Do you want to know who at the Walt Disney Company is making the decisions that entertain your kids across all the Disney Channel platforms? 47-year old Rich Ross is the man. He’s successfully transformed The Disney Channel into a tween girl magnet and is working on changing Disney XD into the same thing for tween boys. Even if you miss the Disney Channel programming of old, you have to admire his ability to attract eyeballs to the Mouse House’s TV shows.

For more on where Ross is coming from and where he’s taking Disney, read this LA Times profile.

Looks like I don’t have to tell many of you to get out and see ‘UP’ from Disney/Pixar. It has brought in an estimated $68.2 million at the box office this weekend. That’s pretty close to the $70 million “The Incredibles” earned on their opening weekend. So I imagine the suits down in Burbank are pretty happy right now.

I’m glad Disney gives Pixar the room they need to b as creative as they want to be. I think the marketing department is finally on board, this was a great campaign for a department that’s had a few stumbles for the last few animated films. Let’s hope they can keep it up for “The Princess and The Frog”. The only thing that seems to be lacking with ‘UP’ is stuff to buy. Apparently consumer products got cold feet making toys for a movie that features a grumpy old man and forgot about the cute kid, the balloons, and all the wonderful flying toys. Demand is there, but the product isn’t.

After learning about the very sad news of Wayne Allwine’s passing via twitter (via@aprilwinchell who does some voice work for Disney as Clarabelle Cow), I wrote my tribute last night. Of course, there is so much more to Wayne than I could sum up in a few grief inspired words. For instance, I totally forgot about his mission to keep the unique talents of the Ukulele and spirit of Cliff Edwards (voice of Jiminy Cricket) alive.

Perhaps the best tribute is how Mickey Mouse has recently been re-invigorated for the Walt Disney Company by “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” on The Disney Channel. I know that Wayne and Russi worked with the show’s producers to make sure that Mickey and Minnie stayed true to their characters even while making themselves available to a new generation. I also know that they were working with Disney to make sure there was someone ready to step into Mickey’s shoes if needed. There has even been talk of another animated feature with Mickey and the gang.

I know that many more tributes will pour in from those who knew Wayne better and I be adding them here as the days go on.

• April Winchell
• Mark Evanier
• Andy De Maertelaere
• Cartoon Brew (read the comments)
• Voice Actors in the News
• Will Scott
• LaughingPlace.com
• Jim Hill
• Kate at Cholula Red
• John Matthews
• Rich Koster of DisneyEcho
• The AP’s Obit
• LA Times

To add your tribute drop me an email with the link.

Update: Clip of Wayne on Ukelele with Russi at an NFFC convention (via LaughingPlace.com) below the cut:

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After the Mouse is a web community of former Disney Cast Members. An entry posted today tells some of the heart wrenching stories that have come from the most recent rounds of layoffs.

“Weren’t surprised with Husband’s layoff, but to layoff both parents of a family seems cruel. IS cruel! I am confused and hurt as to why there was no filter to prevent such occurrences, especially when I have had solid performance reviews.”

It’s hard to read. But I think it’s important to see the personal stories.

Disneynautre has just released two new promotional service ads (or PSA for short) into the wild. Feel free to spread around:

In “Challenge” the cast of Earth encourages people to help the world out by seeing the movie during its opening week, when Disney will plant a tree in honor of everyone who sees the film that week.

“Next Generation” features children sharing how they plan to save the environment so that future generations can enjoy our planet, too.

Earth is the first film from the Disneynature label and opens on Earth Day April 22nd. More at the official website for EARTH.

The Walt Disney Company makes no attempt to hide the fact that they’re looking to capture the magic of Walt Disney’s “True Life Adventures” with their new film label Disneynature. The question is can Disney find the modern equivalent to the line between entertainment and documentary that Walt knew so well.

Disney, because of its huge influence on children and culture, is a target for criticism no matter how carefully it fashions its entertainment, and is trying to walk a line cautiously with “Earth.” The company wants to depict nature in an unflinching manner, partly to attract top-notch documentarians to future projects and partly to foster environmental awareness.

