ESPN and Disney to Present X Games 3D the Movie

ESPN and Disney to Present X Games 3D the Movie

First Sports-Based Feature Film in Digital 3D Highlights Action Sports Icons

LOS ANGELES, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- ESPN and Disney will release the first sports-themed 3D film this summer with a special, limited one-week theatrical run starting August 21. ESPN Films will produce and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures will distribute X Games 3D the Movie nationwide into digital 3D theaters around the country. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Steve Lawrence (Down the Barrel), the film will use groundbreaking digital 3D techniques to immerse sports fans into the world of action sports and its top stars. Iconic action sports personalities chronicled in the film are: Shaun White, Travis Pastrana, Danny Way, Ricky Carmichael and Bob Burnquist.

"ESPN is extremely proud to join Disney in bringing the 3D experience to action sports fans," said Ron Semiao, senior vice president, ESPN Films. "The proximity of the cameras to the action combined with the amazing performances by the athletes provides a mind-blowing, jaw-dropping storytelling encounter for fans of all ages."

Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group, said, "There is absolutely no sporting event better suited for the Digital 3D medium than X Games. ESPN continues to break boundaries by using digital 3D to put sports fans literally in the center of the action: preparing to launch down the big air ramp with Danny Way, racing downhill on Shaun White's snowboard and flying through the air in Travis Pastrana's Rally car. And Disney is proud to add X Games 3D the Movie to its robust, industry-leading slate of 17 other upcoming Disney Digital 3D(TM) releases."

The full-length feature film will capture the drama and spectacle that play out every year at the X Games events and will also tell the stories of the featured athletes showing the sacrifices they make in pursuit of glory and progressing their sport on the industry's biggest stage.

Featured athletes:

-- Shaun White (Skateboard, Snowboard) - Defending X Games Skateboard
Vert gold medalist; seven-time Winter X Games Snowboard gold medalist;
2006 Winter Olympic gold medalist
-- Travis Pastrana (Moto X, Rally Car Racing) - Fourteen-time X Games
medalist, nine of which are gold, for Moto X and Rally Car Racing; X
Games 14 Rally Car Racing gold medalist
-- Danny Way(Skateboard) - Four-time X Games Skateboard Big Air gold
medalist and pioneer of the Big Air ramp
-- Ricky Carmichael (Moto X) - X Games 13 Moto X Racing gold medalist;
10-time AMA Motocross Champion; five-time AMA Supercross Champion; 102
AMA Motocross/Lites Wins

-- Bob Burnquist (Skateboard) - Four-time X Games Skateboard Vert gold
medalist; X Games 13 Big Air gold medalist

ESPN Films

Launched in March 2008, ESPN Films presents quality scripted and documentary film projects for television and theatrical release. Documentaries include the critically acclaimed and Peabody Award-winning Black Magic (March 2008), The Streak (April 2008), the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival selection The Zen of Bobby V (May 2008),the Sundance and Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival selection Kicking It (September 2008), The Greatest Game Ever Played (December 2008), A Woman Among Boys (December 2008) and the upcoming 2009 Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival selection Kobe Doin' Work. Motion picture projects already in development include the untitled Jackie Robinson/Branch Rickey story in collaboration with Wildwood Enterprises and Baldwin/Cohen Productions in which Robert Redford will portray Rickey, and the two recently announced films about the life, struggles and triumphs of Jim Jones Jr., and the Louis Mulkey story, about a fallen firefighter and high school basketball coach whose team accomplishes extraordinary things in his memory. In October 2009, ESPN Films will launch a major initiative with "30 for 30," a celebration of the last three decades of sports timed with ESPN's 30th anniversary.

About Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures ("WDSMP") is the domestic marketing and distribution arm of The Walt Disney Studios responsible for all aspects of marketing, publicity, advertising, promotion, and distribution for motion pictures released under the Walt Disney Pictures, Disneynature, Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures banners. WDSMP also leads the industry in digital 3D releases, having released to-date six digital 3D films, and now plans, with X Games 3D the Movie, eighteen upcoming Disney Digital 3D(TM) films, more than all other Studios combined.

Source: Walt Disney Studios

CONTACT: Katie Moses Swope, ESPN X Games, +1-310-642-1507,
Katie.moses@espn.com, or Alison Lazar, ESPN Films, +1-212-448-4804,
Alison.lazar@espn.com; or Heidi Trotta of The Walt Disney Studios,
+1-818-560-7280, heidi.trotta@disney.com

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