Disney buying 'Star Wars' maker Lucasfilm

Disney buying 'Star Wars' maker Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion
Brandon Bailey
bbailey@mercurynews.com
10/30/2012
http://www.mercurynews.com/movies-dvd/ci_21891588/disney-lucasfilm-buying-star-wars-maker-george-lucas

Vowing to breathe new life into filmmaker George Lucas's beloved "Star Wars" franchise, The Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday that it will pay $4.05 billion to buy San Francisco-based Lucasfilm and the rights to produce future installments in one of the world's most lucrative film sagas.

Disney CEO Robert Iger, who called the series "one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time," said his company plans to release the first of at least three more "Star Wars" films in 2015, with an additional sequel coming every two to three years after that.

Lucas had previously said he would make no more "Star Wars" films, and he recently announced plans to ease into retirement after naming a successor to run his production company. Disney said he will serve as "creative consultant" on the upcoming films.

"I've always believed that 'Star Wars' could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime," the 68-year-old film pioneer said in a statement released by both companies.

The deal will add to Burbank-based Disney's already significant presence in the Bay Area, where the media conglomerate also owns Emeryville-based Pixar Studios -- itself an early spinoff from Lucas' company. Disney said it has no plans to move employees of Lucasfilm or its subsidiaries, including the celebrated special-effects division known as Industrial Light & Magic, from their current locations.

Lucasfilm has been headquartered at San Francisco's Letterman Digital Arts Center since 2005, but the company also has operations in Singapore and at two campuses in Marin County, where Lucas moved from Hollywood to the property he renamed Skywalker Ranch in 1978.

The privately held Lucasfilm employed about 1,700 people as of last year, according to an analysis by the research firm PrivCo, which estimates it had $1.5 billion in revenue in 2011.

In addition to new films, Disney plans to create new toys, consumer products, TV spinoffs and theme park tie-ins from the "Star Wars" series, which the company will add to a growing stable of iconic characters that already includes Disney's Snow White and the Little Mermaid, Pixar's Buzz Lightyear and Nemo, and Marvel's Iron Man and the Mighty Thor.

"If you look at the films that work these days, it's these big-branded characters that do really well," said Michael Corty, who follows Disney for Morningstar. "So this is in their wheelhouse."

Lucas also produced such hits as the Indiana Jones films starring Harrison Ford, but Iger told analysts Tuesday that Paramount has certain rights to that series that make it unlikely Disney would seek to revive it.

"We're going to concentrate on the 'Star Wars' franchise," said Iger, who added that as part of the deal, Disney is acquiring an "extensive and detailed treatment" or story outline for the next three films in the series.

While the later "Star Wars" installments were panned by some critics and fans, the last sequel in the series ranked as the top-grossing film of 2005. "We believe there is substantial pent-up demand" for more installments, Iger told analysts.

The six "Star Wars" feature films produced by Lucas have earned a combined $4.4 billion in box office revenue. Disney Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said he estimated each of the last three films could have averaged $1.5 billion after adjusting for inflation and the increase in potential for revenue from overseas and other sources.

Toys and other products tied to the "Star Wars" brand will bring Lucasfilm about $215 million in revenue this year, Rasulo added, but he said Disney believes it can make even more money in foreign markets and through additional tie-ins at theme parks and elsewhere.

"We like Star Wars' potential on television, as well," Iger told analysts, adding that Disney may create a related series for its new cable channel aimed at boys.

Though best known for its films, Disney is a diverse conglomerate that also owns television networks ESPN and ABC, vacation resorts and retail stores. It reported $1.8 billion in profit for its most recent quarter, up 30 percent from a year earlier.
Some analysts trace the current strength of Disney's film division to its $7.4 billion purchase of Pixar, which was an early spinout from Lucasfilm before it was taken over by Apple (AAPL) co-founder Steve Jobs.

"Their movie business before Pixar was kind of struggling," said Morningstar's Corty. "Disney needed an injection of creativity and Pixar helped with that."

Disney's latest deal will mean additional wealth for Lucas, whose personal fortune was estimated at $3.3 billion by Forbes earlier this year.

As sole owner of Lucasfilm, he will receive slightly more than $2 billion in cash and about $2 billion worth of stock in Disney -- making him the second-largest individual shareholder in the company.

The filmmaker had announced plans to retire earlier this year, when he named veteran producer Kathleen Kennedy as co-chair and his eventual successor as head of Lucasfilm. Disney said Kennedy will now run the operation as a division of Walt Disney Studios.

Lucas had recently abandoned plans to build a new studio on a third Marin property known as Grady Ranch, after neighbors opposed the project. A spokeswoman for Lucas said he will retain ownership of the current Lucasfilm campuses, including the sites in San Francisco and Marin, with the understanding that Lucasfilm will continue operating on the sites.

Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022; follow him at Twitter.com/BrandonBailey.

1971: George Lucas founds company as he releases "THX 1138," his first feature film.
1975: Special-effects studio Industrial Light & Magic and sound-effects company Sprocket Systems, which later becomes Skywalker Sound, founded.
1977: "Star Wars," the first film in a blockbuster trilogy, released.
1978: Lucas purchases 2,500-acre ranch in Marin County that later becomes Skywalker Ranch, home of some of Lucasfilm's production studios.
1979: Lucas hires Ed Catmull to head Lucasfilm's new computer division, which later creates the Pixar Image Computer.
1982: New video game division, Lucasfilm Games, later renamed LucasArts, launched.
1983: THX division, focusing on in-theater sound, founded.
1984: Computer division, using new Pixar Image Computer, releases first short film, which featured contributions from John Lasseter.
1985: Lucasfilm moves to Skywalker Ranch.
1986: Lucas sells Pixar to Steve Jobs.
1997: Original "Star Wars" trilogy re-released.
1999: Release of "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace," kicking off new trilogy.
2003: Lucasfilm Animation established.
2005: Lucasfilm moves into new offices in the former Presidio military base in San Francisco.
2006: Disney buys Pixar from Jobs.
2008: "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," first full-length animated film, released. TV series of the same name debuts.
2012: Disney buys Lucasfilm.
Source: Lucasfilm, Pixar, staff research

Great American Garage Entrepreneurs

October 6, 2011
http://www.history.com/news/2011/10/06/great-american-garage-entrepreneurs

Setting up shop in a garage may sound like a cliché, but did you know that a number of thriving American businesses really got their start that way? One of the most famous examples is, of course, Apple Inc., founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, who died Wednesday at age 56, and his friend Steve Wozniak. Find out about their brainchild and other major companies that trace their roots to humble birthplaces.

