Disney and the Oregon Ducks

By Lindsay Varien

The University of Oregon is known for many things. It has always been a great university, but today, with the school’s football team having been in the national spotlight, the University of Oregon Ducks are becoming much more popular around the country. One of the things that the university is the most known for is its unique mascot, the Duck, and it is through their mascot that the University of Oregon was able to form a very interesting relationship with the Walt Disney Company.

The University of Oregon was founded in 1876. Starting in 1920, a live duck named Puddles started being brought to university sporting events as the mascot. However, 20 years later the local humane society got involved, feeling concerned for Puddles’ well-being, and the University of Oregon was left looking for a new mascot.

The University of Oregon’s relationship with Disney started a long time ago in the 1940s when drawings of the university’s mascot began to look very similar to the popular Disney character Donald Duck. Disney soon became aware of the issue and rose concerns. Luckily for Oregon, their athletic director Leo Harris had a friend who was a cartoonist with Disney, and a tentative unofficial agreement was reached to let the University of Oregon use Donald Duck as their mascot. About 30 years later, the agreement was questioned by Disney lawyers, and an official agreement was signed giving Oregon permission to use Donald Duck’s likeness as a symbol restricted specifically to University of Oregon sports. Of course, at the same time, this agreement gave Disney complete control over when and where the Duck mascot could make appearances.

Over the years, Disney and the Ducks have had ups and downs in their relationship, and as of late, Disney’s involvement with the university has been greatly minimized. In 2010, the Oregon football team had a great season and had the opportunity to play in the prestigious Rose Bowl game. Upon finding out this news, a few University of Oregon students got excited and decided to make a video dedicated to their beloved team, untitled I Love My Ducks. The video featured the Donald-based university mascot, however, the students had not received permission from the school before the making and releasing of the video.

Because Disney’s restrictions on the university’s use of the mascot were so strict, the school panicked. The athletic department of the school threatened to have the video taken down. But in 2010, after the reveal of the video and after much legal talk and debate, Disney made public their announcement that were now recognizing that the Oregon Duck mascot was not Donald Duck. So today, because of Disney’s loosened grip, the mascot answers to the university, and many people and students at the university are very happy that they have parted ways.

While today Disney does own sports media companies such as ESPN, this relationship between Disney and the University of Oregon is a great way to see how this powerful company has affected people’s lives so intimately. The fact that people at a small university in Eugene, Oregon wanted to make one of Disney’s most memorable characters a symbol for their entire school really shows the incredible impact that Disney has had.

The University of Oregon

The Oregon Duck

Evolution of a Mascot

The Duck’s relationship with Disney

Leo Harris

Pac-10 Insider: Oregon gets it all wrong trying to squash viral video ‘I Love My Ducks’

No longer ducks of a feather – Disney agrees their fowl isn’t UO’s mascot

Disney loosens 60-year grip on Oregon’s outgoing Duck

Disney, UO mascot part ways

ESPN

Disney and Video Games

By Lindsay Varien

As briefly described in a previous post, one huge part of what contributes to the success of the Walt Disney Company is synergy: its interaction with other companies to widely distribute numerous types of Disney media and other commodities throughout the world. Everything from sequels and soundtracks to clothes and toys, it is difficult to think of another company who has made more use of synergy throughout its existence. One specific aspect of Disney’s synergy, however, is coming into play more and more every day as the world moves into a more technologically driven world.

Computer games and video games, the primary and most popular types of interactive media these days, have soared in demand and popularity since their initial creation in the 1940s and the start of the video game industry in the 1970s.  It was in the 1970s that video games and computer games really started to take off. While there were some games that were invented earlier, the first commercially sold, coin-operated video game was Computer Space, created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. The Magnavox Odyssey (pictured right) was the first home console, which is clearly much different than today’s Nintendo Wii or Playstation, as far as looks and game play. Then came along Atari’s Pong, an arcade version in 1972 and a home version in 1975, which really set the video game industry into motion.

While Disney has put out many computer and video games to try to compete in this fast-growing market, it does not appear to be one of Disney’s strengths as far as synergy goes. Especially with The Lion King, there are not many games related to the movie. Along with the release of The Lion King in 1994, there were a few different Lion King video games that were released in December of 1994 that were based off of the animated feature film. They were released by Virgin Interactive and developed by Westwood Studios. They were published for PC and Amiga computers and the consoles SNES, or Super Nintendo Entertainment System (pictured left), Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Microsoft Windows, among others. There was also a version that was created for the Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy advance. The reception of the game was fairly very positive. It received a score of 8/10 from Electronic Gaming Monthly, which is an American video game magazine.

In 1995, Disney released another Lion King-based video game called Timon & Pumbaa’s Jungle Games. It was released for Windows and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It offered several different types of games and activities within the one game, and it offered opportunity for both single player and multiplayer game play.

Disney does have many other video games in their collection based on some of their other animated films and television shows, but overall, the list of Disney video games is not nearly as extensive as its range of films, music, television and other sorts of commodities. As today’s technological world continues to progress, I wonder what Disney will come up with next, as far as video games or as far or as far as the next big discovery in interactive and entertainment media.

