Disneynature

Disneynature is an independent film unit of Walt Disney Studios that produces nature documentary films. The production company was founded on April 21, 2008 and is headquartered in Paris, France. Heading the unit is Disney veteran Jean-Francois Camilleri, who also serves as senior vice president and general manager for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures France.

The company's nature films are consistently budgeted between $5 million to $10 million, with their distribution and marketing handled by Walt Disney Studios. Many of its films are released on Earth Day.

Background
Disney had a background in making nature films prior to the creation of Disneynature. From 1948 through 1960, the company produced the True-Life Adventures series, which won several Academy Awards. Outside of film work, Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando has contributed to conservation causes by nursing endangered sea turtles back to health; returning white rhinos to Africa; and conducting a census of cotton-top tamarins, a monkey species native to Colombia. In addition, since its creation in 1995, the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund has given over $11 million to 650 conservation projects in 110 countries.

After a long absence from nature documentaries, Disney decided to get back into the market after the French release of March of the Penguins. The film was given U.S. distribution through Warner Independent Pictures in 2005. Made on an $8 million budget, it grossed almost 10 times its budget at the U.S. box office and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2006. Jean-Francois Camilleri, head of Buena Vista International France at the time, had the company acquire the film for the French market. Buena Vista International France also managed to obtain a 20% ownership stake in the French version of the film. However, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution's bid to distribute the film in the U.S. ultimately failed. Disney CEO Bob Iger, in consideration of Disney's past efforts, felt that Penguins "should have been a Disney film worldwide." This was the impetus behind the creation of Disneynature.

History
Disneynature was announced on April 21, 2008, a day before Earth Day, with a starting slate of seven films. Camilleri was set to head the new division. A multi-film production agreement was made with Alastair Fothergill, BBC's Planet Earth series producer, for three scheduled films: Earth (2009), Big Cats (2011) and Chimpanzee (2012). The other announced slate films and their release years were The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos (2008), Oceans (2010), Orangutans: One Minute to Midnight (2010) and Naked Beauty: A Love Story that Feeds the Earth (2011). No decision was made at that time as to whether or not the studio would donate the films' proceeds to conservation causes.

The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos was the first film produced for Disneynature. The first film released domestically under the new label was Earth, opening on April 22, 2009 in the US. In 2012, a Disneynature TV cable channel was launched in France. It is currently carried by France Telecom.

Disneynature has recently expanded to China with the production of Born in China. The production was made possible due to an expansion of Disney's relationship with Shanghai Media Group starting in 2014. In 2016, the company released its first compilation film, Growing Up Wild, direct-to-video (Blu-ray and DVD) and video on demand.