not been entirely absent in recent months as Disney's ambassador. Last week, he attended the memorial service for Peter Jennings at Carnegie Hall in New York. On the same trip, he attended an auction of hand-painted Mickey Mouse statues with his wife, Jane. And two weeks ago, he delivered remarks at the opening of the company's newest park, Hong Kong Disneyland, which the company hopes will be a profit center in Asia for years to come. Thomas O. Staggs, Disney's chief financial officer, noted that while Walt Disney created the original theme parks, they were now populated with characters from "The Lion King, "Beauty and the Beast" and "Mulan," which were developed during Mr. Eisner's tenure. Many in the entertainment business say they believe that Mr. Eisner's career is hardly over. Ultimately, friends say, judgments about his success at Disney will be determined by his long-term record, not just the corporate turmoil that has preoccupied the company in the last few years. "Disney is a major powerhouse," said Bob Daly, a friend of Mr. Eisner who for two decades ran Warner Brothers with Terry S. Semel, now chief executive of Yahoo. "But it wasn't a major powerhouse when he started." |
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WITCH
series to celebrate Halloween with new WITCH video game,
magazine issue, books
Tween favourite W.I.T.C.H. has cast a spell over Halloween to help fans get into the Halloween spirit. To celebrate, the first ever W.I.T.C.H. video game is launching, together with a series of special events and activities throughout the Halloween holiday. These will link the W.I.T.C.H. magazine, the TV series on Jetix, and the clubwitch.co.uk website, as well as fantastic W.I.T.C.H. mobile content. The W.I.T.C.H. Halloween highlights include: - The launch by Buena Vista Games of the first ever W.I.T.C.H. video game on Gameboy Advance. Utilising the game's interactive feature, W.I.T.C.H. fans can play against their friends and hold their own interactive tournament on Halloween night - A special Halloween weekend on Jetix, culminating in the first UK screening of the W.I.T.C.H. season one finale - The October issue of W.I.T.C.H. magazine, bursting with spooky Halloween stories, puzzles and quizzes - Five brand new W.I.T.C.H. companion story books on sale in UK book shops, featuring storylines which all tie into and build on the W.I.T.C.H. TV series. Jetix will celebrate the magical season by dedicating a whole day of programmes to W.I.T.C.H., with a season finale that features back-to-back episodes from season one as well as an exclusive screening of the series' last two episodes. The W.I.T.C.H. event will take place on 30th October on Jetix with the usual episode at 9am, followed by double episodes at 10.30am, 12.30pm and 2.30pm, and the final installment at 5.30pm. The first ever W.I.T.C.H. video game launches on Gameboy Advance on October 7th, just in time for Halloween night when W.I.T.C.H. fans can use the interactive features in the game and play with their friends. Based on the W.I.T.C.H. action/adventure TV series, the game is designed to transport players into the lives of all five W.I.T.C.H. heroines. In addition, new storylines and characters have been developed exclusively for the game, which encompasses five chapters split into 20 magical levels. The game will be available to buy from all good stockists, priced at £15.95. W.I.T.C.H. will begin celebrating the spooky season on 1st October 2005, when the Halloween issue of W.I.T.C.H. magazine hits the shelves. Full of seasonal specials to encourage readers to celebrate Halloween, it also features spooky Halloween stories from readers, a special Spooky Search puzzle and a festive quiz to find out if you are a Scary Fairy, Costume Queen or Sleepover Spookster. Further to the success of W.I.T.C.H. magazine, five all-new W.I.T.C.H. companion story books published by HarperCollins have just launched in UK - The Power of Five, The Disappearance, Finding Meridian, The Fire of Friendship and The Last Tear. The books are currently on sale in UK book shops, Asda stores and from Amazon.co.uk. All the books tie into storylines featured in the W.I.T.C.H. TV series and the next four titles in the book series are due to be launched on 5th December as a timely pre-Christmas follow up. W.I.T.C.H. fans can also find great content online. The UK W.I.T.C.H. microsite launched in April 2005 and has attracted more than 175,759 unique users to date. The full UK W.I.T.C.H. website is due to launch later this autumn (www.clubwitch.co.uk). W.I.T.C.H. mobile content is also available from www.clubwitch.co.uk. and www.disneymobile.co.uk, where W.I.T.C.H. fans can buy exclusive W.I.T.C.H. ringtones, wallpapers and java games for their mobile phones In addition, W.I.T.C.H. fans will be able to celebrate Halloween in Disney Stores throughout the UK. The stores will be getting into the Halloween spirit with spooky decorations, Haunted House displays and a whole host of W.I.T.C.H. products available including toys, clothing, stationery, cosmetics and toiletries, offering exciting new ideas for treats to be used this year for 'trick or treating'. Tessa Moore, Vice President Marketing, Walt Disney International, commented on the activities: "The W.I.T.C.H. team is excited to be able to co-ordinate such a magical offering of activities over Halloween for W.I.T.C.H. fans to enjoy. All the celebration activities planned have been tailored in true W.I.T.C.H. style, combining elements of a fantasy world and a real adventure that can be experienced with friends." About W.I.T.C.H. W.I.T.C.H. is the fourth biggest magazine globally and the most successful tween's magazine launch ever, selling 11.6 million copies in Europe in 2004. Established in 2001 in Italy, the creative home of Disney Publishing, W.I.T.C.H. magazine is currently published in over 28 languages in 66 countries. The W.I.T.C.H. phenomenon spread rapidly across the Walt Disney Company. In addition to the magazine, there is a TV action series, combining epic adventure, comedy, magic and realism. It follows the adventures of five young heroines and best friends designated to maintain the natural order of the universe. W.I.T.C.H. stands for Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin: five ordinary school-friends who discover they each possess extraordinary powers allowing them to control the natural forces of water, fire, earth and air. They have been chosen as the next generation of Guardians whose mission it is to defend the Veil, an invisible barrier that protects the world from the dark forces of evil. The magazine and animated TV series tell the story of these five strong, dynamic female characters and the power of their friendship - combining magical fantasy and adventure with storylines grounded in the universal concerns faced by tweens and teens the world over. |
