Disney Launches New Film Label - Disneynature

Disney Launches New Film Label - Disneynature

To Produce Outstanding Nature Documentaries With the World's Top Documentary Filmmakers

BURBANK, Calif., April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The Walt Disney Studios is launching Disneynature, a prestigious new production banner that will literally go to the ends of the earth to produce major big screen nature documentaries, Studios Chairman Dick Cook announced.

In the great tradition established by Walt Disney himself, Disneynature will offer spectacular entertainment about the world in which we live. The significance of the new banner goes beyond the studio, with The Walt Disney Company embracing this new initiative around the world through a number of its businesses, including publications, licensing, parks and educational outreach. Disney veteran Jean-Francois Camilleri, who has served as senior vice president and general manager for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures France, will head the new unit. Disneynature will be based in France, where Camilleri and his team will oversee the initiation, development and acquisition of high quality feature projects.

Among the first films to be released domestically under the new label will be Earth, from award-winning British producer/director Alastair Fothergill, whose credits include the landmark Planet Earth series for the BBC and The Discovery Channel and The Blue Planet. Earth, which is produced by BBC Worldwide and Greenlight Media and co-directed by Mark Linfield, will take us on a tour of our home planet as we've never seen it before. It will be narrated by renowned actor James Earl Jones and will premiere theatrically on Earth Day, April 22, 2009. The film will also be released under the Disneynature banner in Latin America.

"We love balancing heritage and innovation and Disneynature is a perfect example of this. We are placing the legacy of Disney's 'True-Life Adventures' in the hands of great modern filmmakers using dazzling technology," said Robert A. Iger, president and CEO, The Walt Disney Company. "Disneynature is a concept we look forward to building across the company and across the globe for years to come. And, we hope these films will contribute to a greater understanding and appreciation of the beauty and fragility of our natural world."

Dick Cook added, "Our goal is for Disneynature to offer event films that will appeal to everyone who is captivated by the grandeur of nature and the wonder of great filmmaking. Thanks to today's state-of-the-art creative tools, filmmakers have an unlimited ability to tell nature's limitless stories. These stories are as engrossing as any works of fiction and are of a scale and scope that can only be fully appreciated on a big screen. At Disneynature, the sky is truly the limit."

"Nature invents the most beautiful stories. Our role at Disneynature will be to tell these stories with passion and enthusiasm to the largest public possible around the world," said Camilleri. "By working with the best wildlife directors, we will offer nature as never seen before, help the audience to discover the incredible beauty of our world but also understand the challenges for the future generations."

Alastair Fothergill added, "This is especially exciting because, thanks to the wide-ranging appeal of Disney, we can expect Earth, as well as Chimpanzee and Big Cats, to be seen by the broadest possible audience. Disney has been an inspiration to wildlife documentarians for generations and it's a genuine thrill to advance this extraordinary legacy under this new label."

Among the other Disneynature projects currently in development or production are:

-- THE CRIMSON WING: Mystery of the Flamingos -- Co-directed by Matthew
Aeberhard and Leander Ward, and produced by Paul Webster (Kudos
Pictures), this film will take viewers to the isolated shores of Lake
Natron in northern Tanzania for a birds-eye view of the mysterious
lives of flamingos. Worldwide roll-out begins December 2008

-- OCEANS -- Nearly three-quarters of the earth's surface is covered by
oceans. French co-directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud have
set out to capture the full expanse of these waters that have played
such a crucial and constant role in the history and sustenance of man.
The deep and abundant oceans are places of great mysteries and dangers
that this film will dare to explore. Domestic release 2010

-- ORANGUTANS: One Minute to Midnight -- Directed by Charlie Hamilton
James and produced by Frederic Fougea, this film tells the true story
of a six-year-old male orangutan and his little sister, who must take
an incredible journey to find a home and a family. Worldwide release
2010

-- BIG CATS -- Audiences will get to meet three mothers -- a lioness, a
leopard and a cheetah -- as they explore their world on the great
plains of Africa. Co-directed by Keith Scholey and Alastair Fothergill
and produced by Alix Tidmarsh, this film will show how these
magnificent animals survive on their power and their cunning, while
they protect and teach their cubs the ways of the wild. Worldwide
release 2011

-- NAKED BEAUTY: A Love Story that Feeds the Earth -- In this film,
nature is ready for its close-up ... a very close-up, as exacting
macro photography takes us to the realm of flowers and their
pollinators. Acclaimed filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg introduces us to a
bat, a hummingbird, a butterfly and a bumblebee, demonstrating their
intricate interdependence and how life on earth depends on the success
of these determined, diminutive creatures. Naked Beauty is produced by
Blacklight Films and Alix Tidmarsh. Worldwide release 2011

-- CHIMPANZEE -- Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield co-direct this
intimate look at the world of chimpanzees, with Christophe Boesch, head
of the Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, serving as principal consultant and
Alix Tidmarsh as producer. To be shot over three years in the tropical
jungles of the Ivory Coast and Uganda, Chimpanzee will help us better
understand this exceptionally intelligent species. Worldwide release
2012

About Jean-Francois Camilleri:

-- After beginning his career working in France with Warner Bros.
International, which at the time distributed Disney films overseas,
Camilleri came to Los Angeles in 1990 to work for Disney's Buena Vista
International (BVI). When Disney took over its own overseas
distribution, he returned to Paris to help develop BVI's offices in
Europe. He then became in 1997 Vice President and general Manager for
Gaumont BVI France. In 2004, BVI opened an office dedicated solely to
the French market, with Camilleri as senior vice president and general
manager. In this position, he also developed local co-productions and
acquisitions, including The March Of The Penguins, which became the
most successful French film ever in the US and won the Academy Award
for Best Documentary. He will be serving as executive vice president
and general manager of Disneynature.

