Shanghai Disneyland re-opens after 3-month closure due to coronavirus

SHANGHAI-- Walt Disney Co reopened its Shanghai Disneyland park on Monday to a reduced number of visitors, ending a roughly 3-month closure caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

This marks a milestone for Walt Disney and provides a glimpse of how it might recover from the pandemic that has forced it to shut parks in Asia, the United States, and France, as well as operations at its retail stores and cruise ships.

At the Shanghai park, Walt Disney has put in place measures, including social distancing, masks and temperature screenings for visitors and employees, and is for now keeping visitor numbers "far below" 24,000 people, or 30 percent of the daily capacity, a level requested by the Chinese government.

Tickets for the earliest days of Shanghai Disneyland's re-opening sold out rapidly on Friday.

"We hope that today's reopening can serve as a beacon of light across the globe, providing hope and inspiration for everyone, and can demonstrate that we can overcome any challenge together," Joe Schott, president and general manager of Shanghai Disney Resort, said at a ceremony.

Prior to the park's reopening, roughly 30 annual pass holders in Mickey Mouse outfits waited outside its gates where, to enforce social distancing, yellow squares had been drawn on the ground for people queuing to stand in.

One of them, who gave her English name as Kaira, said prior to the outbreak she typically visited the Disneyland once every week. "It's relaxing here, it's kind of magical," she said.

Disney executives estimated last week the global closures will cost the company $1.4 billion in profits.

-reuters-

'Let it go': Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel get Hollywood stars

"Frozen" actresses Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel were honored Tuesday with their own stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame as they reprise their roles as Anna and Elsa in "Frozen 2," the sequel to Disney's animated smash hit out this Friday.

Bell, who came to fame on TV teen detective show "Veronica Mars" and appears in NBC's "The Good Place," unveiled her new star alongside fellow honoree Menzel.

"I am so grateful to be accepting this honor today on these hallowed streets where 'Pretty Woman' sold her body for money -- it's really a dream," joked Bell.

The ceremony took place toward the eastern end of the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.

"The Good Place" creator Michael Schur described the location as "the most glamorous location in all of show business -- the semi-abandoned Starline Tours branch office."

The ceremony was attended by Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti and Walt Disney Studios co-chairman Alan Horn.

"As wonderful as this recognition feels in the moment, I know that it's only temporary," said Bell.

She added: "This star will really only know its true value when inevitably, someone is mugged in that very spot, and as they clutch their purse, the assailant screams, 'Let it go!'"

"And the victim will look up and say, 'That's not even her song, you son of a b***h.'"

"Let It Go," the Oscar-winning showstopper of the first "Frozen" movie, was sung by Menzel.

Bell also paid tribute to Menzel, who has an enlarged role in the sequel.

"I'm not going to say it's better than the first because all the music is good," she told AFP. "But I will tell you they did the smartest thing with the second movie because they decided, rightfully so, to double down on Idina."

"'Let It Go' was such a hit, and the geniuses at Disney were like 'What if we just gave her two songs? Wouldn't that be like twice as good?' And guess what -- it is," Bell added.

amz/dw

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Mega merger frenzy evokes 1999 tech boom... and its aftermath?

LONDON -- By some measures, the global merger and acquisition frenzy has never been greater, fueled by "TMT" mega deals that are drawing comparisons with the late 1990s boom and spectacular bust.

This is understandably unnerving many investors, given how mature the economic cycle and equity bull markets are right now. The US economic expansion is the second longest since World War II, and Wall Street is only 3 months away from its longest bull run ever.

Two mega deals in the US tech, media and telecom space this month worth a combined $150 billion have brought back memories of investors partying like it's 1999. AT&T completed its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, and Comcast has offered to buy Twenty-First Century Fox's entertainment and international assets for $65 billion.

AT&T and Comcast are taking on $350 billion of debt between them to finance their deals, making them the two most indebted non-financial, private-sector companies in the world. Just as the U.S. interest rate hiking cycle is in full swing.