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The
Black Pearl, Pirates and Ocean Race
The Black Pearl is a sailboat to be skippered by a renowned sailor in the 2005-06 Volvo Ocean Race, in conjunction with the release of 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'. THE Black Pearl, official entry in the 2005-06 Volvo Ocean Race, the world's premier round-the-world race for mono-hull sailboats, was christened recently at Maritime Walk, Ocean Village in Southampton, England. The event was hosted by Robert Mitchell, managing director, Buena Vista International UK, and skipper of The Black Pearl, Paul Cayard. The Black Pearl entry is part of a unique marketing partnership between The Walt Disney Company and Volvo Ocean Race supporting the July 2006 feature film release of Walt Disney Pictures'/Jerry Bruckheimer Films' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. "This is an exciting moment as we embark upon uniting the exhilaration of a world class sporting event with what will certainly be one of the most anticipated films of next year," said Mitchell. "There will be plenty of high seas adventures both on screen and off for the next 10 months." The Black Pearl is a Volvo 70 class yacht and one of seven entries in the Volvo Ocean Race which begins in Vigo, Spain in November, and ends in Gothenburg, Sweden next June. Cayard is the first American skipper to win the race in 1998. He has returned with the energy, determination and sheer passion of the sport to lead his highly experienced and competitive Pirates of the Caribbean team around the globe, with stops in 10 of the world's most exotic locales. Said Mitchell, "We are thrilled that Cayard will be our very own modern-day "Captain Jack' taking to the high seas to command his team on The Black Pearl in this year's Volvo Ocean Race. Cayard is a legendary figure in the world of sailboat racing, and we will be cheering him on port after port as he leads his Pirates of the Caribbean crew around the globe." According to Cayard, "I am honored to skipper The Black Pearl, a boat inspired by a worldwide phenomenon, in the premier round the world sailing race. This race will be much more demanding physically than in the past due to the larger scale of the boats and fewer crew than in the past. The excitement, however, will be unparalleled thanks to the other six very competitive entries. The 2005-06 race will offer the public much more exciting access to the sport with the newly added feature of in-port racing where spectators can really see us in action. Additionally, they will be able to observe our lives on board 24 hours a day, seven days a week via 10 cameras placed throughout each boat. All of this is certain to make for great sport and great entertainment." From Vigo in Spain the race travels to Cape Town, South Africa; Melbourne, Australia; a pit stop in Wellington, New Zealand; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Baltimore/Annapolis, Maryland; a pit stop in New York City; Portsmouth, England; Rotterdam, The Netherlands; and finishes in Gothenburg. For complete details, please visit: www.volvooceanrace.org Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Gore Verbinski, once again stars Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, Orlando Bloom as Will Turner and Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Swann. It's a spectacular follow-up to the international blockbuster released in 2003. It is currently being filmed in Los Angeles and the Caribbean and will be released in July next year. Visit www.disneypictures.com for more information on the movie and www.blackpearlracing.com for information on The Black Pearl entry in the Volvo Ocean Race. |
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ABC
Family Premieres The Original Movie 'Alchemy' Friday, October
7
ABC Family premieres the original movie ALCHEMY, Friday, October 7 (8:00 – 10:00 PM ET/PT). Tom Cavanagh ("Ed," "Love Monkey"), Sarah Chalke ("Scrubs," "Roseanne") and James Barbour ("Eight Crazy Nights") star in this modern day Cyrano De Bergerac story with a high tech twist. Film also stars Illeana Douglas ("To Die For"), Michael Ian Black ("Stella") and Nadia Dajani ("Emily's Reason's Why Not"). In Alchemy, Mal Downey (Tom Cavanagh) a well known professor, creates a human-like interactive computer, Jerry (voiced by Michael Ian Black), which can emulate human emotions and respond just as a person would. In order to keep his research funded, Mal must his work published and decides to enlist the help of his friend Jane (Nadia Dajani) to document in a popular woman's magazine whether a woman could fall in love faster with a computer or a real man. Jane knows the right man for the job and lures Dr. Troy Rollins (James Barbour), aka Professor Love, to be part of the experiment. Soon the test subject Samantha (Sarah Chalke), a free spirited commitment-phobe, begins to fall under the spell of Professor Love, prompting Mal to disguise himself as a Frenchman to take on a human form for Jerry. But when Mal begins to fall in love with Samantha, all bets are off. Will Mal be able to make Samantha fall in love with Jerry before she succumbs to the advances of Professor Love? Alchemy is written and directed by Evan Oppenheimer ("Justice," "The Auteur Theory"). The movie is executive produced by Kenneth Schapiro ("My Girlfriend's Boyfriend") and Daniel O' Meara ("Bring Rain," "Jailbait"). Distributed in over 88 million homes, ABC Family features original series, movies and specials, major theatrical releases and acquired hit series. ABC Family provides programming that is reflective of today's families – with all their diversity, dysfunction, humor and passion. Real stories. Real families. Real heart. |
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Disneyremixmania
CD and Disneymania 3 in Concert DVD