Apple Inc.
On April Fool’s Day in 1976, 21-year-old Steve Jobs and 25-year-old Steve Wozniak established Apple Computer, later known simply as Apple Inc. Pioneers in the burgeoning world of personal computers, the pair worked out of Jobs’ parents’ garage in Los Altos, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Jobs, a college dropout, became one of the great innovators of the digital age, transforming not just his original field but also music, animation and mobile communications. He died at 56 on October 5, 2011, after a long struggle with cancer. Apple’s notable products include the Macintosh computer line, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, iTunes, the Mac OS X operating system and Final Cut Studio.

Hewlett-Packard
Considered the first American technology business to launch behind a garage door, Hewlett-Packard was founded in 1939 by Bill Hewlett and David Packard, who had scraped together an initial capital investment of $538. At the time, Packard and his new wife Lucile lived in an apartment next door and Hewlett camped out in a shed on the property, located in Palo Alto, California. After developing a range of electronic products, the company entered the computer market in 1966 and is now one of the world’s largest technology corporations. The one-car garage where it all began is a designated California historic landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Walt Disney Company
In 1923, the Missouri-born cartoonist Walt Disney moved to Los Angeles with his brother Roy to make short films that combined animation and live action. They spent several months producing their first series, the “Alice Comedies,” out of their uncle Robert’s garage before relocating to the back of a realty office and finally to a studio. Now the world’s largest media conglomerate, the Walt Disney Company became a leader in film, television, travel, leisure, music and publishing. In 2006, it acquired Pixar Studios from another veteran of a California garage: Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer. Robert Disney’s garage was saved from demolition in 1984 and donated to the Stanley Ranch Museum.

Mattel
When Ruth and Elliot Handler, who had met in an industrial design course, started making picture frames in their California garage, they probably never thought their venture—Mattel—would grow into the world’s biggest toy manufacturer. More or less by accident, they wound up crafting dollhouse furniture and later children’s playthings out of spare wood scraps. In the late 1950s, Ruth determined there was a market for dolls that looked like “grown-ups”; ignoring her husband’s objections, she designed a prototype and named it after their daughter, Barbie. (Ken, named for their son, followed soon after.) Mattel struck gold with the new line, and in 1968 Ruth became the company’s president.

Google
Long after Hewlett-Packard and Apple Computer made their unpretentious debuts, another technology powerhouse came screeching out of a Silicon Valley garage. After developing a groundbreaking search engine for a research project, Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in a garage owned by Susan Wojcicki, a friend and future employee. The company, which has since branched out into numerous other areas, now runs the most visited websites on the Internet and boasts locations around the world. In 2006, Google bought Wojcicki’s house—and the garage where its vast empire began.

Yankee Candle Company
In 1969, 17-year-old Michael Kittredge of South Hadley, Massachusetts, couldn’t dig up enough cash to buy his mother a Christmas present. On a whim, he melted down some crayons in his parents’ garage and made her a scented candle. When neighbors began expressing interest, Kittredge, who needed a hobby since his rock band had just broken up, recruited some friends and began churning out candles. By the following year, the booming business had taken over the Kittredge home, so the young entrepreneurs moved into a dilapidated mill. Today, the Yankee Candle Company is the leading U.S. candle manufacturer, with hundreds of retail locations, international distribution and multiple product lines.

Virual Reality & Disneyland

In 1955, Walt Disney Imagineers achieved virtual reality with Disneyland. Eight Imagineering principles explain how they did it...
Eight Principles of Imagineering

According to Disney historian Alex Wright and contributors to The Imagineering Field Guide to Disneyland, Imagineering consists of the following eight basic principles.

1. Area Development: “The interstitial spaces between the attractions, restaurants, and shops. This includes landscaping, architecture, propping, show elements, and special enhancements intended to expand the experience.”

2. Blue Sky: “The early stages in the idea-generation process when anything is possible. There are not yet any considerations taken into account that might rein in the creative process. At this point, the sky’s the limit!”

3. Brainstorm: “A gathering for the purpose of generating as many ideas as possible in the shortest time possible. We hold many brainstorming sessions at WDI [Walt Disney Imagineering], always looking for the best ideas.” The rules include remembering that there is no such thing as a bad idea and that nothing should stifle the flow of ideas.

4. Dark Ride: “A term often used to describe the charming Fantasyland attractions, among others, housed more or less completely inside a show building, which allows for greater isolation of show elements and light control, as needed.”

5. Elevation: “A drawing of a true frontal view of an object—usually a building—often drawn from multiple sides, eliminating the perspective that you would see in the real world, for clarity in the design and to lead construction activities.”

6. Kinetics: “Movement and motion in a scene that give it life and energy. This can come from moving vehicles, active signage, changes in lighting, special effects, or even hanging banners or flags that move as the wind blows.”

7. Plussing: “A word derived from Walt’s penchant for always trying to make an idea better. Imagineers are continually trying to plus work, even after it’s ‘finished.’”

8. Show: “Everything we put ‘onstage’ in a Disney park. Walt believed that everything we put out for the Guests in our parks was part of a big show, so much of our terminology originated in the show business world. With that in mind, ‘show’ becomes for us a very broad term that includes just about anything our Guests see, hear, smell, or come in contact with during their visit to any of our parks or resorts.”

Source: The Imagineering Field Guide to Disneyland by Alex Wright and the Imagineers (Disney Editions, 2008).

