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In a deal it hopes will produce a trove of new properties to exploit across various media, Walt Disney Co. has bought the assets of CrossGen Entertainment, a comic book publisher whose fantasy and sci-fi titles include "Abadazad," "Mystic" and "Route 666." Terms were not disclosed. The acquisition of the more than two dozen titles comes as Disney is set to launch a TV series in the United States based on "W.I.T.C.H.," a comic magazine for tween girls that debuted in 2001 in Italy. Disney says "W.I.T.C.H." is now the fourth-largest magazine in the world in terms of international editions....

THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS in life that disappoint, and people who don’t live up to their billing. But not Michael Ovitz, in what is sarcastically being billed as “The Trial of the Century.” For days now, internal memos and expert testimony inside Delaware Chancery Court had described the guy we love to hate as a “psychopath” and “congenital liar” (not to mention recounting behavior that merited other terms of endearment like “spendthrift,” “incompetent” and “fraud”). Before the trial, sources close to Ovitz told L.A. Weekly that the Creative Artists Agency co-founder was relishing the opportunity to go to court....

Oct. 11 issue - Probably no one in modern Hollywood has been responsible for more great movies than Harvey Weinstein. The co-chairman of Miramax, who runs the company with his brother, Bob, all but created the independent-film market with such movies as "sex, lies, and videotape" and Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction." In the past 15 years, Miramax has racked up a staggering 221 Oscar nominations and 15 best-picture nods. That success would seem to afford the Weinsteins permanent job security with their parent company, Disney. It doesn't. Last week the brothers laid off 55 employees, their film slate has shrunk...

LOS ANGELES - Michael Eisner expects to sever all business ties with Walt Disney when he leaves his chief executive post at the end of his contract in two years. advertisement According to extracts from an interview to be published next week, he has not asked the board, which met on Monday to plan its succession policy, either to keep his seat on the board or take over as chairman. He also reinforced his controversial endorsement of Robert Iger, his second-in-command, to succeed him, claiming that the ABC television veteran was currently managing "90 percent of the company". The interview,...

NEW YORK : Roy Disney, heading a dissident shareholder group at the Walt Disney Co., urged board members to accelerate the departure of chief executive Michael Eisner, who plans to resign in September 2006. Roy Disney and former board member Stanley Gold, in a letter to the board, called for an immediate search for a new top executive. Eisner's announcement Friday that he would quit in September 2006 "forces you to make a critical decision," the letter said. "Will you choose to let the company drift for two more years ... Or will you reject Mr. Eisner's brazen attempt to...

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Embattled Disney CEO Michael Eisner will leave the media conglomerate in two years, the company announced early Friday. Michael Eisner plans to retire as Disney CEO in two years, the company said Friday. Eisner, who has led the company for nearly 20 years, sent a letter to the board of the Walt Disney Co. on Thursday saying he planned to retire at the expiration of his employment contract Sept. 30, 2006.Read the rest of the story here...

Here's a question: Is Walt Disney Co. a marvelous Southern California economic engine or ... the Spawn of Satan? I spent a week in August grappling with just this question, on vacation with my wife, my three boys and my brother and his family at Disneyland. (snip) But it wasn't Cathy's preternatural cheer or even spending $250 a night for a Disneyland hotel room that sent me to the Bible for a quick refresher on Satan. It was standing before the giant gates of the Magic Kingdom with the kids, waiting to get my hand stamped. Revelations 13 became reality:...

By Andrew Wallenstein NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Known as the problem child amid the prodigies in Walt Disney Co.'s cable brood, ABC Family may finally be growing up. Sources say Disney is close to finalizing a new broad carriage deal with Time Warner Cable for all of Disney's programing properties, which is expected to include a slight rate increase for ABC Family. It's a small but hard-won measure of respectability for a network that distributors will be closely watching in the year ahead for buzzworthy programing. Both companies declined comment. Further down... ABC Family's programing strategy hasn't clicked with...

Disneyland ride shut down after accident-TV report LOS ANGELES, July 8 (Reuters) - Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride was shut down on Thursday evening after two cars bumped into each other and left an 11-year-old boy with neck pain, a Los Angeles television station reported.

The photo essay by "Merlin Jones" at http://www.savedisney.com/news/dca/dca_ss060204.asp# shows Disney California Adventure on Memorial Day - - with next to nobody there! The amusement park that Eisner put up is the world's most unpopular! The SaveDisney.com folks (Roy Disney, mainly) say Eisner must go. I agree.

