Source:The Walt Disney Studios

April 21, 2008

The Walt Disney Studios will celebrate Earth Day 2009 (April 22nd) with the debut of Earth, the first feature-length nature documentary from its new production banner, Disneynature. This new film is from award-winning British producer/director Alastair Fothergill, whose credits include the Emmy and Peabody award-winning "Planet Earth" series (BBC and The Discovery Channel) and The Blue Planet.

Earth, which is produced by BBC Worldwide and Greenlight Media (a Berlin Atlantic Company) and co-directed by Mark Linfield, takes moviegoers on an extraordinary tour of our home planet as it's never been seen before. The film will be narrated by renowned actor James Earl Jones. Disney will offer company-wide support for this and every Disneynature release.

"At Disneynature, we will work with the world's greatest documentary filmmakers to show audiences the beauty and drama of nature," said Jean-Francois Camilleri, who will be heading up the new production unit from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (France). "In addition to providing compelling entertainment that audiences of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy, we also hope to raise awareness of the many ways that everyone and anyone can do their part to help our planet."

Alastair Fothergill added, "This is especially exciting because, thanks to the wide-ranging appeal of Disney, we can expect 'Earth' to be seen by the broadest possible audience. Disney has been an inspiration to wildlife documentarians for generations and it's a genuine thrill to advance this extraordinary legacy under this new label."

Nikolaus Weil, from Greenlight Media says, "We're thrilled to be working with Jean-Francois and his team at Disneynature, along with the entire Disney organization, in bringing this groundbreaking nature documentary to the big screen. Martyn Freeman, for BBCW explains, "'Earth' captures some of the rarest and most beautiful imagery of the planet ever photographed by a team of the world's top cinematographers. Audiences will get to see their planet in an exciting new way, and experiencing it in a theater will add to the enormous importance and impact of the subject matter."