Now Is the Time for the Future

At the entrance to the original 1955 Tomorrowland, the first attraction to come into view was a tall clock structure. This was the Clock of the World, which declared that now is the time for the future. This clock was intended to symbolize the incredible futuristic world about to be entered. Standing more than 17 feet tall, the clock looked much like a squeezed soda can topped with a half sphere, gold-spiked anodized aluminum sun and a stylized silver crescent Man in the Moon face. The blue tiles encircling its base depicted the vast universe.

Few passersby stopped to notice that the timepiece showed not only the time in Anaheim, California, but also around the world. Other than serving as a convenient place for parents to meet their kids, the clock rapidly faded into obscurity. The towering red-and-white TWA Rocket was a much more-remembered symbol of Tomorrowland.

The Clock of the World is now gone, with only some first-generation Disneylanders able to recall it. The clock continued to faithfully perform its timekeeping duties until it was removed in 1966, along with the widespread demolition of the original 1955 Tomorrowland. The exiting of the clock was captured in a photo showing the timepiece, minus its top ornamentation, being hauled away with the lower edge of its blue “universe” mosaic tiles broken off at the base.

Sometimes the future can be treated rather shabbily.

Imagineering Realism And Fantasy

To realize his Disneyland vision, Walt Disney assembled a talented team of Imagineers, who would transform ideas and dreams into reality. Looking up at the second-floor windows along Disneyland’s Main Street, you can see painted signs with the names of people and their businesses. While the businesses are somewhat fictitious, the people are not. These are names of Imagineers—such as Harper Goff, Ken Anderson, Herb Ryman, and Sam McKim —and others who played significant roles in making Disneyland happen. Even Walt Disney’s father, Elias Disney, has a window with his name painted on it with “Contractor Est. 1895” listed.

Goff, with his background in designing movie sets, would lend a hand with Main Street and the Jungle Cruise ride. Anderson, trained as an architect and all-around designer, worked on many last-minute Disneyland projects. Ryman, a versatile artist who rendered the dazzling overview of Disneyland in 1953, would later help conceptualize New Orleans Square. McKim, a multitalented artist, rendered concept sketches for Disneyland and other Disney projects.

These and many other Imagineers to follow helped dream and bring Disneyland into existence.

VISIONS: Imagineers in Search of the Future
Gary Dehrer
The Futurist
March-April 2011
http://www.wfs.org/content/visions-imagineers-search-future

MGM film studio headed for bankruptcy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/30/mgm-film-studio-rescued-bankruptcy

MGM film studio headed for bankruptcy
Studio famous for Wizard of Oz and Singin' in the Rain faces bankruptcy after creditors vote for reorganisation under deal with Spyglass
Edward Helmore in New York
The Guardian, Saturday 30 October 2010

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the legendary film studio famous for classic movies such as The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind and Singin' in the Rain, is set to file for bankruptcy within days. The move comes after creditors approved a plan to restructure its $4bn (£2.5bn) debt under the protection of insolvency courts and place the company under new management.

Resolution of the long-running saga of the studio's finances came after creditors rejected an aggressive takeover bid by corporate raider Carl Icahn. A reorganisation will require MGM to declare a chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to renegotiate its mountain of borrowing.

Icahn, who holds as much as $800m of MGM debt, had been campaigning for Lions Gate Entertainment to take over the firm. Yesterday Lions Gate sued Icahn claiming he was planning to buy a stake in the company and was offering to buy debt from other MGM creditors in an effort to gain control of the studio's fate himself.

Spyglass Entertainment, a small production company half-owned by private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, is now set to take over the company.

Under the new management, MGM is expected to make just four to six movies a year, most with modest budgets of $50m. Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, founders of Spyglass, have said they aim to be ruthless about costs, outsource distributing films to theatres and focus on the TV business and online services .

But the plan is considered a gamble. MGM faces bankruptcy in part because the DVD and film catalogue business attached to its 4,100-title film library no longer generates enough to service the firm's debt.

A plan earlier this year to bring in director Ridley Scott to serve as creative head along with his brother, Tony Scott, was seen as incoherent and was rejected.

But Spyglass's budget movie plan is considered risky by Hollywood veterans who warn against trying to run a studio on the cheap.

"Part of MGM's problem has always been that many of its owners are financial players more focused on the short term," Clark Hallren, a consultant and former banker for MGM, told the LA Times. "Being in the entertainment industry is typically a long-term play because of the nature of distribution and massive amounts of capital needed."

Joe Roth, ex-head of Walt Disney Studios, said MGM's rescuers had to be bold. "You either compete head-on or not at all," he said. "By making half-efforts, you never get the right product or talent."

Boo Ya: United Workers Aim for ESPN Zone

10/25/2010
Dave Zirin
edgeofsports@gmail.com

When the ESPN Zone restaurant-chain shuttered most of its doors last June, eyebrows were raised in the business press. The restaurants had made bank ESPN brand with good food and of course, wall-to-wall sports. But as Rick Alessandri, senior vice president at ESPN put it at the time, "The economy has hit every facet of our country. We weren't immune."

ESPN’s mother-ship, the Walt Disney Company, made the decision to engage in some creative destruction and the ESPN Zones were just part of the fat that was trimmed. This included the very popular locale in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. But there was one problem with this hard-nosed business decision: the 150 workers in Baltimore, shocked that their high-traffic restaurant closed, were told with less than a week’s notice. Federal law, according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires 60 days of notice and severance. Instead, the workers at ESPN Zone were given the bum’s rush. Even worse, many didn’t hear the wrenching news through their boss. Instead many found out their jobs were yesterday’s news in the Baltimore Sun or even on Facebook.

Now the workers are fighting back and fighting mad. On Monday, October 25th, the former employee filed a class action lawsuit against ESPN’s parent company Disney to get the Mouse to comply with the penalty associated with violating federal labor law. The penalty for violating the WARN Act requires that Disney pay workers for 60 days at the rate of their last paycheck. The severance that Disney offered, which is shameful, is separate from this penalty. Their attorney, Andrew D. Freeman said, “Disney’s severance payments were inadequate as a matter of law and as a matter of human decency.” The lawsuit also shines a spotlight on the most vulnerable people in today’s economy: people who live day in and day out working non-union, service industry jobs that can be here today and gone tomorrow.

