Walt Disney : Disney News This Week: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Merchandise Debuts on ‘Force Friday,’ ABC Unveils This Season’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Cast and Jonathan S. Headley is named Treasurer of The Walt Disney Company
September 04, 2015 at 03:22 pm EDT
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Merchandise inspired by the highly anticipated new movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens launched at 12 a.m. today at retailers around the globe as "Force Friday" officially got underway. This follows the more-than-18-hour global live unboxing event that debuted highlights of the new product line; top digital stars from the Maker Studios network unboxed toys as fans watched via live stream on the Star Wars YouTube page. To preserve the integrity of key movie moments, an additional wave of products will be released closer to the film's debut, when fans will be able to find additional items featuring the newest characters, including Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren, Captain Phasma, BB-8, and more. On December 18, a Play Set based on Star Wars: The Force Awakens will become available for Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition, the latest installment of the best-selling "toys-to-life" video game from Disney Interactive. "We've been working closely with the filmmakers to bring the characters and storylines from Star Wars: The Force Awakens to life through an exciting array of products, and we're thrilled to share them with fans around the world," said Leslie Ferraro, Co-Chair, Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media and President, Disney Consumer Products.
The celebrity cast for the 21st season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars was announced Monday, September 2, on Good Morning America. This season's lineup of celebrity dancers includes three platinum-certified music superstars, an Academy Award® nominee, a Triple Crown winner, an American Hero, and the first-ever married couple to compete for the series' Mirrorball trophy. The celebrities and their professional dance partners are (in alphabetical order):
Alek Skarlatos partnered with Lindsay Arnold
Alexa PenaVega partnered with Mark Ballas
Andy Grammer partnered with Allison Holker
Bindi Irwin partnered with Derek Hough
Carlos PenaVega partnered with Witney Carson
Chaka Khan partnered with Keo Motsepe
Gary Busey partnered with Anna Trebunskaya
Hayes Grier partnered with Emma Slater
Kim Zolciak Biermann partnered with Tony Dovolani
Nick Carter partnered with Sharna Burgess
Paula Deen partnered with Louis van Amstel
Tamar Braxton partnered with Valentin Chmerkovskiy
Victor Espinoza partnered with Karina Smirnoff
On Tuesday, September 1, Jonathan S. Headley was named Senior Vice President and Treasurer of The Walt Disney Company. In his new role, Mr. Headley will be responsible for the management and oversight of the company's global treasury functions including corporate finance, liquidity management, capital markets and banking activities, financial risk management, enterprise project and structured finance, pension and investments, decision support, enterprise consumer payments, and global cash management. "During his 11-year tenure as Assistant Treasurer, Jon has shown himself to be a highly effective financial executive, and his proven expertise, leadership skills, and strategic acumen make him the right choice for this role," Christine M. McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, The Walt Disney Company said in the announcement.
The Walt Disney Company is a media and entertainment group. Net sales (including intragroup) break down by activity as follows:
- operation of theme parks and hotel resorts (33.9%): operation, as of 01/10/2022, of 10 theme parks (35 hotels) located in the United States (Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort and Aulani; 6 theme parks and 23 hotels), France (Disneyland Paris; 2 theme parks and 7 hotels), Japan (Tokyo Disney Resort; 2 theme parks and 5 hotels), Hong Kong (Hong Kong Disneyland; 1 theme park and 3 hotels) and China (Shanghai Disney Resort; 1 theme park and 2 hotels). The group is also involved in cruise sales (Disney Cruise Line), travel organization (Disney Vacation Club and Adventures By Disney), design and development of parks and other real estate properties, and sale of consumer products (children's books, toys, game software, films, etc.);
- operation of TV and radio channels (33.4%): domestic channels (Disney Channels, ESPN, ESPN Radio, Freeform, FX Channels and National Geographic Channels) and international channels (Disney, ESPN, Fox, National Geographic and Star). The group is also developing film post-production and website operation businesses;
- video streaming (23.1%);
- audiovisual content production and distribution (9.6%): TV programs, animated films, TV series, music, live entertainment, etc.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Americas (81.5%), Europe (10.4%) and Asia/Pacific (8.1%).