Walt Disney Records puts a new spin on classic Disney tunes with two new additions to today's top tween audio franchise, the "Disneyremixmania" CD and the "Disneymania 3 in Concert" DVD, in stores September 27, 2005. The hot new "Disneyremixmania" compilation features the most popular tracks from the platinum-selling Disneymania franchise -- remixed! "Disneyremixmania" showcases 15 tracks from talented performers including Jesse McCartney, Smash Mouth, The Cheetah Girls, Ashanti featuring Lil' Sis Shi Shi, and Hilary and Haylie Duff putting a new twist on their versions of favorite Disney songs. Complementing the "Disneyremixmania" CD release, the "Disneymania 3 in Concert" DVD features some of today's hottest teen artists taking center stage at Disney's California Adventure Theme Park in Anaheim, California to perform classic Disney songs. This exciting new DVD features exclusive backstage footage from the concert, including up close and personal interviews with Raven-Symone, Skye Sweetnam, Aly & AJ, Kimberley Locke, The Cheetah Girls, Christy Carlson Romano, Everlife, Lalaine, Vitamin C and Fan_3. "Disneyremixmania" track list: 1) "The Second Star to the
Right" - Jesse McCartney (Lost Boys Remix) "Disneymania in Concert 3" DVD live performances by and interviews with: Raven-Symone - "Under the Sea,"
"Grazin' in the Grass" On September 27th, "Disneyremixmania"
will be available for a suggested retail price of |
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ABC
News Off-Air Reporters To Chronicle The Lives Of Seven
Families Displaced By Katrina
ABC News off-air reporters have spread out across the country to chronicle the lives of seven families displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The reporters will follow the families for a month as they try to settle into their new lives, and will check in with them periodically over the coming years as they rebuild. "Everyone displaced by Katrina faces a myriad of challenges that are hard for many of us to fathom – finding new jobs in new cities, enrolling children in new schools, building or rebuilding homes, navigating the bureaucracy put in place to help the victims. There are so many lives affected and so many stories to tell – placing reporters with families will provide our audience a unique, first-hand perspective," said ABC News President David Westin. The seven off-air reporters have joined with displaced Katrina families in Seattle, WA; Colorado Springs, CO; Baton Rouge, LA; Gulfport, MS; Summersville, SC; Atlanta, GA and Houston, TX. The reporters spend time throughout the day with the families, using DV cameras to document their experiences. Over the coming months and years ABC News will periodically check back with these families to see how they are faring. Reports and video diaries will be featured on all ABC News broadcasts and platforms, including "Good Morning America," "World News Tonight," "Nightline," ABCNEWS.com, ABC News Radio and ABC News Now. |
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Eisner's
legacy at Disney: From mouse to media lion
When Michael Eisner leaves Walt Disney for good on Friday, there will be no grand send-off or congratulatory party. Eisner, who served as chief executive for more than two decades, has agreed only to a one-page retrospective in the company newsletter, according to Disney executives. It is a low-key way to end a 21-year career that was both brilliant and controversial and during which Eisner, 63, became the face of Disney for the generation whose parents had grown up with the founder, Walt Disney. In the late 1980s, Eisner was the host of the television show "The Wonderful World of Disney" and presided over the company's resurgence in animated musicals like "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King." He is recognized by youngsters at the company's theme parks, and it is common to see children gathered around his 6-foot-3-inch, or 1.90-meter, frame asking for autographs. Eisner has had little to say about his leaving. Through a spokeswoman, he declined last week to discuss his career. Instead, he is expected to send an e-mail message to Disney's employees before he leaves his office. Several Disney executives and others who have talked to Eisner in recent days said it was an awkward time for him. He is leaving a job he loves before he is ready to, they said. Moreover, they added, he is concerned that last year's shareholder revolt, after which he was stripped of his chairman's title, will be given greater weight in assessing his legacy than the gains he made at the company in his early years. Eisner has yet to disclose his plans. His contract says he can remain a Disney consultant. In an interview this year with Charlie Rose, a U.S. public television show host, Eisner said he hoped to remain in entertainment, perhaps producing Broadway shows or making movies. He has an apartment in New York and has long expressed interest in the theater there. Under Eisner's tenure, Disney grew from a small theme-park operator and movie studio into a sprawling media company. In that time, the company added seven theme parks, to make a total of 11, as well as a cruise ship line, a successful stage play division and 10 U.S. cable channels including the highly profitable ESPN, and it acquired the ABC broadcast network. Revenue grew to $30.75 billion in 2004 from $1.5 billion in 1984, and the stock price rose 1,646 percent. The number of employees grew nearly fivefold, to 129,000 from 28,000. Eisner's recent years, though, were marred by the shareholder revolt and a board fight in which Eisner clashed with two former directors, Roy Disney, the nephew of the founder, and Stanley Gold, Disney's financial adviser. They originally lobbied to give him the top job in 1984 during another management shake-up. More recently, they sought to oust him, contending that his clashes with employees and Disney's partners were a drag on the company. "Whatever Michael's faults were, and we all have them, Michael took a moribund company and energized it to a level I'm not sure anyone else could have done," said Richard Nanula, a former Disney chief financial officer who worked at the company from 1986 to 1998. "He ensured that Disney provided 10 times the level of entertainment available for children prior to him getting there - high-quality, clean, fun entertainment." Since Eisner announced his retirement last spring, he has let Robert Iger, the Disney president who will succeed him on Saturday, run Disney day to day. Thomas Staggs, Disney's chief financial officer, noted that while Walt Disney created the original theme parks, they were now populated with characters from "The Lion King, "Beauty and the Beast" and "Mulan," which were developed during Eisner's tenure. Many in the entertainment business say they believe that Eisner's career is hardly over. Ultimately, friends say, judgments about his success at Disney will be determined by his long-term record, not just the corporate turmoil that has preoccupied the company in the past few years. "Disney is a major powerhouse," said Bob Daly, a friend of Eisner's who for two decades ran Warner Brothers with Terry Semel, now chief executive of Yahoo. "But it wasn't a major powerhouse when he started." |