A cook at the ESPN Zone, Winston Gupton, was put out on the street after losing his job. Speaking at a June 30th press conference, Gupton said, “I never thought that a place that I dedicated myself to for 7½ yrs would reciprocate with such disrespect by shutting down with no notice at all. We were stunned. It was like walking through a dream. We were just devastated, and immediately, I had to figure out what I was going to do because I have a six year-old daughter that I take care of. I was even forced to find other living arrangements, because the income I was expecting during this busy summer season was now drastically diminished."

It would be comforting to think that the Winston Gupton story is his and his alone: a man who became collateral damage in this particular instance of cold corporate number crunching. But it's a story being told across the country. It is particularly common in the neighborhood where his former place of business rusts: Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The Inner Harbor is a collection of high brand, national restaurant-chains like the Cheesecake Factory and Phillips Seafood, built to capitalize on tourist dollars and close proximity to the publicly funded Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the home of the Baltimore Ravens, MB&T Bank stadium

There is a movement afoot to turn this tourist zone into a “Human Rights Zone” and it’s being led by the same people who issued the class action suit on behalf the ESPN Zone employees: a group called the United Workers. The UW is an organization of low-wage workers that was founded by homeless day laborers in 2002. Today they have a membership of hundreds of workers trapped in that world between steady work and abject poverty. Their goal is to enter agreement with the restaurant chains to ensure basic human rights standards for workers across the harbor, including living wages, healthcare, and education. When a chain abruptly shuts its doors, like they did at the ESPN Zone, the UW wants to be treated like workers and not disposable equipment. As Debra Harris, a former ESPN Zone cook said,

“We are sending a message to Disney, ESPN Zone and Inner Harbor developers that private gain should not take precedence over human life. Corporate executives think they can break the law and just get away with it, because harbor developers do not enforce any human rights standards, but we are human beings and we have the right to dignity and respect.

Organizing the service industry has proven nationally to be a Sisyphean task for the AFL-CIO. But the independent United Workers have been successful in the past by waging highly visible grassroots campaigns, with the workers themselves in positions of leadership. They also relish taking on powerful corporations with national brands like ESPN and Disney, because they think by exposing the brand, they can get a seat at the table. Every corporation has a bottom line. The United Workers want to make sure there is at least some justice, dignity, and humanity in the process.

Dave Zirin is the author of “Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games we Love” (Scribner) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.

Mickey the Mason

http://www.ocweekly.com/2003-02-20/food/mickey-the-mason
Mickey the Mason
Behind the door of Uncle Walts exclusive Club 33
Dan Kapelovitz
Thursday, Feb 20 2003

Deep in the heart of the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland's semi-secret restaurant Club 33 beats like a pacemaker. Officially, the club is located at 33 Rue Royale in New Orleans Square, near the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. A decorative "33" and an intercom next to a French Quarter-style door are the only markers of the club's entrance. Disneyland's info line says 33 is the product of Walt Disney's "vision of a quiet, elegant place where he could entertain special guests." Sadly, Jesus had other plans, and Mickey Mouse's pappy ascended to that Magic Kingdom in the sky five months before the club's 1967 completion.

With Walt gone, it was decided to allow the public to dine there—or, rather, some of the public. Only card-carrying Club 33 members and their guests can enter the exclusive club. Individual gold memberships run $7,500, plus $2,500 in annual dues. Even if one does have this kind of excess income, there's a multiyear waiting list.

Luckily, W.B. Shaffner and Ana Medina—former owners of Archaic Idiot, a groovy, since-shuttered East Hollywood oddities shop—number among their many ex-customers a Club 33 member. They obtained passes for themselves and psychedelic-sex-cult priestess Giddle Partridge, Death in June front man Douglas Pearce, and noise-music pioneer/Disneyland fanatic Boyd Rice. And me.

After buzzing us in, the hostess directed us to the second-floor dining facilities, decorated with 19th-century antiques and reproductions. There's an oak telephone based on the one in the 1967 Disney film The Happiest Millionaire. Ornate, iron-railed balconies overlook the park's "Mississippi River." In the women's bathroom, ladies sit on an actual throne strategically placed over a waiting toilet. At one time, the club featured hidden microphones and speakers. Although it's rumored that these were installed so Walt could eavesdrop on guests, officially they allowed a Disney performer to entertain dignitaries by talking to them through one of several animatronic birds.

The number 33 is omnipresent; even foil butter wrappers are ordained with the mystical number. Disney literature insists the number is derived from the address. Yet pseudo-addresses on faux streets are obviously whatever Disneyland wants them to be. So why 33? One theory is that Walt Disney was a 33rd Degree Freemason, the order's highest level. And that number's significance? It's the age Jesus was said to have been when he was crucified. However, the Internet urban-legend debunkers at Snopes.com give their own elaborate explanation: after Walt passed away, 33 of the 47 amusement-park participants voted to create the semi-public club. This seems even less likely than the Freemason theory. Could Snopes.com be part of an elaborate Masonic conspiracy? Rice, an avid student of religious symbolism who has dined at the club a few times, says he looks for overt Masonic imagery whenever he's there. The closest he has found to Masonic masonry is at the top of the windows, where there are designs that are almost shaped like an eye.

The staff is superfriendly in that Disneyland way. One extra-supernice waiter dressed in the blue Club 33 uniform told us '70s pop idol Bobby Sherman is a long-standing member who visits often and brings presents to club employees. His autobiography, Bobby Sherman: Still Remembering You, suggests the guy is obsessed with Disneyland. The former star of such TV shows as Here Come the Bridesand Getting Togetherhas made three elaborate scale models of the amusement park, the first when he was only 13.

The cuisine is by far the best in all the land of Disney, which, in itself, isn't saying much. We each ordered the all-you-can-eat buffet—tasty cold cuts, chicken, fruit, beef, a variety of salads, artichoke hearts and pasta dishes prepared by a chef any way you desire. The buffet costs $47, but club guests receive free admission to both Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. Wine, however, is extra.

