Aviv's first task: What is Disney? - Hollywood Reporter 7/20/06

[ALIASd]

July 20, 2006

Aviv's first task: What is Dis?

By Sheigh Crabtree
The Hollywood Reporter

As he begins his new job as president of production at Walt Disney Pictures, Oren Aviv's first order of business will be to define exactly what constitutes a Walt Disney picture -- especially because the company now wants to brand as many of its movies as possible with the venerable Disney name.

"I'll start by telling you a few great examples," Aviv said Wednesday. "They would be 'Pirates,' 'Chronicles of Narnia,' 'National Treasure,' 'The Pacifier' and 'Miracle.' If it's a great idea and it's done with quality and care, then it qualifies to be a Disney movie." MPAA ratings alone will not delineate a Disney movie. Although the Disney label will not go on any R-rated movies, it can embrace everything from a G to a PG-13. "We had a movie called 'The Rookie,' that was rated G, while 'Pirates' is PG-13," Aviv said. "To us, anything that's not an R has broad appeal, that you can take the whole family to -- that to us has always defined a Disney movie, and that definitely hasn't changed. What we're looking for is to make movies based on great ideas that have appeal across the board."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr..._id=1002876660

[Doopey1]

Did he just say that "The Pacifier" is a great example of a Disney movie? We may be in for some trouble...

[Cousin Orville]

That definition is ridiculous. Not every well executed great idea is a Disney movie. How about reassuring? Movies with positive outcomes or that renforce values at some level? I wonder if he has a family. I can't take my whole family (small kids) to PG13 Movies. Disney means in many ways that you can pretty much trust that the movies will be family friendly but not talk down to the parents. Adults and kids can all enjoy it. This guy does not get Disney. They will dilute the meaning of the name and then erode the trust of families and confuse the general audience.

(Heard on PA system) "Mister Lassiter, sanity check on aisle three please"

[PragmaticIdealist]

Disney has nothing to do with children or juvenilia.

Young people are just one of the segments of Disney's market. Walt Disney specifically made products with inter-generational appeal as part of a larger marketing strategy, and he did personally believe very strongly in allowing his creations to be experienced with both peers and with relatives so as to help strengthen the bonds of family.

[PragmaticIdealist]

High imagination is the defining characteristic of all that is Disney.

The company may be wise, though, to develop brand extensions for films with contemporary and nostalgic (a hundred years in the past or less) settings. In that way, the Walt Disney Pictures aegis could be reserved for stories with timeless settings, such as: "Star Wars"; "Pirates of the Caribbean"; "The Chronicles of Narnia"; "Beauty and the Beast"; "The Lord of the Rings"; "20,000 Leagues under the Sea"; "Around the World in 80 Days"; "Hidalgo"; "Alice in Wonderland"; and, "Mary Poppins".

If Hollywood Pictures were to become the imprint for the films with nostalgic settings, "The Rocketeer" and "Dick Tracy", for example, would have been released under that banner. Similarly, Touchstone Pictures has always been associated with contemporary settings and their relatively inexpensive production costs, so a film like "The Santa Clause" might have done better with that brand.

The trick is to put the existing brands (and whatever equity they possess) to better use by linking them more closely with the parent company: Walt Disney.

Walt Disney was the most brilliant strategic planner. He solved the problematic nature of the movie business more than seventy-five years ago by developing a brand, an identifiable style, and superior philosphy of art.

If The Walt Disney Studios is going to return to this strategy, though, the product has to deliver on the promise of the Disney name. There needs to be some greater sense of organizational authorship and a semblence of the old Studio System.

My very first paper in college more than ten years ago, in fact, was a ten-page treatise, entitled "Corporate Authorship in the Entertainment Industry", and it specifically focused on the unique position The Walt Disney Company enjoys due to the genius of its founder.