The records for economic expansion and market bull run are the 10-year periods ending March 2000, when the Nasdaq bubble started to deflate, and March 2001, the onset of the subsequent recession. There are signs we may be entering similar territory now.

Reuters data show that M&A mega deals this year, up to and including June 15, totaled $1.22 trillion, up 64 percent on the same period last year. They comprised a record 76 deals.

More significantly, that's 52.7 percent of $2.32 trillion total M&A, a new record share for the year to date, and on course to beat the previous calendar year record of 49.5 percent at the height of the tech boom in 1999.

It's a similar picture in the tech, media and telecom (TMT) sector, where mega deals so far this year stand at $401 billion, or nearly two-thirds of the TMT total. That's on track to beat the previous record of 59.2 percent in 1999.

Mega deals are defined as a deal valued at $5 billion or more.

One the one hand, a surge of mega M&A at the tail end of the cycle is to be expected. Companies can't sustain the growth rates of previous years, so executives look to grow by acquisition to keep shareholders happy.

But therein lie the pitfalls, as companies take on greater debt and risk. And some executives simply get sucked in by the whole boom: bigger is better, the good times will go on forever, and this time really is different.

The RBS-led $98 billion takeover of ABN Amro in 2007, Mannesmann's $202 billion takeover of Vodafone in 1999 and Time Warner's $181 billion tie-up with America Online in 2000 are all classic examples of executive hubris, chutzpah and ultimately, folly.

That does not apply to all mega deals, of course, far less the thousands of smaller transactions that are carried out on a more routine basis. But investors looking for warning signs and comparisons with the late '90s don't have far to look.

The Nasdaq continues to boom while the rest of Wall Street is showing signs of burnout. The tech-heavy benchmark is up 12 percent this year, the S&P 500 is up 3 percent and the Dow is flat. The S&P 500 and Dow have failed to revisit their January peaks, but the Nasdaq has made nine record highs since, the last of which was last week.

According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch's monthly survey of global fund managers, the most crowded trade in June was "long FAANG + BAT" for the fifth month in a row. It's the most crowded of any trade since December 2015, BAML said.

The acronyms 'FAANG + BAT' refer to the US tech giants Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google, plus the Chinese firms Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.

The market cap of the five FAANG stocks currently stands at $3.915 trillion. That's more than the valuation of the entire UK stock market, which today stands at $3.38 trillion.

The US tech sector now has a market cap of $6.6 trillion, according to BAML. That's big enough on its own, but even more staggering in a global context: China's tech sector market cap is $738 billion, Europe's is $533 billion and Japan's is $452 billion.

Parallels with 1999? Maybe. But as some analysts note, total returns on Wall Street today are much lower than they were 20 years ago, valuations still aren't as high, and speculation isn't as intense. The tech industry today is much more mature than it was back then, too.

The mega deal frenzy underway now, however, is more than enough reason for caution.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Wall Street ends little changed as media stocks slump, healthcare gains

Wall Street ended little changed on Thursday after a moderate late-day rally as media stocks, which slumped on negative business updates from Walt Disney and Comcast, were offset by gains in healthcare shares.

Comcast dropped 6.2 percent after the cable operator warned of subscriber losses, while Disney shares fell 4.4 percent after the company cautioned about its profit growth. The S&P 500 media index ended down 3.6 percent.

Gains in healthcare stocks such as AbbVie and Bristol-Myers Squibb buoyed indexes, while strength in Microsoft and Amazon helped keep the tech-heavy Nasdaq in positive territory.


Investors were tracking Hurricane Irma, which was bearing down on Florida on the heels of devastation in Texas caused by Hurricane Harvey. Irma plowed past the Dominican Republic toward Haiti after devastating a string of Caribbean islands.

With Irma looming, shares of insurers were weaker, with the Dow Jones US Insurance index off 1.9 percent.

“There’s further uncertainty because of Hurricane Irma that is supposed to be hitting Florida. You don’t know what kind of damage it is going to do," said John Praveen, managing director at Prudential International Investments Advisers in Newark, New Jersey.