Delighted to be in the only place in Disneyland that serves alcohol, Pearce ordered bottle after bottle of chardonnay. Luckily, the Goth rocker from Down Under had plenty of cash in his kangaroo-testicle pouch. We paid the bill and left the heavenly serenity of Club 33 for the reenacted hell of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Club 33 is located at 33 Rue Royale, New Orleans Square, Disneyland. It's members-only.

Donald Duck takes on Hitler

http://www.dangerousminds.net/index.php/site/comments/donald_duck_takes_on_hitler_to_the_tune_of_der_fuehrers_face/

Donald Duck takes on Hitler to the tune of Der Führer’s Face
12.06.2009
Richard Metzger

Tags:
Nazis
Disney
propaganda
WWII
Spike Jones
Adoph Hitler
Donald Duck

Der Fuehrer’s Face is a 1943 propaganda cartoon from the Walt Disney Studios, starring Donald Duck. It was directed by Jack Kinney as an anti-Nazi piece for the American war effort. The song, of course, was later made famous by the great Spike Jones and his City Slickers. The short film won the 1943 Oscar for Best Animated Short Film (the sole Donald Duck short to do so) and in considered one of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time, as voted on by animators.

The German oom-pah band is comprised of Emperor Hirohito (Showa), Hermann Göring on piccolo, Joseph Goebbels on trombone, and Il Duce himself, Benito Mussolini on bass drum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YroTk6Vobww

After Mickey’s Makeover, Less Mr. Nice Guy

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/business/media/05mickey.html

After Mickey’s Makeover, Less Mr. Nice Guy
By BROOKS BARNES
November 4, 2009

LOS ANGELES — For decades, the Walt Disney Company has largely kept Mickey Mouse frozen under glass, fearful that even the tiniest tinkering might tarnish the brand and upend his $5 billion or so in annual merchandise sales. One false move and Disney could have New Coke on its hands.

Now, however, concerned that Mickey has become more of a corporate symbol than a beloved character for recent generations of young people, Disney is taking the risky step of re-imagining him for the future.

The first glimmer of this will be the introduction next year of a new video game, Epic Mickey, in which the formerly squeaky clean character can be cantankerous and cunning, as well as heroic, as he traverses a forbidding wasteland.

And at the same time, in a parallel but separate effort, Disney has quietly embarked on an even larger project to rethink the character’s personality, from the way Mickey walks and talks to the way he appears on the Disney Channel and how children interact with him on the Web — even what his house looks like at Disney World.

“Holy cow, the opportunity to mess with one of the most recognizable icons on Planet Earth,” said Warren Spector, the creative director of Junction Point, a Disney-owned game developer that spearheaded Epic Mickey.

The effort to re-engineer Mickey is still in its early stages, but it involves the top creative and marketing minds in the company, all the way up to Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive.

The project was given new impetus this week with the announcement that, after 20 years of negotiations, the company has finally received the blessing of the Chinese government to open a theme park in Shanghai, potentially unlocking a new giant market for all things Mickey.

Disney executives are treading carefully, and trying to keep a low profile, as they discuss how much they dare tweak one of the most durable characters in pop culture history to induce new generations of texting, tech-savvy children to embrace him. Disney executives will keenly watch how Epic Mickey is received, to inform the broader overhaul.

Keeping cartoon characters trapped in amber is one of the surest routes to irrelevancy. While Mickey remains a superstar in many homes, particularly overseas, his static nature has resulted in a generation of Americans — the one that grew up with Nickelodeon and Pixar — that knows him, but may not love him. Domestic sales in particular have declined: of his $5 billion in merchandise sales in 2009, less than 20 percent will come from the United States.

“There’s a distinct risk of alienating your core consumer when you tweak a sacred character, but at this point it’s a risk they have to take,” said Matt Britton, the managing partner of Mr. Youth, a New York brand consultant firm.

In Epic Mickey, the foundation of which a group of interns dreamed up in 2004, the title character still exhibits the hallmarks that younger generations know: he is adventurous, enthusiastic and curious. “Mickey is never going to be evil or go around killing people,” Mr. Spector said.

But Mickey won’t be bland anymore, either. “I wanted him to be able to be naughty — when you’re playing as Mickey you can misbehave and even be a little selfish,” Mr. Spector said.

In many ways, it is a return to Mickey at his creation. When the character made its debut in “Steamboat Willie” in 1928, he was the Bart Simpson of his time: an uninhibited rabble-rouser who got into fistfights, played tricks on his friends (pity Clarabelle Cow) and, later, was amorously aggressive with Minnie.

Epic Mickey, designed for Nintendo’s Wii console, is set in a “cartoon wasteland” where Disney’s forgotten and retired creations live. The chief inhabitant is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character Walt Disney created in 1927 as a precursor to Mickey but ultimately abandoned in a dispute with Universal Studios. In the game, Oswald has become bitter and envious of Mickey’s popularity. The game also features a disemboweled, robotic Donald Duck and a “twisted, broken, dangerous” version of Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World.” Using paint and thinner thrown from a magic paintbrush, Mickey must stop the Phantom Blot overlord, gain the trust of Oswald and save the day.

Consumers will not be able to buy the game before fall of next year. Anticipation is intense. “Wow! This is amazing,” said Eli Gee on GameInformer.com. “I’m really... REALLY excited.”

Other observers are less impressed. “The approach warrants a lot of caution given the difficulty that publishers have had gaining traction on the Wii,” said Doug Creutz, a media analyst at Cowen and Company.

Industry veterans with experience in the family niche think that the Disney brand can overcome such hurdles.

“This is a huge opportunity to create more relevancy for Mickey and pull him into the fastest-growing entertainment medium,” said Jim Wilson, the chief executive of Atari’s North American business. “If it’s a good game — and given the strength of the developer and I.P., the likelihood of that is high — people are going to buy it.”

Not that the idea is not radical. “I was told to withhold judgment until I had seen the whole pitch,” said Graham Hopper, executive vice president for Disney Interactive Studios.

