Futuríveis
segunda-feira, junho 27, 2005
Disney enters the classroom on tails of a lion and a witch
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As the winter term draws to a close, millions of US schoolchildren are expected to join reading groups or tutorials about Narnia - CS Lewis's fantasy land populated with magical, talking creatures - in a media project timed to coincide with the release of the $100m-$150m film adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
In a deal sanctioned by the author's estate, the film-makers have joined forces with HarperCollins, book publishing arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire, to re-issue the books and distribute teaching aids to schools across the US.
Executives from Walden Media, the Hollywood studio producing and co-financing The Chronicles of Narnia with Walt Disney, met UK government officials last week to discuss a similar scheme in British schools.
The proposal is likely to alarm some educationalists. But Walden, the studio that also produced Holes and the recent remake of Around The World in 80 Days, argues that media and education are converging rapidly.
Cary Granat, Walden chief executive, says: "Media content is being used more and more worldwide for education, where films and recorded entertainment can reach kids in the same way as textbooks."
The publishing industry is watching the scheme with interest, aware that growth trends in the film business are outstripping more sluggish demand for books.
The value of film entertainment, in terms of spending and investment, is expected to rise at a compound annual rate of 7.1 per cent over the next five years, reaching $119bn in 2009, according to industry forecasts published last week by PwC, the audit and consulting firm.
Book publishing is expected to grow at less than half that rate, after rising just 1.5 per cent last year to $107bn.
Tie-ups between the two industries have spawned books linked to blockbuster films. Film-makers see a marketing opportunity in schools, calculating that more families and school groups will go to the box office or buy DVDs after "re-connecting" with books.
Critics fear the scheme masks a new form of viral - word-of-mouth - marketing. "The benefit to the studios seems too naked in timing the books around film premières," says one New York elementary school teacher, who declined to be named. But others welcomed the plan. Graham Jameson, head teacher at Edmund Waller primary school in London, says: "Kids reading books on the back of movies is just a social fact of life; it's all part of what is now called visual literacy."
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FT.com / Companies / Media & internet - Disney enters the classroom on tails of a lion and a witch
As the winter term draws to a close, millions of US schoolchildren are expected to join reading groups or tutorials about Narnia - CS Lewis's fantasy land populated with magical, talking creatures - in a media project timed to coincide with the release of the $100m-$150m film adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
In a deal sanctioned by the author's estate, the film-makers have joined forces with HarperCollins, book publishing arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire, to re-issue the books and distribute teaching aids to schools across the US.
Executives from Walden Media, the Hollywood studio producing and co-financing The Chronicles of Narnia with Walt Disney, met UK government officials last week to discuss a similar scheme in British schools.
The proposal is likely to alarm some educationalists. But Walden, the studio that also produced Holes and the recent remake of Around The World in 80 Days, argues that media and education are converging rapidly.
Cary Granat, Walden chief executive, says: "Media content is being used more and more worldwide for education, where films and recorded entertainment can reach kids in the same way as textbooks."
The publishing industry is watching the scheme with interest, aware that growth trends in the film business are outstripping more sluggish demand for books.
The value of film entertainment, in terms of spending and investment, is expected to rise at a compound annual rate of 7.1 per cent over the next five years, reaching $119bn in 2009, according to industry forecasts published last week by PwC, the audit and consulting firm.
Book publishing is expected to grow at less than half that rate, after rising just 1.5 per cent last year to $107bn.
Tie-ups between the two industries have spawned books linked to blockbuster films. Film-makers see a marketing opportunity in schools, calculating that more families and school groups will go to the box office or buy DVDs after "re-connecting" with books.
Critics fear the scheme masks a new form of viral - word-of-mouth - marketing. "The benefit to the studios seems too naked in timing the books around film premières," says one New York elementary school teacher, who declined to be named. But others welcomed the plan. Graham Jameson, head teacher at Edmund Waller primary school in London, says: "Kids reading books on the back of movies is just a social fact of life; it's all part of what is now called visual literacy."
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FT.com / Companies / Media & internet - Disney enters the classroom on tails of a lion and a witch
posted by CMT, 10:00 da tarde
