Disney backs down over row with the L.A. Times

Disney has reinstated the Los Angeles Times’ access to preview film screenings, after it banned the newspaper following a critical story about the local business dealings of Disneyland.

Several other newspapers had come to the defence of the Times following the ban, with The New York Times and The Washington Post among those saying they’d boycott reviewing Disney movies.

The National Society of Film Critics, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle and the Boston Society of Film Critics also denounced Disney for the move.

Despite helming Disney’s forthcoming ‘A Wrinkle In Time’, Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay also offered her support.

Meanwhile, in The Washington Post, leading critic Alyssa Rosenberg said she would not be reviewing the new Star Wars movie ‘The Last Jedi’, the biggest movie of the year, over the spat.

“I like a lot of movies that come out of the Disney corporate behemoth, even as I find the Marvel formula wearing a little thin and worry that the new ‘Star Wars’ movies have yet to completely crack either the formula of the original or to discover their own special sauce,” she wrote. “But I like journalistic independence from corporate influence more. This is a fine price for me to pay for it.”

The Times published a report which was highly critical of Disney’s business dealings with the city of Anaheim in California, where Disneyland is situated.

Disney then banned the times from seeing its movies ahead of release, and also reportedly removed online access to publicity materials.

But in a statement, Disney said: “We’ve had productive discussions with the newly installed leadership at The Los Angeles Times regarding our specific concerns, and as a result, we’ve agreed to restore access to advance screenings for their film critics.”

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