Disney has big video game ambitions, spending at least $180 million on their development this year alone. It has had successful spinoff titles, but no true self-published blockbusters. Disney generated about $86 million in retail sales from January to September in the United States, according to NPD data. Nintendo of America, the leading seller of games, had about $1 billion in sales.

Mr. Iger solved a right problems with the game by making a deal with NBC Universal in 2006. In the negotiations, Mr. Iger persuaded NBC Universal to trade the Oswald rights for rights to Al Michaels, the sportscaster. NBC wanted Mr. Michaels for its new football franchise and Mr. Michaels wanted to go, but Disney held him in a longtime contract through its ESPN unit.

In the interim, Mr. Spector has struggled with the correct 3-D model of the mouse, consulting with animators and John Lasseter, the Pixar co-founder.

Considerable effort has gone into instilling a backdrop of choice and consequence. Players can either behave in an entirely happy way and help other characters — and have an easier go of it in the wasteland — or choose more selfish, destructive behavior with a harsher outcome, including a Mickey that starts to physically resemble a rat.

“Ultimately,” Mr. Spector said, “players must ask themselves, ‘What kind of hero am I?’ ”

When it comes to Mickey, Disney is asking it, too.

A version of this article appeared in print on November 5, 2009, on page A1 of the New York edition.

Comic Book Creator Seek to Recapture Copyrights

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125349626919226359.html

Heirs of Comic Book Creator Seek to Recapture Copyrights
By LAUREN A.E. SCHUKER
SEPTEMBER 21, 2009

The heirs of late comic-book creator Jack Kirby served 45 copyright-termination notices to Marvel Entertainment Inc., Walt Disney Co. and other Hollywood studios relating to comic-book characters and stories created by Mr. Kirby, including "X-Men" and "The Fantastic Four."

Mr. Kirby's four children are seeking to recapture as early as 2014 copyrights to characters he created. Those creations and co-creations are currently owned by Marvel. But if the heirs gain control of the copyrights, they could license them without Marvel's permission, or at least secure a share of the profits generated by those characters.

The heirs served the notices under the auspices of the U.S. Copyright Act, which permits authors and their heirs to terminate old copyright grants after a long waiting period, allowing them to recapture the rights for their own use.

A spokeswoman for Disney said: "The notices involved are an attempt to terminate rights seven to 10 years from now and involve claims fully considered in the acquisition."

Disney last month agreed to acquire Marvel for $4 billion.

In a federal court lawsuit that hasn't been fully resolved, the heirs of "Superman" co-creator Jerry Siegel recently recaptured limited rights relating to the original "Superman" from Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

—Ethan Smith contributed to this article.

Write to Lauren A.E. Schuker at lauren.schuker@wsj.com

Disney to expand Fantasyland at Disney World

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE58B25O20090912

Disney to expand Fantasyland at Walt Disney World
Sat Sep 12, 2009
Gina Keating

ANAHEIM, California (Reuters) - Mickey Mouse's house and his Toon Town world will make way next year for a vastly larger Fantasyland, in the biggest-ever expansion of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida, Walt Disney Co said on Saturday.

The Fantasyland expansion, whose price tag was not disclosed, will open in two stages in 2012 and 2013 and builds on the popularity of the Disney Princess and Fairies franchises, which have topped $4 billion in global retail sales.

Disney theme parks Chairman Jay Rasulo said the Fantasyland project, which breaks ground next year, will be paid for from funds designated for the theme park division's annual capital expenditures.

Plans call for four Disney Princess characters -- Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" and Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" -- to be featured in "fantasy lands" where park visitors engage in dancing, storytelling or a birthday party with costumed characters from the films.

The expansion includes two new dining spots -- Gascon's Tavern and the 552-seat Beast's Castle. A new underwater ride based on "The Little Mermaid, will be built both in the Florida Fantasyland and at the ongoing expansion of California Adventure in Disneyland.

The second phase of the Fantasyland expansion will be an oversized world based on the fairy world of Pixie Hollow from "Peter Pan," but no other details were available because the attraction was still in early development stages, Rasulo said.

As part of the Fantasyland expansion, Disney plans to double the size of the popular Dumbo ride to add a covered "three-ring circus" waiting area with interactive games and a play area.

Disney Imagineers, who design rides and attractions, said the Toon Town attraction would be dismantled and its popular Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse houses relocated to another section of Walt Disney World.

Rasulo also announced an upgrade to the Star Tours rides at Disneyland in Anaheim and Disney's Hollywood Studio in Florida to open in 2011.

Star Tours simulates a ride through space aboard spacecraft like those in the original "Star Wars" film.

The updated version features new digital 3D effects and projectors that let ride operators vary "destinations," as well as upgrades to the Star Speeder cabins, Rasulo said.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

Disney, Pixar's Future Flicks

http://movies.ign.com/articles/865/865417p1.html

Disney, Pixar's Future Flicks
Studios dish details on upcoming animated movies.
by Brian Linder
April 9, 2008

Walt Disney Studios and Pixar Animation Studios have announced their animated film schedule through the year 2012.

The studios also dropped the bomb that all future Disney and Pixar films, beginning later this year with the release of Bolt, will be presented in Disney Digital 3-D!

2009 animated slate begins with the May 29th release of Pixar's first 3-D feature, Up, from director Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.) and co-director Bob Peterson. The story follows Carl Fredricksen, a man who has spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell) gives him a new lease on life. Up takes audiences on a thrilling journey where the unlikely pair encounter wild terrain, unexpected villains and jungle creatures.

A retooled for 3-D version of the original Toy Story opens on October 2, 2009.

Christmas '09 will see the release of Disney's animated fairy tale The Princess and the Frog from veteran Disney directors John Musker and Ron Clements. It's a traditionally animated film set in New Orleans, complete with frogs, voodoo, a singing alligator, and songs by Randy Newman. The titular princess, voiced by Anika Noni Rose, will join Disney's popular princess brand.

