Continue reading Disney will continue 'High School Musical' franchise -- smart move?

Disney will continue 'High School Musical' franchise -- smart move? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This was a big weekend for me. Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience was released in over 1,200 theaters. No, I had no plans to see the movie at my local IMAX (NASDAQ: IMAX) auditorium. The reason I was so excited is because I own shares of Disney (NYSE: DIS). And I was praying that the film would firmly cement the Jonas Brothers in the collective consciousness of tweens across the globe.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. In fact, the Jonas movie failed at the domestic box office. Don't even try to spin it. According to Boxofficemojo, the film came in second place with a little under $13 million (keep in mind I am working off estimates, final figures will be released later). Lions Gate Entertainment's (NYSE: LGF) latest Tyler Perry project, Madea Goes to Jail, was number one again for the second week in a row, grossing about $16 million. This is really, really disappointing.

Continue reading The Jonas Brothers fail at the box office -- will they survive?

The Jonas Brothers fail at the box office -- will they survive? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Disney (NYSE: DIS) will be reporting earnings for the fiscal first quarter Tuesday after the market close. There shouldn't be any growth in the bottom line. Of course, no one should be surprised by that. After all, this is Disney we're talking about, a company which provides goods and services that can easily be cut out of any consumer budget. Remember, conservation of cash is becoming quite the fad.

According to this source, Disney may earn $0.52 per share.That would represent a contraction of $0.11, or 17%. The big question is whether or not Disney will miss. If it does, investors won't be happy, because it'll be the second miss in a row. Wall Street was previously accustomed to seeing the Mouse religiously beat the analysts at their holy game. But Q4 changed the story.

Continue reading Earnings preview: Will Disney deliver the magic?

Earnings preview: Will Disney deliver the magic? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I was reading an article from Fortune yesterday about Disney (NYSE: DIS) and Bob Iger. When I got to the end of it, I had the biggest feeling of deja vu that I had ever experienced. Yes, I had heard it all before.

You've heard it all before, too, I'm willing to bet. Here's the basic gist of the piece: Bob Iger knows what he's doing. He's a genius. He's a creative powerhouse, a business wunderkind, a man who has studied the Disney brand, knows it inside and out, and is capable of leveraging that brand over multiple platforms to create immense economic value for shareholders. You know the examples,: you've got your Jonas Brothers, your Miley Cyrus, your Zac Efron and the whole High School Musical gang migrating from Disney Channel to concert stages to DVD releases to the silver Iger was the prescient exec who realized that Pixar should be acquired (take that, Michael Eisner!).

Only problem is, none of this seems to be working. I base this statement on the fact that Disney really hasn't broken out of a really long-term range. I honestly have to wonder if shareholders will ever see Disney at better than $50 per share in their lifetime. I can't be the only one wondering this. That's why I get a little annoyed when I read puff pieces like this one on Iger. Is he really that much of a visionary? And is he doing anything that original? Did he invent the concept of synergy? As far as I know, he did not. One of the main points of the article centered on the major franchises that Disney has going for it. Just once, I'd love to hear about Disney's plans to take one of its existing Disney Channel properties that has not hit franchise status and turn it into the next Hannah Montana phenomenon. To be fair, there may have been a few articles here and there on the subject, but none have studied it to my satisfaction, certainly.

Continue reading Can Bob Iger really turn Disney's stock around?

Can Bob Iger really turn Disney's stock around? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.

Well, 2008 has come and gone. If you were looking to be entertained over the past 12 months, you had a lot of choices. From Batman's battle with the maniacal Joker to Hannah Montana singing her little heart out in 3-D, there was something for everyone. Let's look at five of the hottest properties that made their way into the heart of the cultural mindshare in '08.

Up first is The Dark Knight, the second iteration of director Christopher Nolan's new vision of the Caped Crusader. That movie killed at the box office, and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) could not have been happier. Knight scored almost $1 billion at the global box office. More than half that number was captured in the domestic marketplace. There's no question that the movie mesmerized the collective intellect of the audience. There's also no question that Heath Ledger, who tragically passed away earlier in the year, impressed everyone with his portrayal of the chaotic and cruel Joker villain. I, however, do have a question. Is it just me, or was Knight not as awesome a film as the hype makes it out to be? I saw it, thought it was okay. I don't know, I'm just not sure that this new entry in the cinematic Batman mythos would have brought in as many bucks if the notoriety of Ledger's death wasn't attached to these particular reels of celluloid. To be honest, I didn't think Ledger did that unique of a job. And I thought The Joker's voice was annoying, almost sounding like Sam Raimi -- did anyone else happen to think that? Maybe it's just me. Nevertheless, I salute the success of Knight and respect the project for the impact it had on theaters 'round the world.