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Martial
Arts Festival
The sixth annual Disney's Martial Arts Festival will combine the positive atmosphere of competition with the magic of Walt Disney World Resort when it returns to Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex Oct. 25-30 with competitions in American Kenpo, Japanese and Okinawan classical karate, Chinese martial arts, continuous point sparring, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, judo, karate and self-defense. Clinics, such as the American Kenpo Camp and the Tae Kwon do Clinic of Champions, will also be available for participants. The event is open to children and adults at skill levels ranging from White Belt/White Sash to the Black Belt/Black Sash. Registration is available online at disneyworldsports.com. For a registration form via mail, call 407/832-7710. Spectator admission for ages 10-older is $18 for one day and $28 for a three-day pass. Admission for ages 3-9 is $12 for one day and $22 for a three-day pass. The event is free for children under age three. |
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Return
of 'Housewives' roars for ABC on Sunday
"Desperate Housewives" came roaring back to life for ABC on Sunday as its sophomore season premiere drew more than 28 million viewers to a new round of adventures on Wisteria Lane. "Housewives" couldn't quite top its first-season finale numbers last May, but it nonetheless reeled in an eye-popping 28.2 million and 12.1 rating/26 share in the adults 18-49 demographic at 9 p.m., according to preliminary estimates from Nielsen Media Research (compared to 30.3 million viewers and 13.2/31 in the key demo for the May 22 finale). As was the case last season, ABC owned Sunday night overall. The network opened with a two-part, four-hanky episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which peaked at 8 p.m. with 16.3 million viewers and 6.8/16 in adults 18-49, and ended with a strong showing at 10 p.m. by the sophomore season opener of medical drama "Grey's Anatomy" (19.5 million, 8.6/21). Only Fox put up any kind of challenge. "The Simpsons" (10.2 million, 5.0/12) was a competitive No. 2 at 8 p.m. The network's new live-action domestic comedy "The War at Home" (8 million, 3.8/9) drooped at 8:30 p.m. but 9 p.m.'s "Family Guy" (9 million, 4.6/10) braved the "Housewives" challenge by posting its highest numbers of the season to date. CBS' lineup was thrown off for the night by a 53-minute NFL overrun that pushed back the start of its primetime lineup by nearly an hour. Crime drama "Cold Case" suffered a weak turnout in its delayed bow at around 9 p.m. with about 11.5 million viewers. The network's "Martha Behind Bars" ripped-from-the-headlines Martha Stewart movie, starring Cybill Shepherd, was a big bust that appeared to draw less than 10 million viewers. NBC felt its share of the sting from ABC's heat. The network ran a distant fourth for the night overall. The relocated "West Wing" (8.9 million, 2.4/6) didn't do much business in the 8 p.m. hour through it did improve on its "Dateline NBC" (7.9 million, 1.4/4) lead-in. At 9 p.m., the fifth-season opener "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (10.3 million, 3.0/7) posted its lowest marks for a season premiere episode. The only silver lining on the night for the network was "Crossing Jordan" (13.2 million, 3.7/9) managing a little growth spurt at 10 p.m. All things considered, the WB Network didn't do too badly with 8 p.m.'s season premiere of "Charmed" (4 million, 1.8/4) but things went downhill at 9 p.m. with the second season bow of "Blue Collar TV" (2.7 million, 1.1/2). When all was said and done, ABC logged a commanding win of the first Sunday of the 2005-06 season with an average of 18.4 million viewers and 7.8/19 in adults 18-49. |
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Going
Deep for Digital
Last March, executives from the Walt Disney Studios approached the visual-effects wizards at George Lucas's company, Industrial Light & Magic, with an audacious request. Could they convert the forthcoming Disney animated film "Chicken Little" into 3-D? In less than four months? "We gave it serious consideration, and we decided they were out of their minds," said Colum Slevin, senior director of computer graphics at Industrial Light. "'Fourteen hundred shots in 14 weeks? You're dreaming.'" But Disney persisted. And Mr. Slevin's team of techies came through, as audiences will be able to see for themselves beginning Nov. 4, when "Chicken Little" opens across the country - and in at least 85 movie theaters equipped with costly state-of-the-art 3-D projection equipment, silver screens and the latest in goofy-looking 3-D eyewear. The 3-D technology is more advanced than anything audiences will remember from the 1950's or even from recent hits like "Spy Kids": no red-and-cyan lenses, no eyestrain, no headaches. And no bulky electronic glasses like at Imax theaters. "You've not seen anything quite like this," Richard Cook, Disney's studio chairman, assured hundreds of exhibitors and others before showing them a sample on Thursday. All but lost in their excitement over the technology is a huge milestone for Hollywood: the 3-D release of "Chicken Little" first requires the conversion of those 85 theaters to digital projection technology. For years, the movie industry has been struggling to replace its expensive film distribution system with digital technology. For the studios, the change promised huge savings: about $1 billion a year is spent making film prints and shipping them to thousands of theaters. For theater owners, it meant smaller savings, but improved quality. A movie could run for weeks - or indefinitely - without the scratches and other defects that become noticeable after as few as 10 screenings of a celluloid print. Last month, the Hollywood studios finally settled on a set of technical standards for the digital cinema introduction. Also recently, the studios, theater owners and equipment vendors have reached consensus on the basic framework to pay for the change to digital, which costs about $85,000 an auditorium. All that was missing was a catalyst for making the investment. Proponents of digital cinema are hoping it will be provided by 3-D movies like Disney's "Chicken Little" and next summer's "Monster