Mumbai: The Walt Disney Studios will celebrate Earth Day 2009 (22 April) with the debut of Earth, the first feature-length nature documentary from its new production banner Disneynature. This new film is from award-winning British producer/director Alastair Fothergill, whose credits include the Emmy and Peabody award-winning Planet Earth series (BBC and The Discovery Channel) and The Blue Planet.
 
Earth is produced by BBC Worldwide and Greenlight Media (a Berlin Atlantic Company) and co-directed by Mark Linfield, takes moviegoers on an extraordinary tour of our home planet as it’s never been seen before. The film will be narrated by renowned actor James Earl Jones. Disney will offer company-wide support for this and every Disneynature release.
 
"At Disneynature, we will work with the world’s greatest documentary filmmakers to show audiences the beauty and drama of nature," said Jean-Francois Camilleri, who will be heading up the new production unit from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (France).
 
Fothergill added, "This is especially exciting because, thanks to the wide-ranging appeal of Disney, we can expect ‘Earth’ to be seen by the broadest possible audience. Disney has been an inspiration to wildlife documentarians for generations and it’s a genuine thrill to advance this extraordinary legacy under this new label."
 
Greenlight Media’s Nikolaus Weil says, "We’re thrilled to be working with Jean-Francois and his team at Disneynature, along with the entire Disney organization, in bringing this groundbreaking nature documentary to the big screen."
 
BBCW’s Martyn Freeman explains, "Earth captures some of the rarest and most beautiful imagery of the planet ever photographed by a team of the world’s top cinematographers. Audiences will get to see their planet in an exciting new way, and experiencing it in a theater will add to the enormous importance and impact of the subject matter."