Disney’s Earth film has opened huge, so huge in fact that it is the largest documentary film-opening weekend of all time (excluding rock concert documentaries), reports Variety. Although it is hard to compare previous top grossing documentaries as many started with limited theatrical openings, all signs point to Disney having a bona fide eco-hit film on their hands.
The film, co-directed by Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, follows the lives of three animals’ families for a year and is intended as a celebration of the planet. The film was released on Earth Day.
Disney agreed to plant a tree for every person that purchased a ticket in the first week of the film’s opening. The advance ticket sales guarantee that 500,000 trees will be planted and this number is sure to rise rapidly given the movie’s success, grossing over $4million on its opening day alone according to Variety. The trees are scheduled to be planted in the fragile North Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil.
“And if the movie is as successful as we hope it will be, that it’ll be a very significant planting of trees,” explained co-director Mark Linfield in a recent interview. He added, “…what we hope, is that this movie, in raising awareness and celebrating the beauty of the planet justifies, to some extent at least, our slightly heavy carbon footprint in making the movie.”
Disney Earth: http://disney.go.com/disneynature/earth/
Via: Variety
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