Combined with Harvey, in the short term, Praveen said, "maybe it will have a negative impact upon US GDP growth and it might hurt US earnings, and that’s probably why the markets are reacting negatively."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.86 points, or 0.1 percent, to 21,784.78, the S&P 500 lost 0.44 points, or 0.02 percent, to 2,465.1 and the Nasdaq Composite added 4.56 points, or 0.07 percent, to 6,397.87.

Irma is the latest macro event to keep pressure on US equities following concerns earlier this week about geopolitical tensions involving North Korea, which sparked the biggest one-day drop for the S&P 500 in about 3 weeks. Adding to concerns, September historically has been the worst month for stocks, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.

Still, the benchmark S&P remains near all-time highs, with market watchers pointing to strong earnings growth and solid economic data as helping to support stocks.

“For being in such a nervous world right now, the market has done exceptionally well,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Investors were also digesting comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who said the euro's strength was already weighing on inflation and will be a key factor for the ECB next month when it decides how to proceed with its massive stimulus program.

General Electric shares sank 3.6 percent, dragging on the S&P and the Dow, after a bearish analyst note.

Apple shares also weighed on major indexes, falling 0.4 percent after a report that the company's new iPhone was hit with production glitches.

Financial shares slid 1.7 percent amid a drop in US Treasury yields.

Healthcare was the best-performing sector, rising 1.1 percent. AbbVie shares surged 6.1 percent and Bristol-Myers Squibb gained 5.0 percent after the drugmakers separately reported positive developments for their respective medicines.

Eli Lilly shares rose 1.3 percent after it said it would lay off about 8 percent of its employees.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.07-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.06-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

About 6.4 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, above the 5.8 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Trump creates business advisory council stacked with CEOs

WASHINGTON - President-elect Donald Trump announced the formation of a council to advise him on job creation, a group comprised of the leaders of a variety of major US corporations including GE, GM, Boeing, Disney and IBM.

Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive officer of major investment firm Blackstone Group LP, will chair the council.

"My administration is committed to drawing on private sector expertise and cutting the government red tape that is holding back our businesses from hiring, innovating, and expanding right here in America," Trump said in a statement announcing the formation of the council.

Trump called Schwarzman earlier this week to ask for his help in chairing the council, according to a source familiar with the discussions who was not authorized to speak publicly on the arrangements. The two men, who are not friends and have not done business together before, drafted a list of CEOs to ask to participate in the forum, and then Schwarzman asked each individual to participate.

The forum could meet as frequently as monthly, the source said.

Trump has said that his top priorities will include cutting regulations that affect business and lowering the corporate tax rate, positions business leaders have cheered.

Presidents often convene councils of business leaders. President Barack Obama frequently met with the CEOs of large companies and often spoke before the Business Roundtable, comprised of CEOs of big corporations.

In 2011, Obama convened a jobs council that was led by General Electric Co CEO Jeff Immelt and an export council headed by Xerox Corp CEO Ursula Burns.

Obama and business leaders worked on trade, technology and immigration efforts.

Some members of Trump's council also served in advisory roles with Obama, including Bob Iger, the CEO of Walt Disney Co ; Jim McNerney, former CEO of Boeing Co ; and Ginni Rometty, CEO of International Business Machines Corp . All three served on Obama's export council and will continuing advising the next administration.

Noticeably absent from the council are heads of leading U.S. technology companies such as Google's parent Alphabet Inc , Apple Inc and Facebook Inc. Trump's transition team has been slow to establish a group to address cyber security and other technology issues.

The council could still add leaders from technology companies, a source familiar with the formation of the group said.

