Disney cuts film budget

Walt Disney Co. President Robert Iger said Wednesday that the company

will scale back its investments in live-action films and instead

focus on films released under the Disney name.

The company has found it gets a better return on Disney-branded

films and it is a better investment overall to allocate money to

strengthen the Disney name, Iger said.

“By investing in a Disney-branded film we have the ability to

leverage or exploit across multiple businesses in the company,

multiple platforms technologically and multiple markets

internationally,” Iger said.

Part of the scaling back will include fewer films released by its

Miramax Film Corp., which under its former chairmen Bob and Harvey

Weinstein had become a full-fledged studio that the company was

spending too much money on, Iger said.

“We are still in the Miramax business but it will be reconstituted

so it basically looks more like the business [the Weinsteins] started

-- independent films and four, five or six low-budget pictures,” Iger

said.

Iger made his comments 10 days before he takes the reins as chief

executive officer of the entertainment giant during a conference call

hosted by Goldman Sachs at its 14th annual Communacopia Conference

Iger and current CEO Michael Eisner have worked together for more

than a decade -- ever since Disney’s 1995 purchase of ABC Television,

where Iger was the network president and chief operating officer.

Iger became Disney president and a member of the company’s board in

January 2000.

That relationship is making for a smooth transition, Iger said.

“He has created incredible shareholder value over the 21 years he

was CEO of the company and built the Walt Disney Co. into the modern

media conglomerate that it is today,” Iger said of Eisner.

During the 50-minute presentation, Iger hit on a number of

subjects including a new partnership with Verizon to carry 12

Disney-owned television channels on the Verizon FiOS high-speed

Internet service; the status of discussions between Disney and Pixar

Animation to continue making films together; the successes of ABC

Television; and the affects of Hurricane Katrina on business at Walt

Disney World in Orlando.

“It was only a weekend disruption,” Iger said of reduced visitors

to the theme park. “The amount of visitation from the areas hardest

hit -- Louisiana and Mississippi -- is very low.”

And dismissing as speculation that ABC Radio was on the selling

block, Iger conceded that changes are coming down the road.

“We feel good about the business and how we’ve run it but we are

taking a good, hard look at the future and best way to drive

shareholder value,” Iger said.

ABC Radio operates 72 stations nationwide.

Iger being named as Eisner’s replacement this spring created

controversy for the company when Roy E. Disney -- whose father and

uncle founded the company -- and Stanley Gold filed a lawsuit

challenging the process used to name Iger as head of Disney.

In July, the Disney and Gold dropped the lawsuit and set aside

their differences with the company over its direction and giving

support to Iger. At the same time, Roy Disney was named as a as

director emeritus and consultant.