House," from Columbia Pictures and the director Robert Zemeckis. Given that Mr. Zemeckis's "Polar Express," from Warner Brothers, earned roughly 10 times as much in Imax 3-D as it did in 2-D, that is a big catalyst, executives say. "3-D, at the moment, is driving the bus on this digital rollout," said Michael V. Lewis, chairman of Real D, a Beverly Hills optics company that developed the equipment and eyewear to bring "Chicken Little" to theaters in 3-D. But there is also a fairly sizable school of thought among studio executives - and influential filmmakers like James Cameron, who has said he will shoot only in 3-D from now on - that 3-D, despite its history as a fad, could this time have a momentous effect on cinema, the way silent movies gave way to talkies and black-and-white to color. "I honestly don't think it's a novelty," said Charles Viane, president of distribution for Disney, which may release all its future animated movies in 3-D should "Chicken Little" meet expectations at the box office. "I think you'll miss the dimensionalization in movies that don't have it." "Chicken Little" would not be coming to market in 3-D had Disney not been impatient to break the stalemate between studios and theaters over digital conversion. But it also required significant leaps forward in technology, which the four-year-old Real D and the 25-year-old optics company it acquired in February, StereoGraphics, had been pursuing for some time. Unlike some old-fashioned 3-D movies, the Real D process uses a single projector, but it merges two data streams, one for each eye. Because the projector is digital, it can project images far faster than 24 frames per second, the film standard. So "Chicken Little" will be shown at 144 frames per second, alternating left- and right-eye images faster than the eye can detect. The hard part of 3-D is to make sure the left eye sees only the left image, and vice versa. Real D, executives say, does so with an adapter mounted on the projector that polarizes each alternating image so that it can be seen only through the appropriate lens on Real D's cheap disposable glasses. The system is hardly perfect. It requires installing a special silver screen, which is a disadvantage for showing standard movies; the rapid frame rate slightly diminishes the resolution of the image, from 2,048 pixels to roughly 1,700; and even Real D executives acknowledge the system would be impractical for theaters with more than 300 seats because of screen size constraints. But executives from some of the 22 theater chains that have signed up so far - among them AMC, Loews and Regal - say they prefer it to a competing system, from In-Three and NuVision, that would use standard screens but require costly electronic eyeglasses, forcing theaters to spend money sanitizing, maintaining and securing them. The main disadvantage of the Real D system is cost: the company charges at least $50,000 upfront for each theater, and $25,000 a year. Tom Stephenson, president and chief executive of Dallas-based Rave Motion Pictures, said he had signed up to convert 9 of his 300 screens to Real D and was exploring whether to charge a dollar or two more for tickets, or whether increased ticket sales and concession receipts would ultimately cover his costs. Real D guarantees at least two 3-D movies will play in those theaters each year, Mr. Stephenson said. "Is that enough? No, but if it turns out people are really drawn to this technology, you'll get more than that." Among prominent filmmakers, who are eyeing dwindling box-office figures just as uneasily as theater owners, several have seized on 3-D as almost a panacea. "As the public's home television and sound systems get better and better, what is the reason they have to go to the movies?" said Jon Landau, a partner in Mr. Cameron's company, Lightstorm Entertainment, which is making the action fantasy "Battle Angel" in 3-D. "We believe 3-D is one of those things that people will come out of their homes in droves to see. From the big-scale movies to the small dramas - if you have somebody on their deathbed, and an intimate moment, you are much better off dropping the barrier of the screen, putting the audience in that moment, and putting it in 3-D." Whether the next "Terms of Endearment," let alone the next "Terminator," will be seen by millions in 3-D is anybody's guess, of course. But the digital introduction, on which 3-D technology will piggyback, is picking up speed. After months of wrangling between the studios and several vendors, the first deals are being signed that could lead theater owners to buy and install digital projectors. The structure of the deals follows a pattern. Theater owners pay roughly $10,000 toward the $85,000 cost of converting each auditorium. The balance is recovered, typically over 10 years, from the movie studios, which pay "virtual print fees." These fees, which start at around $1,000 for each copy of a movie delivered to a theater, are intended to approximate the studios' financial savings on film prints and shipping. They have agreed to steer that money to the suppliers of digital cinema equipment. Under the first major deal announced so far, Disney said on Sept. 15 that it would pay virtual print fees toward the installation of projectors from Christie Digital Systems USA, under a nonexclusive deal financed by Access Integrated Technologies, a start-up that is hoping to carve out a slice of the expected market for digital distribution to theaters. The gamble for Access, of Morristown, N.J., is that studios will release enough digital movies, and agree to pay the virtual print fees, to cover the cost of the equipment and installations - and to lower the cost of capital for a company with just $12 million in trailing 12-month revenue. "Somebody's got to be willing to put up what somebody has called brave equity to get something like this going," said A. Dale Mayo, a former theater owner who is chairman and chief executive of Access. Lurking around the corner, however, are film industry heavyweights like Technicolor, a unit of the Paris-based media services company Thomson, along with its rival Deluxe and the sound company Dolby Laboratories. Dolby has financed the purchase of digital systems for those theaters converting soon, for "Chicken Little" for example, hoping to gain exposure for its own servers and cinema management software. So goes the competition on the digital frontier. "It's street-fighting right now," said Jack Kline, president and chief operating officer of Christie Digital. "In order for the market to have confidence in the digital experience, we need real experience," said Michael Karagosian, digital cinema consultant to the National Association of Theater Owners. "We need at least 1,000 systems, with all the vendors delivering content to theaters in a flawless way, so the movie arrives, it's shown, the audience is entertained with the same reliability as today with film." That's a tall order, he cautioned. "We now have a 99.98 percent availability rate" for film projection, he said, referring to the incidence of equipment malfunction. "That means that 2 out of 10,000 shows fail, where you have to get a voucher. We don't expect to hear, 'The server didn't work.' But there are plenty of stories already about expired encryption keys, the date set wrong, somebody didn't push the right button." He added, "We're talking about putting desktop technology in the theater. Do you trust your boot-up every time?" |