Toy Story 2 in 3-D will be released on February 12, 2010, with the highly-anticipated sequel Toy Story 3 set for a June 18, 2010 debut. Lee Unkrich (co-director of Toy Story 2 and Finding Nemo) directs from a script by Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine). Pixar also confirms that the voice cast from previous flicks of the beloved series will be returning.

Christmas 2010 will mark the arrival of Disney's take on the classic fairy tale, Rapunzel, featuring the directing debuts of animation legend Glen Keane and directing partner Dean Wellins. The film will transport audiences to a stunning CG fantasy world complete with the iconic tower, an evil witch, a gallant hero and, of course, the mysterious girl with the long golden tresses.

Now for the good stuff! In the summer of 2011, Pixar will release newt. The story tells what happens when the last remaining male and female blue-footed newts on the planet are forced together by science to save the species, and they can't stand each other. Newt and Brooke embark on a perilous, unpredictable adventure and discover that finding a mate never goes as planned, even when you only have one choice. Love, it turns out, is not a science. Oscar-winning sound designer Gary Rydstrom (Lifted) is making his feature directing debut with the project.

Christmas 2011 brings Pixar's first fairy tale, The Bear and the Bow, from acclaimed filmmaker/writer Brenda Chapman (The Prince of Egypt). Set in a rugged and mythic Scotland, this action-adventure centers on the impetuous, tangle-haired Merida. Though a daughter of royalty, she would prefer to make her mark as a great archer. A clash of wills with her mother compels Merida to make a reckless choice, which unleashes unintended peril on her father's kingdom and her mother's life. Merida struggles with the unpredictable forces of nature, magic and a dark, ancient curse to set things right. The voices of Reese Witherspoon, Billy Connolly, and Emma Thompson will be featured.

Summer 2012 will see the return of Lightening McQueen and Mater in Cars 2. This time they'll need their passports as they find themselves in a new world of intrigue, thrills and fast-paced comedic escapades around the globe. Cars 2 is being directed by Brad Lewis, producer of Ratatouille.

Finally, scheduled for Christmas 2012 from Walt Disney Animation Studios comes King of the Elves, an adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story (his only fantasy story), directed by Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker (Brother Bear). The story follows an average man living in the Mississippi Delta, whose reluctant actions to help a desperate band of elves leads them to name him their new king. Joining the innocent and endangered elves as they attempt to escape from an evil and menacing troll, their unlikely new leader finds himself caught on a journey filled with unimaginable dangers and a chance to bring real meaning back to his own life.

It's a truly impressive slate of projects that even had Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter gushing. "This is an amazing time for animation at Disney and Pixar, and it's a thrill to be working on such a diverse and original group of films with such an all-star team of filmmakers," he said. "The thing I love best about my job is that I get to work at both Disney and Pixar with filmmakers who are passionate about their projects and who are the absolute best in the business. We're excited to be pushing the boundaries of 3-D and computer technology to tell our stories in the best possible way. At the same time, we're drawing on our past to emphasize memorable characters, original edge-of-your-seat stories, and believable worlds. Walt Disney and his creative team taught us how to blend comedy, powerful emotion, and action-filled excitement in our films, and this group of incredible filmmakers is bringing their own originality and sensibilities to the process."

Notably absent from the announced slate is any hint of Pixar's planned adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars.

We'll be tracking all of these cool animated projects through development to release and will have more news here on IGN as it breaks.

Disney Adjusting Animal Kingdom Ride

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/05/AR2008030501389.html

Disney Adjusting Animal Kingdom Ride
The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 5, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Walt Disney World plans to make safety changes to an Animal Kingdom roller coaster in response to the death last year of an employee after she was struck by one of the ride's cars.

Disney is changing the entry and exit areas of Primeval Whirl by installing sensor mats in restricted-access areas. In addition, the ride platform will be extended and bold stripes will be added to the load and unload zones, Disney World spokeswoman Kim Prunty said Wednesday.

The sensor mats will shut down the ride if a person sets foot there, she said.

Ride attendant Karen Price was hit by a ride car and fell from a platform on Nov. 24. She died a few days later.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is still investigating the death.

The safety work is being done after hours and will take a few weeks. It shouldn't disrupt operation of the ride, Prunty said.

Paramount in HD-DVD blow

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ea637496-bd8d-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac.html

Paramount in HD-DVD blow
By Matthew Garrahan and Mariko Sanchanta in Las Vegas
Published: January 8 2008

Paramount is poised to drop its support of HD-DVD following Warner Brothers' recent backing of Sony's Blu-ray technology, in a move that could sound the death knell of HD-DVD and bring the home entertainment format war to a definitive end.

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation, which makes the Shrek films, came out in support of HD-DVD last summer, joining General Electric's Universal Studios as the main backers of the Toshiba format.

However, Paramount, which is owned by Viacom, is understood to have a clause in its contract with the HD-DVD camp that would allow it to switch sides in the event of Warner backing Blu-ray, according to people familiar with the situation.

Paramount is set to have a bumper 2008 with several likely blockbusters, including the latest instalment in the Indiana Jones franchise, slated for release.

Paramount joining the Blu-ray camp would leave HD-DVD likely to suffer the same fate as Sony's now obsolete Betamax video technology, which lost out to VHS in a similar format war in the 1980s.

Warner's decision last week to throw its weight behind Blu-ray saw it join Walt Disney, 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as backers of the Sony format.

The Warner move gives Blu-ray about 70 per cent of Hollywood's output, although the format's grip on film content will increase further when Paramount comes aboard.

It is unclear whether DreamWorks Animation has the same get-out clause in its contract with the HD-DVD camp. However, Paramount and DreamWorks have a close relationship, with Paramount distributing DreamWorks Animation films.

The two companies also signed their HD-DVD contracts at the same time.

Meanwhile, Universal has declined to comment on its next- generation DVD plans following the Warner move.

Sir Howard Stringer, chief executive of Sony, yesterday held out an olive branch to its rival in the next-generation DVD format wars following Warner's decision to back Blu-ray.

Sir Howard said the company would be "open to dialogue" with the rival high-definition HD-DVD camp to "grow the market". The move came as new figures showed that Blu-ray had opened up a decisive lead over the rival home entertainment format.

