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8 articles from 2004

1 September 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

The Walt Disney Co.'s international distribution arm, Buena Vista International, has helped its bigger sibling surmount a string of domestic failures by topping $1 billion in overseas ticket sales for the 10th straight year. The unit, headquartered in London, said that three films topped $100 million this year, including the hand-drawn animated film Brother Bear with $165 million, The Haunted Mansion, with $106 million, and King Arthur, with $100 million. Finding Nemo, released a year earlier, also earned more than $100 million in 2004.

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1 June 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Sales of DVDs, which had appeared to be leveling off earlier in the year, shot up 22 percent in April over the previous year to $1.19 billion, according to Nielsen VideoScan. Sales of VHS cassettes, however, fell to $100.98 million, down 51 percent from the comparable period last year. DVD sales in April accounted for 91 percent of all units sold, versus 78 percent in April 2003. The top seller for the month was Disney's hand-drawn animated feature Brother Bear, released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, which sold 5.51 million units.

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13 May 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Despite the dismal box office returns for such films as The Alamo, Home on the Range, Hidalgo and The Ladykillers and the continued downslide in the ratings for ABC, Disney was able to report a 71-percent surge in profits during its second quarter, helped by strong performances by its ESPN cable network, impressive DVD sales for such titles as Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and Brother Bear, a roaring comeback in its theme park and resorts business, and unexpected strength in sales of consumer products. "We believe we are headed toward a return to the kind of strong and steady earnings growth our shareholders have every right to expect," Disney CEO Michael Eisner said in a conference call.

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20 April 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Another group of animators who were laid off at Disney's Florida animation studio in January have opened a studio of their own. Five animators, who worked on such features as The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, and Brother Bear announced Monday that they had mortgaged their homes in order to set up their own studio called Project Firefly at the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando. Another group of Florida animators fired by Disney in January had earlier announced that they had opened up shop in Winter Garden, FL as Legacy Animation Studio, with the intention of keeping Walt Disney's legacy of hand-drawn animation alive.

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8 April 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Last year's family hit Cheaper By the Dozen has turned out to be richer by the millions as 3 million DVD and VHS copies were snapped up in the first day of release, according to Fox Home Video. Meanwhile, Video Store magazine reported that for the week ended April 4, Disney's hand-drawn animated feature Brother Bear was the top home-video title with more than 5 million DVD and VHS units sold. The rental champ was Sony's Something's Gotta Give, starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, with $13.38 million in rental earnings.

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25 March 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Although it employed hand-drawn animation and was produced at the Walt Disney Co.'s now shuttered studios in Orlando, Florida, Brother Bear has crossed the $200-million mark in global ticket sales. According to Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook, the film has earned $85 million domestically and almost $116 million internationally. Cook observed that the film is still generating substantial sales in its ever-widening overseas roll-out, earning $4.7 million at 740 locations in Germany just last weekend.

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5 February 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Pixar Chairman Steve Jobs has sharply criticized the Walt Disney Co., calling the Disney animated features Treasure Planet and Brother Bear duds and the sequels Return to Never Land and Lion King 1 1/2 "pretty embarrassing." He maintained that there had been little creative input from Disney on Pixar's hit films "for years." Jobs made the comments in an interview with the Los Angeles Times and during a conference call with analysts in which he announced that Pixar had recorded record profits for the fourth quarter and for 2003. He said that it had earned $83.9 million for the quarter and $124.8 million for the year. Jobs, who broke off negotiations with Disney to extend its distribution deal, said that he has heard from every major studio in Hollywood since. He told the Times that he expected to begin formal negotiations with them next month, adding that it was "very unlikely" that talks with Disney would be revived. A Disney spokesperson responded that it was "sad and unfortunate that [Jobs] has resorted to insults and name-calling in the wake of the disagreement."

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12 January 2004 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Disney is expected to shutter its feature-animation studios in Orlando, FL today (Monday), despite the unit's relative success with such films as Brother Bear and Lilo & Stitch, published reports said today. Several of the nearly 300 animators who are being laid off announced last week that they plan to form their own animation company. News reports indicated that Disney has concluded that hand-drawn animation is an expensive -- and dying -- art form and that it intends to focus on computer animated features in the future.

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8 articles from 2004