So now that I have had a chance to catch my breath, and all of my new year celebrations are over, lets take a look at each of Disney's divisions as they stand at the dawn of FY 08.
Studio Entertainment: I think Friday is going to start the next golden age for the studios. Why Friday? Well Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas is being rereleased in Digital Disney 3D. While they did release it last year, this year's presentation will be in three times as many theaters. In addition, that just kicks off a killer slate of films that Disney has on its docket. Enchanted, which was just screened in Orlando, is getting great buzz and is already being called a franchise launcher. National Treasure 2 is my own personal most anticipated film of the year, and will be unvieled in just 66 days. On May 18, Disney will be releasing the second installment in the Chronicles of Narnia series, and shortly behind that is Wall-e on June, 27. The Disney geek in me is also excited about the return of shorts. While from a purely fiscal view, this is not even on the radar, as a creative and training vehicle I want Disney Animation Studios to return to glory in this arena. One thing that could be a hang up is the possible writers strike that could start as early as the first of November. While feature animation is not governed by the WGA, members will not be allowed to work on animated features, and any writers that do will be black listed from the union. This could be interesting as the Pixar brain trust looks at live-action as a new vehicle.
Parks and Resorts: Obviously, the big story is Disney spending $1.1 billion on upgrading DCA. But there are also other notes throughout the company. Disney announced their first mixed-use resort without a theme park will be built in Hawaii. We can presume this is only the first form the extention of the parks and resorts business will take. In fact, as part of The Children's Place's recent renegotiations, they were forced to agree to letting Disney build other concepts. Perhaps a Bibbidi-Bobbidi Boutique could be coming to a mall near you soon. At Walt Disney World there has been quite a bit of movment. Dr. Beth Stevens has been promoted to senior vice president, Environmental Affairs, Disney Worldwide Services, Inc reporting to Disney CFO Tom Staggs. Taking her place as VP of Disney's Animal Kingdom is Val Bunting. Now all four theme parks are headed by long time cast members with a park operations background. Congrats to both for their promotions. Leslie Ferraro has taken over the worldwide marketing of the segment from Michael Mendenhall. She comes from Adventures by Disney so we might see a new voice in the marketing message. Lastly, at WDI Scott Trowbridge is the new Vice President, Creative, Research & Development. He comes from Universal so I am a little weary. But I am guessing Bruce Vaughn has a reason to bring him on board.
Media Networks: The WGA strike could affect this segment as well. If there is a strike expect reality televison and news programs to shoulder some of the burden. At ABC the season has gotten off to a good start with shows like "Pushing Daisies", "Private Practice", and "Woman's Murder Club". Time will tell if they can blossom in to hits. At the Disney Channel, the premiere of “Wizards of Waverly Place", ranked as the week’s No. 1 TV series telecast in Kids 6-11 and Tweens 9-14, and the No. 1 basic cable series telecast in Total Viewers. Hannah Montana continues to be a hit. Really, Disney Channel cannot do any wrong. ESPN continues to grow by expanding its programming. They are still trying to make themselves less dependent on sport rights acquasitions. But instead of getting more entertainment programming as they have tried in the past with mixed success, ESPN is expanding its news offerings. In fact their new news magazine E:60 premiered today. ESPN also continues to acquire international websites in an effort to globalize their brand.
Consumer Products: The place to watch at consumer products is video games in 2008. The large investment should start to pay off as the new studios Disney has acquired and established ramp up their output. The Fairies franchise should get a lot of attention as the Tinker Bell Movie finally gets released. Also watch the division to closely manage the Cars franchise and try to turn Wall-e in to another Cars. As Children's Place faces its trouble, The Disney Stores future is uncertain. That might turn in to a very interesting story.
Anyway, still a lot of stuff going on so I apologize if posting continues to be sporadic. But it is going to be an exciting few months leading up to the annual meeting.