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In August 2017, Disney announced plans to launch its own streaming service in 2019. Let us hope that it won't raise prices every year like the theme parks do.
Disney says it’s not trying to hurt or kill Netflix
Polygon, Feb 14 2018 9:21 AM
Disney is readying to launch its own stand-alone streaming service that will rely heavily on Star Wars and Marvel Studios brands, but a Disney executive says the company is not trying to harmNetflix in the process. Kevin Mayer, Disney’s chief strategy officer, told Peter Kafka at Recode’s CodeCon that Disney isn’t even really looking to compete with Netflix. Mayer’s comments echo what his boss, CEO Bob Iger, said during last week's investors call. Disney is looking to offer quality series and original movies based on the company’s most popular brands but won’t offer the scale of choice in titles that Netflix currently does. "I personally like Netflix. They’ve got a great product," Mayer said. "They do exceedingly well in the marketplace. What we’re doing, we’re not trying to hurt or kill Netflix."
Mayer’s comments aren’t too surprising considering the company isn’t necessarily ending its relationship with Netflix stone cold. Iger said Netflix "will have rights to the films that were made in ’16, ’17 and ’18 for quite a long period of time," reiterating that it’s only new films Netflix will no longer be able to carry. Netflix subscribers will still be able to find older Disney titles on the streaming service, which serves more than 100 million people worldwide, but will have to sign up for Disney’s streaming platform to watch newer titles.
https://www.polygon.com/2018/2/14/17...eaming-service
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Visitors will feel like they're the size of a toy -- and after they pay the theme park's outrageously high admission price, their wallets will seem really small.
Toy Story Land will open at Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios park June 30
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trave...216-story.htmlt
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Disney will not give the promised bonuses until the workers approve a new contract. Scrooge McDuck, Flintheart Glomgold, Pegleg Pete and Eli Squinch must be in charge.
Walt Disney World unions file complaint to get $1,000 bonuses promised after corporate tax cut
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...219-story.html
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"Hi. I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs." "Hi. I'm Bob Iger and I like adding new attractions to all the Disney parks so we can lure more visitors who will pay our outrageous prices for parking, admission, food and souvenirs and I can wind up making even more money."
Disneyland Paris to get Marvel, Frozen and Star Wars attractions in $2.4-billion expansion
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...227-story.html
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Disney today released a hilarious preview of Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks The Internet, which opens November 21 and looks to be funnier than the first Wreck-It Ralph. "It's like it's looking into my soul." "Yeah, that's gonna haunt me for a long time."
Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks The Internet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y2ZNrbO2qI
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"Bah! Let 'em complain! They'll nae be gettin' one more penny out of me!" -- Scrooge McDuck, Disneyland Resort paymaster
Three-quarters of employees surveyed at Disney's Anaheim resort say they can't afford basic living expenses
Los Angeles Times, Feb 28 2018 3:20 PM
Only weeks after the Walt Disney Company reported better-than-expected profit, a survey at the company's Anaheim theme parks found that 73% of employees questioned don't earn enough to pay for such expenses as rent, food and gas. The online survey, funded by labor groups pushing for higher wages for workers at Disneyland and California Adventure Park, also said that 11% of resort employees have been homeless or have not had a place of their own in the last two years.
"Disneyland employees report high instances of homelessness, food insecurity, ever-shifting work schedules, extra-long commutes, and low wages," the study said. Disney called the survey inaccurate, noting that it was offered only to union workers at the resort and claiming there were no controls preventing disgruntled employees from answering multiple times.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...228-story.html
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Live action, eh? I wonder how Disney will find an incense-burning, gong-ringing, tiny red dragon to play Mushu.
Disney Mulan live-action reboot postponed to 2020
NBC News, Mar 2 2018 12:36 AM
Disney’s live-action Mulan reboot is being pushed back by more than a year. The studio shifted the release from November 2, 2018, to March 27, 2020. Directed by Niki Caro, the movie stars Chinese singer-actress Liu Yifei, also known as Crystal Liu. The original Mulan in 1998, featuring the voices of Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, Miguel Ferrer and BD Wong, grossed $304.3 million worldwide.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-a...d-2020-n852701
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Disney's live action/CGI Christopher Robin movie will open in theaters August 3. Ewan McGregor (Star Wars, Trainspotting, Fargo) stars as a grown-up Christopher Robin, a successful businessman who no longer has any imagination -- until he gets re-acquainted with Winnie-The-Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and his other childhood friends. Disney just released a short preview -- Hurry and watch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux87Gk1cfko
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I wonder if Robert Iger will borrow a line from Snow White and apply it to these protestors: "Oh, you must be Grumpy!"
