Disney apologized for fining an elementary school over their screening of the 2019 computer animated remake of The Lion King. Last year's remake of the traditionally animated 1994 classic made some significant plot alterations to the original, and has generated a lot of strange or unfortunate news since its release in July. On the stranger side of things, Disney did not submit it as an animated film for either the Golden Globes or the Oscars, possibly because Disney would prefer to classify it as a live-action film much like their 2016 remake of The Jungle Book. However, The Lion King contains no live-action human actors and was put into the animation category without Disney's prompting.
This may have something to do with how The Lion King has been a critical disappointment even while turning into a massive commercial success. Despite this success, MPC Vancouver, the visual effects studio behind The Lion King, shut down last December, raising questions about the real cost of producing films with such a high fidelity in animation. Despite all the unfortunate or strange news, though, The Lion King has been an incredible commercial success, pushing past the billion dollar box office mark, which makes today's news something of a relief.
Chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Corporation, Robert Iger, posted an apology on Twitter for their recent email to the Emerson Elementary School PTA of Emerson Elementary in Berkley, California. The New York Times reported on the incident at length yesterday. Emerson Elementary PTA had put on a screening of The Lion King with a copy purchased with private funds, selling tickets to the screening for $15 as part of a fundraiser for the school. After learning of this screening, the company that handles Disney's licensing, Movie Licensing USA, emailed the PTA requesting they pay a $250 screening fee for doing a public screening of The Lion King.
Movie Licensing USA offers a $536 annual licensing option as identified by Corey Goellner, the representative who emailed the PTA. There was a bit of uproar within the PTA and school community upon receiving the email, according to the NYT. After posting notice of this fee on Facebook, the PTA received more donations to help cover the cost. Lori Droste, a PTA representative and Berkeley City Council member, brought up the 1978 Proposition 13 of California state law that puts a strict limit of 1 percent on all property taxes collected within the state, making it very difficult for municipalities to collect enough funding to run schools and other public services.
That brings us to a happy ending of sorts. Iger indicated Disney will be donating to the Emerson Elementary PTA's fundraising efforts, and the PTA has said they will be looking into screening licensing, although they are unsure if they will pursue a one-time option for The Lion King or annual options. It is an odd quirk of US copyright law that films may be used for education purposes but not for entertainment value in fundraisers serving education institutions, but hopefully Disney and Movie Licensing USA will be more considerate in the future before fining public schools for their fundraising efforts.
Source: Robert Iger/Twitter, The New York Times