SATURDAY UPDATE: Disney's The Lion King had a majestic Saturday in China, adding an estimated $21M for a 50% increase over Friday. That lifts the two-day cume to about $35M. These are early estimates that point to an FSS launch in the low $50Ms, a nice start for the Jon Favreau-directed title, and falling within the…

Gina Rodriguez will recur on the upcoming Disney+ series Diary of a Female President and will direct the first episode, the streaming service said today. The news comes as production kicks off on the show and its main cast is set. Selenis Leyva and Michael Weaver will star alongside young newcomers Tess Romero and…

Disney's The Lion King will take pride of place this weekend in China where it’s bowing ahead of the rest of the world. With anticipation and a clear runway for the opening, the CGI/live-action adaptation of the 1994 classic is poised for a $50 million-$60 million three-day bow, per industry projections. The Middle…

Disney and SAG-AFTRA are working to resolve late residuals payments to a "small number" of actors, the union told its members recently. The union says it has filed claims and will be collecting applicable late-payment penalties on impacted titles. "Payment delinquencies, due in large part to Disney's recent changeover…

Netflix has “won the game” as far as streaming, according to media mogul Barry Diller, but among its soon-to-launch rivals, he said Disney has “the best chance” to apply pressure. Diller made the comments during a CNBC interview Wednesday in Sun Valley, ID, where he’s attending Allen & Co.’s annual retreat. (See full…

Beyoncé, the voice of Nala in Disney's live-action remake of The Lion King, is producing and curating the album for the film, and just released the new single “Spirit.” The uplifting track debuted tonight, and is said to be featured during a pivotal scene in the film involving Queen Bey’s character, Nala. [Listen to…

Rita Ferro, president of ad sales for Disney, will be this fall’s honoree at the Center for Communication’s annual New York luncheon. The event, which draws an A-list media crowd and lively comments from speakers, has featured notables including Ted Turner, David Nevins of Showtime/CBS, Vice Media co-founder Shane…

EXCLUSIVE: Disney dropped the teaser trailer for next year’s Mulan during half-time of the Women’s World Cup final on Sunday, and the world took notice. In its first 24 hours, the first-look logged 175.1M online views, topping all Disney Live Action comps save The Lion King which roared to a record 224M in its debut…

With a global cume to date of $897.3M, Disney's Aladdin will cross the $900M mark at the global box office today. The Will Smith-starrer that’s been the surprise of the summer has become one of the studio’s biggest live-action titles ever. It joins Beauty And The Beast, The Jungle Book, Alice In Wonderland and three…

James Finn, mostly recently EVP and Head of Marketing at FoxNext and co-head of marketing at Fox Home Entertainment, said Wednesday he was exiting the company after an almost 20-year run. Finn sent out an email to staff and media announcing the news. The latest exec departure comes amid much upheaval at 20th Century Fo…

Grown-ish star Halle Bailey, who is also one-half of the singing sister duo Chloe x Halle, has been tapped to play Princess Ariel in Disney’s live-action/CGI take on animated classic The Little Mermaid. Rob Marshall is directing from a script written by David Magee. Melissa McCarthy, Awkwafina, and Jacob Tremblay are…

EXCLUSIVE: Disney+ is finalizing deals to put in development comedy series Life and Deaf, starring and executive produced by Oscar winner Marlee Matlin, I have learned. The project hails from Switched at Birth creator Lizzy Weiss, Patricia Heaton and David Hunt’s Four Boys Entertainment and CBS TV Studios, where Four…