At the same time, Disney’s goal is to create hit entertainment. While producers have tried not to anthropomorphize the animals in “Earth,” the movie does turn them into characters with story arcs devised to tug on viewer emotions. That aspect is likely to make pockets of Disney’s primary audience — families and children — a little uncomfortable.

While “Earth” may include a lot of footage that has previously been aired on the Discovery Channel, it’s never been seen on the large screen and will certainly take on new impact, especially if seen on the IMAX. Don’t forget if you buy a ticket to see “Earth” in the first week, Disney will plant a tree in the rainforest in your honor.

(Via the NY Times)

Back when Robert Iger took over the reins of the Walt Disney Company from Michael Eisner the word on the street was that Iger was no technophobe. Even more, he was an avid practitioner of technology. Never far from his blackberry, used an iPod, and was known to surf the web in the morning while working out.

So the hope was that Iger could do more than just steer Disney away from any fiasco’s like Go.com but make Disney the leader in telling stories across all media, whether IMAX or iPod, internet or flatscreen. It may still be a work in progress, but at least its progress. Add to that the fact that The Walt Disney Company is now the largest media company in the US and it adds up to one thing, when Iger speaks, people should listen.

This week the Disney CEO was speaking to cable companies, aka, Disney’s direct customers. Cable continues to dominate as a delivery method for Disney’s three main TV products (ABC, ESPN, and The Disney Channel), but that dominance is fading as internet delivery is taking off.

Reuters reports from The Cable Show, an industry gathering, where two new web TV products were rolled out: Comcast Corp calls its plan Online On Demand while Time Warner Inc calls its plan TV Everywhere. Both products plan to charge consumers for access to shows online.

However, Bob Iger cautioned cable executives from being too aggressive. “The consumer is king, not us the content provider and not you the distributor,” said Iger. Restricting content to pay viewing only would only serve alienate consumers.

The obvious example here is the music recording industry. So lets home that Iger’s taking his own advice and that the Cable industry listens as well. We don’t need to go through that again.

I so want to have good things to say about the Walt Disney Family Museum. I’m sure the exhibits will be top notch and that the presentation of Walt Disney’s life will be the most fair and balanced yet.

See, I tried. There are, however, two major flaws in the project that are thrown clearly into the light by this recent NY Times article. The museum is located too far away from the central parts of Walt Disney’s life and its capacity is inappropriately low to achieve the museum’s goals. I believe the article shows that Diane Disney Miller is too close to the subject to objectively understand the legacy of her father and is selling it short with this museum.

The first issue is the location. In the article it’s implied that they chose the location of San Francisco to help make the distinction clear between the man and his company. Also part of the decision was the close location to Miller’s estate. This is like setting up a museum for Monet or Picasso in China and no where else. The primary work and exhibits for Monet and Picasso were in France and in both cases former residences were used to showcase their lives and work. You learn their stories by walking where they walked, seeing the same flowers and models they painted.

Walt Disney’s life story had almost no San Francisco in it. He certainly never worked or lived there. Although he was a man of the world, he is a key part of the story of Hollywood and Southern California being the first to open an animation studio there. When you divorce the man from his surroundings it is impossible to fully appreciate his place in them. You can’t help but tell a different story.

Locating the museum in San Francisco will have the drastic effect of limiting the number of people who get to learn about Walt Disney via the museum. But apparently that was part of the plan too. The Presidio location is small and attendance will be limited to just 240 people an hour. That’s much smaller hourly capacity than any Disney theme park attraction. If one of the goals of the museum is to change what family members consider to be wrong perceptions about Walt Disney’s life, wouldn’t it behoove them to choose a location that will reach the most people?

In the end, there is only one proper location for a Museum about Walt Disney – Southern California. It’s where Walt spent the bulk of his life, met his wife, opened his most successful endeavors, and changed the world. Alas it’s too late to change the course of the Walt Disney Family Museum. It’s set to open in October.  I’m guessing I won’t be getting an invitation.