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Producer
Bochco, Disney sign TV deal
Veteran TV producer Steven Bochco, the man behind such shows as "NYPD Blue" and "Hill Street Blues," has cut a three-year production deal with Disney's Touchstone Television. Bochco's most recent studio pact was a five-year deal signed with Paramount Network TV in July 1999. It yielded such short-lived shows as "Philly" and last season's "Blind Justice," both on ABC. He is currently represented on the small screen by cable channel FX's Iraq war drama "Over There," which Bochco developed with 20th Century Fox TV. Bochco, a 10-time Emmy winner who ranks among the most successful and prolific TV writer-producers of all time, brings a handful of existing development prospects to Touchstone via new deal, including two projects set up at Fox and one at the WB Network. |
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Raven
Moon's Low-Budget Animated Film Could Catch Disney Investors'
Eye
Raven Moon Entertainment, Inc. (OTC BB: RVMN) announced today that according to a story written by Alex Armitage and Mike Weiss of Bloomberg News, and published in the September 24, 2005 issue of the Orlando Sentinel, Walt Disney Co., whose film unit said it will lose money in the fourth quarter, has raised $505 million from investors to reduce the risk of financing movies, the first time it has done so in almost a decade. According to Robert Iger, who on October 1 succeeds Michael Eisner as chief executive officer, in August said Disney will take a "very hard look" at film expenses. "What we're seeing should be a wake-up call to the entire industry in terms of expenses," stated Iger in August. Using "Disney/Pixar-style" technology, Raven Moon continues to fly under the big-budget radar with its first fully animated low-budget theatrical film called "Gina D & The Transistor Sisters." With a final budget of $3,000,000, Raven Moon Entertainment, Inc. plans to be the general partner of Gina D & The Transistor Sisters The Movie, LLLP, a limited liability limited partnership. Half of the $3,000,000 production budget totaling $1,500,000 has already been committed to by MG Studios, home of GINA D'S KIDS CLUB, and the balance of $1,500,000 will be available to investors. Raven Moon writers and producers have already written the full script and produced the music soundtrack. A fully animated distribution trailer will be ready in October and participation in the balance of the LLLP will be on a private one to one basis. "This low-budget concept is not new. Independent film companies have successful turned low-budget films costing only approximately one to three million dollars such as: 'The Adventures of Grizzly Adams,' 'The Amityville Horror,' 'In Search of Noah's Ark,' 'Fahrenheit 911' and 'The Blair Witch Project' into blockbuster profits of $25,000,000 or more," stated Joey DiFrancesco, Chairman and CEO of Raven Moon Entertainment, Inc. "The newest G-Rated independent film, 'March of the Penguins,' has already taken in a total of $70 Million in box office receipts to date." "The difference that gives us a 2005 edge is that we have the 3D technology, the creative team and the ability to produce low-budget animated features in a high demand consumer market," stated DiFrancesco. |
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Disney
Adventures' interviews Andrew Adamson
Direct from the director, a sneak peek into
the winter wonderland of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe. By Stephen Timblin |
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Nickelodeon exec Paul O’Higgins has been
poached by Disney to serve as vice-president of marketing
across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The role, previously occupied by Chris Cowan, includes overseeing campaigns for TV shows and exploring new channel launches. He will report to John Hardie, executive VP and MD of Walt Disney Television. Before joining Nickelodeon, O'Higgins worked at AOL Time Warner, Cartoon Network and Sci-Fi Channel. |
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Sunday September 25, 2005 |
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LeBeouf drives in winning role At 19, Shia LaBeouf is starring in ``The Greatest Game Ever Played,'' a movie a lot of people are expected to see. ``Greatest Game'' is a stirring re-creation of
the 1913 U.S. Open in Boston that saw amateur golfer Francis
Ouimet upset the defending champion, Britain's Harry Vardon. ``Disney knows not to bring me scripts unless it's something of quality. I refused 12 films last year. I'm pretty picky - they know,'' he said. |
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The classic Disney
animated films continue to enthral generation after
generation. The films’ enduring popularity is in no small
way due to a fantastic choice of songs that fit the action
perfectly, but have a high profile life outside the cinema.
These songs almost uniquely appeal to young and old in equal
measure and Disney keep on doing it! From their classic Snow
White through to The Lion King the films have created a raft
of hits which became instant classics. Disney have launched a
new “lifestyle brand” aimed primarily at young girls (aged
between about 3 and 93 at a guess). This brand pulls together
the favourite princesses from stories like Cinderella, Snow
White, Sleeping Beauty, Pocahontas and Mulan. Disney have used
the “brand” to launch story CDs, toys, magazines and
clothing as well as the twin CD, Ultimate Disney Princess, a
collection of loved songs from the “princess brand” films
intermingled with three new songs written especially for
Disney Princess.