Disneyland workers demonstrate at Walt Disney Co. meeting, demanding 'living wages'
Los Angeles Times, Mar 8 2018 9:55 AM
A group of workers from the Disneyland Resort waved signs, chanted and demonstrated outside Walt Disney Co.'s shareholders meeting in Houston today, demanding the company provide a "living wage."The demonstration was the latest effort by a coalition of unions at the Anaheim theme parks that is pushing Disney executives to raise wages for the resort's 30,000 workers during a profitable period for the Burbank media giant. Three of those unions are currently negotiating contracts.
As part of its initiative, the labor groups released an online survey last month that found that 73% of Disneyland and California Adventure Park employees who responded don't earn enough to pay for such expenses as rent, food and gas. In addition, 11% said they have been homeless or have not had a place of their own in the last two years.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...308-story.html
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Normally there are hundreds of thousands of people in the Disney parks and each attraction has a wait time of at least 90 minutes. Disney allowed only a few people into the parks while the Google Maps crew was shooting video. We can see the parks on Google now -- but we know that if we visit any of the parks in person, all we'll see is hundreds of thousands of people and long lines.
Now you can walk through Disney theme parks in Google Street View
FOX5, Mar 10 2018 6:50 PM
Google Maps Street View, the maps feature that offers panoramic views of real-life locales, now features Disney theme parks including Epcot, the Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, California Adventure and Walt Disney World. The highly-detailed maps offer a 360-degree virtual walking tour that can also sync with VR headsets for those who are really looking to get immersed.
http://fox5sandiego.com/2018/03/10/n...e-street-view/
Google Street View: https://www.google.com/streetview/#d...dom-theme-park
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How many years before Disney, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google merge into one gargantuan company?
Disney is set to dominate Netflix
Business Insider, Mar 12 2018 10:42 AM
Disney has all the means to become the "world's leading content company," writes RBC Capital Markets analyst Steven Cahall in a note to investors. The company could spend $30 billion annually on video-streaming content, far outspending Netflix, which plans to spend $8 billion on content this year. Cahall boosted Disney's price target to $135 per share, roughly 30% above its current share level.
http://markets.businessinsider.com/n...8-3-1018620559
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Emojis of characters from Frozen, Zootopia and The Incredibles will be available later this year. "Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm emojis."
Samsung launches Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse AR emojis for Galaxy S9 devices
https://9to5google.com/2018/03/16/sa...-emoji-disney/
https://9to5google.com/2018/03/16/ho...ndroid-basics/
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Oooh, looky what I found in a Looper.com story about disturbing scenes in Disney movies:
1-800-SPANK-ME
The Santa Clause included a reference to an actual sex hotline. In the film, Tim Allen's Scott Calvin was given a phone number with which he could reach his ex-wife during his Christmas visit with their son, and he joked, "1-800-SPANK-ME? I know that number."
Little did Disney realize the number was actually an operative sex hotline which charged callers by the minute. Several children reportedly dialed in and racked up some huge phone bills as a result of their curiosity. The dialogue was later cut from DVD releases for the movie and changed to "1-800-POUND" in television airings of the same. Disney didn't recall the original VHS tapes because, they said, it "would actually do more harm than good" and "draw more attention to the matter."
http://www.looper.com/10289/disturbi...disney-movies/
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Walt Disney's dreams and influences are gradually disappearing from the Disney parks and being replaced by the dreams and influences of Stan Lee, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and John Lasseter. Sad.
Expansion featuring Marvel superheros to open at Disney California Adventure in 2020
Los Angeles Times, Mar 20 2018 7:50 PM
Only a year after a new Star Wars land opens at Disneyland, guests at the neighboring California Adventure Park will be able to visit another expansion, featuring Marvel superheroes. Disney officials had previously announced plans to build an expansion at California Adventure Park, based on the Marvel characters and located near the Marvel superhero attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, which was overhauled in May. But Disney officials have been tight-lipped about any more details, except to say in a news release today that the project will open in 2020. No other information was offered, including the size, cost or number of attractions. Disney has also announced similar Marvel expansions for its parks in Paris and Hong Kong. Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...320-story.html
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Robert Iger is probably (a) angry, (b) upset, and (c) getting out his checkbook and wondering how many billions of dollars a deal with Comcast will cost him.