I'm sitting here watching game one of the NBA Finals, and I keep getting these commercials for ABC's fall lineup, interspersed with shots of Michael Eisner & David Stern hamming it up in the stands. The Ultimate Love Testhttp://abc.go.com/primetime/lovetest/about.htmlDesperate Housewiveshttp://abc.go.com/primetime/schedule/2004-05/desperatehousewives.htmlWife Swaphttp://abc.go.com/primetime/schedule/2004-05/wifeswap.html Why do these vermin even bother with the pretense of decency? Why don't they just cancel the whole lineup and replace it with home videos of men having relations with sheep? Michael Eisner is an utterly foul human being.

<p>New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi and five major pension investors in Walt Disney say they didn't pull any punches in their gang-up on Disney's board yesterday about replacing CEO Michael Eisner.</p> <p>Eisner, the long-time Disney chief now under fire from investors, didn't attend the special session aimed at easing tensions with major shareholders.</p>

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co. Chairman George Mitchell said Friday he had outlined broad CEO succession planning at a meeting with six state pension funds and would consider their suggestions when choosing a new board member this year. Disney directors met with representatives of six funds from California, New York, Connecticut, Ohio and North Carolina that had led a protest vote at the March 3 annual meeting. Chief Executive Michael Eisner, who was stripped of the chairman role after that March 3 meeting, did not attend Friday's meeting in New York between Mitchell and the pension funds.

Roy Disney and Stanley Gold Say Action Yesterday by Disney Board Proves It Is 'A Do Nothing Eisner Board' Burbank, CA -- April 28, 2004--Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold said the Walt Disney Board has once again demonstrated complete indifference to the will and interests of its shareholders by reaffirming its unconditional support for Michael Eisner and its commitment to the status quo. "The Board this week has demonstrated that this is truly a 'Do Nothing Eisner Board,'" Messrs. Disney and Gold said. "It continues to march blindly and loyally behind Mr. Eisner, ignoring a staggering 45% no...

Disney Employees Give Thumbs Down to Eisner Eisner Receives 72.5% No Confidence Vote From Disney 401K Plan Participants; Roy Disney, Stanley Gold Say This Further Confirms Eisner's Lame Duck Status Burbank, CA -- April 19, 2004 -- Records received today from The Walt Disney Company confirm that Michael Eisner received a No Confidence vote from 72.5% of the votes cast by the Walt Disney Company 401K trustee at the Company's 2004 annual meeting and that George Mitchell received a No Confidence Vote from 63.7% of the votes cast by the Walt Disney Company 401K trustee, said Roy E. Disney and...

Current and former Walt Disney employees who participate in the company's retirement plan voted nearly three-quarters of their shares against Michael Eisner's re-election as chairman and chief executive. The results of the vote at Disney's March 3 annual meeting were released on Monday by Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, who have led the shareholder revolt to force Mr Eisner to step down from the company. Overall, Mr Eisner received a 43 per cent no-confidence vote at the meeting and gave up the chairman's post, but remains chief executive. The dissident shareholders called the 72.5 per cent no vote "a meaningful...

<p>April 13, 2004 -- Michael Eisner would probably rather forget "The Alamo." The $100 million Disney movie bombed at the box office this past weekend, causing a stir among many on Wall Street who are predicting the film's failure could eat into earnings and force the company to take a write-off.</p>

'Alamo' Bomb Pressures Disney's Eisner Mon Apr 12, 5:06 PM ET Add U.S. National - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Peter Henderson LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Alamo lasted 13 days before Mexican troops overwhelmed it, but a dismal three-day debut was enough for many observers to label Walt Disney Co.'s $100 million "The Alamo" film a bomb and wonder if embattled CEO Michael Eisner would share the Texas mission's fate. Reuters Photo AFP Slideshow: Walt Disney Co. Related Quotes DIS CMCSA DJIA NASDAQ ^SPC 25.70 30.34 10515.56 2065.48 1145.20 -0.55 +1.10 +73.53 +12.60 +5.88 delayed 20 mins - disclaimer...

LOS ANGELES -- There is more bad news for the Walt Disney Co. as its costly historical epic "The Alamo" opened with a dismal $9 million at this weekend's box office. The company faces a big loss on "The Alamo," a chronicle of the 1830s last stand whose budget swelled to about $100 million. It stars Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett and Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston. The weak box office results came as Disney planned a management shake-up at its fourth-place ABC network to stem a ratings slide and placate dissatisfied investors. A source close to the matter...

LOS ANGELES - The Walt Disney Co. is planning a management shake-up at its fourth-place ABC network to stem a ratings slide and placate dissatisfied investors. The moves include the departure of Lloyd Braun, who has served as chairman of the ABC Entertainment Television Group since 2002, according to company sources familiar with the matter. Meanwhile, Anne Sweeney, a rising star credited with expanding the reach of Disney's non-sports cable networks, will likely be given a more prominent role at the struggling network, sources said. The changes are seen as an effort to buy more time for a Disney recovery...