Word: disney
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...animators have plenty on their drawing boards besides feature films. Disney's DuckTales, the daily adventures of Scrooge McDuck and his grandnephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, is TV's No. 1 syndicated cartoon show. Gummi Bears, a Saturday-morning program on NBC, was largely Eisner's idea, based on a son's fondness for the rubbery candy animals...
...Disney has been unable to match that success during network prime time. Though the Emmy-winning comedy The Golden Girls ranks No. 6, Disney has flubbed such efforts as The Ellen Burstyn Show and Side Kicks. But Disney is nothing if not persistent: its next offering, to start on CBS in the fall, is The Dictator, a sitcom about a deposed political strongman who sets up shop in a New York Laundromat...
...Disney is becoming a video powerhouse, thanks to almost six decades of material in its library, its increasing production and an expanding number of outlets. The Disney Channel is the fastest-growing pay-television service in the U.S., going from 720,000 subscribers to 4 million in just four years. Besides traditional fare like Sleeping Beauty, the channel has offered programs ranging from the fitness session Mousercise to the College Bowl quiz show. Disney's archives have helped its home-video division increase sales from $55 million in 1983 to $175 million last year. Lady and the Tramp, released last...
Despite the studio's roaring return, Disney's theme parks still constitute the bulk of the company's business: 62% of sales and 70% of operating earnings during fiscal 1987. One reason is that the company has raised ticket fees dramatically over the past four years, sending the cost of one-day passes for adults from $18 to $28 at Florida's Disney World and from $14 to $21.50 at California's Disneyland. Attendance boomed anyway, pushing revenues...
While traffic at the parks was robust, new attractions were needed to lure repeat customers. When Eisner and company took over, some rides were growing corny with age, especially in the Tomorrowland section of the parks, as real- life events were surpassing Disney's futurism. Says Eisner: "The park has to be extremely contemporary. If it's not, the kids won't think it's a rad place to be. If it's not innovative, then intelligent people will be bored or go somewhere else...