Continue reading Best & Worst in Money 2008: Hottest in entertainment

Best & Worst in Money 2008: Hottest in entertainment originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Dec 2008 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) easily beat Q1 estimates due in part to higher prices.
• Bankrate Inc. (NASDAQ: RATE) posted strong Q3 numbers due in part to financial market volatility.
• Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) Q3 results were hurt by derivatives loss and hurricane damage.
• Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) had a brutal Q3 due to writedowns and a scarcity of deals.
• BMW Q3 earnings tumbled due to slower vehicle sales brought on by the economic downturn.
• Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) fell short of Q3 estimates but reaffirmed its full-year guidance.
• Ford Motor Corp. (NYSE: F) reported a modest Q3 loss and a quickly dwindling stockpile of cash.
• Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) first-ever quarterly loss is predicted by at least one analyst.
• Kenexa Corp. (NASDAQ: KNXA) was downgraded by one analyst following its Q3 report.
• MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) easily beat analysts' Q3 projections, sending shares soaring.
• Move Inc. (NASDAQ: MOVE) reported solid Q3 results on cost cutting and website revamp.
• Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) price-target cuts since its Q3 earings report continue.
• Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) broke even in Q3, but Wall Street had been expected a modest profit.
• Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) net profit plunged due to the economic slump and strength of yen.
• Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) fell short of Q4 expectations despite popular High School Musical.
• World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: WWE) Q3 profits tumbled and revenues were flat.

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Ford, Toyota, Goldman Sachs, Disney, Sprint, ADM and others

Earnings highlights: Ford, Toyota, Goldman Sachs, Disney, Sprint, ADM and others originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 08 Nov 2008 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As a Disney (NYSE: DIS) shareholder, the High School Musical juggernaut is important to me. It means money for the company. It means a point of distinction for Disney that adds value to its content and differentiates it from other media businesses such as News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX). It means that tweens have something realistic to relate to that reflects their own days of breaking out in song while walking through school (okay, that was a joke).

But I was disappointed to hear that a reality show extension of the brand is having a tough time in the ratings. According to this blog post at The Hollywood Reporter, the show, called High School Musical: Get in the Picture, had the worst ratings on Monday night. It's some sort of competition show with a prize related to being in some sort of video in the Musical franchise.

I'm not sure of the specifics, but my main concern is that it couldn't offer any competition to CBS (NYSE: CBS) or General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC. Remember, Disney's big model is to take its content and spread it around to enhance the value of the company's other platforms. It's all about the synergy. Unfortunately, it didn't work this time. I honestly thought that ABC would have seen huge numbers from the kids on this one. It makes me wonder if Musical might be getting long in the tooth.

Continue reading Is Disney's 'High School Musical' fad fading?

Is Disney's 'High School Musical' fad fading? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There's good news and bad news for shareholders of Disney (NYSE: DIS). The good news, according to data published in this Hollywood Reporter article, is that the latest Disney Channel movie, Camp Rock, achieved better ratings than the first High School Musical movie. Rock attracted 8.9 million eyeballs while the first Musical brought in about 7.7 million viewers. The bad news is that Rock unfortunately couldn't match the success of the second Musical project, which captured the attention of over 17 million viewers.

This movie is extremely important. Disney execs want to find out if they truly know the formula for creating new fads for the kids. This is definitely a strong start, although I thought the movie's ratings might come a little closer to the second Musical film since all we've been hearing about lately is how hot the Jonas Brothers act is right now. It at least should have brought in over 10 million viewers.

I don't know, maybe it's me, but I just don't feel the same kind of buzz for this project as I do for the Musical franchise. Here comes the interesting part: Can Disney grow the movie from here? That will depend on how fickle the Disney Channel audience actually is. Don't fool yourself, the powers that be at Disney are under pressure to form a suitable pipeline of intellectual properties to replace the aging Musical and Hannah Montana brands. Make no mistake, they are aging quickly, as these kinds of things don't have terribly high half-lives.

Shareholders will want to see the Jonas Brothers and Camp Rock really grow into a merchandising phenomenon in the coming months. No matter what, though, the cable channel is a great asset, and it is a strong competitor of Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Nickelodeon network.

Disclosure: I own Disney; positions can change at any time.

Will Disney's 'Camp Rock' be another 'High School Musical?' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Merchandise sales based on characters and intellectual properties owned by companies such as Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), which licenses heroes such as Batman, and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Nickelodeon, which has had great success with SpongeBob SquarePants, don't compare.

The article rightfully reminds readers that the total amount generated in retail sales is only an indication of how seemingly popular a company's brands are in the marketplace. It does not point to the amount of revenues or profit a company books on the sales (Disney will only receive a small percentage of those sales, perhaps between 5% and 15%).

The important thing I take away from this as a shareholder is that Disney is doing a reasonably good job of milking its franchises. As one might expect, the usual suspects were cited as drivers: Hannah Montana, High School Musical, the Jonas Brothers music project, and Disney Princesses are doing the heavy lifting for Disney's consumer-products division, along with a property that continues to surprise me: Cars. Amazing that the latter remains a popular seller in the boys category.

