You know those warnings that show up at the start of a DVD or Blu-ray which warns you that the movie is for home use only? Most people probably pay them little to no attention, and understandably so, but it turns out Disney takes them very, very seriously.
As you may’ve heard, Emerson Elementary School in Berkley, California screened 2019’s The Lion King recently during a “parent’s night out ” fundraising event, and shockingly, Disney charged them for doing so. Yes, several months after the event took place, the school got an email from Movie Licensing USA, informing them that they’d illegally screened the film and now had to pay $250.
Facing a whirlwind of backlash online after word of this got out, Disney CEO Bob Iger has issued an apology to the school today, revealing that he’ll personally be donating to their fundraiser initiative.
“Our company apologizes to Emerson Elementary School PTA, and I will personally donate to their fund raising initiative,” Iger tweeted.
On the one hand, the law is the law. And there are indeed laws in place to prevent things like this from happening. But on the other hand, the fact that Disney went out of their way to collect $250, which is literally nothing to them, and from an elementary school of all places, is pretty ridiculous. Thankfully, though, they’ve realized that and have now issued the above apology.
And as for The Lion King itself? Well, let’s just say that while it might’ve been another box office behemoth, there was certainly a feeling of ‘been there, done that’ with Disney’s recent remake. It did introduce the tale of Simba to a new generation, but it hardly had the same level of cultural impact as the original did.
Tell us, though, what do you make of this recent incident? Should the school have been charged for screening the film? Let us know in the usual place down below.
