Remember March of the Penguins? That low budget ($3 million) documentary about those adorable flightless birds that grossed a butt-load ($127 million) and took home an Academy Award? Well, Disney remembers it too. In fact, Disney recalls March's success so well they've launched a new nature documentary production unit - Disneynature - geared towards producing and distributing documentaries through at least 2012.
The Associated Press reports that the unit will be run by Jean-Francois Camilleri who helped co-produce March of the Penguins. "'First of all it was a great film,' Camilleri said. 'The fact that it worked shows that people had an appetite for it.' The first film to be released in the U.S. by Disneynature will be Earth focusing on the yearlong journey of three mothers - a polar bear, elephant, and humpback whale - with their offspring. The film was a production of BBC Worldwide and Greenlight Media and was previously released in France, Japan, and Germany to a gross of $70 million. It will be released here on Earth Day, April 22, 2009.
The first title to be released with the Disneynature brand will be The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos and will play in France in December. Disney chief executive Robert Iger "expects the movies to receive wide release in theaters and create spinoff products that could appear in Disney enterprises on the Internet and in bookstores and theme parks."
When asked about how it felt to be further exploited for capitalist gain, planet Earth was heard to say "Shit. Again?"
