Disney Puts Tickets on a Facebook Site

Disney Puts Tickets on a Facebook Site
By BROOKS BARNES
Published: June 1, 2010

LOS ANGELES — The Walt Disney Company has created what it believes is a first-of-its-kind application allowing Facebook users to buy tickets to “Toy Story 3” without leaving the social networking site and while, at the same time, prodding their friends to come along.
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A new application created by Disney allows moviegoers to buy tickets for “Toy Story 3” and invite their friends to join them without leaving Facebook.
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The application, called Disney Tickets Together, could transform how Hollywood sells movie tickets by combining purchases with the powerful forces of social networking. When you buy a ticket through Disney’s application, for instance, it alerts your Facebook friends and prompts you to invite them to buy tickets of their own.

Disney quietly introduced the service on May 26 with a simple post on the site’s official “Toy Story 3” page, which has over 732,000 followers. While many theaters will not make tickets available for the film, which was made by Disney’s Pixar unit, for another week — its release date is June 18 — early results indicate that people are using the application to buy tickets in groups as large as 80, according to Disney.

“The whole idea is that no friend gets left behind,” said Oliver Luckett, senior vice president and general manager of DigiSynd, a Disney subsidiary that manages the entertainment giant’s social networking presence.

Disney Tickets Together, which has been in development for months, works with ticket-buying sites like Fandango.com and covers the majority of the movie theaters in North America, Mr. Luckett said. Facebook receives no percentage of the ticket sales but does, in theory, get more visitors on its site.

For now, only “Toy Story 3” tickets are available. But Mr. Luckett said other Disney movies would follow if the application is deemed a success.

Facebook, which is approaching 500 million users around the world, has become a crucial marketing tool for entertainment companies. Disney alone operates hundreds of promotional pages on the site for its various products — motion pictures, theme park attractions, consumer articles, television shows — that cumulatively reach tens of millions of people.

But Disney Tickets Together represents a deepening relationship between businesses and Facebook users, according to Dan Rose, the site’s vice president for partnerships and platform marketing.

“What Disney is doing moves beyond just creating awareness to using the platform to acquire customers directly,” Mr. Rose said. “This is the first time that a movie studio has tried this, which we think makes a lot of sense because moviegoing is one of those activities that is inherently social.”

Buying movie tickets in advance via the Web is becoming more common, especially in cities where screenings routinely sell out. But most tickets are sold the old-fashioned way: people show up at the box office at an appointed time. At most, online ticketing sites account for about 20 percent of the box office for a wide-release movie.

Anything that increases ticket sales is likely to be warmly embraced by studio executives and theater owners, who are struggling with declining attendance. Although higher ticket prices have propped up the bottom line, moviegoing is on the decline.

About 23.4 million people went to the movies over the Memorial Day weekend, a 22 percent decline from last year and the lowest total since 1993, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles box office statistics.

Disney is distinctly positioned to bring new marketing ideas to the Web. Steven P. Jobs, the Apple chief executive, joined the Disney board with the 2006 acquisition of Pixar, which he had controlled, and became Disney’s largest shareholder. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, joined Disney’s board six months ago.

The entertainment conglomerate has had difficulties figuring out its approach to its own Web site, Disney.com, largely because of management stumbles within the Disney unit that oversees that businesses, analysts say. But the company — notably its television group, which includes ABC and ESPN — has been aggressive about online video and Apple’s iTunes store and iPad.

Disney Tickets Together works in the same manner as other Facebook applications. Users click on the “go to application” button and give the service access to personal information in their profiles. A page then loads ticket times at nearby theaters based on their profile location settings.

A Disney Tickets Together search in the Los Angeles ZIP code of 90004 on Tuesday served up 88 screenings at 12 theaters. The application provides an option for inviting friends who are not members of the site. The slogan: “ ‘Toy Story 3’ arrives in theaters on June 18! Who are you bringing with you?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/business/media/02disney.html?src=busln

Wayne Allwine Voice of Mickey Mouse Dies

Allwine got the role in 1976. He was only the third person -- Walt Disney was the first -- to voice the character. 'It's really not about me; it's about Mickey, and Mickey is Walt's,' he once said.