Why Marvel Super Hero Land isn't coming to Walt Disney World
The Motley Fool, Mar 24 2018
The Walt Disney Company last week painted a glorious picture of the future, teasing how super heroes from Marvel's expanding universe will jump out of the comic books and into select theme parks worldwide in the coming years. Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure will all be getting a major infusion of Spider-Man, Iron Man and Captain America.
Absent from the tantalizing announcement was Walt Disney World, Disney's largest theme park resort. Marvel's marquee characters would look great in Florida but that can't legally happen. Nearly two decades ago, Comcast signed territorial rights covering most of Marvel's best-known characters for the use in theme parks in the US east of the Mississippi River ahead of the opening of Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure. In an ideal world, Disney would strike a deal with Comcast to win back those regional theme park rights.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-m...180000362.html
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Here is the latest Disney news. It's not good Disney news, though. At least not good for Disney.
Pregnant woman kicked off Disney cruise by armed guards
http://www.mysuncoast.com/news/natio...8d4c17f2c.html
Men earn 22% more than women at Disney in the UK as studio publishes gender pay statistics
http://deadline.com/2018/03/men-earn...cs-1202356409/
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The debut of ESPN+ will delight all the rabid sports fans who think the 20 ESPN channels on television aren't nearly enough.
Disney launches ESPN+ streaming service
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techno...2b-/ar-AAvNOms
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Bao, which opens with The Incredibles 2 on June 15, is about a soup dumpling that comes to life. (Don't ask.) And when you think about it, isn't "dumpling" a really horrible name for a lump of boiled unleavened dough?
Bao, Pixar's first short directed by a woman, is the story of a Chinese dumpling
www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43749225
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The thief probably had no idea what was in the trailer. He probably just thought stealing a trailer would be a California adventure.
Someone stole a trailer full of 8,000 Disney California Adventure tickets
Los Angeles Times, Apr 19 2018 9:45 AM
A Disney trip for 6,500 high school students was thrown into turmoil Wednesday when a trailer loaded with Disney California Adventure tickets was stolen from a Central Valley parking lot. The trailer was set to travel from the office of the California Future Farmers of America Foundation, in Galt, to Anaheim, where the 90th annual California FFA leadership conference is taking place next week. The four-day event for high school students includes job skills training, agricultural visits and a private event for attendees at Disney's California Adventure theme park.
The foundation's surveillance camera captured a man entering the group's parking lot at 3:10 AM Wednesday. He cut the lock on the trailer, attached it to his pickup truck and drove away. Disney has voided the 8,000 stolen tickets and reissued new ones for the conference.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...419-story.html
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My prediction: "Augmented reality windows" will lead to another round of "augmented admission price increases."
Walt Disney World's new monorails might include augmented reality windows
Orlando Weekly, May 14 2018 10:14 AM
Those long-rumored new monorails at Walt Disney World might be even cooler and more high-tech than anyone realized. Disney’s obsession with projection mapping and augmented reality might see some real-world application on the new monorails.
In recent episodes of his Disney news podcast The Disney Dish, Disney historian and industry insider Jim Hill has been working with Touring Plans founder and statistical genius Len Testa to uncover a highly confidential plan within Disney to develop augmented reality windows for transit systems. The technology piggybacks on recent patents by Disney, including a fascinating one that uses projection mapping within hotel rooms.
Hill and Testa initially reported that the system would be used within the rumored self-driving cars that are expected to begin being used at Walt Disney World within the next few months. But in their most recent episode, Testa says a "Disney insider" claims the technology will instead be used on the monorails. He gives an example: When the monorail passes Spaceship Earth, the Epcot structure could be transformed into the Death Star from Star Wars with X-Wing fighters flying around it. If rumors are correct, the new monorail trains should be announced within the next two years, with the first of the fleet operational by the WDW 50th Anniversary in 2021.
https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/...eality-windows