Disney: The covert villian

Emily Ramirez

Section Editor

Walt Disney once said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” Disney as a whole company has really taken his words to heart. After all, the company started off struggling during the 1920s and is now worth $60 billion, and owns over 100 subsidiaries internationally. Their largest assets include Walt Disney Pictures, the Disney theme parks, ABC and ESPN.

While there has been much criticism over the years about Disney’s business practices and questionable content contained within their many media outlets, it is evident that Disney is doing something right. I mean, if they’re making a profit, who cares if they’re sexist, racist or just plain mean?

It can’t be denied that Disney is smart. The second re-release of “The Lion King” in theaters this past fall brought in a $30.2 million opening weekend. The first re-release took place for IMAX in 2002 and produced a slightly smaller profit of around $15 million, which explains why I don’t remember it.

With the success of “The Lion King 3D,” four other movies will follow in its footsteps and surely reap great profit for the Disney Company. “Beauty and the Beast” will be re-released in 3D on Jan. 13 of next year. “Finding Nemo” is also set to come out in the fall of next year, with “Monsters, Inc.” and “The Little Mermaid” coming out in 2013.

It’s a clever move for Disney because these movies span generations. Parents who brought their children to these movies when they first came out will want to see them again. Young adults who fondly remember these movies will go see them, as well as young children, who will be seeing these films for the first time in theaters.

Not only do the 3D re-releases of our favorite childhood movies make millions for Disney, but “the vault” also helps them gain a profit on our nostalgia. After all, it seems that every time a movie comes out of the vault, there’s a new format for movie-viewing, so that even if we bought “Bambi” when it came out of the vault, it was on VHS and now that it has come out of the vault again, we must now buy it on Blu-ray.

So while we are all waiting in line to see “Beauty and the Beast” this January, don’t forget what Alan Bergman, president of Walt Disney Studios, says: “Great stories and great characters are timeless, and at Disney we’re fortunate to have a treasure trove of both.” In other words, Disney will be forever coming up with new ways to take advantage of you and your money.