Word: disneyized
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...third highest-grossing picture of all time." Huh? Every summer has its sleepers. Even to list all the films that might be big this season, you'd need Marty McFly coming back from the future with, say, the Sept. 9 issue of Variety. So let's say The Rocketeer, Disney's no-star action fantasy, will ring the register. And Mike Nichols' Regarding Henry, with Harrison Ford as a lovelorn amnesiac. And Boyz N the Hood, a promising young director's first feature about gang bonding. And -- no, stop! This could take all summer...
Directors may lack the gumption to cut salaries and cash bonuses, but the luxuriant stock grants they hand out to top executives should provide strong incentives to improve a company's health. Sometimes it works. Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner, for example, has become one of the world's highest paid executives partly through massive stock options. As Disney's share price has risen, from a split-adjusted value of $14 in 1984, when Eisner took over, to $120.75 recently, Eisner's wealth has exploded. But with stock appreciation like that, you won't hear many shareholders complaining...
...investment at 38 large companies offering all three types of stock awards (including Bristol-Myers, Sara Lee, Unisys and Allied Signal) was 11.3%. But at 215 companies that offered only two kinds of treats (including Morgan Stanley and Paramount), the return was 12.7%, and firms offering only one (Disney and United Airlines) yielded 14.2%. Companies that offered none of these so-called incentives (Reebok and Leslie Fay) enjoyed the highest returns...
Detractors complain that the thick Calendar section, which chronicles L.A.'s giant entertainment industry, too often contains adoring, uncritical reporting of Tinseltown's stars and moguls. Some staffers charge that Coffey, who is friendly with Hollywood heavies like Disney's Michael Eisner, holds or softens stories that might damage his connections. A story about film executive Jerry Weintraub's financial troubles and alleged drug use, for instance, languished in the Times's computer and ran only after the Wall Street Journal published its own version...
Other vocal talents are rushing to claim a share of the video profits from Disney cartoons. Ilene Woods Shaughnessy (Cinderella) filed a $20 million suit in December, and opera singer Mary Costa (The Sleeping Beauty) has filed suit for $2 million. Look -- and listen -- for more performers to follow...