The members of Trump's council include:

* Stephen A. Schwarzman (Forum Chairman), chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Blackstone;

* Paul Atkins, CEO, Patomak Global Partners, LLC, former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission

* Mary Barra, chairman and CEO, General Motors Co

* Toby Cosgrove, CEO, Cleveland Clinic

* Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co

* Larry Fink, chairman and CEO, BlackRock Inc

* Bob Iger, chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Co

* Rich Lesser, president and CEO, Boston Consulting Group

* Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores Inc

* Jim McNerney, former chairman, president, and CEO, Boeing

* Adebayo "Bayo" Ogunlesi, chairman and managing partner, Global Infrastructure Partners

* Ginni Rometty, chairman, president, and CEO, IBM

* Kevin Warsh, Shepard Family distinguished visiting fellow in economics, Hoover Institute, former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

* Mark Weinberger, global chairman and CEO, EY

* Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO, General Electric

* Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize winner, vice chairman of IHS Markit Ltd

- With additional reporting by Gui Qing Koh and Gregory Roumeliotis

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Disney's 'Star Wars' marketing force reaches for female fans

"Star Wars" actress Daisy Ridley smiles on the cover of Glamour magazine, Stormtrooper necklaces are on sale at Kay Jewelers, and commercials for the new film "The Force Awakens" are running during Kim Kardashian's reality TV show.

Walt Disney Co is reaching out to women and girls to broaden the franchise's male-dominated audience and help recoup the $4 billion it spent to buy "Star Wars" producer Lucasfilm. Female fans may determine if "Force Awakens" meets projections for record-breaking box office returns after it opens Dec. 18.

The casting of Ridley, 23, as the film's star plus a flood of R2-D2 purses, BB-8 dresses and other merchandise suggest Disney is courting the female young adult audience that turned movies such as "The Hunger Games" into blockbusters, said Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co.

"The guys are already in," Bock said. "If you can get that 'Hunger Games' and 'Twilight' fan base to join up, then you are talking about possibly $700 million domestically, maybe even more."

Only one film, "Avatar," reached that level, selling $760 million worth of tickets in the United States and Canada after its December 2009 release. Disney has honed its strategy in recent years, though, with superhero and action franchises.

Stars of "The Avengers" visited talk shows such as "The View," and the sequel, "Age of Ultron," had two leading female characters. About 40 percent of opening weekend audiences was female for both films, according to Shawn Robbins, senior analyst at BoxOffice.com.

While it's difficult to quantify the gender breakdown of fans historically, earlier "Star Wars" movies featured just one main female character - always royalty.

In the "Force Awakens", Ridley's character, Rey, was created as a scrappy scavenger and a pilot, not a princess. In movie trailers, Rey battles with a staff-like weapon, not unlike "Hunger Games" warrior Katniss Everdeen and her bow and arrow. Gwendoline Christie plays the first female villain, Captain Phasma. Actress Lupita Nyong'o has a significant role, and Carrie Fisher is back as Princess Leia, now a general.

"We have female stormtroopers and female resistance pilots," director J.J. Abrams told Reuters. "There are female voices and energy throughout." It is important, Abrams said, "that we give people a chance to see themselves in the movie."

Trailers to promote the film highlight Rey's prominence. Disney has placed those previews in commercials for females of all ages, according to a person aware of the studio's marketing plan. That ranges from TV commercials in shows such as "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," "Jane the Virgin" and the "Real Housewives" series to ads on mobile video games popular with young girls. "Force Awakens" stars appeared in interviews that aired during Disney Channel shows.

Tailored messages

Beyond featuring women, the company appears to be tailoring some of its messages to females, said Alvin Lieberman, a marketing professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. In a four-minute comedy sketch on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Harrison Ford and Chewbacca resolved a purported feud with an endearing, hug-it-out moment.

"That is not what your high-adrenaline, action-oriented male population is looking to see," Lieberman said of the video, which has been viewed more than 1.1 million times on YouTube. "It sells the characters."

And while Rey looks tough in the trailers, the "Star Wars" women show a feminine side in some promotions. In addition to Ridley appearing on the covers of "Glamour" and "Elle," Nyong'o was on "Vogue." None of those magazines put star Natalie Portman on their covers ahead of the last "Star Wars" film, "Revenge of the Sith," in 2005.

