Disneynature

Disneynature
Division
Industry Film
Genre Natural documentary films
Founded April 21, 2008 (2008-04-21)
Headquarters Paris, France
Key people
 Jean-Francois Camilleri (executive vice president and general manager)[1]
Products Motion pictures
Parent The Walt Disney Studios
(The Walt Disney Company)
Website nature.disney.com

Disneynature is an independent film unit of Walt Disney Studios that produces nature documentary films. The production company was founded on April 21, 2008 and is headquartered in Paris, France. Heading the unit is Disney veteran Jean-Francois Camilleri, who also serves as senior vice president and general manager for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures France.

The company's nature films are consistently budgeted between $5 million to $10 million, with their distribution and marketing handled by Walt Disney Studios.[2] Many of its films are released on Earth Day.

Background

Disney had a background in making nature films prior to the creation of Disneynature. From 1948 through 1960, the company produced the True-Life Adventures series, which won several Academy Awards.[2] Outside of film work, Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando has contributed to conservation causes by nursing endangered sea turtles back to health; returning white rhinos to Africa; and conducting a census of cotton-top tamarins, a monkey species native to Colombia. In addition, since its creation in 1995, the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund has doled out over $11 million to 650 conservation projects in 110 countries.[2]

After a long absence from nature documentaries, Disney decided to get back into the market after the release of March of the Penguins. That movie, which came out in 2005, was distributed through Warner Independent Pictures in the US on an $8 million budget; however, it grossed almost 10 times its budget at the US box office and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2006.[2] Jean-Francois Camilleri, head of Buena Vista International France at the time, had the company acquire the for the French market. Buena Vista International France also managed to obtain a 20% ownership stake in the French version of the film. However, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution's bid to distribute the film in the US ultimately failed.[3] Disney CEO Bob Iger, in consideration of Disney's past efforts, felt that Penguins "should have been a Disney film worldwide". This was the main impetus behind the creation of Disneynature.[2]

History

Disneynature was announced on April 21, 2008, a day before Earth Day, with a starting slate of seven films. Camilleri was set to head the new division. A multi-film production agreement was also made with Alastair Fothergill, BBC's Planet Earth series producer, for three scheduled films: Earth (2009), Big Cats (2011) and Chimpanzee (2012).[4] The other announced slate films and their release years were The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos (2008), Oceans (2010), Orangutans: One Minute to Midnight (2010) and Naked Beauty: A Love Story that Feeds the Earth (2011).[5] No decision was made at that time as to whether or not the studio would donate the films' proceeds to conservation causes.[2]

The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos was the first film produced for Disneynature.[6] The first film released domestically under the new label was Earth, opening on April 22, 2009 in the US.[2] In 2012, a Disneynature TV cable channel was launched in France. It is currently carried by France Telecom.[7]

Disneynature has recently expanded to China with the production of Born in China. The production was made possible due to an expansion of Disney's relationship with Shanghai Media Group starting in 2014.[8] In 2016, the company released its first compilation film, Growing Up Wild, direct-to-video (Blu-ray and DVD) and video on demand.[9]

Filmography

Film Released[10] Narrator (US) Budget
(millions) 		Worldwide gross
(millions)[10] 		Production company
Earth
April 22, 2009
James Earl Jones[2]
 $47.0 $109.0
The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos September 25, 2009
Mariella Frostrup[11]
Oceans
April 22, 2010
Pierce Brosnan
 $80.0 $82.7
Wings of Life
March 16, 2011
Meryl Streep
  • Blacklight Films[5]
African Cats
April 22, 2011
Samuel L. Jackson[12]
 $5.0 $30.9 Big Cats Productions[1]
Chimpanzee
April 20, 2012
Tim Allen[13]
 $5.0 $34.8
Bears
April 18, 2014
John C. Reilly[14]
 $5.0 $21.3 Bearsar Productions
Monkey Kingdom[15]
April 17, 2015
Tina Fey
 $17.1
  • Crazy Ape Productions
  • Silverback Films
Growing Up Wild
December 6, 2016
Daveed Diggs[9]
Born in China
April 21, 2017
John Krasinski
 $23.9
Dolphins[16]
April 20, 2018
Owen Wilson

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kilday, Gregg (May 19, 2009). "Disneynature starts up two new films". The Hollywood Reporter. AP. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Eller, Claudia; Dawn C. Chmielewski (April 22, 2008). "Disney gets back to nature". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
  3. ↑ Carvajal, Doreen (September 28, 2005). "Compared With Their Filmmakers, the Penguins Have It Easy". The New York Times. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  4. ↑ Giardina, Carolyn (April 29, 2008). "Studios envision beast case scenario". The Hollywood Reporter. AP. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Disney Gets Back To Nature..." (Press release). Walt Disney Studios. April 21, 2008. Retrieved January 6, 2017 – via Blue Sky Disney.
  6. ↑ Davies, Caroline (10 January 2009). "Disney film spotlights threat to spectacular flamingo lake". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  7. ↑ "TV Channel: Disney Nature TV". MAVISE. European Audiovisual Observatory. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Disney Expands Relationship With China's Shanghai Media Group". Variety. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  9. 1 2 James, Will (December 25, 2016). "Disneynature's 'Growing Up Wild' on Digital HD". GeekDad. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  10. 1 2 "Disneynature Movies at the Box Office - Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo.com. IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  11. ↑ "The Crimson Wing - Mystery of the Flamingos". www.bbfc.co.uk. British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  12. ↑ Hume, Tim (April 30, 2012). "Real-life 'Lion Kings': African big cats caught on film - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  13. ↑ O'Sullivan, Michael (April 20, 2012). "Editorial Review: More than just a furry person". Washington Post. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  14. ↑ Chen, Sandie Angulo (April 17, 2014). "‘Bears’ movie review: A real-life struggle to survive". Washington Post. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Focus Sets Stephen Hawking Pic ‘Theory Of Everything’ For November; Disneynature Dates ‘Monkey Kingdom’ For 2015". Deadline Hollywood. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "Disneynature Heads Under the Sea with Dolphins". comingsoon.net. 14 April 2017.
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