Sir Howard said: "We are not going to push people around. We'll talk to anyone . . . we have a lot of work to do to grow the market. We'll be systematic and open to dialogue at all times."

He added that Sony still had "a lot of work" to do to get Blu-ray "widely accepted" among American consumers.

Michael Moore Faces U.S. Treasury Probe

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/ap/20070510/117880002000.html

Michael Moore Faces U.S. Treasury Probe
Thursday May 10, 2007

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore is under investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department for taking ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers to Cuba for a segment in his upcoming health-care documentary "Sicko," The Associated Press has learned.

The investigation provides another contentious lead-in for a provocative film by Moore, a fierce critic of President Bush. In the past, Moore's adversaries have fanned publicity that helped the filmmaker create a new brand of opinionated blockbuster documentary.

"Sicko" promises to take the health-care industry to task the way Moore confronted America's passion for guns in "Bowling for Columbine" and skewered Bush over his handling of Sept. 11 in "Fahrenheit 9/11."

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control notified Moore in a letter dated May 2 that it was conducting a civil investigation for possible violations of the U.S. trade embargo restricting travel to Cuba. A copy of the letter was obtained Tuesday by the AP.

"This office has no record that a specific license was issued authorizing you to engage in travel-related transactions involving Cuba," Dale Thompson, OFAC chief of general investigations and field operations, wrote in the letter to Moore.

In February, Moore took about 10 ailing workers from the Ground Zero rescue effort in Manhattan for treatment in Cuba, said a person working with the filmmaker on the release of "Sicko." The person requested anonymity because Moore's attorneys had not yet determined how to respond.

Moore, who scolded Bush over the Iraq war during the 2003 Oscar telecast, received the letter Monday, the person said. "Sicko" premieres May 19 at the Cannes Film Festival and debuts in U.S. theaters June 29.

Moore declined to comment, said spokeswoman Lisa Cohen.

After receiving the letter, Moore arranged to place a copy of the film in a "safe house" outside the country to protect it from government interference, said the person working on the release of the film.

Treasury officials declined to answer questions about the letter. "We don't comment on enforcement actions," said department spokeswoman Molly Millerwise.

The letter noted that Moore applied Oct. 12, 2006, for permission to go to Cuba "but no determination had been made by OFAC." Moore sought permission to travel there under a provision for full-time journalists, the letter said.

According to the letter, Moore was given 20 business days to provide OFAC with such information as the date of travel and point of departure; the reason for the Cuba trip and his itinerary there; and the names and addresses of those who accompanied him, along with their reasons for going.

Potential penalties for violating the embargo were not indicated. In 2003, the New York Yankees paid the government $75,000 to settle a dispute that it conducted business in Cuba in violation of the embargo. No specifics were released about that case.

"Sicko" is Moore's followup to 2004's "Fahrenheit 9/11," a $100 million hit criticizing the Bush administration over Sept. 11. Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" won the 2002 Oscar for best documentary.

A dissection of the U.S. health-care system, "Sicko" was inspired by a segment on Moore's TV show "The Awful Truth," in which he staged a mock funeral outside a health-maintenance organization that had declined a pancreas transplant for a diabetic man. The HMO later relented.

At last September's Toronto International Film Festival, Moore previewed footage shot for "Sicko," presenting stories of personal health-care nightmares. One scene showed a woman who was denied payment for an ambulance ride after a head-on collision because it was not preapproved.

Moore's opponents have accused him of distorting the facts, and his Cuba trip provoked criticism from conservatives including former Republican Sen. Fred Thompson, who assailed the filmmaker in a blog at National Review Online.

"I have no expectation that Moore is going to tell the truth about Cuba or health care," wrote Thompson, the subject of speculation about a possible presidential run. "I defend his right to do what he does, but Moore's talent for clever falsehoods has been too well documented."

The timing of the investigation is reminiscent of the firestorm that preceded the Cannes debut of "Fahrenheit 9/11," which won the festival's top prize in 2004. The Walt Disney Co. refused to let subsidiary Miramax release the film because of its political content, prompting Miramax bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein to release "Fahrenheit 9/11" on their own.

The Weinsteins later left Miramax to form the Weinstein Co., which is releasing "Sicko." They declined to comment on the Treasury investigation, said company spokeswoman Sarah Levinson Rothman.

Militant 'Mickey Mouse' pulled off air

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070510/ap_on_re_mi_ea/hamas_mickey_mouse_11

Militant 'Mickey Mouse' pulled off air
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer
Wed May 9, 2007

Hamas militants have suspended a TV program that featured a Mickey Mouse lookalike urging Palestinian children to fight Israel and work for global Islamic domination, the Palestinian information minister said Wednesday.

Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said the character — a giant black-and-white rodent with a high-pitched voice — represented a "mistaken approach" to the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation.

He said that the program was pulled from Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa TV at his ministry's request and "placed under review."

The character, named "Farfour," or "butterfly," but unmistakably a copy of the Disney character, preached against the U.S. and Israel each Friday on the show called "Tomorrow's Pioneers."

"You and I are laying the foundation for a world led by Islamists," Farfour squeaked on a recent episode. "We will return the Islamic community to its former greatness, and liberate Jerusalem, God willing, liberate Iraq, God willing, and liberate all the countries of the Muslims invaded by the murderers."

Children called in to the show, many singing Hamas anthems about fighting Israel.

A spokeswoman for Burbank, Calif.-based Walt Disney Co. did not return phone calls seeking comment, and the Gaza TV station had no comment.

The program was opposed by the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp., which is controlled by the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Hamas rival that shares power with the militants in the Palestinian government.

Barghouti is an independent aligned with neither Hamas nor Fatah.

Loyalists of Hamas, which is sworn to the destruction of Israel, launched the Al Aqsa satellite channel last year. Bearded young men read the news and Islamic music is layered over footage of masked militants firing rockets into Israel. The channel also broadcasts talk shows, programs about the disabled and cartoons.

Hamas loyalists also run at least five news Web sites, a newspaper and a radio station.