The Walt Disney Co. spent the first half of the year as embattled as the defenders of "The Alamo." But fortunately for the company's Buena Vista distribution arm, the ending of its story proved more upbeat. For even as Disney CEO Michael Eisner was surrendering his chairmanship and promising to step down in 2006, the company's film division turned a corner in August with the release of M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village." And thanks to "The Incredibles" and "National Treasure," it picked up steam and ended the year with more than $1 billion in domestic grosses.
"Well, it ended better than it started," says Nina Jacobson, president of the Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group. "We hit the skids for a while, but we've been digging our way out since 'The Village.' "
Jacobson says that success and failure are cyclical in the movie business. "When things were going very well in '03, I knew it wouldn't last, and when things were going horribly in the first half of '04, I knew it wouldn't last. And when they're going better right now, who knows what's going to happen next?"
ON THE SCREEN
"The Village," the movie that triggered the studio's turnaround, came in at $114 million, and while that fell short of Shyamalan's last entry, "Signs," ($228 million), the studio was still grateful.
"At that point, we had been in such a slump, we were absolutely thrilled with $114 million," Jacobson says.
Although Pixar Animation Studios and Disney may ultimately go their separate ways, Pixar's animation hot streak contributed to Disney's second-half rally in 2004. By year's end, Brad Bird's "The Incredibles" had muscled its way to $251.7 million and is a shoo-in for a best animated feature Oscar nomination. Critics and audiences embraced the movie with equal enthusiasm.
On the other hand, producer Jerry Bruckheimer's "National Treasure" never won over the critics even though it engaged a lot of moviegoers. The action-adventure movie starring Nicolas Cage brought home more than $154.5 million in treasure to the surprise of pundits who didn't see the hit coming.
Says Oren Aviv, Buena Vista president of marketing and one of the film's exec producers: "I think it's always interesting when a high-profile, star-driven Jerry Bruckheimer movie is discounted by the press. The press discounted 'Pirates (of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl),' and they discounted this. And it always amuses me because can you think of a guy with a better batting average? (The press) didn't see 'National Treasure' coming, but we saw it coming."
All that helped erase some of the pain occasioned by a trio of disappointments earlier in the year -- "King Arthur," "The Alamo" and "Around the World in 80 Days" -- all period movies. "At this moment, I'm a little gun-shy about period movies," Jacobson says. "But it won't last forever."
ON THE LOT
With movies like "National Treasure," Disney is redefining what audiences can expect from a movie that carries the family-friendly Disney label.
"We've kind of tried deliberately to expand the possibilities of the Disney brand by bringing in fresh voices, like Jerry Bruckheimer, who were not working under that label before," Jacobson says. A Disney movie isn't just for little tots, she says, but is now defined as "general audience entertainment that is appropriate for a family to share but which is not necessarily geared for kids."
But the studio isn't abandoning its commitment to its more adult-oriented Touchstone label, either. Under that banner, it continues to build relationships with such filmmakers as Shyamalan, the Coen brothers and Wes Anderson, whose "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" was the studio's holiday offering.
NEXT
Buena Vista will attempt to strike a balance between Disney and Touchstone titles as it rolls out "The Pacifier," starring Vin Diesel; the Jodie Foster thriller "Flight Plan"; and the superhero high school movie "Sky High." Disney's first attempt at its own fully CGI feature, "Chicken Little," is scheduled for November, inheriting a slot from Pixar's "Cars," which moved to summer 2006. And, in an attempt to establish a new fantasy franchise, Disney and Walden Media are readying an adaptation of C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" for year's end.