About the filmmakers (in order of films):

-- Alastair Fothergill joined the BBC's esteemed Natural History Unit in
1983, where, among many projects, he produced films with Sir David
Attenborough. He served as head of the Natural History Unit from
1992-1998, when he chose to step down to work full-time on the
award-winning Blue Planet. From 2002-2006, Fothergill was series
producer of the landmark Planet Earth. He has entered a multi-picture
deal with Disneynature.

-- Mark Linfield has had a prolific career, producing and directing many
award-winning films, including The Battles of Braveheart, Orangutans:
The High Society, The Temple Troop and The Life of Mammals with Sir
David Attenborough. His most recent work has been the multi-award
award winning Capuchins: The Monkey Puzzle and two episodes of Planet
Earth, including the opening show, Pole to Pole, which won several
Emmys.

-- Matthew Aeberhard worked with famed naturalist and filmmaker Hugo van
Lawick on the feature films The Leopard Son and Serengeti Symphony
before helming his own films on such subjects as golden jackals and
baboons for National Geographic.

-- Leander Ward first encountered flamingos while filming in Mexico. He
was cameraman on the BBC documentary Cape Buffalo: The African Boss,
where he met Matthew Aeberhard and the two began developing the film
that will become The Crimson Wing.

-- Academy Award nominee, Jacques Perrin, is a prolific French actor,
director and producer. In 1968, he produced at age 27, the landmark
film, 'Z'. In 2003, he produced the acclaimed film LES CHORISTES: both
films were nominated for Best Foreign Film Academy Award. He also
produced two of the most important natural history films ever made:
MICROCOSMOS in 1996 and THE WINGED MIGRATION in 2001 which he also
directed. Both received numerous awards around the world. Since 2005,
he has been producing and co-directing Oceans.

-- Jacques Cluzaud is one of the leading French filmmakers working with
innovative new cinematic technologies. In addition to traditional
productions, he has created films for such formats as IMAX, water
screens and a giant wall consisting of 850 monitors. While
co-directing Oceans, he is also developing new technologies for sea and
underwater shooting.

-- Charlie Hamilton James began his career as a wildlife filmmaker at age
16, working on David Attenborough's Trails of Life. He went on to
serve as a cameraman working on such prestigious BBC productions as
Life of Mammals, Wildlife on One, Andes to Amazon, Big Cat Diary and
Planet Earth. At 26, James produced his first film with his wife
Philippa Forrester -- My Halcyon River -- which won numerous
international awards and elicited more requests for repeats than any
other film in the BBC's history.

-- Frederic Fougea is a nature documentarian and producer who has received
more than 100 awards, including an International Emmy Award, Best Film
at the European Nature Film Festival and the Gold Medal at the New York
Film Festival. Among his provocative films are The Rise of Man, A
Species Odyssey, The Fabulous Adventure of Man and Animal and Yeti, The
Call of the Snowman.

-- Keith Scholey was born in Tanzania and raised in East Africa until his
teens. He has returned to Africa to make a wide range of films,
including Leopard: A Darkness in the Grass, The Great Rift and Big Cat
Diary. He succeeded Alastair Fothergill as head of the BBC's Natural
History Unit from 1998 until 2003, being responsible for a wide range
of award-winning films, including two David Attenborough productions
and The Blue Planet. He is currently the Controller of Factual
Production, responsible for all the BBC's factual productions.

-- Louie Schwartzberg, as a director and cinematographer, has created some
of the most iconic and memorable film moments of our time. His
time-lapse, nature and aerial photography has brought audiences images
never captured before. He has directed award-winning documentaries for
National Geographic, The Hallmark Channel, The Discovery Channel and
PBS, and his work has been featured in theatrical films ranging from
War of the Worlds and Crash to American Beauty and E.T. In 2004, he
produced and directed the award-winning Walt Disney Pictures release,
America's Heart & Soul.

For more updates on the newest production banner of The Walt Disney Studios, go to http://www.disney.com/nature (domestic) and http://www.disneynature.com/ (international).

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: The Walt Disney Studios

CONTACT: Heidi Trotta, Communications of The Walt Disney Studios,
+1-818-560-7280; or Michelle Sewell, Publicity of Walt Disney Studios Motion
Pictures International, +1-818-560-3173; or Jasmine Madatian, Publicity of
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, +1-818-560-5610

Web site:

http://www.disney.com/
http://www.disneynature.com/

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