Disney | featured news

The floundering film was intended as a potential new franchise, one which would fuel merchandise sales, theme park attractions and lead to film sequels.The floundering film was intended as a potential new franchise, one which would fuel merchandise sales, theme park attractions and lead to film sequels.

With a price tag of $250 million, Disney's John Carter ranks up there as one of the most expensive movies ever made. After an unimpressive and unsuccessful marketing campaign, the moment of truth for John Carter is finally here and it probably couldn't come soon enough.

In a notable victory for Disney, The Muppets continues to rule over other family films at the Thanksgiving box office, grossing $12.3 million on Friday for a three-day cume of $24.8 million. The pic, which cost a modest $45 million to produce, is now projected to post a Wednesday-Sunday debut of at least $40 million, putting it behind only The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn--Part 1, which grossed $16.9 million on Friday for a cume of roughly $195 million (the pic will jump the $200 million mark sometime on Saturday).

Disney is buying Babble Media, whose website carries news for parents and blogs written by moms and dads, in a deal that could further blur the line between advertising and blogs.

After months of being courted by technology giants and TV signal providers, online video service Hulu is no longer for sale, its media company owners said Thursday. The Walt Disney Co., News Corp., Comcast Corp. and Providence Equity Partners had been shopping the site since June after receiving an unsolicited takeover offer.

Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Bob Iger will step down as CEO in March 2015 after nearly a decade at the helm, setting in motion a succession plan for the largest U.S. media and entertainment company.

"Finding Nemo," "The Little Mermaid" and two other animated Walt Disney tales are following "The Lion King" into 3-D mode on the big-screen.

It's 1994 all over again, with a re-release of "The Lion King" opening at the top of the box office. A 3-D version of the wildly popular Disney animated musical earned a surprising $29.3 million in its first weekend in theaters, according to Sunday estimates. The original film made more than $40 million when it opened nationwide 17 years ago.

Defying all projections, Disney’s re-release of The Lion King roared its way to a first-day gross of $8.8 million at the domestic box office and is now on course to gross as much as $25 million for the weekend. Lion King easily claimed the top spot over three new films — Ryan Gosling starrer Drive, Sarah Jessica Parker comedy I Don’t Know How She Does It and Rod Lurie’s Straw Dogs remake.

Indeed, Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN -- home to "Monday Night Football" -- extended its deal through 2021 for the franchise on Thursday morning. The new deal will cost ESPN an average of $1.9 billion per season, according to a person familiar with the deal. ESPN had been paying about $1.1 billion under its current deal.