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Walt Disney Co., the latest entertainment company to hop on corporate America's green bandwagon, is launching a film-production unit called Disneynature to make feature-length documentaries about animals and the environment.
The endeavor, inspired by the success of Warner Independent Pictures' 2005 documentary March of the Penguins, is in keeping with Disney's strategy to produce low-cost movies aimed at family audiences. Penguins cost about $8 million to produce and grossed nearly 10 times that at the U.S. box office.
"After that came out, a lightbulb went off, and we said that should have been a Disney film worldwide," said Disney chief executive Bob Iger.
The new unit marks a return to Disney's tradition of making nature films. From 1948 to 1960, the studio produced a 13-film series True-Life Adventures, eight of which won Academy Awards.
Under the new initiative, each film is expected to cost $5 million to $10 million and will be marketed and distributed through Disney's mainstream movie operation. The first U.S. release, Earth, is set to debut April 22, 2009 -- Earth Day. The 90-minute movie, based on the award-winning BBC and Discovery Channel series Planet Earth, will chronicle a year in the life of the planet.
Orlando Sentinel
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