For "Star Wars," the message is getting through. A National Retail Federation survey found, for the first time, that "Star Wars" toys ranked among the top 10 that parents would buy for girls this holiday shopping season.

The new movie is also stirring enthusiasm online among female fans eager to see its women in action, said Annette Cardwell, who works in content programming at social network Wikia, which hosts "Star Wars" fan sites.

"Even Princess Leia, who was always pivotal and always central, she was not Luke Skywalker," Cardwell said. "Rey feels like she is the new focal point."

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Rollo Ross in Los Angeles. Editing by Peter Henderson and John Pickering)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Robin Williams a 'true Disney Legend,' CEO says

The chairman and chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Company joined celebrities and fans across the globe in expressing sadness over the untimely death of actor-comedian Robin Williams.

In a statement posted on Disney.com, Robert Iger referred to Williams as a “true Disney Legend,” noting his role as Genie in Disney’s hit animated film “Aladdin” and as an alien in “Mork & Mindy.”

The website also posted a photo of Genie and Aladdin hugging each other.

“We’re deeply saddened by the loss of Robin Williams, a wonderfully gifted man who touched our hearts and never failed to make us laugh. An incredible actor and a comedic genius, Robin will always be remembered for bringing some of the world’s favorite characters to life, from his zany alien on ABC’s Mork & Mindy to the irascible genie in Disney’s Aladdin.

“He was a true Disney Legend, a beloved member of our family, and he will be sorely missed,” Iger added. “We join Robin’s friends and fans everywhere in mourning, and offer our thoughts and condolences to his family during this difficult time.”

Williams was found dead on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) from an apparent suicide at his home in Northern California. He was 63.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Disney explores own history in 'Saving Mr. Banks'

LOS ANGELES - Disney delves into its own history in "Saving Mr. Banks," a movie about the difficult birth of the classic film "Mary Poppins," wrenched from a tale by a reluctant British author.

Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney, who used all his sunny Californian charms to persuade writer P.L. Travers, played by Emma Thompson, to allow him to use the story.

The movie, released in the United States on Friday, is tipped as a serious contender for the Oscars, having already won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nominations for Thompson.

Directed by John Lee Hancock ("The Blind Side," "The Alamo," "A Perfect World"), the film recounts the two weeks Travers spent in 1961 at Disney Studios, where Walt battled to win her consent for his whimsical adaptation of her work.

Australian-born Helen Lyndon Goff, who changed her name to P.L. Travers after moving to Britain -- a nation whose starchy national stereotype she came to embody -- began writing her Mary Poppins stories in 1934.

For two decades Disney had been trying to secure the rights to her tale about an English nanny who floats into a family's home with the help of a magic umbrella.

Disney had nonetheless already begun the film, and invited Travers to come and work with the screenwriter and composers Robert and Richard Sherman, hoping to win her confidence -- never imagining how hostile she could be.

To prepare for the role, Thompson studied everything about Travers.

"Around some corners, you'd find this terrible monster. And around other corners, you'd find a beaten child. She was the most extraordinary combination of things," Thompson told a pre-release press conference in Beverly Hills.

"I suppose that was the scary thing. In films, we often get to play people who are emotionally, or at least morally, consistent, in some way, and she wasn't consistent, in any way.

"You would not know what you would get, from one moment to the next."

The movie is constructed around repeated flashbacks to Travers' childhood in Australia, marked by boundless admiration for her father, a day-dreaming bank manager and chronic alcoholic whose first name was Travers.

"Every time Travers appears on screen ... you are seeing a particular stage of his development which is actually a particular stage of his disintegration," said Colin Farrell, who plays the paternal but immature character.

"It felt to me that he was somebody who is married with three children and has all the responsibilities that come with that, but emotionally, he has never been able to leave his childhood behind," he told AFP.

The film doesn't claim to depict a historically exact account of events. But it is based on memories of Disney veterans, notably in creating the unforgettable tunes for the 1964 film "Mary Poppins" starring Julie Andrews.