Continue reading Disney is a licensing king

Disney is a licensing king originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Is Viacom (NYSE: VIA) green with envy over Disney's (NYSE: DIS) High School Musical? Probably; and who could blame the powers that be over at Viacom for exhibiting such a sin?

The Hollywood Reporter recently discussed plans made by Viacom's Nickelodeon cable channel for a project dubbed Spectacular! Here's all you need to know about it: it's a musical movie that takes place in -- are you ready for this, you'll never guess in a million years -- a high school. Talk about a coincidence; I'm sure this has absolutely nothing to do with the success of High School Musical.

In case you can't tell, I'm being sarcastic. It has everything to do with Disney's Musical franchise -- Disney has made millions upon millions off the concept.

Here's the problem for Viacom: shouldn't the media conglomerate be zagging while Disney zigs? In other words, Viacom may be putting too much faith into the belief that a hard formula has been established -- that formula being kids-cable-channel-movie + high-school-setting + catchy-musical-tunes = profitable-long-term-franchise.

Continue reading 'High School Musical' seems to be getting to Viacom

'High School Musical' seems to be getting to Viacom originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Britney Spears

Britney Spears in Playboy, Vanessa Hudgens nude: How naked stars earn money -- even when they're not originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: The Women of Disney

Continue reading Disney's (DIS) Vanessa Hudgens nude? What'd you expect?

Disney's (DIS) Vanessa Hudgens nude? What'd you expect? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 07 Sep 2007 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A few days before the debut of High School Musical 2, BloggingStocks' Tracy Lapa asked the question High School Musical 2: Can Disney repeat success?

According to The New York Times, the answer is yes: "Despite lukewarm reviews, the film's debut drew 17.2 million viewers, according to preliminary ratings estimates from the channel. If those estimates hold up, it would make the debut of "High School Musical 2" the No. 1 television program of the week, on cable or network, as well as the most watched show of any kind in basic cable history."

I doubt that anyone was expecting High School Musical 2 to be critically-acclaimed, so we'll have to go by the ratings, which make this movie a huge success. But Disney (NYSE: DIS) is currently at work on another, in-theater sequel, and I'm going to predict that that will be a bust. High School Musical 2 didn't achieve such high ratings because every 13-year old was watching -- Like Harry Potter, the movie had cross-over appeal. My grandmother watched it. But I can't see anyone over the age of 15 going to a theater to see it partly because, as popular as the franchise is, it's also seen as corny, a little too Donny Osmond-esque. For the record, I'm not going to say whether I have seen the movie.

Disney (DIS) sets record with High School Musical 2 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 19 Aug 2007 21:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Viacom (NYSE: VIA)'s Nickelodeon network, arguably the top brand in kids' television, will be spinning off two new networks: Noggin, a commercial-free daytime station for preschoolers and N, which targets teens.

This makes sense from a branding perspective -- Having N and Noggin on the same station gave the channel a lack of focus, which often prevents the network from building a core audience. But on a more immediate level, this may not help anything: Does it really make sense to have a 24-hour network for kids who are in school most of the day?

At least in terms of crossover success, Nickelodeon is getting killed by the Disney (NYSE: DIS) Channel, which has had breakthrough hits like High School Musical (Kevin Kelly's favorite movie) and Hannah Montana.

Nickelodeon is too small a part of the Viacom empire for this to have any material effect on the stock price.

Nickelodeon to launch two new networks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Zac Efron has been turned into a plastic doll. Not only Zac Efron, but all the leads from the new film Hairspray. At this point, two questions probably come to mind:

1. Who is Zac Efron?
2. Why does he matter?

If you can already answer either of these questions, you are either one of the 100 million people who have seen the Disney (NYSE: DIS) film High School Musical or something HSM-related, or you are one of the millions of people who have heard of the film-turned-Broadway-musical-turned-back-to-film Hairspray, which opened in theaters Friday. What is interesting about Zac Efron is that while his only acknowledgment in the Hairspray trailer is within a list of names trailing the major celebrities, Efron should be a featured star.

If you have never heard of High School Musical, let me get you up to speed. The Disney Channel original movie, featuring Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens (a budding superstar with a gold debut album, figured to have earned $2 million last year), has sold over 7 million DVDs. The High School Musical soundtrack was the No. 1 CD last year, selling more than 3.7 million copies. The film was exported to 100 nations, launched an arena tour and "High School Musical: The Ice Tour," and will by followed by the sequel, High School Musical 2, due out this August. This is all, of course, in addition to your licensed merchandise. Yeah, I guess you could call it a franchise.

Maybe Zac Efron is more doll-worthy than we may think.

Tracy Lapa is an AOL Money & Finance intern who recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Communications.

Zac Efron is a doll -- literally originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Jul 2007 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.