Disney Drawn to India, China

The Indian population under 14 years old is bigger than the entire U.S. population. So it's obvious why Disney has indentified the South Asian country, as well as China, Russia, Latin America and South Korea as five hot markets for high international growth, the Wall Street Journal reports today, leading its story with news that Disney has partnered with Yash Raj Films to make an animated film with the voices of Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor (What? No Richard Gere?).

The joint effort, to be announced tomorrow, is part of the U.S. entertainment icon's strategy to remake itself in high-growth foreign markets such as India. In many cases, that means discarding Disney's historic obsession with going it alone -- and instead joining with local experts to produce culturally customized fare. In China, for instance, Disney is teaming up with the state-run China Film Group to release "The Secret of the Magic Gourd," a movie about a talking vegetable that grants wishes. In India, it also is tapping local filmmakers to make a Hindi feature film of its TV hit "High School Musical," which may be set against a backdrop of cricket rather than the original's basketball.

Credit Disney's chief executive Robert Iger with helping the company overcome its cookie-cutter approach of repurposing U.S. product for the foreign markets. Before he took over the top job in 2005, Iger spent time running Disney's international operations, in charge of building its television, movies, retail and theme parks properties abroad. When Iger took the company reins, he said publicly he wanted half of Disney's profit to come from overseas within five years, according to the WSJ. Only a quarter of the company's revenue last year came from overseas. Iger says he "still likes" his goal but it could be "difficult" to reach. Instead, he says, the company is "planting seeds today for growth tomorrow."