Walt Disney Company

Computer Space

Atari

Atari’s Pong – YouTube

The Lion King – film

Lion King video game

Nintendo

Microsoft Windows

Electronic Gaming Monthly

Timon & Pumbaa’s Jungle Games

List of Disney video games

The Walt Disney Company: A Corporate Profile

by Lindsay Varien

History/Background

Within about the past one hundred years, the Walt Disney Company has become one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. Founded by Walt and Roy Disney in 1923, Disney has become a media giant in film, animation, television and travel, as well as in many other forms of entertainment and commodities. Best known for its film studio, Walt Disney Studios, Disney now also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network, including television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN and ABC Family.

Board of Directors

There are currently twelve people on the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company, four women and eight men. Until just recently, the board was made up of thirteen members, but with the death of board member Steve Jobs, who was also the co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Apple Inc., the board is now down to twelve.

Within the twelve board members, there are several that have connections to other big and important companies, according to theyrule.net. For example, Disney board member Susan E. Arnold is concurrently on the board of Disney and McDonalds. This connection can be seen in Disneyland Park, where certain McDonalds food items are sold. In addition, there are a couple of connections with banks. Board member Monica Lozano is concurrently on the board of directors at Bank of America, and board member John Chen is on the board of directors with Wells Fargo. Of course, various other Disney board members have some very valuable connections with other companies as well, such as Nike, Starbucks, Visa, Boeing and Clorox.

Financial Information

The Walt Disney Company has been raking in higher revenues year after year. From the year 1991 until the year 2010, the Walt Disney Company saw a rise in revenues of about $32 billion, with an annual revenue of over $38 billion in 2010.

Diversification and Integration

The Walt Disney Company has spent a lot of time on diversification, buying companies outside of its competitive market, so as to make itself a larger and more powerful company, and in doing so, Disney has become not only very diversified, but it has also become a vertically integrated powerhouse. For example, in 1996, Walt Disney purchased ABC television for $19 billion. “Before the merger, Disney was a producer, and ABC was a distributor, of movies and television shows. After the merger, the parent company Disney can do both, with more profit than the combined profits of each,” explained one Newsweek article*. The fact that Disney now controls companies that work on different stages of the production chain means that it is a vertically integrated company.

Disney on a Global Scale

While the roots of the Walt Disney Company are here in the United States, the company has expanded to many other countries all over the world. Disney entertainment is distributed in entertainment markets worldwide. In addition, since the opening of Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, several more theme parks have been opened all over the world, such as Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Resort Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland.

Criticism

The one main criticism of the Walt Disney Company over the years has been the alleged use of hidden sexual references in certain Disney animated films. Such allegations have been made in certain beloved films such as The Lion King (1994), Aladdin (1992), and The Little Mermaid (1989). In addition, the Walt Disney Company has faced accusations of human rights violations over alleged poor working conditions for their factory workers.

The Walt Disney Company

ABC Broadcast Television Network

Disney Channel

ESPN

ABC Family

Walt Disney Comany – Board of Directors

Steve Jobs

Apple Inc.

theyrule.net

McDonalds

Susan Arnold

Monica Lozano

John Chen

Disney and Visa

Disney revenues

Disney merger with ABC

Human Rights Violations – article

Commodity Profile

By Lindsay Varien

As mentioned in the previous entry, The Lion King is a beloved animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios. But how does a film such as this get from the big screen into our homes? In the case of The Lion King, Disney does all the work because the company is vertically integrated, which means that they control more than one step of the production chain. Below, we break down the process.

Production

The Lion King was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton. The main voice actors in the film are Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and Moira Kelly. Early production of the film began in 1988 and ended with the film’s release in 1994. The film’s budget was $45 million, and animation was done by Walt Disney Animation Studios, with more than 600 people contributing.

Some have thought that the inspiration for The Lion King was based around William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, thinking that the two line up suspiciously closely. However, this is not all that people have noticed. Post-release, some other controversies and questions have come up about the production of the film, while none have yet been proven. One controversy that has come up is that of The Lion King compared with the 1960s anime television series from Japan called Kimba the White Lion. The controversy over whether Disney stole the idea of The Lion King from the show has gained so much attention over the years that it has even been featured in a recent Los Angeles Times article and even in an episode of The Simpsons.

The original music for The Lion King  was done by lyricist Tim Rice and the infamous Elton John, writing unforgettable songs such as “Hakuna Matata” and “Circle of Life”, among others. The film’s original music score was done by the award-winning Hans Zimmer, who may be better known today for his later work on The Dark Knight (2009) and Inception (2011), and his earlier work on Rain Man (1989).

Distribution

The full film of The Lion King is distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, formerly Buena Vista Pictures. DVDs can be purchased at many retail stores throughout the country and the world. The film can also be purchased on iTunes in both regular and HD quality.