Wayne Allwine, a Walt Disney Studios voice-over artist who was the voice of Mickey Mouse for more than three decades, has died. He was 62.

Allwine, an Emmy Award-winning former sound effects editor and foley artist, died of complications of diabetes early Monday morning at UCLA Medical Center, said his voice-over artist wife, Russi Taylor.

“Wayne was my hero," Taylor, who began voicing Minnie in 1986, told The Times on Wednesday. “He really loved doing Mickey Mouse and was very proud that he did it 32 years."

Since Mickey Mouse first hit movie theaters in the cartoon short “Steamboat Willie" in 1928, only three people have supplied the iconic cartoon character's distinctive falsetto: Walt Disney himself, Jimmy Macdonald and Allwine.

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert A. Iger described a “profound sense of loss and sadness throughout our company" over the death of the man who gave voice to Disney's most beloved character.


“Wayne's great talent, deep compassion, kindness and gentle way, all of which shone brightly through his alter ego, will be greatly missed," Iger said in a statement.

Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew, director emeritus of the Walt Disney Co., said in a statement: “Wayne not only gave voice to the character of Mickey but gave him a heart and soul as well."


source : http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=36132

High School Musical

High School Musical is an Emmy Award-winning American television film. Released on January 20, 2006, it is one of the most successful Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOM) produced with a television sequel released on August 17, 2007 and a feature film sequel in the planning process.The film's soundtrack was the best-selling album in the United States for 2006.The film was shot almost entirely in the Wasatch Front in Utah (namely Salt Lake City and Murray).

With a plot described as a modern retelling of Romeo & Juliet,High School Musical is a story of two high school juniors from rival cliques:Troy Bolton (Zac Efron), captain of the basketball team, and Gabriella Montez (Vanessa Hudgens), a beautiful and shy transfer student who excels in math and science. Together, they try out for the lead parts in their high school musical, and as a result, divide the school. Despite other students' attempts to thwart their dreams, Troy and Gabriella resist peer pressure and rivalry, inspiring others along the way not to "stick with the status quo."

This was Disney Channel's most successful movie at its time with 7.7 million viewers in its premiere broadcast in the US. In the UK, it received 789,000 viewers for its premiere (and 1.2 million viewers overall during the first week), making the film the most watched program for the Disney Channel (UK) of 2006. It was also the first ever Disney Channel Original Movie to be broadcast on the BBC on December 29, 2006. On August 16, 2007 ratings went slightly up to 6.0 million viewers.

Here is the official website : High School Musical

Pooh Corner shop

The Pooh Corner shop, in the High Street of Hartfield village, dates from around the 1690's.

The shop is home to the world's largest selection of Winnie-the-Pooh products. It is situated in the village where the famous stories were written by A.A.Milne in the 1920's.

Christopher Robin and his nanny 'Alice' used to visit the shop to buy bulls-eyes, a mint flavoured candy, which were their favourites. As they lived a mile away, his nanny would bring the young Christopher Robin on the back of the family pet - a donkey called Jessica.

The shop stocks souvenirs, books and boxed sets, tapes & CDs, videos & DVDs, greeting cards, postcards, posters and prints, gift wrap, stationery, stickers, games, soft toys, cross stitch, mugs, Border Fine Arts, Disney ornaments, Royal Doulton and Spode china collectables, Royal Selangor pewter and more. Visit us or go to our online mail order shop.
Pooh Corner is open from 9am to 5pm Mondays to Saturdays. On Sundays and Bank Holidays the shop is open from 11am to 5pm.

For more information : click here

The Adorable Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh, commonly shortened to Pooh Bear and once referred to as Edward Bear, is a fictional bear created by A. A. Milne. The character first appeared in the children's books Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne also included several poems about Winnie-the-Pooh in the children’s poetry books When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. All four volumes were illustrated by E. H. Shepard.

The hyphens in the character's name were later dropped when The Walt Disney Company adapted the Pooh stories into a series of Winnie the Pooh featurettes that became one of the company's most successful franchises worldwide.

The Pooh stories have been translated into many languages, notably including Alexander Lenard's Latin translation, Winnie ille Pu, which was first published in 1958, and, in 1960, became the first foreign-language book to be featured on the New York Times Bestseller List, and is the only book in Latin ever to have been featured therein.