The first CD has many of the songs that a young princess might want to sing like ‘A Whole New World’ (Aladdin), ‘Some Day My Prince Will Come’ (Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs), ‘ So This is Love’ (Cinderella), ‘Can You Feel The Love Tonight’ (The Lion King) and ‘Like Other Girls’ (Mulan 2). The album also includes many other favourites with a similar nostalgic appeal, such as ‘Colours Of The Wind’ and ‘Just Around The Riverbend’ (Pocahontas), ‘I’m Wishing’ and ‘With A Smile And A Song’ (Snow White) along with ‘He’s A Tramp’ (Lady And The Tramp), ‘A Spoonful Of Sugar’ (Mary Poppins) and ‘Once Upon A Dream’ (Sleeping Beauty). The album also has three new songs to delight any young princess: ‘If You Can Dream’, ‘Every Girl Can Be A Princess’ and ‘Waiting For My Prince’. Each have the Disney stamp of a distinctive, stirring music coupled with clear, fun lyrics. The second CD contains fourteen instrumental versions of the most singable songs from the first album, with the words thoughtfully printed in large type within the sixteen-page sleeve notes. Any young princess (or old and wicked step-mother for that matter) will love this collection, particularly the sing-a-long album. The extra CD is great just to listen to, with the instrumental versions just as magical without the words, but it is likely most tracks will evoke some form of karaoke. A fitting companion to the recent Ultimate Disney album. |
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Restaurant
Akershus Returns to Original Menu
Restaurant Akershus at the Norway pavilion at Epcot has returned to its original menu focusing on authentic Norwegian food. The restaurant still has princess character dining, but now features the return of the traditional Norwegian meal. |
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Root beer and cherry flavors are associated with medicine in China. Scratch those from the beverage list at Hong Kong Disneyland. Meals in Hong Kong are a social event that can last for hours, even at a theme park. Students in Asia revere their teachers, and any compliments are returned tenfold. Those are a few examples of the teaching and learning that have transpired in the past year as 89 people from Anaheim, Calif.'s Disneyland Resort trekked to Hong Kong to help train employees of Disney's first theme park in China. Hong Kong Disneyland opened Sept. 12 with 5,000 employees, a Main Street that's the spitting image of the one in Anaheim and high hopes that a new culture will embrace Disney's entertainment. "The basic spine of the park was replicated from Disneyland," said Tom Morris, an executive from Walt Disney Imagineering. "Everyone from Southern California walks in, and it strikes them right away — the train station, Main Street, the Castle, even the music are the same as in Anaheim. ... Then there's this beautiful mountain range right behind the castle. That's when you quickly realize you're in the South China Sea." Morris directed the creative development of Hong Kong Disneyland, and builders have hammered for more than two years to get every board in place at Disney's 11th theme park. The final phase of preparation — the phase that makes it a uniquely Disney park — is teaching local employees how to deliver the personal service the company calls "magic." Members of the Anaheim task force were chosen because of their expertise in a particular field, but also because of their devotion to the Disney product. Four shared their experiences from China, the fastest-growing tourism market in the world. Matt Holding, who has run attractions for nearly 15 years, patiently taught driving fundamentals to people who rarely drive anything. Hong Kong relies heavily on public transportation, and few people own cars. "We started with forward and reverse," said Holding, who showed them how to maneuver river rafts. His biggest job was helping the new staffers understand the legacy of Walt Disney. "You don't work at Disneyland because it's just a job," he said. "It was a lifelong ambition for me. I told them they are not just a host or a cast member, they are a Jungle Cruise skipper. We're teaching them that this is something very special." Holding's new friends taught him that Americans move too fast. "One day they said, 'Let's go to lunch.' It was an hour and a half. I eat lunch on the go half the time. For them, it's a time to socialize. When I go home to Anaheim, I am going to start taking a lunch break." Belinda Butt, a human-resources specialist from Laguna Hills, Calif., has trained staff members for most of her 20 years at Disneyland. She went to Hong Kong because the park's scale of operations is similar to Anaheim's. She knows how to implement Disney's scheduling system and set up a way of moving 5,000 people through orientation. "You have to think of things like, if you have 12 classes at the same time, don't have them all break at the same time or your bathrooms are slammed," she said. What she learned during five months was the power and grace of humility. "When you pay them a compliment, they bring it right back to you," she said. "They say, 'Oh, it's because you are such a good teacher.' They're very appreciative." Karlos Siqueiros took his 20 years of food-and-beverage expertise to Hong Kong. "The passion we all have for Disney is what brought us here," Siqueiros said. "We brought the importance of the story to them. It's not just a park or a restaurant. "In Anaheim, we say keep the story alive right down to the last bite. When you go into New Orleans Square and the world of pirates, you don't want to have a commercial at lunchtime. You want to still be in Louisiana." Siqueiros also elevated Disney's approach to celebrating birthdays in Hong Kong. "In China, where many people have just one child, birthdays are like our weddings. They go on and on. ... Tastes and flavors here are different, too. We tend to like sugar; they like the savory flavors. We had to adjust." Siqueiros introduced the concept of kids' menus — already a big hit — and he will bring home a new idea from the Hong Kong park's menu: a char siew (barbecue pork) burger. |
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Don
Haskins is coming to town
Enid's native son who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Sept. 27, 1997, and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame on Aug. 9, 1999, and is the main subject of an upcoming Walt Disney Pictures movie, "Glory Road," has confirmed through relatives he is coming to Enid. "The Bear," or "Dandy Don" as he was known growing up in Enid, will attend an Enid Public School Foundation Hall of Fame banquet beginning at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 13 in the recently built Enid High Food Court. He and Dr. Wynn Mabry, a retired U.S. Air Force major general who was Chief of the Air Force Medical Operations Agency 1996 to 1999, will become the 12th and 13th inductees in the public school foundation's hall of fame. "Those who are honored are those who have graduated from Enid High School or made a significant impact on Enid Public Schools or in their chosen fields," said Enid Public Schools spokeswoman Amber Graham Fitzgerald. Banquet tickets are $50 and available from Enid Public Schools or foundation board members. The public schools phone number is 234-5270. Earlier the same day, beginning at 11 a.m., Haskins will be honored at a city of Enid Parks Department dedication of outdoor basketball courts located west of the Cherokee Terrace Apartments and north of St. Mary's Regional Medical Center. Referred to as the South 6th-East Maine basketball courts, city of Enid Park System, park board members approved renaming the park Don Haskins Basketball Courts during their May meeting. Also in the works are negotiations with Walt Disney Pictures to get a special showing of "Glory Road" in Enid at Dickinson Theaters in Oakwood Mall. Enid High School boy's basketball coach Shawn Schenk said he has talked with Walt Disney executives about the possibility of getting a special showing here of the movie that includes scenes depicted in Enid, but a final word has yet to come from the corporate office. Studio executives and publicity people have announced a tentative release date for the movie on Jan. 16, Martin Luther King Day weekend. A movie poster began appearing in August. University of Texas at El Paso officials announced last month they are working with Disney to get a premiere showing of the movie. The movie stars Josh Lucas as Haskins and centers around the 1966 Texas Western (now University of Texas, El Paso) basketball season that ended with an NCAA championship game victory over the University of Kentucky Wildcats and coach Adolph Rupp, who is played by Jon Voight. Many historians and writers said the game single-handedly did more for racial equality in college sports than any other event as Haskins started five black players against Rupp's all- white team. According to studio executives, the movie is said to open with a young Don Haskins playing one-on-one with a black friend, Herman Carr, of Enid, who is played by James Aaron. Growing up in Enid, Haskins was known as "Deadeye Don" and was known for his baseball prowess in addition to his miraculous play on the hardwood that included a full-court length heave for two points in the 1948 district tournament championship game between Enid High and Stillwater in Convention Hall. Alan Livingston, current executive director at Hedges Regional Hearing Center, remembers Haskins' exploits in high school. "He (Haskins) worked on a jump shot during the summer of '47. We (younger kids) would rebound for him. He was a fantastic basketball player and really developed the art of the jump shot," said Livingston, who graduated from Enid High in 1955. |
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Saturday September 24, 2005 |
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EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:DISH)
and its DISH Network satellite TV service today announced an
agreement with Disney and ESPN Media Networks to add ESPNU, a
new 24-hour college sports network, to DISH Network's
"America's Top 180" programming package.