Synergy

The Lion King has become quite the extensive and wide-ranging commodity over the years. The commodity was first produced as the extremely successful American animated film, which was released in theaters in 1994. In 1995, the film was released on VHS and laserdisc in the United States, and deluxe editions were also released. The VHS format sold 4.5 million tapes on the first day alone. After being put into moratorium in 1997, The Lion King was re-released on VHS and released for the first time on DVD in 2003, this time under the title The Lion King: Platinum Edition.

Due to the success of the original Lion King film, Disney followed with two direct-to-video films called The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998) and The Lion King 1½ (2004). It also led to a spin-off television series called Timon and Pumbaa which ran from 1995 to 1999. None of these, however, showed as much popularity as the original film. The Lion King was just recently re-released in theaters in 3D and has, once again, been a huge hit.

In addition, The Lion King was turned into a Broadway show, which opened in 1997, and has since won six Tony Awards including the award for Best Musical. Today, the show is Broadway’s seventh longest-running show in history. The Broadway show has spurred many more Lion King-based commodities. Everything from toys to clothes and christmas ornaments can be found in the Disney Store on the show’s website.

And of course, let’s not forget about “the happiest place on Earth”. Disneyland is a Disney theme park that opened in 1955, and currently has the largest cumulative attendance of any other theme park in the entire world.

Consumption

The Lion King was given a rating of “G” by the Motion Picture Association of America, which means it is a film that is appropriate for General Audiences and all ages may be admitted. The film has been immensely popular among children, as well as people of all other ages.

The Lion King – IMDb

Kimba the White Lion

The Los Angeles Times – Anime instinct

The Lion King – Homage or Stealing?

Making of the Lion King

Hamlet and The Lion King

The Lion King on Broadway

The Lion King on Broadway – Store

List of longest-running Broadway shows

The Tony Awards – Past Winners

YouTube – Simpson’s Kimba/Simba reference

Buena Vista Pictures – IMDb

Disney Direct-to-Video films

The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride

The Lion King 1½

The Lion King on iTunes

Timon and Pumbaa – television series

MPAA – Motion Picture Association of America

Lion King in 3D – Box Office Mojo

Walt Disney and The Lion King: An Introduction

By Lindsay V.

The Lion King was produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and was released in 1994 by Walt Disney Pictures. In this day and age, if you’ve never heard of Disney then people would probably think you’ve been living under a rock. But really, as a whole, The Walt Disney Company, founded in 1932, is definitely an entertainment force to be reckoned with. “The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise” says The Walt Disney Company corporate website. And that seems to be the understatement of the century.

Walt Disney and the “Big Six”

Today, The Walt Disney company is one of the “Big Six” major media conglomerates (definition) that control nearly 90% of the box office in the United States and Canada. While it is not the leader of the “Big Six”, The Walt Disney company’s main studio subsidiary, Walt Disney Pictures, was ranked third in 2010, in control of 14.01% of the market share. The major conglomerates ahead of The Walt Disney Company in market share are Time Warner and Viacom, Time Warner being the leader with 17.93% of the market share. The major conglomerates behind The Walt Disney Company are News Corporation, Sony Corporation of America and Comcast/General Electric. The reason why some of these may not sound so familiar is because what the world is more often exposed to are the major studio subsidiaries of these conglomerates. Names like Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures and Universal may sound much more familiar to many, but really they are all subsidiaries controlled by the larger conglomerates. See the familiar logos below?

Walt Disney and Animation

It is not just the fact that The Lion King is a Walt Disney film that makes it such a big deal, however. The Lion King is an animated film, and there are are not nearly as many film studios that do animation. Today, the film still remains to be the highest grossing film of Disney Animation Studios. Animated or not, The Lion King is one of the top twenty highest-grossing films worldwide of all time, but as far as animated films go, it is the third highest-grossing animated film worldwide of all time, having grossed over $900 million. Also, among the top twenty films on that list, The Lion King is the only film that was released before the year 2000. So that’s saying something.

Walt Disney Animation Studios, through Walt Disney Pictures, is clearly a top competitor in animated films, but there are a few other prominent competitors in animation. Some other big names in the business, on the list right up with Disney, are distributors such as DreamWorks Animation, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures. Those are the companies that take over most of the highest-grossing animated films worldwide, but Walt Disney is a prominent leader. Of those top 50 films, Walt Disney Pictures has its name on 26 of them. A very big name in animation studios these days is Pixar, which was bought by The Walt Disney Company in 2006, and Disney-Pixar films take up 12 spots on that list.

To some, the powerful empire that is Disney is far too much to handle; to many, Disney’s films, like The Lion King, are some of the most beloved films of the century and are films that will be treasured for all time. Dramatic? Maybe, maybe not. But whatever opinion you may have, The Lion King has without a doubt made its mark in the movie industry, and will definitely be a film continues to have a big impact on the media for years to come. And we have Mr. Mouse to thank for that.

Pixar Animation Studios

Disney Acquisition of Pixar

Highest-grossing Animated Films

Box Office Mojo – The Lion King

Walt Disney Animation Studios

The Walt Disney Company

Major Film Studios – Today’s “Big Six”

The Numbers – Annual Movie Chart for the Year 2010

Highest-grossing Films

Walt Disney Pictures

The Lion King trailer – YouTube