Tag Archives: internships

Infants: The Hottest New Market

We all know that Disney will market to absolutely anyone it thinks it can get to buy its merchandise. We also know that Disney will pursue its advertising targets till the ends of the earth, producing any conceivable product (and some hitherto inconceivable) to ridiculous and often extreme ends. So really, Disney ought not to surprise anyone with whatever new marketing schemes it rolls out. Despite all of that, I just can’t help it; Disney’s got my eyebrows raised with this one. What’s the Mouse House’s latest marketing target? Infants. Pushing products towards the just-out-of-the-womb isn’t entirely new territory for … Continue reading →

Disney Dithering on Next Marvel Movie Hero

Way back when Disney bought Marvel, a move first announced almost a year ago, a few questions immediately popped to fans’ minds. One of the most prominent: what will the movies look like? Will they take on a classy but maybe too squeaky-clean Disney shine? Will Disney keep their hands off entirely, or will the combination of Disney’s resources with the Marvel movie studio make for even bigger and better superhero films? We haven’t seen the answers to any of those questions yet. While Disney did profit from “Iron Man 2,” due to its release by Marvel Studios, now a … Continue reading →

Disneyland Scholarships

The month-long period between mid-May and mid-June seems full of one thing: graduates. Starting with college graduations in the middle of May and continuing with the high school graduations scattered throughout June, it seems there’s a fete for a graduate everywhere we turn this time of year. Of course Disney, as famous as is it for throwing huge celebrations, has to get in on the fun. Every year the Disneyland Resort grants 10 high school seniors $5,000 each in scholarships to help further their education. The Disneyland Scholarship Program is about more than just good grades. Students who want to … Continue reading →

Disney’s Plans to Broaden its Appeal

I’ve written a lot about the Disney Princess culture, and how it’s experienced some backlash lately. Though Disney makes truckloads of money off its Princess brand, it also takes a hit from the brand due to how alienating it supposedly is for boys. While Disney is in the midst of expanding its Princess line, adding a larger fairy tale section and brand new Pixie Hollow to the Magic Kingdom, it’s also got some elaborate plans to draw young male interest. Some of these plans are already in place. For a few years now the Hollywood Studios at Disney World has … Continue reading →

The Disney Toy Company

The LA Times has recently run a number of articles on the new philosophies of the Walt Disney Corporation, as determined by CEO Bob Iger. One of the latest summarizes Iger’s position the best: he’s all about the merchandising. Case in point: “The Proposal.” The Sandra Bullock-Ryan Reynolds romantic comedy from last year grossed millions, making back the cost of its production in spades. So, inevitably, the suits behind the film suggested a sequel. But because the film comes from Touchstone Pictures, which is a subsidiary of Disney, Iger ultimately calls the shots (should he so choose) on this sort … Continue reading →

Disney Internship Opportunities

At times it feels like the main focus here at the Disney blog is children – well, children and we adults who hold on to that little inner something that delights in fairy tale wonder. Given the nature of Disney’s target audience, it often feels that I have nothing to offer parents of teenagers and college-age kids. So today’s blog is for you. Do you have a child in college (or are you a college student) who loves Disney, or who considers a career in Disney a dream opportunity? Then you should think about applying for a Disney internship. Anyone … Continue reading →

D23: An Insider’s Disney

Anyone who’s here at families.com’s Disney corner is probably a Disney fan. Maybe we consider ourselves members in an unofficial fan club. Well, now we can join an official one. Last March Bob Iger unveiled D23, the official Disney fan club/community. The “23” stands for 1923, the year Walt Disney left Kansas City for California and founded the Walt Disney Company with his brother Roy O. You get the usual fan club stuff: calendars, membership cards and certificates, and subscription to a quarterly. Not to knock the quarterly; Disney twenty-three offers gorgeous photographs of and insight into past and present … Continue reading →

Disney-Marvel Takeover Official

On December 30, 2009 Marvel shareholders voted to OK the Walt Disney Corporation’s purchase of Marvel Entertainment. For those who don’t know, Marvel Entertainment is one of the major comic book companies and owns franchises like X-Men and Spiderman. Despite the enormity of the deal, we will see few immediate changes in the output of either company, particularly in film. Most of Marvel’s main franchises, such as Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, and X-Men are already tied up in deals with other movie studios. The situation is similar for television series. Also, Marvel characters may not immediately, if at all, appear … Continue reading →