Richard Sherman, the sole survivor of the musical duo behind the score, was "literally a never-ending fountain of stories, of facts, of anecdotes, and of bits and pieces of everything that had happened," said Hanks.

The actor, who is also a producer, said the new film is a perfect illustration of the ruthlessness a filmmaker must sometimes have to exert in order to get a project completed.

"At this point, Walt Disney was pretty much used to getting his way because everybody loved him and he was the guy who invented Mickey Mouse," he told reporters.

"In the creative process, which is really what this movie is about, you come to loggerheads and you just have to keep the process moving forward, even if that requires jumping on a plane and flying to London.

"It's a good thing. It's fun, otherwise it would be too much work," he added.

Thompson said she was sure what Travers would have thought of "Savings Mr. Banks."

"I think what she would say about this is 'This is an absolutely ridiculous film! It has no relationship, whatsoever, to what was happening. But, it's about me. And the clothes were really rather nice.'"

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Disney gives folk tale cool makeover in 'Frozen'

LOS ANGELES - Disney has given a chilly makeover to a traditional fairy tale in its latest animated release "Frozen," which could be in the running for an Oscar.

The movie is based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" -- 25 years after Disney's last Andersen adaptation, "The Little Mermaid" -- even if it takes substantial liberties with plot and characters.


The studio's 53rd feature-length film, which has had positive reviews ahead of its release for the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, brings to fruition a project which was on Walt Disney's wish list although he never made it.

"Walt Disney was passionate about trying to do a version of this," the film's co-producer Chris Buck told at a press conference to present the film at Disney's Burbank, California studios before its release Wednesday.

Fellow co-producer Jennifer Lee added: "Unfortunately, we dug for some original material but nothing really surfaced .... But we knew that this was special for him.

Although the exact reason Disney himself did not make a film of the 1844 Andersen tale, Lee -- who co-wrote 2012's Oscar-nominated "Wreck-It Ralph" -- said she was not surprised.

"It's a very hard story, it's very symbolic, the snow queen herself is not clearly drawn," she told reporters.

The makers of "Frozen" -- expected to make the animated feature shortlist for next year's Academy Awards in March -- got round the difficulties by making substantial changes.

The two main female roles -- the Snow Queen herself, and Gerda -- have been transformed into sister princesses Elsa and Anna.

Elsa, who transforms everything she touches into ice, flees her kingdom after mistakenly condemning it to an eternal frozen winter. Her sister goes searching for her, aided by rugged mountain man Kristoff and a snowman.

"There are a couple of very powerful elements, like this little girl who has nothing but the power of love and who fights the negativity," said Lee. "Fear is a big thing in our society.

"So the idea of this little Anna, who's an ordinary person who just has this giant heart, trying to go up against the power of fear to fight her way through and save her kingdom and save her sister at the same time, it was so rich."

Elsa is voiced by actress Idina Menzel, who told AFP: "The main thing was to maintain a vulnerability, that no matter how powerful she is, there is a sadness and a loneliness to this character.

"In the beginning, she was written more like a traditional villain and then, when they started working on it, they changed her and made her a much more complicated character and not a villain at all, just someone that was misunderstood," she added.

Visually the wide-screen CinemaScope film is stunning. Animators traveled to Norway to gain knowledge and inspiration to render the snow-shrouded and ice-encrusted landscape.

As if to order, large swathes of the US were gripped by a major winter storm this week, leaving tens of millions of American facing travel chaos as they head off for Thanksgiving family reunions.

Musically it fits into the Disney tradition of showtune songs, with a score by Robert Lopez, who wrote hit musical comedies "The Book of Mormon" and "Avenue Q."

"Frozen" has a 90 percent positive audience rating on the Rotten Tomatoes movie review website, which describes it as "beautifully animated, smartly written, and stocked with singalong songs."

"Frozen" is preceded by a short, "Get a horse!" by Lauren MacMullan, which combines pastiches of black and white Mickey and Minnnie sketches before plunging into 3D virtuosity.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com