"We have recently increased our emphasis on sports programming for DISH Network customers," said Eric Sahl, senior vice president of Programming for DISH Network. "The addition of ESPNU and other college sports programming further enhances the exceptional value Dish Network offers and increases our competitive advantage in the sports programming arena." "We are pleased that DISH Network subscribers will now have the opportunity to see ESPNU and the incredible lineup of college sports programming that will be offered," said Sean Bratches, president, Disney and ESPN Networks, affiliate sales and marketing. "The launch of our newest network on DISH Network demonstrates our continued commitment to serving passionate sports fans and is a great step forward to making more of our products and services available to fans nationwide." ESPNU, available on DISH Network's Channel 148, was launched in March 2005 and will feature more than 300 live college sports events this year. Viewers get a variety of top football and men's and women's basketball mixed with baseball, softball, volleyball, lacrosse, ice hockey, wrestling and more. ESPNU also offers comprehensive studio programming, replays of ABC Sports, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Regional Television games. ESPNU is available to customers who subscribe to America's Top 180 for $52.99 per month. For more information, or to subscribe to DISH Network, viewers can go to the award-winning website www.DISHNetwork.com, call 800-333-DISH (3474) or visit a local DISH Network retailer. |
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Destination
Disney
Though Hong Kong Disneyland is the smallest among Disney’s theme parks and has a fewer number of attractions compared to those in Orlando, Florida, Paris and Tokyo, it doesn’t mean that it’s not worth your while and money. It may be a smaller world, but it’s a sort of friendly world where people of all ages can find plenty to keep themselves occupied and amused. The park’s not so huge that it takes ages just to walk around, but if you’re going to take in all the rides and the shows, you’re going to need plenty of time, including for waiting in queues. So, let’s say, to have your fill of the fun in Hong Kong Disneyland, you need at least a full day. As soon as the opening ceremony, in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle, was over on September 12, Hong Kong Disneyland welcomed its first guest to the park. There was a surge at the turnstiles and a Chinese woman rushed to a FastPass machine in front of the park’s Space Mountain to be the first rider on its roller-coaster. Behind her was a big crowd of cameramen and reporters, all wanting her to talk while they clicked away. It’s not just kids who are taken up with the Disney fantasy. If the opening was anything to go by, it seems that people of all ages are in love with the magic of Walt Disney’s fairytales. The first groups entering the park were dominated by teenagers. There were families with children following them, including an old man in a wheelchair. A good many of them were rushing to the Space Mountain in Tomorrowland – one of the most popular rides in Hong Kong Disneyland. It carries passengers at a warp speed on a simulated journey to the far reaches of the universe, with cutting-edge special effects providing thrills aplenty. For those who are not after an adrenaline high and seek to escape from the tiring heat, there is Mickey PhilharMagic in Fantasyland. It’s a 3-D theatrical adventure incorporating magical moments and magical music from Disney classics such as “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin”. Smells and other special effects to suit the scenes in the movies envelop viewers in the air-conditioned theatre. In Adventureland, the first thing most visitors did was reserve their seats for the Festival of the Lion King. The colourful show of music and dance is inspired by Disney's award-winning animated film “The Lion King” and performed by a cast picked from all over the world. The show took the audience to the jungles of Africa while talented singers belted out “The Circle of Life” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” – all hit numbers from the acclaimed film. The movable stage is in the centre of the dome-shaped venue and can be rotated through 360 degrees as well as elevated. Sophisticated sound and light effects turn it into a grand spectacle worth waiting for. The only show they have in Hong Kong and aboard the “Disney Magic” cruise – but not the other parks – is the Golden Mickey. Its finale has been rewritten, however, making it unique to Hong Kong. For those who understand Cantonese, it’s a fun-filled show of Hollywood-style awards. All the characters speak the local language while the songs are in English. Chinese guests had a rip-roaring time while one suspects the others had a nap. Both The Lion King and Mickey shows were well-received by the Chinese audience, who could identify the characters and sing along. Probably a pay-off for Disney teams, who spent more than six months in China and Hong Kong before the park opened, busy promoting the studio’s films. |
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Disney
presents Pixar's The Incredibles in a Magic Kingdom Adventure,
on sale Now
Atlanta, Georgia – Get ready to |
