Walt Disney Co

In a continued housecleaning at Walt Disney Co., studio distribution veteran Mark Zoradi is leaving after 29 years. The departure of Zoradi, president of Disney's motion pictures group, follows the ousting of his former boss, Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook, in September and Miramax Films President Daniel Battsek late last month. Under the direction of Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger, the Burbank studio is being remade by Cook's successor, Rich Ross, former president of Disney Channels Worldwide.

Walt Disney Co. has pushed back the launch of its first cruise ship, saying construction delays will prevent the Disney Magic from setting sail until July 20. This is the second time the Burbank entertainment giant has delayed the debut of the cruise ship, which is being built at an Italian shipyard. It was initially to be released in mid-March, but company officials blame supply shortages and poor weather for the sluggish pace of construction. Once completed, the ship is to be based in Florida.

Five or six years ago, if you said the most successfully marketed team in pro hockey would feature a Duck, people would be pretty sure you either took one too many pucks on the chin or spent way too much time in front of the television set Saturday mornings. Of course, we know now it is true, all of it. With tiny webbed feet, the Mighty Ducks stood on the threshold of something really big in hockey and they just waddled right on in. The secret was marketing, and since the Walt Disney Co.

German media mogul Leo Kirch continued his spending spree in Hollywood, agreeing on Thursday to an exclusive 10-year deal with Walt Disney Co. estimated at $1.3 billion to air Disney live-action films on his pay television systems. The deal is the fourth major one his Kirch Group has signed in the last few months in transactions that now total about $5 billion. The other companies Kirch is licensing films from are Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros., Viacom Inc. and MCA Inc.

Disney's new "Mighty Ducks" TV cartoon series will start Friday, Sept. 6, at 4 p.m. with a special hourlong show on KCAL, being repeated the following morning at 9 on ABC. And get this: In the second half-hour of the show ("The Face-Off, Part Two"), the Ducks--who really are ducks, from a planet called Puckworld, where ducks love to play hockey--find themselves in a "weird alien metropolis." Anaheim! There, they hire a manager, establish a hockey franchise and build secret headquarters . . .

A second theme park that Walt Disney Co. wants to build next to Disneyland will undergo scrutiny Monday before the city's Planning Commission. The commission will listen to public comment on the proposed $1.4-billion Disney's California Adventure, which is scheduled to break ground next year and be complete by 2001. The new project represents a dramatic scaling back of the $3-billion resort the company proposed for the same site five years ago.

A denomination of gay churches Friday honored the Walt Disney Co. for extending insurance coverage to the domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees--the same policy that in part prompted Southern Baptists to call for a boycott of the entertainment giant.

Religious conservatives continued their crusade against Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday as the Assemblies of God urged its 2.5 million members to boycott the entertainment giant for "abandoning the commitment to strong moral values."

Arab American leaders demonstrated Thursday outside the Walt Disney studio against two Disney films that the protesters said contain insults to Arabs. The entertainment giant, the protesters said, broke a 1993 agreement to confer with them to prevent stereotypical portrayals of Arabs. The protesters stopped short of calling for an Arab American boycott of Disney, as conservative Protestant groups recently did on other issues.

Arab American leaders demonstrated Thursday outside the Walt Disney studio against two Disney films that the protesters said contain insults to Arabs. The entertainment giant, the protesters said, broke a 1993 agreement to confer with them to prevent stereotypical portrayals of Arabs. The protesters stopped short of calling for an Arab American boycott of Disney, as conservative Protestant groups recently did on other issues.